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60-543: Michael Rostovtzeff called her "the great mistress of the North Syrian lands". Her consort is usually Hadad . As Ataratheh, doves and fish were considered sacred to her: doves as an emblem of the love goddess , and fish as symbolic of the fertility and life of the waters. According to a third-century Syriac source, "In Syria and in Urhâi [Edessa] the men used to castrate themselves in honor of Taratha. But when King Abgar became

120-483: A Tyche on the obverse and strolling lion on the reverse; one coin also depicts a goddess mounted on a lion, and the lion symbolism suggest that Atargatis is being represented. Coinage of Palmyra, some of which were found in the Palmyrene colony at Dura-Europos , may depict the goddess. The coin with Tyche on the obverse and a strolling lion on the reverse, and one with a goddess riding a lion points to Atargatis, based on

180-551: A [Christian] believer, he commanded that anyone who emasculated himself should have a hand cut off. And from that day to the present no one in Urhâi emasculates himself anymore". She is sometimes described as a mermaid -goddess, due to identification of her with a fish-bodied goddess at Ashkelon . Atargatis is seen as a continuation of Bronze Age goddesses. At Ugarit , cuneiform tablets attest multiple Canaanite goddesses , among them three are considered as relevant to theories about

240-450: 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. 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,

300-411: A description of the ancient world, where they did not necessarily apply, caused criticism. Rostovtzeff's theory was quickly understood as one based on the author's own experiences and equally quickly rejected by the academic community. Bowersock later described the book as "the marriage of pre-1918 scholarly training and taste with post-1918 personal experience and reflection." At the same time, however,

360-631: A full Professor of Latin at the University of St. Petersburg 1898–1918. In 1918, following the Russian Revolution , he emigrated first to Sweden, then to England, and finally in 1920 to the United States. There he accepted a chair at the University of Wisconsin–Madison before moving to Yale University in 1925 where he taught until his retirement in 1944. He oversaw all archaeological activities of

420-478: A later passage gives a description at length of this "Hera" whom the locals "call by a different name" (Atargatis), at Hierapolis. The goddess was posed seated with two lions on her sides, "In one hand she had a scepter, in the other a spindle, and on her head she wears rays, a tower [mural crown]..", and she wore a girdle ( Ancient Greek : κεστός ) as well. The head was set with a gemstone called lychnis which glowed by night. The worship of Atargatis going back to

480-529: A much smaller force. This instance could, in some instances, be enough to spark rebellions to his power in discontented areas. Finally, by taking Tyre, Alexander would have conquered the whole of Phoenicia, further proving his status as a conqueror and also completely cutting off the Persians from access to the Mediterranean sea while simultaneously depriving them of their largest contributor to their navy. After

540-458: A seven month siege which involved the building of a isthmus (see Siege of Tyre (332 BC) ), the Macedonians captured the city. What followed was the slaughter of many Tyrian citizens, as some put up resistance from within the walls. Following the subjugation of Tyre, Alexander performed his sacrifice to Heracles within the city's temple of Melqart, signifying his total control over the city. With

600-499: A trinity of sorts (popularized by authors like Tikva Frymer-Kensky ), is modern and ignores the role of other deities in Ugarit - for example Shapash ; as well as the importance of the connection between Athirat and El. The original Aramaic name of the goddess was 𐡏𐡕𐡓𐡏𐡕𐡄 ( ʿAttarʿattā ), with its other forms including 𐡏𐡕𐡓𐡏𐡕𐡀 ( ʿAttarʿattaʾ ), 𐡀𐡕𐡓𐡏𐡕𐡄 ( ʾAttarʿattā ), 𐡀𐡕𐡓𐡏𐡕𐡀 ( ʾAttarʿattaʾ ), and

660-475: A woman, and otherwise the entire body of a fish" in a shrine by Ashkelon , Syria, according to Diodorus (1st century BCE), drawing on Ctesias (5th century BCE); the attached myth explaining that Derceto transformed into a fish, after drowning herself in a nearby lake. The goddess was presumably revered in that fish-form at Ashkelon. It has been conjectured that the veneration of the goddess did indeed occur at Ashkelon and may have originated there. However, there

