Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
ASH'TAROTH, AS'TAROTH. 1. A city of Bashan, east of the Jordan, Deut 1:4; Josh 9:10; Josh 13:31; the same as Beesh-terah, Josh 21:27; probably Tell-Ashterah, in Jaulan. ; Ashtaroth, plur. ) An idol, represented in the subjoined cut, Jud 2:13; called the goddess of the Sidonians. It was much worshipped in Syria and Phoenicia. Solomon introduced the worship of it. 1 Kgs 11:33. The Greeks and Romans called it Astarte. The four hundred priests of Jezebel, mentioned 1 Kgs 18:19, are supposed to have been employed in the service of this idol; and we are told that under this name Figure of Astarte.
") three hundred priests were constantly employed in its service at Hierapolis, in Syria, many centuries after Jezebel's time. - The worship of Ashtoreth was suppressed by Josiah. It was simply licentiousness under the guise of religion. " It is usually mentioned in connection with Baal. Baal and Ashtoreth are taken by many scholars as standing for the sun and the moon respectively; by others as representing the male and female powers of reproduction. Asherah, which is translated in the Authorized Version "grove," was an idol-symbol of the goddess, probably a wooden pillar.