Who was Ishtar the goddess?

  Ishtar, in Babylonian and Assyrian mythology, was the great mother goddess and the goddess of love, fertility, and war. She was said to be the daughter of the moon-god Sin or the daughter or wife of the sky-god Ahu. Ishtar had a violent and capricious nature and aroused both love and fear in gods and mortals alike. She was known for cruelty and kindness.
  A famous legend about Ishtar relates her descent into the Underworld in search of her dead love, Tammuz, the god of the harvest. She was imprisoned in the Un­derworld by its queen but was finally released through the intervention of higher powers. While Ishtar was in the Underworld, all vegetation on earth died. When she came back to earth, the crops also returned. Ishtar was later identified with the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, and with her Roman counterpart, Venus. She was also associated with the Phoenician goddess Astarte.