Editing Atargatis (section)

== Mythology ==
The legends are numerous and of an astrological character. A rationale for the Syrian dove-worship and abstinence from fish is seen in the story in [[Athenaeus]] 8.37, where ''Atargatis'' is naively explained to mean "without Gatis", the name of a queen who is said to have forbidden the eating of fish.

[[Diodorus Siculus]] (2.4.2), quoting [[Ctesias|Ctesius of Cnidus]], tells how Derceto fell in love with a beautiful youth named Simios (also Ichthys, meaning 'fish') and bore a daughter but becoming ashamed of the illicit love, Derceto flung herself into a lake near [[Ashkelon]] and her body was changed into the form of a fish though her head remained human.{{sfnp|Smith, W. Robertson|1887|pp=305, 313}}{{sfnp|Cowper|1865|p=3}} In Diodorus's version of the legend, Derceto also despised the child from this union and had exposed the daughter to the desert, where she was raised by doves. This child grew up to be Semiramis, the legendary [[Assyria]]n queen.<ref name="ringgren"/>{{sfnp|Smith, W. Robertson|1887|p=305}} Lucian also notes that the erection of the temple at Hieropolis was ascribed by some to Semiramis who dedicated it to her mother Derceto.<ref name="d-syra14-cowper"/>

=== Analysis ===
Ctesias's account, according to one analysis, is composed of two myths, the Derceto transformation myth, and the Semiramis birth myth,{{efn|As a further layer, the goddess in both parts is equated to Astarte in [[William Robertson Smith|W. Robertson Smith]]'s analysis.}} and a telling of each myth are told by a number of classical writers.{{sfnp|Smith, W. Robertson|1887|p=314}}<!--Smith's article is in fact the ''Eng. Hist. Rev.'' cited in {{EB1911}}-->

The first myth (the Derceto metamorphosis into fish) is told, e.g., by Ovid as a [[Dione (mythology)|Dione]]-[[Cupid]] myth.{{sfnp|Smith, W. Robertson|1887|p=314}} The irony is that even though Ovid explicitly mentions Derceto ({{langx|la|Derceti}}) of Babylonia transforming into a fish,<ref>Ovid. [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-lat1:4 ''Metamorphoses'' '''IV''': 44ff].</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Ovid also mentions Venus transforming into a fish. ''Metamorphoses'' '''V''': 331, "Pisce Venus latuit.."}} Ovid's version of this first myth (detailed below) is recorded in ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'', and fails to mention the goddess in Syria (Dione) metamorphosing into fish-shape. The metamorphosis thereafter needs be reconstructed by consulting other sources which preserves that original ending.<ref name="hyginus-fish-metamorph">Hyginus, ''De astronomia'' '''II''': 30 and Manilius '''IV''': 580 sqq. ''apud'' {{harvp|Smith, W. Robertson|1887|p=314}}</ref>

The second myth (the Semiramis birth myth) is told by various writers as an alternate version of the birth of [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] (from an egg carried ashore by fish, then hatched by doves), however, Ctesias felt compelled to "drop" the egg element according to the analysis. This seemed a gratuitous ("incredible") excision to the analyst, given that Venus's birth from an ocean-found egg was not a far cry from the familiar version of the Aphrodite/Venus's genesis out of water (sea-foam).<ref>{{harvp|Smith, W. Robertson|1887|p=314}} and {{harvp|Smith, W. Robertson|1894|p=175}}: "as Aphrodite sprang from the sea-foam, or as  Atargatis, .."</ref>{{Refn|Cf. "Dione from the foam" (signifying Venus) in ''[[Pervigilium Veneris]]''.<ref name="lucas"/>}}

=== Syrian Venus ===
Ovid in ''Fasti'' recounts the legend that the goddess Dione accompanied by [[Cupid]]/[[Eros (god)|Eros]] plunged into the river in Palestine ([[Euphrates]]), whereby a  pair of fish came to convey them through water to aid her escape from [[Typhon]].<ref>''Fasti'' 2.459–.474 ''apud'' {{harvp|Cowper|1865|pp=14–16}}</ref><ref name="EB1911"/> The fish pair was commemorated as the constellation [[Pisces (astrology)|Pisces]] of the [[zodiac]], and local Syrians abstain from eating fish on account of it.{{sfnp|Cowper|1865|pp=12, 14–16}} Menander and others{{efn|Caesar Domitianus, Diognetus Erythræus}} also relate this legend,{{sfnp|Cowper|1865|p=12}} and some of the versions, say that the goddess and Cupid subsequently transformed into fish, possibly preserving the original telling.<ref name="hyginus-fish-metamorph"/>

The name Dione could refer to Aphrodite's mother, but it was also an epithet of Aphrodite/Venus herself.<ref name="lucas"/> So the legend has also been told as one of Venus with Cupid casting herself into the Euphrates, then transforming into fish.<ref>{{harvp|Cowper|1865|pp=12–13}}, he does not specify which primary source from among the authors he listed.</ref>

