Our ignorance of the Natural History of the countries where the Ostrich inhabits, has undoubtedly perverted the import of the above passages; but if the reader peruse them afresh, and exchange this "owl" for Ostrich, he will immediately discover in them a vigour of description, and an imagery, much beyond what he formerly perceived.

Query, Why is the usual form of the original, "Daughter of the Ostrich?" In some places this might signify the abandoned, forsaken offspring of the terrified parent ;but why, in others? See what confusion this peculiarity has introduced among commentators, in the bewildered remarks of CALMET, under the article HYENA; where the reference of beth hiana, to a bird, seems inexplicable. But, suppose we trace this appellation to the roots of the words which form it: q.-the daughter of shrieking— vociferation-squalling; as the words beth-hiana import, in perfect coincidence to that other name, rinonim-the screamer-by which Job describes this querulous inhabitant of the desert.

Our plate, which is selected from among a number of subjects of Natural History by P. Boel, published by De Poilly, is evidently drawn from the living subject, and is little short of a direct comment on this passage of Job; it represents an Ostrich standing on tip-toe, her wings flapping strongly against her side, as if preparing for the action of running, lifting up her head, &c. The back view of this animal suggests the same idea of flapping the wings, &c. Observe the extremely muscular and powerful composition of the legs of this creature-this "camel-bird," as the Arabs call it.

No. CXLV. THOUGHTS ON THE IMAGE OF DAGON.
DAGON, PLATE 54.

THIS plate is engraved after a gem in the Florentine Gallery, which is probably of Grecian workmanship; it shews the progress of those variations, by which, in process of time, Art relinquished the truly ancient representation of Dagon. This figure exhibits a union of the human and fishy parts: but this union is contrary to the original idea of the emblem, which was, that of a human person coming out of a fish—not making a part of the fish-but issuing from it; as we shall see in several figures. Shall we be thought fanciful, in referring the figures of this plate to traditional memorials of Noah, his wife, and three sons? all of them having human upper parts, but piscine lower parts, i. e. all of them originally considered as having issued from a fish ;— though, by lapse of time, the import of that allegorical representation was forgotten. N. B. The original mer-man, and mer-maid, of our heraldry supporters.

DAGON, or DERKETOS, PLATE 55.

In the former plate, we saw an allusion to several persons understood to have been strongly allied, in some manner, to a fish. In this plate we see one person allied to a fish but this one person has four arms, or governing powers. Now the fact was, possibly, this: when the male personage was used as a type of the event commemorated in this emblem, then the original allusion was to Noah, and his three sons: but when a female personage was used, as an emblem of the very same event, then the allusion was to the wife of Noah. On the same principle, genealogies were reckoned (and still are reckoned in the East) by the male sex only (we have no genealogy by women in Scripture) but this rule was departed from, speciali gratiâ, when the universal mother of the second race of mankind was to be commemorated. Vide CHERUBIM, Plate 45, for the figure of a man with four heads and four arms, i. e. four governing powers, mental and corporal; or, in this Indian emblem, the four states and conditions of life -or, the four castes and distinctions among the inhabitants; which castes are, on the VOL. III. 2 L

Indian system, equally attributable to Noah as the father, or to his wife as the mother, of succeeding generations. The four bearded heads may be those of the four fathers of mankind united into one; signifying legislative government, morals, &c.: i. e. government in some manner or other: and wherefore four? unless four persons had originally their respective departments in conducting the general welfare of the community, their descendants.

This plate is copied from Mr. Maurice's "History of India," Plate vii. page 507. It represents a young person crowned, having four arms, each holding its proper symbol, coming out of a great fish; as if the great fish were casting forth this personage after the tempestuous ocean was calmed, the evil demon destroyed, and the verdant meadows were again clothed with cheerful herbage; as appears in the back ground of the original.

