The Goddess Ishtar in the Fertile Crescent

Ishtar is the moon goddess in Ancient Mesopotamia. She is also known as Inanna, Astarte, Ashtar, and later as Isis in ancient Egypt. 

Statue of the Goddess Ishtar in the Louvre, Paris

Ishtar holds the power that can create and destroy and like the moon is always changing in form. 

Ishtar is also the goddess of fertility and war. She is often depicted with standing on a lion or with the talons and wings of an owl. Commonly she is also shown wearing a three-tiered crown of stars, blue lapis lazuli stones, and a rainbow necklace which symbolizes her connection with the sky. 

In Mesopotamian legend she is seen as queen of the heavens; each night riding across the sky in a chariot drawn by lions or goats. 

The constellations of the zodiac (or zodiacal belt) , then known as the Houses of the Moon, was known as the "girdle of Ishtar", a term that referded to the acient moon calander.