The second myth describes the birth of Syrian Venus as originating in an egg that fell into the [[Euphrates]], rolled onto land by fish, was hatched in the clutches of doves (''scholia'' to [[Germanicus]]'s [[Aratus]];<ref>{{harvp|Smith, W. Robertson|1887|p=314}} and {{harvp|Smith, W. Robertson|1894|p=175}}</ref> [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'').<ref>[[Hyginus (Fabulae)|Hyginus]], ''Fabula'' 197: "Into the Euphrates River an egg of wonderful size is said to have fallen, which the fish rolled to the bank. Doves sat on it, and when it was heated, it hatched out Venus, who was later called the Syrian goddess. Since she excelled the rest in justice and uprightness, by a favour granted by Jove, the fish were put among the number of the stars, and because of this the Syrians do not eat fish or doves, considering them as gods".</ref> {{Refn|group=""|What W. R. Smith regards as myth "II." is just a variant of the Venus-Cupid myth (Smith's "I") in Cowper's estimation.<ref>{{harvp|Cowper|1865|}}</ref>}}

The author of ''[[Catasterismi]]'' explained the constellation of [[Piscis Austrinus]] as the parent of the two fish making up the constellation of Pisces; according to that account, it was placed in the heavens in memory of Derceto's fall into the lake at [[Manbij|Hierapolis Bambyce]] near the Euphrates in Syria, from which she was saved by a large fish&nbsp;— which again is intended to explain the Syrian abstinence from fish.

=== Syncretism ===
{{Fertile Crescent myth (Levantine)}}
In many cases Atargatis, 'Ashtart, and other goddesses who once had independent cults and mythologies became [[syncretism|fused to such an extent as to be indistinguishable]]. This fusion is exemplified by the temple at Carnion ([[Ashteroth Karnaim|Carnaim]]), which is probably identical with the famous temple of 'Ashtart at Ashtaroth-Karnaim.

Not unnaturally she is identified with the Greek [[Aphrodite]]. By the conjunction of her many functions (as fertility goddess and of appliances),{{efn|Cf. ''supra''}} she becomes ultimately a great nature-goddess<ref name="EB1911" /> analogous to [[Cybele]] and [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], despite originating as a sea deity analogous to [[Amphitrite]]. In one aspect she typifies the protection of water in producing life; in another, the universal of other-earth;<ref>[[Macrobius]]. ''Saturnalia'', 1.23.</ref> in a third (influenced, no doubt, by [[Babylonian mathematics|Chaldean]] astrology), the power of Destiny.<ref name="EB1911"/> She was also identified with [[Hera]] by [[Lucian]] in his ''[[De Dea Syria]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harland |first1=Philip |title=Dynamics of Identity in the World of the Early Christians |date=2009 |publisher=Continuum Books |isbn=978-0-567-11146-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BtrN7iNEEfAC&pg=PA54 |access-date=24 January 2019}}</ref>

As a consequence of the first half of the name, Atargatis has frequently, though wrongly, been identified as [[Astarte|Ashtart]].<ref>Dirven's hypothesis that at Palmyra Atargatis was identical to Astarte, who functioned as the [[Gad (deity)|Gad]] of Palmyra, has been criticised by Ted Kaizer (''The Religious Life of Palmyra'' 2002 :153f), who suggests that we "stick to the divine names actually given by the worshippers" and follow the Palmyrene inscriptions, which distinguish between them.</ref> The two deities were probably of common origin and have many features in common, but their cults are historically distinct. There is reference in [[2 Maccabees]] 12.26<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.livius.org/maa-mam/maccabees/2macc12.html |title=on-line text |publisher=Livius.org |date=2006-12-08 |access-date=2014-08-11 |archive-date=2015-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150330022513/http://www.livius.org/maa-mam/maccabees/2macc12.html  }}</ref> and [[1 Maccabees]] 5:43<ref>Simply referring to "the temple that was in Carnaim" ([http://st-takla.org/pub_Deuterocanon/Deuterocanon-Apocrypha_El-Asfar_El-Kanoneya_El-Tanya__8-First-of-Maccabees.html#Chapter%205 on-line text]).</ref> to an Atargateion or Atergateion, a temple of Atargatis, at Carnion in [[Gilead]], but the home of the goddess was unquestionably not [[Israel]] or [[Canaan]], but Syria itself; at [[Manbij|Hierapolis Bambyce]] she had a temple in her name.<ref name="EB1911"/>

A recent analysis of the cult of Atargatis is an essay by Per Bilde,<ref>Bilde, Per (1990). ''Religion and Religious Practice in the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] Kingdom'' (in series "Studies in Hellenistic Civilization") Aarhus University Press</ref> in which Atargatis appears in the context of other Hellenized Great Goddesses of the East.