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720-501: Is also seen throughout the society at the time, such as the designs of coins – which featured both Phoenician and Greek inscriptions. Later on, these coins would depict both figures which originated from Phoenician mythology and those from Greek mythology, combined with Greek lettering. One instance of this was the depiction of the Greek hero Cadmus, who was known as a prince of Phoenicia, on various coins. After Alexander's death, his empire

780-540: Is emblematic of a Tyche (protector-goddess) of a city, but this matches the historic account that the cult relief Atargatis Hierapolis was seen wearing a mural crown. In the temples of Atargatis at Palmyra and at Dura-Europos she appeared repeatedly with her consort, Hadad , and in the richly syncretic religious culture at Dura-Europos, was worshipped as Artemis Azzanathkona . In the 1930s, numerous Nabatean bas-relief busts of Atargatis were identified by Nelson Glueck at Khirbet et-Tannûr , Jordan, in temple ruins of

840-503: Is no evidence that Atargatis was worshipped at Ascalon. The image of Derceto as half-woman half-fish was also witnessed by Lucian (2nd century) somewhere in Phoenicia (i.e., Phoenice Syria ), but at the Holy City of Phoenicia ( Hierapolis Bambyce ), she was depicted entirely as a woman. This temple was nominally dedicated to "Hera", but some thought it actually consecrated Derceto. Lucian in

900-484: Is reference in 2 Maccabees 12.26 and 1 Maccabees 5:43 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 Hierapolis Bambyce she had a temple in her name. A recent analysis of the cult of Atargatis is an essay by Per Bilde, in which Atargatis appears in the context of other Hellenized Great Goddesses of

960-568: Is told by various writers as an alternate version of the birth of 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). Ovid in Fasti recounts

1020-642: Is told, e.g., by Ovid as a Dione - Cupid myth. The irony is that even though Ovid explicitly mentions Derceto ( Latin : Derceti ) of Babylonia transforming into a fish, Ovid's version of this first myth (detailed below) is recorded in 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. The second myth (the Semiramis birth myth)

1080-472: The Euphrates , rolled onto land by fish, was hatched in the clutches of doves ( scholia to Germanicus 's Aratus ; Hyginus , Fabulae ). 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 Hierapolis Bambyce near

1140-586: The Hellenistic Phoenicia ( Seleucid Syria ) is evidenced by inscriptions at Akko. The literary attestations as already given are that Derceto was depicted as fish-tailed goddess at Ashkelon (by Ctesias after Diodorus), and later at Hieropolis (by Lucian). But all of the extant iconography of the Syriac goddess catalogued in the LIMC shows her as anthropomorphic. But the "fish-goddess form of Atargatis" were among

1200-605: The 19th and 20th centuries and who produced important works on ancient Roman and Greek history. He was a member of the Russian Academy of Science , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , and the American Philosophical Society . Rostovtzeff was the son of a Latin teacher. Upon completing his studies at the universities of Kiev and St. Petersburg , Rostovtsev served as an assistant and then as

1260-571: The Alexander taking Tyre, Phoenicia fell into the control of the Argead Dynasty. Following the establishment of control over Phoenicia, the Argead Dynasty began to spread Hellenism within the territory. This primarily took the form of various Greek rituals and festivals, which were practiced and held within cities like Tyre – 331, the year after the siege on Tyre, was a particularly notable year for festivities with various competitions being held within

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1320-505: The East. At her temples at Ashkelon, Hierapolis Bambyce , and Edessa , there were fish ponds containing fish only her priests might touch. 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 Tripolis, Lebanon ." The relief sculpture of the Syrian Goddess at Hierapolis

1380-503: The Euphrates in Syria, from which she was saved by a large fish — which again is intended to explain the Syrian abstinence from fish. In many cases Atargatis, 'Ashtart, and other goddesses who once had independent cults and mythologies became fused to such an extent as to be indistinguishable . This fusion is exemplified by the temple at Carnion ( Carnaim ), which is probably identical with

1440-553: The Lebanese coast. Initially the Phoenician cities made no attempt to resist, and they recognized his suzerainty . However, when Alexander tried to offer a sacrifice to Melqart , Tyre 's god, the city resisted. Alexander besieged Tyre in retaliation in early 332 BC. After seven months of resistance, the city fell, and its people were sold into slavery (See Siege of Tyre (332 BC) ). Despite his early death in 323 BC, Alexander's conquest of

