I beseech thee, ...Goddess of goddesses, Ishtar, queen of all cities, leader of all men. Thou art the light of heaven Opener of the womb of all women. Great is thy light... Where thou glancest the dead come to life, and the sick rise and walk; and the mind that is distressed is healed. A Babylonian Prayer 2000 BCE

 

In the background of this mixed media piece there stands Asherah (Ishtar), the godess of fertility, before a temple dedicated to her sexual and spiritual powers.

In the foreground there stands, sumptious, the "love Goddess" as depicted by Rossetti in his famous 1877 painting entitled Astarte Syriaca.

However, in the most distant background and in a place once called Babylon, two women today show no visible signs of their beauty or sexuality, as they walk in their dark shrouds towards a temple, covered and devoid of identity.