| Yup!
Most of what I've read that compares the love goddesses in various cultures to each other are comparing *archetypes*, not actual individuals. In that frame of mind, it is perfectly reasonable to say that all corn-goddesses with power over the summer growing season and harvest, for instance, are actually different manifestations of the same person or concept, no matter which culture, time period, or location they were worshipped in.
On top of that, ideas are passed in varying forms from one culture to later ones (it's like the children's game 'telephone' where one person whispers something to their neighbor and that person passes it along around the circle and then when it gets back to the first child the entire message has changed!). And religious ideas travel along trade routes between contemporaneous cultures.
The standard pantheons that get taught to most of us in school from the various cultures are a simplified version of a very time- and location- dependent religious history. The Aphrodite at the dawn of the Greek city-states was quite different from the Aphrodite which the Romans merged with their Venus.
Carter specifically mentions Aphrodite, Istar, Astarte, and Ceres, from what I remember. I think Ceres is the only one which might be a marginal match... Ceres specialities were more comparable to Demeter, not Aphrodite, from what I can tell.
Have you read _Egypt, Myths and Legends_ by Lewis Spence? I've found it easier to read in small bits and pieces rather than all at once, it's kind of heavy reading.
A much easier quick reference is _Encyclopedia of Gods_ by Michael Jordan, but it gives very brief overviews and is handy mostly because once you've read the blurbs in it, you can figure out what other references you should be looking for.
-- Adele |