Difference between revisions of "Dagon"

<p> Diminutive (expressing endearment) of dag , "a fish." The male god to which [[Atargatis]] corresponds (&nbsp;2 [[Maccabees]] 12:26), the [[Syrian]] goddess with a woman's body and fish's tail, worshipped at [[Hierapolis]] and Ascalon. Our fabulous mermaid is derived from this Phoenician idol. She corresponds to the Greek foam-sprung Aphrodite. The divine principle supposed to produce the seeds of all things from moisture. Twice a year, water was brought from distant places and poured into a chasm in the temple, through which the waters of the flood were said to have been drained away (Lucian de Syr. Dea, 883). Derived from tarag , targeto , "an opening," the goddess being also called DERCETO; or else addir , "glorious," and dagto , "a fish." </p> <p> The tutelary goddess of the first [[Assyrian]] dynasty, the name appearing in Tiglath. Dag-on was the national god of the Philistines, his temples were at [[Gaza]] and [[Ashdod]] (&nbsp;Judges 16:21-30; &nbsp;1 Samuel 5:5-6). The temple of Dagon, which [[Samson]] pulled down, probably resembled a Turkish kiosk, a spacious hall with roof resting in front upon four columns, two at the ends and two close together at the center. Under this hall the [[Philistine]] chief men celebrated a sacrificial meal, while the people assembled above upon the balustraded roof. The half-man half-fish form (found in bas-relief at Khorsabad) was natural to maritime coast dwellers. They senselessly joined the human form divine to the beast that perishes, to symbolize nature's vivifying power through water; the Hindu Vishnu; [[Babylonian]] Odakon. </p> <p> On the doorway of Sennacherib's palace at Koyunjik there is still in bas-relief representations of Dagon, with the body of a fish but under the fish's head a man's head, and to its tail women's feet joined; and in all the four gigantic slabs the upper part has perished, exactly as &nbsp;1 Samuel 5:4's margin describes: now in the British Museum. The cutting off of Dagon's head and hands before Jehovah's ark, and their lying on the threshold (from whence his devotees afterward did not dare to tread upon it), prefigure the ultimate cutting off of all idols in the great day of [[Jehovah]] (&nbsp;Isaiah 2:11-22). [[Beth-Dagon]] in Judah and another in [[Asher]] (&nbsp;Joshua 15:41; &nbsp;Joshua 19:27) show the wide extension of this worship. In his temple the [[Philistines]] fastened up Saul's head (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 10:10). </p>

<p> <strong> [[Dagon]] </strong> . A god whose worship was general among the Philistines (at Gaza, &nbsp; Judges 16:23 , 1Ma 10:83-84; 1Ma 11:4; at Ashkelon, &nbsp; 1 Samuel 5:2; prob. at Beth-dagon [wh. see], which may at one time have been under Philistine rule). Indeed, the name Baal-dagon inscribed in PhÅ“nician characters upon a cylinder now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and the modern place-name <em> Beit Dajan </em> (S.E. of Nablus), indicate an existence of his cult in PhÅ“nicia and Canaan. An endeavour to identify the god with Atargatis (wh. see) is responsible for the explanation of the name as a diminutive (term of endearment) of <em> dag </em> (‘fish’), and also for the rendering of ‘only Dagon was left’ (&nbsp; 1 Samuel 5:4 ) as ‘only the fishy part was left.’ Though there is nothing to contradict the supposition that Dagon was a fish-god, it is more probable that originally he was an agricultural deity (named from <em> dagan </em> = ‘grain,’ cf. &nbsp; 1 Samuel 6:4-5 ), from which position he developed into a war-god (&nbsp; 1 Chronicles 10:10 ) and apparently even into a national deity (&nbsp; 1 Samuel 5:8 to &nbsp; 1 Samuel 6:18 ). An identification of this god with the Babylonian [[Dagan]] is doubtful (see Jensen, <em> Kosmologie </em> , 449 ff.; and Jastrow, <em> Rel. of Bab. </em> <em> [Note: Babylonian.] </em> <em> and Assyr. </em> <em> [Note: Assyrian.] </em> , Index). </p> <p> N. Koenig. </p>

<p> [[Dagon]] (''Dâ'Gon'' ), ''Fish.'' The national deity of the Philistines. There was a temple of Dagon at Gaza, &nbsp;Judges 16:23, and one at Ashdod, &nbsp;1 Samuel 5:1; &nbsp;1 Samuel 5:7; the latter was destroyed by Jonathan Maccabæus. Probably the worship of the male (Dagon) and female (Derceto) deities was conjoined in the same sanctuary. &nbsp;1 Samuel 31:10; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 10:10. There are places called Beth-dagon, where doubtless this idolatrous worship prevailed. &nbsp;Joshua 15:41; &nbsp;Joshua 19:27. Dagon was represented with the face and hands of a human being, and with a fishy tail. Some representations of a fish-god have been discovered among the Assyrian sculptures. </p>

<p> '''''da´gon''''' ( דּגון , <i> '''''dāghon''''' </i> ; apparently derived from דּג , <i> '''''dāgh''''' </i> , "fish"): Name of the god of the Philistines (according to [[Jerome]] on &nbsp;Isaiah 46:1 of the Philistines generally); in the Bible, Dagon is associated with Gaza (Jdg 16) but elsewhere with Ashdod (compare &nbsp; 1 Samuel 5:1-12 and 1 Macc 10:83 f; 11:4); in &nbsp; 1 Chronicles 10:10 there is probably an error (compare the passage &nbsp; 1 Samuel 31:10 ). The god had his temple ("the house of Dagon") and his priests. When the ark was captured by the Philistines, it was conducted to Ashdod where it was placed in the house of Dagon by the side of the idol. But on the morrow it was found that the idol lay prostrate before the ark of the Lord. It was restored to its place; but on the following day Dagon again lay on the ground before the ark, this time with the head and both hands severed from the body and lying upon the <i> '''''miphtān''''' </i> (the word is commonly interpreted to mean "threshold"; according to Winckler, it means "pedestal"); the body alone remained intact. The Hebrew says: "Dagon alone remained." Whether we resort to an emendation (דּגו , <i> '''''dāghō''''' </i> , "his fish-part") or not, commentators appear to be right in inferring that the idol was half-man, half-fish. Classic authors give this form to Derceto. The sacred writer adds that from that time on the priests of Dagon and all those that entered the house of Dagon refrained from stepping upon the <i> '''''miphtān''''' </i> of Dagon. See &nbsp;1 Samuel 5:1-5 . The prophet Zephaniah (&nbsp;Zephaniah 1:9 ) speaks of an idolatrous practice which consisted in leaping over the <i> '''''miphtān''''' </i> ̌ . The [[Septuagint]] in 1 Samuel indeed adds the clause: "but they were accustomed to leap." [[Leaping]] over the threshold was probably a feature of the Philistine ritual which the Hebrews explained in their way. A god Dagon seems to have been worshipped by the Canaanites; see Beth-Dagon . </p> <p> [[Literature]] </p> <p> [[Commentaries]] on Judges and 1 Samuel; Winckler, <i> Altoriental. Forschungen </i> , III, 383. </p>