THE MERMAID. 7 



one, but issuing from it, as Xoah issued from the ark. In 

 all of them the fish denoted " pre3er\'ation, " fecundity," 

 " plenty," and " diffusion of knowledge."* As the image 

 was not the effigy of a divine personage, but symbolized 

 certain attributes of Divinity, its sex was comparatively 

 unimportant, although it is possible that, combined with 

 the fecundity of the fish, the idea of Noah's wife, as the 

 second mother of all subsequent generations, according to 

 the widely-spread and accepted traditions of the deluge, 

 may have influenced the impersonation. 



Atergatis, the far-famed goddess of the Syrians, was also 

 a fish-divinity. Her image, like that of Dagon, had at 

 first a fish's body with human extremities protruding 

 from it ; but in the course of centuries it was gradually 

 altered to that of a being the upper portion of whose 

 body was that of a woman and the lower half that of 

 a fish. Gatis was a powerful queen of Sidon, and mother 

 of Semiramis. She received the title of " Ater," or " Ader," 

 " the Great," for the benefits she conferred on her people ; 

 one of these benefits being a strict conservation of their 

 fisheries, both from their own imprudent use, and from foreign 

 interference. She issued an edict that no fish should be 

 eaten without her consent, and that no one should take fish 

 in the neighbouring sea without a licence from herself. It 

 is not improbable that she and her celebrated daughter, who 



* Some writers are of the opinion that the legend of Oannes 

 contains an allusion to the rising and setting of the sun, and that his 

 semi-piscine form was the expression of the idea that half his time was 

 spent above ground, and half below the waves. The same commen- 

 tators also regard all the '• civilizing " gods and goddesses as, respec- 

 tively, solar and lunar deities. The attributes symbolized in the 

 worship of Noah and the sun are so nearly alike that the two interpre- 

 tations are not incompatible. 



