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-like tail fell as a 
cloak behind, leaving the human p—= 
limbs and feet exposed.” But 
in identifying this mythic form 
with Oannes, 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. 
I venture to suggest that the 
mystic fish-form of Dagon or 
Oannes 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 
y 
SES 
xe 2) 
iA lz 
Or 
Co 
Se 
Ce 
eS 
POO 
FISH-GOD. 
1 Nineveh and Babylon, op. cit., pp. From Layard’s Nineveh and 
343, 350. See also Le Mythe de Dagon, Babylon. 
by Ménant; Revue de l’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 fecundity, 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 ! ”” 
2 The goat-fish god dates as far back as Gudea, ¢. 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. 
8 Cf. Ezekiel, VIII. 10, “‘ Every form of creeping things and abominable 
beasts pourtrayed upon the wall round about,” 
