426 



FISH NOT IN SACRIFICE OR AUGURY 



sometimes identified with Astarte and with Atargatis ^ — un- 

 doubtedly a fish goddess — Ichthyolatry has been claimed for 

 Israel. 



But Cheyne, after showing that the mistake of identification 

 arose from Carnaim, where (Maccabees v. 26) the temple of 



Atargatis stood, being also called (Gen. 

 xiv. 5) Ashtoreth-Carnaim, disputes 

 the deduction, and denies that these 

 goddesses were one and the same. 

 He points out that at Ascalon 

 there were two separate temples, one 

 to Astarte (Ashtoreth) and one to 

 Atargatis (Derceto), standing side by 

 side. 2 



Strabo, however, states (XVI. p. 

 748) that in Hierapolis, or Bambyce, 

 or Magog, " there was worshipped the 

 Syrian goddess Atargatis," and on 

 p. 785 that this same goddess is called 

 by the historian Ctesias Derceto, and 

 by others Athara. In Strabo's day 

 if not the cult, of Atargatis and 



ATARGATIS. 



From a coin of Hierapolis. 

 See Brit. Mus. Cat. of Coins, 

 Galatia, PI. i8. 14, or B.V. 

 Head, Historia Numorum * 

 (Oxford, 191 1), p. 777. For 

 Atargatis, see ante, 127. 



apparently the name, 

 Ashtoreth were considered identical. ^ 

 Milton, at any rate, evinces no doubt, 



" Came Ashtoreth, whom the Phoenicians called 

 Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns : 

 In Sion also not unsung, where stood 

 Her temple on the offensive Mount." * 



* For data on Atargatis and Derceto, and for various Syrian coins bearing 

 fish, see J. B. Pitra, Spicilegium Solesmense, III. pp. 503-4 (Paris, 1855). 



* Ency. Bibl., p. 379. 



^ In Some Palestinian Cults in the Greek and Roman Age (Proceedings of 

 British Academy, vol. V. p. 9), Mr. G. F. Hill, speaking of the worship in the 

 two cities, concludes that the one at Ascalon is identified by Herodotus with 

 that of Aphrodite Urania, and that at Gaza with Derceto, or Atargatis. Lucian 

 (if he wrote De dea Syria) distinguishes the goddess of Ascalon from her of 

 Hierapolis, who was worshipped in human not semi-human form, but there is 

 little doubt of the connection between them. The Greeks identified both with 

 Aphrodite. Other writers state that the Canaanite Ashtoreth, pre-eminently 

 the goddess of reproduction and fecundity, became the goddess of fish (which, 

 as sacred to her, were forbidden food) and of the pomegranate, both of which 

 from their thousands of eggs or seeds are striking emblems of fertility. 



* Graf Wolf von Baudissin in Hauck's Protestantische RealencycL, 3rd ed.. 



