ISHTAR (pronounced EASTER) of Assyria was worshiped in Pagan Antiquity during her spring festival.
Collier's Encyclopedia, 1980, Volume 15, page 748, gives us this information [with my interjections in brackets and italicized]:
Ishtar, goddess of love and war, the most important goddess of the Sumero-Akkadian pantheon. Her name in Sumerian is Inanna (lady of heaven) [the Catholic Queen of Heaven]. She was sister of the sun god Shamash and daughter of the moon god Sin. Ishtar was equated with the planet Venus. Her symbol was a star inscribed in a circle. As goddess of war, she was often represented sitting upon a lion [a woman rides the beast who will make war with the saints and whose ten horns will make war with the Lamb]. As goddess of physical love, she was patron of the temple prostitutes [mother of harlots]. She was also considered the merciful mother who intercedes with the gods on behalf of her worshipers [the Merciful Mother Mary and Mother of God of the Catholic Church who "makes intercession" for the Catholic faithful]. Throughout Mesopotamian history she was worshiped [and still is venerated today] under various names [Mary, Our Lady] in many cities; one of the chief centers of her cult was Uruk [now it’s Rome].
Astarte of Phoenicia was the offshoot of Ishtar of Assyria. To the Hebrews, this abomination was known as Ashtoreth__Ashtoroth.
Source: ExChristian.net
