60 George Dahl, 



should probably likewise be connected with the first temple, and 

 his inscription dated in the early fourth century. When this 

 evidence is taken in connection with the testimony of Scylax (dis- 

 cussed above) we have fairly strong presumptive evidence that 

 Eshmunazar (and the inscription) antedates the Greek period and 

 should be dated during the pei'iod of Persian domination. This 

 tentative conclusion does not, of coiirse, exclude the possibility 

 that further discoveries in Syria may cause us to decide in favor of 

 another date for this inscription. 



pi in line 19 has been variously translated as " corn " and as the 

 god "Dagon." We know that Dagon was worshipped among the 

 Philistines'. Joppa lies well toward Philistia, and Dor, as indi- 

 cated above, Avas settled by the Takkara related to the Philistines. 

 There is, therefore, every possibility that at this time Dagon^ was 

 also the god of Joppa and Dor, and that the inscription means to 

 indicate that these regions were within the realms of that god. 



The use of the adjective jITlN may give some slight indication 

 that p*l is to be interpreted as the name of the god. In both 

 HebrcAv and Phoenician, "I^'IN has the meaning "majestic", "glo- 

 rious'", and is very frequently used as an epithet of divine beings 

 (e. g. in C.J./S. 118, and in the cry of the Philistines in 1 Sara. 

 4:8). Compare also such common Phoenician names as v^DTlN • 

 In line 16 of this same (i. e. Eshmunazai*) inscription the word is 

 used in the phrase D")'TX D!2ti* ("Glorious Heavens"), which 

 apparently designated the hilly district where the temples of the 

 gods were built'. Cooke [N'orth Semitic Inscriptions^ p. 38) says 

 of the adjective here: "The idea of expanse is contained in the 



' Moore in Enc. Bib., p. 983: Paton in Hast. Enc. of Bel. and Ethics, s.v,; 

 Schrader in Eiehm's HandworterhucJi. 



' It seems most probable that Dagon is related to the Babylonian god 

 Dagan (so Moore, Paton, Schrader, E. Meyer in Enc. Bib., s.v. Phoenicia). 

 It would appear that this god was found in the land by its Philistine, etc. 

 conquerors and adopted by them. The name Dagon is probably connected 

 with *^y^ (=corn), for he seems to have been both in Babylonia and Canaan 

 a god of agriculture. On a seal he has the emblem of an ear of corn (Paton, 

 I.e.). On the other hand it is still possible that the name comes from y] , 

 "fish"" (so Schrader, I. c; Meyer, Gaza, pp. 115 ff.). 



3 B.D.B., s.v.; Siegfried und Stade, s.v.; so also in New Hebrew, cp. Jas- 

 trow. Diet, of Targ., s.v. 



* Torrey in J.A.O.S., vol. 23 (1902), p. 163 ; vol. 24 (1903), pp. 214 flf. 



