74 History of Nature. [BOOK V. 



Marsia: Bambyce, otherwise called Hierapolis; but of the 

 Syrians, Magog. There is worshipped the monstrous Idol 

 Atargatis, 1 called by the Greeks Derceto. Also Chalcis, 

 surnamed Upon Belus : from which, the Region Chalcidene, 

 the most fertile of all Syria, taketh its Name. Then the 

 Region Cyrrhistica, Cirrhus, Gazatse, Gindareni, and Ga- 

 beni. Two Tetrarchies, called Granucomatae. The Hemi- 

 seni, Hylatae, the Nation of the Iturse, and those of them 



sense, as comprehending only the tract of land between Libanus and Anti- 

 Libanus ; or in a larger signification, and then it will comprehend all the 

 country in obedience to the king of Syria, from Seleucia or Arabia and 

 Egypt. Wern. Club. 



1 The Syrian idol Atargatis is the same as the Astarte or Ashtaroth, 

 so often mentioned in Holy Scripture ; it is also the Derceto of the 

 Greeks, who represent her to be the daughter of Venus, or, as some say, 

 Venus herself. The upper half of this monster had the form of a woman, 

 while the lower was that of a fish. Atargatis is fabled to have thrown 

 herself into a lake near Ascalon in Syria, through vexation at the loss of 

 her chastity, after having given birth to a daughter named Semiramis. 

 From this circumstance the Syrians abstained from eating the fish of that 

 lake, deified Atargatis, and built a temple to her memory on the borders 

 of the lake. Her daughter, Semiramis, was left exposed in a desert ; but 

 her life was preserved by doves for one whole year, till a shepherd of 

 Ninus found her and brought her up as his own child. She afterwards 

 married Menones, the governor of Nineveh, and at length became the 

 celebrated Queen of Assyria. After her death she was changed into a 

 dove, and received immortal honours in Assyria. Ovid alludes to both 

 mother and daughter in the commencement of his 4th Book of the 

 Metamorphoses. 



" But she awhile profoundly seemed to muse, 



Perplex'd amid variety to choose ; 



And knew not whether she should first relate 



The poor Dercetis, and her wondrous fate ; 



(The Palestines believe it to a man, 



And shew the lake in which her scales began :) 



Or, if she rather should the daughter sing, 



Who in the hoary verge of life took wing, 



Who soar'd from earth, and dwelt in towers on high, 



And now a dove, she flits along the sky." 



EUSDEN'S Translation. 



It may be doubted whether she is not identical with Dagon, the first 

 goddess of the Phoenicians. Wern. Club. 



