CELESTE. — The name Caelestis indicates, in Roman religion, the principal goddess of Carthage who, summoned by the hostile city, seems to have found a cult in Rome even from those times. Her temple may have stood on the Capitoline. After Carthage was colonized, the Romans restored her cult in that place, but it was only under Elagabalus that her image was again removed and transferred to the Palatine.
Originally the goddess is none other than Tanit, whose importance in Punic religion surpasses that of her father, Ba'al Hammu. Given the great antiquity of the Carthaginian temple, one may consider Phoenician influences that would explain the many common traits between Tanit and Astarte. A goddess of fertility yet virgin and celestial (lunar), in Rome she was identified especially with Juno, but also with other goddesses (Diana, Venus, Fortuna). In the Roman provinces her cult is represented solely by dedications from African soldiers.