Amoashtart

Amoashtart
Queen-consort of Sidon, co-regent with her son Eshmunazar II
The name Amoashtart (’M‘ŠTRT) on the sarcophagus of her son Eshmunazar II.
Reignc. 539 BC – c. 525 BC
PredecessorTabnit I (spouse and brother)
SuccessorBodashtart
SpouseTabnit I
Phoenician language𐤀𐤌𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕‎
DynastyEshmunazar I dynasty
ReligionCanaanite polytheism
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Amoashtart (Phoenician: 𐤀𐤌𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕 *ʾAmīʿaštārt, "my mother is Astarte") was a Phoenician queen of Sidon during the Persian period. She was the daughter of Eshmunazar I, and the wife of her brother, Tabnit. When Tabnit died, Amoashtart became co-regent to her then-infant son, Eshmunazar II, but after the boy died "in his fourteenth year",[1] she was succeeded by her nephew Bodashtart, possibly in a palace coup. Modern historians have characterized her as an "energetic, responsible [woman], and endowed with immense political acumen, [who] exercised royal functions for many years".[2]

The only source for her biography is the sarcophagus of her son.

  1. ^ Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II, lines 1-3.
  2. ^ Elayi 2018, p. 290.