1500-624: The Persian Empire. Emboldened by a victory over the Persian army at the Granicus River (334 BCE), Alexander went on to take the entirety of Asia Minor. To further cripple Persian forces, Alexander turned his attention towards coast cities, as taking control of them would deprive the Persians of naval bases. This brought Alexander into contact with the Phoenicians, as they were large contributors to

1560-405: The Persian navy. However, the Phoenicians desired freedom from Persian control, so many were quick to surrender to the armies of Macedonia, as Alexander has promised conquered cities freedom and self-determination should they surrender to him. In 332 BCE, Alexander came into contact with the city of Tyre. Unlike other Phoenician cities, Tyre did not surrender control to Alexander. Upon reaching

1620-516: The Roman Empire (1926). Scarred by his experience of fleeing from the Russian Revolution, he attributed the collapse of the Roman Empire to an alliance between the rural proletariat and the military in the third century A.D. Despite not being a Marxist himself, Rostovtzeff used terms such as proletariat , bourgeoisie and capitalism freely in his work and the importation of those terms into

1680-522: The age of thirty, developing mainly only in the quality of execution in later life, and making him "the last of the nineteenth-century ancient historians". Rostovtzeff was known as a proud and slightly overpowering man who did not fit in easily. In later life, he suffered from depression. Rostovtzeff was notable for his theories, notably, of the cause of the collapse of the Roman Empire , which he expounded in detail in his The Social and Economic History of

1740-479: The apocope form 𐡕𐡓𐡏𐡕 ( Tarʿatta ). The name ʿAttarʿattā was composed of: The Greek name of the goddess, attested in the forms Αταργατις ( Atargatis ), Ατταγαθη ( Attagathē ), Αταρατη ( Ataratē ), and Αταργατη ( Atargatē ), was derived from the non-apocope forms of its original Aramaic name, while her Greek name Δερκετω ( Derketō ) was derived from 𐡕𐡓𐡏𐡕 ( Tarʿatta ). Various Greek and Latin writers have written about

1800-496: 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

1860-484: The city, envoys told they Macedonians that while they would not give up control of the city, they would submit to his demands. Alexander wished to make a sacrifice to the Greek god Heracles in the city's temple of Melqart, who is considered the Phoenician counterpart to Heracles, as his arrival coincided with a festival held to honor Heracles. The Tyrians, worried that the dedication to a Hellenistic god would both dishonor

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1920-634: The city. These rituals served to further reinforced the Hellenistic culture on the Phoenicians by making typical Greek activities, such as dramatic contests, commonplace with in the territory. Despite the reinforcement of Greek culture in cities like Tyre, there was no apparent effort to completely remake Phoenicia under the control of Alexander. Unlike other conquered territories, the main Phoenician cities were not renamed or refounded by their new Hellenistic leaders, and instead kept their traditional Phoenician names. The Greek language, while incorporated into

1980-505: The course of their ambitious efforts to share in Phoenician prosperity. A final victory of the Seleucids ended a forty-year period of conflict . The last century of Seleucid rule was marked by disorder and dynastic struggles. These ended in 64 BC, when the Roman general Pompey added Syria and Lebanon to the Roman Empire . [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from this source, which

2040-455: The detailed scholarship involved in the production of the work impressed his contemporaries and he was one of the first to merge archaeological evidence with literary sources. Hellenistic Phoenicia The Persian Empire , including modern Lebanon , eventually fell to Alexander the Great , king of Macedonia . He attacked Asia Minor , defeated the Persian troops in 333 BC, and advanced toward

2100-426: The early first century CE; there the lightly veiled goddess's lips and eyes had once been painted red, and a pair of fish confronted one another above her head. Her wavy hair, suggesting water to Glueck, was parted in the middle. At Petra the goddess from the north was syncretised with a North Arabian goddess from the south al-Uzzah , worshipped in the one temple. At Dura-Europus among the attributes of Atargatis are

2160-759: The eastern Mediterranean Basin left a Greek imprint on the area. The Phoenicians, being a cosmopolitan people amenable to outside influences, adopted aspects of Greek civilization with ease The Argead Dynasty, also known as the Temenid Dynasty, came to control Phoenicia under the Conqueror Alexander the Great. The Argead Dynasty ruled Phoenicia until the death of Alexander in June 323 BCE. Known for his spreading of Greek culture, Alexander brought many elements of Hellenism with him during his reign over Phoenicia. Alexander's conquest of Phoenicia began during his attack on

