OANNES— ? FISH-GOD 



365 



fish. The head of the fish formed a mitre above that of the 



man, whilst its scaly limbs, back, and fan-Hke tail fell as a 



cloak behind, leaving the human 



limbs and feet exposed." But 



in identifying this mythic form 



with Cannes, he terms it merely 



" the sacred man-fish," not deity. ^ 



There were to be seen in the 

 temple of Belus, according to 

 Berosus, sculptured representa- 

 tions of men with two wings, or 

 two faces, with the legs and horns 

 of goats, 2 or the hoofs of horses ; 

 also bulls with the heads of men, 

 and horses with the heads of 

 dogs. 3 



I venture to suggest that the 

 mystic fish-form of Dagon or 

 Cannes is of the same nature and 

 in the same category as the man 

 with the legs and horns of goats, 

 or with the hoofs of horses : but 

 these mythic goat or horse forms 

 were not elevated into goat-gods 



FISH-GOD. 



From Layard's Nineveh and 

 Babvlon. 



^ Nineveh and Babylon, op. cit., pp. 

 343i 35°- See also Le Mythe de Dagon, 

 by Menant ; Revue de I' Hist, des Religions 



(Paris, 1885), vol. II. p. 295 ff., where a great variety of Assyrian fish-men 

 may be found. Forlong {op. cit., I. 231) instances a cornelian cylinder in 

 the Ouseley collection depicting Oannes or the Babylonian god or demi-god, 

 attended by two gods of fecundity, on whom the Sun-god with a fish tail 

 looks down benignantly. Forlong's obsession detects in every representation, 

 Indian or Irish, Assyrian or Australasian, some emblem of fecunditv, while 

 his ever-present " King Charles's head " is some phallic symbol. We are 

 almost reminded of the witty quatrain current some years back : 

 " Diodorus Siculus 

 Made himself ridiculous 

 By insisting that thimbles 

 Were all phallic symbols ! " 



■^ The goat-fish god dates as far back as Gudea, c. 2700 b.c. He was like 

 the man-fish or fish-god, a symbol of Ea, the god of water, and probably 

 derives from Capricorn. See Ward, p. 214, fig. 649 ; and p. 249, figs. 745, 747. 



* Cf. Ezekiel, VIII. 10, " Every form of creeping things and abominable 

 beasts pourtrayed upon the wall round about." 



