In it her power and efficacy in granting aid are extolled, for which ancient heroes vied in offering sacrifices. She appears as the protector of waters, indeed as their personification; it is further affirmed that A., rising from the mythical mountain Hukairya, in part pours impetuously into the sea Vourakasha, causing its waters to boil, and in part spreads abundantly over the seven zones of the earth. Given this character, the hymn dedicated to her is also called *abān* “waters,” and in worship the temples erected in her honour stand on the banks of rivers.
It is not clear whence this divinity entered the religion of the later Avesta. She may be a figure of pre-Zoroastrian Iranian polytheism, which, despite the reformer’s efforts, succeeded in penetrating the Avestan religion, as did many other deities abolished by him; the Iranians’ cult of water and other elements such as fire might suggest this. On the other hand, A. is widely attested outside the Iranian religious sphere; her cult flourished especially in Asia Minor and also in Armenia, particularly in the region of Akilisene, where she had temples even before the decree of Artaxerxes II (cf. below). In these regions she was identified with Artemis and other deities, but above all with Astarte, i.e. Aphrodite, Venus. She was revered as a goddess of fertility, marriages, and births; and as in the cult of Astarte, so too in that of A. the practice of sacred prostitution for girls before marriage was in use (Strabo, X, 16, 532). The similarities in both character and cult with Astarte might be explained in two ways: either by admitting that A. was introduced into Iranian religion from Babylonian religion, a view supported by the fact that in the latter there is a female divinity, protector of women but with a less sensual and more conformable character to Iranian religious tradition, called Ashi Vanuhi; or by considering her as originally an Iranian divinity, personifying the waters, later strongly influenced by the cult of Astarte.
The cult of A. was officially introduced by Artaxerxes II, who, as Berossus relates, ordered that statues of A. be erected in Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana, Persis, Bactria, Damascus, and Sardis. In the cuneiform inscription of Susa this king invokes, besides Ahura Mazda, also A. and Mithra; it is therefore likely that he, besides introducing A. officially, also promoted the cult of Mithra.
An idea of the plastic representation of A. may be gained from the aforementioned *Yašt*, which contains a vivid and colourful description that suggests a statue. A. appears as a graceful maiden, vigorous, with noble features betraying her illustrious lineage, adorned with a fine girdle, covered with a rich and ample mantle. She holds in her hand the boughs of sacrifice, wears rich earrings, and a precious headdress adorned with a hundred stars; a fillet with fluttering ribbons adorns her head.