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DAGON

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 730 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DAGON , a See also:

god of the See also:Philistines who had temples at Ashdod (1 Sam. v. 1), and See also:Gaza (Judg. xvi. 21, 23); the former was destro,yed by See also:Jonathan, the See also:brother of Judas the , Maccabee (1 Macc. x.84; 148 B.C.). But Dagon was more than a See also:mere See also:local deity; there was a See also:place called Beth-Dagon in See also:Judah (Josh. xv. 41), another on the See also:borders of See also:Asher (ib. xix. 27), and a third underlies the See also:modern See also:Bet Dejan, See also:south-See also:east of Nablus. Dagon was in all See also:probability an old Canaanite deity; it appears in the name of the Canaanite Dagantakala as See also:early as the 15th See also:century, and is possibly to be identified with the Babylonian god Dagan. Little is known of his cult (Judg. xvi. 23 seq.), although as the male counterpart of Ashtoreth (see See also:ASTARTE) his worshipwould scarcely differ from that of the Baalim (see See also:BAAL). The name Dagon seems to come from dag,"See also:fish," and that his idol was See also:half-See also:man half-fish is possible from the ichthyamorphic representations found upon coins of See also:Ascalon and Arvad, and from the fact that See also:Berossus speaks of an See also:Assyrian merman-god. The true meaning of the name is doubtful. In 1 Sam. v.

4, Thenius and See also:

Wellhausen, followed by See also:Robertson See also:Smith and others, read " only his fish-See also:part (See also:dago) was See also:left to him "; against this, see the See also:comm. of H. P. Smith and Budde. The See also:identification of Dagon with the Babylonian Dagan is doubted by G. F. See also:Moore (Encyc.Bib., See also:col. 985), and that of the latter with Odacon and See also:Ea-See also:Oannes is questionable. See also:Philo Byblius (See also:Muller, Fr. Hist. Graec..iii. 567 seq.) makes Dagon the inventor of See also:corn and the plough, whence he was called See also:Zeus 'Apbrpws. This points to a natural though possibly See also:late See also:etymology from the See also:Hebrew and Phoenician dagan " corn." It is not improbable that, at least in later times, Dagon had in place of, or in addition to, his old See also:character, that of the god who presided over See also:agriculture; for in the last days of paganism, as' we learn from See also:Marcus Diaconus in the See also:Life of See also:Porphyry of Gaza (§ 19), the See also:great god of Gaza, now known as Marna (our See also:Lord), was regarded as the god of rains and invoked against See also:famine.

That Marna was lineally descended from Dagon is probable in every way, and it is therefore interesting to See also:

note that he gave oracles, that he had a circular See also:temple, where he was sometimes worshipped by human sacrifices, that there were See also:wells in the sacred See also:circuit, and that there was also a place of See also:adoration to him situated, as was usual, outside. the See also:town. Certain See also:marmora " in the temple, which might not be, approached, especially by See also:women, may perhaps be connected with the See also:threshold which the priests of Dagon would not See also:touch with their feet (1 Sam.. v. 5, Zeph. i. 9). See further, the comm. on the Old Testament passages, Moore (loc. cit.), and See also:Lagrange, Relig. semit. p. 131 seq.

End of Article: DAGON

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