N. B. This emblem is called in India one of the appearances of VISHNUH.

It is likely that the reader may be somewhat startled at referring the image of Dagon, which we have always (justly) regarded as idolatrous, to Noah, whom we esteem as a primitive patriarch, saint, and prophet (and indeed a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, himself), and to the Deluge; we shall therefore endeavour a little to explain this reference; always assuming, that Dagon was a masculine, and Derketos a feminine emblem, or allegory, of the same ancient occurrence.

OF THE FIGURE OF DAGON.

The reader will do us the favour to turn to the article DAGON in the Dictionary, and to read it carefully over; where he will note, especially, the following passages and their connections: "There is an ancient fable that 'Qavinç OANNES, who was half a man and half a fish, came to Babylon, and taught several arts; and afterwards returned to the sea.... there were several of these Oannes... the name of one was Odacon, i. e. & Dagon [THE Dagon]. Berosus, speaking of Oannes, says, he had the body and head of a fish; and above the head of the fish he had a human head; and below the tail of the fish he had human feet. This is the true figure of Dagon."

Helladius reports of OES, what Berosus reports of Oannes (whence Scaliger thought Oes was the name Oannes mutilated); he was, says he, a monster who came out of the Red Sea. [N. B. The Red Sea, in very ancient authors, means the Indian Ocean.] He had the head, the hands, and the feet of a man; in the rest of his body he was a fish: he first taught letters and astronomy to mankind. EXCERPT. PHOTII, cod. 279. [Now who could teach several arts-who could FIRST teach letters and astronomy? The reader will do well to consider this question.] We conclude, then, that Oes and Oannes are the same person; and that Oannes is ó Dagon. ... But whence is the name Dagon?

OF THE NAME DAGON

The name Dagon, we conceive, is etymologically composed of the words DAG and AUN. From the article AMMON, in the Dictionary, we learn that Ammon, is, also, composed of two words, HAM and AUN. It is also suggested, and some reasonings are given in support of the suggestion, that this name might refer to the patriarch NOAH, or NAU; and that originally it was HAM-NAU: a transposition of the last three letters (which is a common thing in antiquity, and Scripture affords instances of it), having varied this name from its true mode of spelling. It is possible, that a similar transposition has occurred in this Dag-AUN, and that originally it was Dag-NAU: which might be equivalent to-the Dag of Nau, or Noah, i. e. the fish (as the Hebrew word dag imports) of Nau.

N. B. If this transposition be denied, we shall not attempt to enforce it, as the denial will not affect the main reasoning of this Fragment; for, if aun be taken in the sense of generative power, as it is Genesis xlix. 3; Deut. xxi. 17. it will equally lead, personally understood, to the great second progenitor of the human race, i. e. Noah.

We are to consider the ancient image of DAG-AUN as that of a person issuing from a fish; his upper half being human, his lower parts those of a fish. Our inquiry therefore must be directed to ascertain the import of this fish, or DAG, whence the man issues.

Let us recollect, that Oannes came on shore, and taught, and returned to the sea at night now to what could he return? but to some embarkation, or vessel, out of which he came by day: for Berosus expressly represents Oannes as coming out of the fish. It is clear, therefore, that this personage is described as coming out from, and returning to, a somewhat which swam upon the waters: and what could that somewhat be, but a vessel or ship of some kind, symbolized and commemorated under the figure of a fish? that is to say, this somewhat, swimming on the waters, was referred by allusion to that class of animals which constantly reside in the waters. But this is not all: as a fish passes in safety along the mighty deep, secure amid storms and tempests raging with their utmost violence, so the idea of that structure wherein a person, or persons, were PRESERVED from the perils of the boisterous waves, easily became connected with that of a fish. The emblematic fish, therefore, may be considered as denoting the safety of that embarkation, which, however it had been exposed, yet had experienced preservation, and ultimate security from the fury of the agitated element. In Fragment xx. we have a symbolical fish connected with the history of the Deluge: in that instance predictively; in this it is connected commemoratively.

This division of our subject calls to recollection a famous hieroglyphic, reported by Clemens Alexandrinus (lib. v.), but without his having the smallest conception of its meaning. There were, says he, sculptured over the entrance of the temple of Sais, in Lower Egypt, the following figures:

A Child-an Old Man

-a

DAG, OF KETOS.—a Hawk-a Hippopotamos.
a SEA FISH.

