Kotharat

The Kotharat, or Kotharot, or Kathirat (various suggested pronunciations of Ugaritic ktrt), 'the skilful ones' were a group of northwest Semitic goddesses appearing in the Ugartic texts as divine midwives. They are the only Canaanite deities that only appear in a group, and are associated with the swallow.
In the story of Aqhat the chieftain Daniel, in order to obtain a child, for seven days feasts the Kotharat who have entered his house. They are called:
the swallow-like daughters of the crescent moon,
those [artful] in the pleasure of the bed of conception.
On the seventh day they depart. Daniel's wife conceived.
In Nikkal and the Kotharat the Kotharat are first summoned to oversee the birth of a son to Yarikh the moon-god and the goddess Nikkal and then summoned a second time to bless the human girl Prbkht for her forthcoming marriage.
Sanchuniathon refers to a group of seven daughters of El by ‘Ashtart whose Phoenician name is not given but who are called the Titanides or Artemides in Greek. That the Greek goddess Artemis was often worshipped as a birth goddess suggests these seven Artemides are so called because they were also birth goddesses. If so, they are probably identical to the Ugaritic Kotharat.
The god Sydyc or Sadyc fathers the god Eshmun (Greek Asclepius) on one of the Titanides/Artemides.
Category:West Semitic goddesses
Category:Childhood goddesses
Category:Phoenician mythology