Koshartu is a Canaanite Goddess, the wife of the God Koshar U
Khasis, whose name means "Skillful and Clever". Her name would then
be a feminine version of Koshar, making it "the Skillful Goddess".
There is not much known about Koshartu beyond the bare fact that She is Koshar
U Khasis's wife.
Koshar U Khasis is the Canaanite Craftsman of the Gods, who makes
magical weapons, builds palaces, creates furniture, and is credited with being
the first poet. In the Epic of Ba'al, a text dating from 1250 BCE found
in Ugarit, a Canaanite city-state in Syria, Koshar U Khasis is said to have
two residences: Kaphtor (Crete) and Memphis, in Egypt, called in the text, "the
House of the Ka (spirit) of Ptah". Ptah is the Egyptian Craftsman God,
worshipped from a very early time in Memphis, whose name means "the Opener".
An early name of Koshar U Khasis shares the same meaning, and in the legend
of Ba'al, Koshar U Khasis is the one who convinces Ba'al to build a window in
His palace, so that Ba'al's life-giving rains may escape and nourish the earth.
Koshar U Khasis is evidentally then to be identified with Ptah, and some scholars
see the two Gods as representative of the trade link between Phoenicia and Egypt.
Ptah's wife in Egypt is Sekhmet,
the Lioness-headed Goddess of War, Battle and Healing. Originally a Goddess
of Khem (the Greek Letopolis and modern Egyptian Ausim, about 8 miles from Cairo),
She became associated with Ptah and Memphis at an early time, and with Their
son Nefertum made up the Memphis Triad. Another Goddess associated with that
city was Buto, whom the Greeks identified with Leto, mother of Artemis
and Apollo. Both Sekhmet and Leto have children
famed as healers; and given Koshar U Khasis's skill in magic, perhaps His wife's
skill was in healing through magic. But that's just a guess.