[36] For further information of the beneficent rule of Hussein Pasha, see Meyer, pp. 97, 98.
[37] See Meyer on Napoleon in Gaza, pp. 101, 102.
CHAPTER XV
DAGON, THE NATIONAL GOD OF THE PHILISTINES
Dagon was represented with the face and hands of a man and the tail of a fish (1 Samuel v. 4). Various kinds of fish were objects of general worship among the Egyptians.
The worship of Dagon did not exclude that of other Baals (2 Kings i. 2, 3). He was eminently the god of agriculture (1 Samuel vi. 4, 5).
The most famous temples of Dagon were at Gaza (Judges xvi. 21, 30) and Ashdod (1 Samuel v. 5, 6). This latter temple was of pre-Maccabean construction, and was destroyed by Jonathan, the brother of Judas the Maccabee (c. 148 b.c.) during the Maccabean wars (1 Maccabees x. 84).[38]
In connection with the history of Samson at Gaza, Mr. R. A. Stewart-Macalister, 1905, explains the architectural character of the Gaza Temple of Dagon. It must have consisted essentially of three members: the cella itself; a very deep distyle portico, and a forecourt, open to the sky. What seems to have happened was this: the blind prisoner was conducted to the forecourt, whence he could be seen by the Philistine grandees, who sat in the shade of the portico (cf. verse 30, "the house fell upon the Lords"), as well as by the large crowd of commoners assembled on the roof. By tricks of strength and buffoonery he was compelled to give them amusement, after which he was allowed to rest awhile, probably in order that he might have strength to continue the sport. He was set to rest between the pillars, which was the nearest place where he could be shaded from the sun's heat while resting. Taking the opportunity, he put forth his full strength, and before the lords of the Philistines realised what he was doing, he was able slightly to displace the posts holding up the portico, but sufficiently to cause them to fall under the weight of the roof.[39]
Colonel Conder remarks it is often denied that the name Dagon applies to the Babylonian and Phœnician deity represented as a merman, with the head and body of a bearded man, and the tail of a fish; because in Semitic speech Dagon signifies "Corn." It is, however, recognised that Dagon is the same god, called Da-gan in the Akkadian Chronicle of the first dynasty of Babylon; and in Akkadian Da signifies "the upper part of a man," while gan may be compared with Turkish kan for a large fish. Dagon would thus be the same as Oannes (u-khana, "lord of the fish"), a form of the sea-god Ea, who was a man with fish tail. He is represented not only on Assyrian bas-reliefs, but on a seal found near Ashdod in 1875. When the statue of Dagon was broken only the "fishy part" (dagon) was left. In the Laws of Ammurabi, Dagon is invoked as the deity of regions near the Euphrates, apparently as a water-god.[40]