2220-480: 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), she becomes ultimately a great nature-goddess analogous to Cybele and Rhea , despite originating as a sea deity analogous to Amphitrite . In one aspect she typifies the protection of water in producing life; in another,

2280-613: The farthest northern limits of the Roman Empire. 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 . During the Roman era, eunuch priests worshipped Atargatis, similar to the Galli priests of Cybele . At the shrine in Hieropolis founded by Semiramis , eunuch priests served

2340-503: The finds unearthed in the Transjordan , or so Glueck (cf. infra ) has insisted, though only her forms as goddess of "foliage and fruits" or cereal goddess were published in his paper. The tetradrachm issued under Demetrius III Eucaerus (96–87 BCE, coin image above) shows a fish-bodied figure on the reverse side, which scholarship identifies as Stargateis. The cult statues of Stargateis and her consort Hadad were commonly employed on as

2400-423: The god Melqart as well as signal a challenge to the sovereignty of the city, denied Alexander's request, offering him to make a sacrifice outside of the city. In an effort to maintain neutrality, the city of Tyre declared that they would not allow neither Macedonians nor Persians inside the city during the festival. Upset by the sudden denial, Alexander decided to besiege the city. While Tyre's lack of hospitality

2460-435: The goddess Atargatis or Derketo. Atargatis generally appears as the wife of Hadad . They are the protecting deities of the community. Atargatis, wearing a mural crown , is the ancestor the royal house, the founder of social and religious life, the goddess of generation and fertility (hence the prevalence of phallic emblems), and the inventor of useful appliances. Derceto was venerated in mermaid form, i.e., with "a face of

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2520-449: The goddess dressed in a silken robe on the back of a donkey. When they arrived at village squares or a receptive estate they would perform an ecstatic rite , designed to attract a crowd and elicit their contributions. The priests were described as effeminate, wearing heavy makeup, turbans on their heads, and dressed in saffron colored robes of silk and linen; some in white tunics painted with purple stripes. They shouted and danced wildly to

2580-494: The image of a fish-tailed woman. Rituals to the goddess were accompanied by flute playing and rattle shaking. In one rite, young males castrated themselves to become cross-dressing priests at the temple and thereafter performed tasks usually done by women. The obligatory lake or pond lay nearby, full of sacred fish which no one was allowed to eat; nor could anyone eat Atargatis's sacred doves. The priests were described by Apuleius as mendicants that traveled around with an image of

2640-781: The latter institution in general and the excavations of Dura-Europos in particular. He is believed to have coined the term " caravan city ". While working in Russia , Rostovtzeff became an authority on the ancient history of South Russia and Ukraine. He summed up his knowledge on the subject in Iranians and Greeks in South Russia (1922) and Skythien und der Bosporus (1925). His most important archaeological findings at Yale were described in Dura-Europos and Its Art (1938). Glen Bowersock described Rostovtzeff's views as having been largely formed by

2700-453: The legend that the goddess Dione accompanied by Cupid / 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 . The fish pair was commemorated as the constellation Pisces of the zodiac , and local Syrians abstain from eating fish on account of it. Menander and others also relate this legend, and some of

2760-481: The legendary Assyrian queen. Lucian also notes that the erection of the temple at Hieropolis was ascribed by some to Semiramis who dedicated it to her mother Derceto. Ctesias's account, according to one analysis, is composed of two myths, the Derceto transformation myth, and the Semiramis birth myth, and a telling of each myth are told by a number of classical writers. The first myth (the Derceto metamorphosis into fish)

2820-430: The lion motif. There has also been found one Palmyrene tessera (token) inscribed with Atargatis's name (Aramaic: ʿtrʿth ). A relief fragment found at Dura-Europos is thought to represent Atargatis/ Tyche (Yale-French excavations, 1935–46), as it shows a pair of doves that are sacred to Atargatis besides her head; the doves are assumed to be perched on the post of her throne, which is missing. The figure's mural crown

2880-476: The motif on the reverse of tetradrachm coinage by this monarch and by Antiochus XII Dionysus (87– 84 BCE) who succeeded him. Hieropolis Bambyce was one of the cities which minted its own coins. And some of the Hieropolitan coinage portray "Atargatis as indeed seated between lions and holds a scepter in her right hand and probably a spindle in her left", just as Lucian had described. Palmyra coinage also depicts

