Meaning
Dagon (a fish), apparently the masculine, (1Sam 5:3; 1Sam 5:4) correlative of Atargatis, was the national god of the Philistines. The most famous temples of Dagon were at Gaza, (Judges 1:16-30) and Ashdod. (1Sam 5:5; 1Sam 5:6; 1Chronicles 10:10) The latter temple was destroyed by Jonathan in the Maccabaean wars. Traces of the worship of Dagon likewise appear in the names Caphar-dagon (near Jamnia) and Beth-dagon in Judah, (Joshua 15:41) and Asher. (Joshua 19:27) Dagon was represented with the face and hands of a man and the tail of a fish. (1Samuel 5:5) The fish-like form was a natural emblem of fruitfulness, and as such was likely to be adopted by seafaring tribes in the representation of their gods.
