8 



SEA FABLES EXPLAINED. 



is said by Ovid and others to have been the builder of the 

 walls of Babylon, were worshipped together ; for that 

 Atergatis was the same as the fish-goddess Ashteroth, or 

 Ashtoreth, " the builder of the encompassing wall," we have, 

 amongst other proofs, a remarkable one in Biblical history. 

 In the first book of Maccabees v. 43, 44, we read that " all 

 the heathen being discomfited before him (Judas Maccabeus) 

 cast away their weapons, and fled unto the temple that was 

 at Carnaim. But they took the city, and burned the temple 

 with all that were therein. Thus was Carnaim subdued, 

 neither could they stand any longer before Judas." In the 

 second book of Maccabees xii. 26, we are told that " Macca- 

 beus marched forth to Camion, and to the temple of Atar- 

 gatis, and there he slew five and twenty thousand persons." 

 In Genesis xiv. 5, this city and temple are referred to as 

 "Ashteroth Kamaiin." 



Fig. 7 is a representation of Ater- 

 gatis on a medal coined at Marseilles. 

 It shows that when the Phoenician 

 colony from Syria, by whom that city 

 was founded, settled there, they 

 brought with them the worship of 

 the gods of their country. 



Atergatis was worshipped by the 



Greeks as Derceto and Astarte. 



" In Phoenicia I saw the image of Der- 



For she had the half of 



FIG. 7. — ATERGATIS. 



From a Phcenician coin. 



Lucian writes' 



ceto, a strange sight, truly ! 



a woman, and from the thighs downwards a fish's tail." 



Diodorus Siculus describes (lib. ii.) the same deity, as 



represented at Ascalon, as " having the face of a woman, 



Opera Omnia,' torn. ii. p. 884, edit. Bened. de Dea Syr. 



