דָּגוֹן

From the study of 1 Chronicles 10:10

Range of meaning

A proper name: the god Dagan/Dagon, worshipped across Syria and Mesopotamia from the third millennium BC (Ebla, Mari, Emar, Ugarit). At Ugarit he is Baal's father. He was linked with grain and fertility. His name is usually connected with the West Semitic word for grain (Hebrew dagan, 'grain'), not with dag, 'fish.'

Against the English

English simply transliterates the name. Many readers have been taught he was a 'fish-god,' and some picture him as half fish. The ancient evidence does not support this (see drift).

How it drifted

The fish idea comes from a wordplay on Hebrew dag, 'fish,' that appears in medieval Jewish commentators (e.g., Rashi and David Kimchi on 1 Samuel 5:4). In modern times it was reinforced when Mesopotamian fish-cloaked sage figures were wrongly identified with Dagon.

Used elsewhere in the period

Philo of Byblos, writing in Greek but drawing on older Phoenician tradition, explains Dagon as Siton, 'grain,' and credits him with inventing the plow. A temple of Dagan stood at Ugarit. In the Bible, Philistine temples of Dagon are named at Gaza (Judges 16:23) and Ashdod (1 Samuel 5).

From the study of 1 Samuel 5:3

Range of meaning

A proper name: the god Dagan or Dagon, a high god worshiped across Syria and Canaan for well over a thousand years before this story. The meaning of the name itself is uncertain. The main suggestions are a link to the Hebrew and Canaanite word for grain (dagan) or to a root connected with clouds and rain.

Against the English

English versions simply transliterate the name, so the translations do not distort it. What readers lose is his stature. To a modern ear the name sounds like an obscure local idol, when he was one of the senior gods of the region.

How it drifted

The drift comes from later commentary, not translation. Hebrew dag means "fish," and from late antiquity and the medieval period onward interpreters took Dagon to be a fish god. English poetry and later popular reference works spread the picture.

Used elsewhere in the period

Dagan is named at Ebla and Mari in Syria from the third and second millennia BC. At Ugarit he had a temple, and the storm god Baal is called his son. In the Bible he is the Philistine god in Judges 16:23 and 1 Chronicles 10:10. His temple at Ashdod (Greek Azotus) still stood when Jonathan Maccabee burned it, according to 1 Maccabees 10:83–84. Philo of Byblos, in a work preserved by Eusebius, connects him with grain and the plow.

From the study of Judges 16:23

Range of meaning

The name of a god. Older texts from Syria call him Dagan. He was worshipped as early as the third millennium BC at Ebla and later at Mari and Terqa on the Euphrates. Ugarit had a temple of Dagan, and Baal is called 'son of Dagan' there. He was linked with grain and the fertility of crops. The Hebrew dāgān means 'grain' (H1715). In the Bible he is the Philistines' god, with temples at Gaza (here) and Ashdod (1 Sam 5; 1 Chr 10:10; 1 Macc 10:83–84). Place names like Beth-dagon (Josh 15:41; 19:27) show how widely he was worshipped.

Against the English

English versions all just write 'Dagon,' which is accurate. The problem is the picture many readers attach to the name: a half-man, half-fish sea god.

How it drifted

The fish idea comes from linking the name to Hebrew dāg, 'fish.' Jerome glossed Dagon as 'fish of sorrow.' Medieval Jewish commentators read 1 Samuel 5:4 to mean that only Dagon's 'fish part' was left. Milton turned it into poetry ('upward man and downward fish'). Nineteenth-century scholars then linked it with Mesopotamian carvings of men in fish-cloaks. The older sources for Dagan say nothing about fish.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ebla and Mari texts (third and second millennia BC); Ugaritic myths and the Dagan temple at Ugarit; Philo of Byblos (preserved by Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel 1.10), who explains Dagon as 'Siton,' that is grain, and calls him the inventor of the plough; 1 Samuel 5; 1 Maccabees 10:83–84.