Baltis was an ancient Arabian goddess. She was revered at Carrhae and identified with the planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

Isaac of Antioch Isaac of Antioch, one of the stars of Syriac literature, is the reputed author of a large number of metrical homilies,The fullest list, by Gustav Bickell, contains 191 which are extant in MSS. many of which are distinguished by an originality and ...

mentions Baltis in a text written in the middle of the 5th century CE as a

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

worshipped by the

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

. Baltis here is equivalent to Ishtar (Inanna), an ancient Mesopotamian goddess.Jan Retso, The Arabs in Antiquity, Routledge 2003. See pp. 518-9 for Isaac of Antioch's letter. See pg. 604 for discussion on the identification of Baltis.

References

{{MEast-myth-stub West Semitic goddesses Stellar goddesses Venusian deities

See also

References