2940-463: The music of flutes, whirling around with necks bent so that their long hair flew out; and in an ecstatic frenzy they would bite their own flesh and cut their arms with knives until they bled. According to a story retold by Lucian, the Assyrian queen Stratonice saw in a vision that she must build a temple at Hieropolis to the goddess and so the king sent her there with a young man named Combabus to execute

3000-402: The origin of Atargatis: John Day asserts that all three shared many traits with each other and may have been worshipped in conjunction or separately during 1500 years of cultural history. While the worship of Ashtart and Anat as a pair is well attested, Steve A. Wiggins found no evidence Ashtart was ever conflated with Athirat. He also pointed out that the concept of Athirat, Anat and Ashtart as

3060-504: The sealed box to prove his innocence, where upon the king relented and rewarded Combabus for his loyalty. The temple was completed and a statue of Combabus was placed in it. This is said to be the origin of the practice of castration by the priests in the temple. Another story ascribed to Combabus mentions that a certain foreign woman who had joined a sacred assembly, beholding a human form of extreme beauty and dressed in man's attire, became violently enamoured of him: after discovering that he

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3120-490: The spindle and the sceptre or fish-spear. 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 Ctesius of Cnidus , tells how Derceto fell in love with

3180-436: The task. Knowing the queen's reputation Combabus castrated himself and left his genitals, sealed in a box. When the queen fell in love with Combabus and tried to seduce him, he revealed his mutilation, but this didn't dissuade her from desiring his constant companionship. When Stratonice and Combabus returned home, she accused him of trying to seduce her, and Combabus was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. Combabus called for

3240-405: The territory, never completely replaced the Phoenician language, and the two seemed to coexist within the society. On a similar note, many Phoenician religious traditions and cults were discovered to have survived the rule of the Argead Dynasty, as many of these cults began to incorporate elements of Greek cults, thereby blending the two cultures into one. This blend of Phoenician and Greek culture

3300-436: The universal of other-earth; in a third (influenced, no doubt, by Chaldean astrology), the power of Destiny. She was also identified with Hera by Lucian in his De Dea Syria . As a consequence of the first half of the name, Atargatis has frequently, though wrongly, been identified as Ashtart . The two deities were probably of common origin and have many features in common, but their cults are historically distinct. There

3360-448: The versions, say that the goddess and Cupid subsequently transformed into fish, possibly preserving the original telling. The name Dione could refer to Aphrodite's mother, but it was also an epithet of Aphrodite/Venus herself. So the legend has also been told as one of Venus with Cupid casting herself into the Euphrates, then transforming into fish. The second myth describes the birth of Syrian Venus as originating in an egg that fell into

3420-431: Was a eunuch, she committed suicide. Combabus accordingly in despair at his incapacity for love, donned woman's attire, so that no woman in future might be deceived in the same way. Michael Rostovtzeff Mikhail Ivanovich Rostovtzeff , or Rostovtsev ( Russian : Михаи́л Ива́нович Росто́вцев ; November 10 [ O.S. October 29] 1870 – October 20, 1952), was a Russian historian whose career straddled

3480-508: Was divided among his Macedonian generals. The eastern part—Phoenicia, Asia Minor, northern Syria , and Mesopotamia fell to Seleucus I , founder of the Seleucid dynasty . The southern part of Syria and Egypt fell to Ptolemy I Soter , and the European part, including Macedonia, to Antigonus I . This settlement, however, failed to bring peace because Seleucus I and Ptolemy clashed repeatedly in

3540-517: Was supported by a pair of tritonesses according Lucian. Cult sites in the Near East include Dura-Europos, Palmyra, Akko (Ptolemais), Carnaim and Nabataea. Two well preserved temples in 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 and Apuleius gave descriptions of

3600-476: Was the direct cause, Alexander's decision to attack the city stemmed from many considerations. By allowing the city to remain independent, Alexander would not possess total control of the Mediterranean coast, thereby providing his newly conquered territories with a weak spot, should the Persians deploy naval vessels. Secondly, by leaving the city after being spurned, his reputation as a conqueror would come into question, as he would have been successfully repelled by

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