Ishara again

[ikhet_sekhmet]

OK, but is the Mesopotamian goddess Išḫara (apparently the name given to Ishtar on her marriage) the same as the Hittite goddess Išḫara? Why, yes:

Išḫara "was the main goddess of Ebla during the third millennium" (Kura was its main god), where she was the personal goddess of some kings. Her worship was more widespread than that of Ishtar; she had temples in the city of Ebla and throughout the kingdom. After the "first destruction" of the kingdom, however, she was replaced as main goddess and royal goddess by Ishtar, who was assimilated with Šauwuška.
 

Aha. "The cult of Išḫara spread from the region of Ebla as far as the Babylonia of the Akkadian period." She appears there in personal names, alongside Išḫara in a love spell, and "plays the role of Ištar" in the Epic of Gilgamesh and in Atrahasis. She had temples at Ur and Nippur, and also became part of pantheons elsewhere in Syria and in eastern Anatolia.
 

Išḫara has an important role in the Hurrian "Epic of Freeing", which describes her as "skillful in speaking, a goddess renowned for (her) wisdom. She "was the tutelary goddess of oath taking... This was the Išḫara the Hittites knew."

ETA: Here's Išḫara at Iconography of Deities and Demons in the Ancient Near East.

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Yener, K. Aslihan and Harry A. Hoffner Jr. Recent developments in Hittite archaeology and history: papers in memory of Hans G. Güterbock. Winona Lake, IN, Eisenbrauns, 2002.