Editing Atargatis (section)

=== Temples ===
[[File:Balıklıgöl Urfa2.jpg|thumb|The fishpond of fish sacred to Atargatis survives at [[Şanlıurfa]], the ancient [[Edessa]], its mythology transferred to [[Abraham in Islam|Ibrahim]].]]
At her temples at Ashkelon, [[Manbij|Hierapolis Bambyce]], and [[Edessa, Mesopotamia|Edessa]], there were fish ponds containing fish only her priests might touch.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[De Dea Syria]]''; [[Diodorus Siculus]] II.4.2.</ref> Glueck noted in his 1937 paper that "to this day there is a sacred fish-pond swarming with untouchable fish at Qubbet el-Baeddwī, a [[dervish]] monastery three kilometres east of [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripolis, Lebanon]]."<ref>{{harvp|Glueck|1937|p=374}}, note 4</ref>

The relief sculpture of the Syrian Goddess at Hierapolis was supported by a pair of [[Triton (mythology)|tritonesses]] according 
Lucian.<ref>Lucian. ''De Dea Syria'' 14; {{harvp|Lightfoot ed.|2003}}, ''Lucian: On the Syrian Goddess'', p.  67 n. 17. ''apud'' {{harvp|Wright|2009|p=197}} and n. 21</ref>

Cult sites in the Near East include Dura-Europos, Palmyra, Akko (Ptolemais), Carnaim{{efn|[[2 Maccabees|2 Macc.]] 12:26.}} and Nabataea.{{sfnp|Maier|2018|p=79}} Two well preserved temples in [[Niha Bekaa#Archeology|Niha]], [[Lebanon]] are dedicated to her and to her consort Hadad.

From Syria, the worship of Atargatis and Hadad extended to [[Greece]] and to the furthest West into the Mediterranean. [[Lucian]]<ref>Lucian, ''[[De Dea Syria]]''.</ref><ref>{{harvp|Oden|1977|p=50}} ''apud'' {{harvp|Maier|2018|p=79}}</ref> and [[Apuleius]] gave descriptions of the beggar-priests who went round the great cities with an image of the goddess on an ass and collected money. The wide extension of the cult is attributable largely to Syrian merchants; thus we find traces of it in the great seaport towns; at [[Delos]] especially numerous inscriptions have been found bearing witness to her importance. Again we find the cult in [[Sicily]], introduced, no doubt, by slaves and mercenary troops, who carried it even to the farthest northern limits of the Roman Empire.<ref name="EB1911"/> The leader of the rebel slaves in the [[First Servile War]], a Syrian named [[Eunus]], claimed to receive visions of Atargatis, whom he identified with the [[Demeter]] of [[Enna]].