* the head.
Isa 2:18,19 27:9 Jer 10:11 50:2 Eze 6:4-6 Da 11:8 Mic 1:7
* of Dagon.
The name of this idol, Dagon, signifies a fish: and it is
supposed to be the Atergatis of the Syrians, corruptly called
Derceto by the Greeks, which had the upper part like a woman,
and the lower part like a fish; as Lucian informs us:
[Derketous de eidos en Phoinike ethe(8273)am(826e), the(826d)a xenon;
(826d)isen men gyn(823b) to de okoson ek m(8272)▋ es akrous podas,
ichtlyos our(8220)apoteinetai;] "In Phoenicia I saw the image of
Derceto; a strange sight truly! For she had the half of a
woman, but from the thighs downward a fish's tail." Diodorus,
(1. ii.) describing the same idol, as represented at Askelon,
says, [to men pros▉on echei synaikos, to d'allo s▌a pan
ichthyos.] "It had the head of a woman, but all the rest of
the body a fish's." Probably Horace alludes to this idol, in
De Art. Poet. v. 4; {Desinat in piscem, mulier formosa
superne:} "The upper part a handsome woman, and the lower
part a fish." If such was the form of this idol, then
everything that was human was broken off from what resembled a
fish.
* the stump. or, the fishy part.
|