[294] It is probably the wisest course to admit that the unity of an ancient god or goddess was a matter of name, rather than of nature.
[295] De Dea Syr., ii. c. 14. The authorship is a matter of doubt. The author adds, “but the image in the holy city is all woman.”
[296] Diod. Sic., II. 1.
[297] On Greek and Italian vases, etc., women with fish bodies are occasionally represented. Cf. Keller, op. cit., ii. 349.
[298] See Brit. Mus. Cat. of Coins, Galatia, pl. 18, 14, or B. V. Head, Historia Numorum2 (Oxford, 1911), p. 777.
[299] For Derketo, standing on a Triton, on coins of Ascalon, see G. F. Hill, Catalogue of The Greek Coins of Palestine (London, 1914), pp. lviii. f., 130 f., Pl. XIII. 21. The dove in the right hand of the goddess is her very usual attribute. The Triton on which she stands expresses her marine nature. Ovid, Met. IV. 44:
“De te, Babylonia, narret, Derceti, quam versa squamis velantibus artus Stagna Palæstini credunt celebrasse figura.”
Although Roscher’s Dict. of Myth. does not in the long article devoted to Isis specify her as fish-tailed, Isis is distinctly identified with Atargatis of Bambyke in Papyrus Oxyr., 1380, line 100 f., ἐν βανβύκη Ἀταργάτει. Cf. also Pliny, V. 19: Ibi (Syria) prodigiosa Atargatis, Græcis autem Derceto dicta, colitur.
[300] De Superstitione, Bk. IV., quoted by Athen., VIII. 37.
[301] History of Asia, Bk. I., quoted ibid. VIII. 37.