DAGON ; Sept. is the name of a national god of the Philistines at Gaza and Ashdod (Judg. xvi. 2, 23 ; I Sam. v. 1, sq. ; Chron. x. to). As to the meaning of the name, the expressions of Philo Byblius, Aa-yw' v, Ss dvTi 2irrov, and Aceyeov Sipe Kal liporpov, ItcXhOn Zeds Apbrpios (Sanclzoniathon, ed. Orelli, pp. 26, 32, shew that he assumed the word to be derived from )al, corn. This derivation is ad mitted by Bochart, who argues that the fields of the Philistines were laid waste by mice, in order to shew that Dagon was not the true god of agri culture, as he was thought to be (Ilievz. ed. Rosenm. i. 381) ; and by Beyer, who makes the extraordinary assertion that we may conclude, from the sending of the five golden mice (to the God of Israel ! I Sam. vi. 4), that golden mice were offered to Dagon as an acknowledgment of his care in freeing their fields from mice (Addita menta ad Selden. p. 285). Each of these argu ments is open to the objection that the five golden piles—which were sent at the same time, and which, if they bore any reference to Dagon, would possibly not be reconcilable with his character as the god of agriculture—are here altogether disre garded; when yet it is evident that no conclusions can be legitimately drawn from the one unless they apply with equal force to the other. There are much better arguments, however, for the other etymology, which deduces the name from Ii, fish, with the ending Sn (Ewald, Hebr. Gram. sec. This derivation is not only more in accord ance with the principles of formation (for if Dagon comes from the root in, it must belong to the adjective formation in sec. 322, c, which does not appear so suitable for the force of a proper name), but it is most decisively established by the terms employed in I Sam. v. 4. It is there said that Dagon fell to the earth before the ark, that his head and the palms of his hands were broken off, and that 'only Dagon was left to him.' If Dagon
is derived from 11, fish, and if the idol, as there is every reason to believe, had the body of a fish with the head and hands of a man, it is easy to understand why a part of the statue is there called Dagon in contradistinction to the head and hands ; but not otherwise. That such was the figure of the idol is asserted by Kimchi, and is admitted by most modern scholars. It is also supported by thR analogies of other fish deities among the Syr°. Arabians. Besides the ATERGATIS of the Syrians, the Babylonians had a tradition, according to Berosus (Berosi Quiz' snpersnnt, ed. Richter, p. 54), that at the very beginning of their history an extraordinary being, called Oannes, having the entire body of a fish, but the head, hands, feet, and voice of a man, emerged from the Erythrxan sea, appeared in Babylonia, and taught the rude inhabitants the use of letters, arts, religion, law, and agriculture ; that, after long intervals between, other similar beings appeared and communicated the same precious lore in detail, and that the last of these was called Odakon ('f2Scbccop). Selden is persuaded that this Odakon is the Philistine god Dagon (De Dils Syris, p. 265). The resemblance between Dagon and Atergatis, or Derketo, is so great in other respects, that Selden accounts for the only important difference between them—that of sex—by referring to the androgynous nature of many heathen gods. It is certain, however, that the Hebrew text, the Sept., and Philo Byblius, make Dagon masculine. The temple of Dagon at Ashdod was destroyed by Jonathan the brother of Judas the Maccahee, about the year B.C. I48 (I Mac. x. 84).—J. N.