☾ Virit Folium ☽

“Atargatis” by Annie Stegg

Atargatis is a Goddess of Syrian origin whose worship spread to Greece and Rome (and further). She is a Great Mother and Fertility Goddess of the Earth and Water, considered the main Goddess worshiped in Syria. Doves and fish are sacred to Her: doves as an emblem of the Love-Goddess, and fish as symbolic of the fertility and life of the waters. She is so closely identified with the fish that sometimes She was represented in the form of a mermaid–Her upper half that of a human female, Her lower a fish-tail–though She could also be represented in simple woman-form. Not far from Her temple was a sacred lake, filled with many varieties of fish, Her sacred animal. These fish were well-kept, sometimes even ornamented with jewels (Lucian says he saw one particular fish that had a jewel in its fin on several occasions): they knew their names and would come when called, and would snuggle up to people to be pet. In the middle of the lake was an altar that people would swim to to make offerings. According to other writers, It was taboo to eat or touch these fish, except on special occasions and by the priesthood, who considered it theaphagy, the ritual eating of the Goddess as a sacrament. 

The worship of Atargatis spread to other parts of the Mediterranean, mostly brought by Syrian slaves. The Greeks called Her Derketo (an adapted form of “Atargatis”), and considered Her the chief Goddess of the Syrians. She had a temple in Ephesus, where the priestesses were so numerous they supposedly gave rise to the Amazon legends. One Greek story says that Derketo was a nymph who loved a shepherd-boy; when She became pregnant by him She either killed him or threw Herself in a pool in shame, where She was changed to a fish. Another story says that Derketo was hatched from an egg that fell from heaven; it landed in the Euphrates river, where some fish nudged it to shore. There it was found by a dove, who incubated it. Later, to show Her gratitude, Derketo persuaded Zeus to put an image of the fish in the stars, which He did, creating the constellation Pisces. The daughter Derketo bore was Semiramis, (who built the Hanging Gardens), the famous Assyrian Queen of Legend, and who was worshiped in her own right as a Goddess in nearby Charchemish.