ATARGATIS, a Syrian deity, known to the Greeks by a shortened form of the name, Derketo, and as Dea Syria, or in one word Deasura (Lucian, de Dea Syria) . She is generally described as the "fish-goddess." The name is a compound of two divine names ; the first part is the equivalent of the Phoeni cian Astarte (q.v.), the second is a Palmyrene name Athe (?tempos opportunum). The home of the goddess was unquestion ably Syria, especially Hierapolis (q.v.), where she had a great temple. From Syria her worship extended to Greece, Italy and the farthest west. The wide extension of the cult is attributable largely to Syrian merchants; whence we find traces of it in the great seaport towns.
Atargatis appears generally as the wife of Hadad (q.v.). They are the protecting deities of the community. She becomes ulti mately a great Nature-Goddess, analogous to Cybele and Rhea (see GREAT MOTHER OF THE GODS) ; in one aspect she typifies the function of water in producing life ; in another, the universal mother-earth (Macrobius, Saturn, i. 23) ; in a third (influenced, no doubt, by Chaldaean astrology), the power of destiny. The legends are numerous and of an astrological character.