Wikipedia's first sentence called it “ancient symbol originating in iraq used as early as 2000 bce that represents the planet venus”. Today it says “mesopotamian symbol of the ancient sumerian goddess inanna and her east semitic counterpart ishtar”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2015
Star and Crescent bearing a five-pointed version of the Star of Venus. The flag of Iraq from 1959-1963, bearing the Star of Venus. The Star of Venus also called the Star of Ishtar is an ancient symbol originating in Iraq used as early as 2000 BCE that represents the planet Venus , historically to represent the Assyrian and Babylonian Goddess Ishtar that are connected with Venus, as well as being historically used by Phoenician culture to represent Venus and the goddess Astarte (a counterpart of Ishtar). The symbol has been commonly represented as an eight-pointed star as it was discovered to be presented as such on a Babylonian seal approximately dated to 800 BCE. However in modern times in Islamic societies it has been represented by a five-pointed star that is used alongside a crescent moon . The Star of Ishtar is the central symbol of the Assyrian flag . The tower of Babel . Symbols: Encyclopedia of Western Signs and Ideograms .1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 618446139.
The opening as it stood in 2020 8 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Star of Ishtar The Star of Ishtar or Star of Inanna is a symbol of the ancient Sumerian goddess Inanna and her East Semitic counterpart Ishtar .Alongside the lion, it was one of Ishtar's primary symbols.Because Ishtar was associated with the planet Venus , the star is also known as the Star of Venus .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 948029476.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Symbol of the Sumerian goddess Inanna For the similar and often accompanying star symbol for the Sun, see Utu . Star of Ishtar The Star of Ishtar or Star of Inanna is a Mesopotamian symbol of the ancient Sumerian goddess Inanna and her East Semitic counterpart Ishtar . The owl was also one of Ishtar's primary symbols.Ishtar is mostly associated with the planet Venus , which is also known as the morning star.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1161374065. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “ancient symbol originating in iraq used as early as 2000 bce that represents the planet venus”. Today it says “mesopotamian symbol of the ancient sumerian goddess inanna and her east semitic counterpart ishtar”. Read the current article and compare.
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2015, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
ancient symbol originating in iraq used as early as 2000 bce that represents the planet venus
Now
mesopotamian symbol of the ancient sumerian goddess inanna and her east semitic counterpart ishtar
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