By reading this from the left hand to the right, he explains it as a trite observation against impudence; but by reading it from the right hand to the left [as Hebrew is always read; and Arabic, and the letters on the earliest medals; and which indeed is the truly ancient manner of writing], the import would be to this effect:

A Child ... Old Man .. .. SEA FISH. Renewed Life... Decrepitude.... PRESERVATION

Hawk.... Hippopotamos. ... Providence .... Power.

By great power, as the Hippopotamos is the most powerful of beasts [the Behemoth, Fragments, No. LXV.]; and by beneficent Providence, of which the Hawk is the constant Egyptian symbol, PRESERVATION, enclosed-included-an old man, who was favoured with a renewal of life. That is to say, Noah, the remains of the old world, received a new birth, and a second youth, when he quitted the ark [the dag or ketos, which is the word Clemens uses], which had, by the special protection of Providence, been the mean of his preservation. Viewed in this light, the emblem becomes clear and important. We believe it was first truly explained in the supplementary volume of "The Artist's Repository." Vide the Medals of CORINTH (Plate, No. 50.), in which this allusion is clearly represented.

On the whole, this train of reasoning, leads to the conclusion, that properly to

understand the emblematic figure of DAG-AUN, we must separate the ideas which compose it. (1) We must consider the human part-AUN or NAU, as issuing out of, and in itself entirely independent of, (2) His protection, means of preservation, dwelling, residence ;-that which had carried him safely through the waters ;-that from which he could come out, and to which he could retire-that which was symbolized by the form of a fish; and was denoted by the word dag. For it follows evidently, that this DAG was no part of the real person of NAU; as a man's house, which he quits in a morning to go to his labour, and about his business, and to which he returns at night, is no part of that man's person..... Accept, therefore, the idea of " the preservei of Aun," as implied in the compound word-Dag-aun.

The Hebrew word Dagon signifies a fish, say the etymologists, from its fertility; and corn from its increase. We add, that Dagon may at the same time allude to PRESERVATION, as a fish is preserved in the waters; to PRESERVATION, as corn is preserved in the earth; both, in reference to newness of life. For indeed Dagon is called Siton, the god of corn (vide DAGON in the Dictionary), because he discovered breadcorn, say the mythologists; and, no doubt, mankind received the use of bread-corn from him. Dagon, says Sanchoniatho, was the brother of Cronus; i. e. Saturn: [but Saturn was Noah]. Sanchoniatho also informs us that "Dagon, after he had found out bread-corn, and the plough, was called Zeus Arotrius" [the god of the plough]. How exactly this points to Noah, who is described as a husbandman (Genesis ix. 20.) needs no remark. But, there is also another reason, perfectly coincident with the emblem, as now explained, viz. as corn lies hid-secluded, securely-in the earth, during a certain period, wherein it dies, but afterwards revives into renewed life; so Siton, or Dagon (i. e. Noah), in a certain period of his history, resembled this process; being, while enclosed in the ark, dead, as corn under ground is dead; but, when quitting the ark, issuing to renewed life, as corn is renascent when sprouting. To this emblem of the resurrection our Lord alludes, John xii. 24. as also the apostle, 1 Cor. xv. 37.

OF DERKETOS.

Hitherto we have inspected only the masculine symbol commemorative of this great occurrence; our reasonings acquire additional strength by considering the feminine representative of the same event: and in this division of our subject, we shall find considerably more assistance than in the former; because, when names, &c. are extant in Hebrew only, we have only that channel of information open; whereas, in attempting to illustrate this Greek word, we may profit by the help of those Greek writers who have mentioned, or alluded to the subject.

DER-KETOS—which we beg the reader to resolve, as Dag-aun has been resolved into two parts-DER-KETOS-is thus described by Diodorus Siculus, lib. ii. Otà, v ovoμačovoiv δι Σύροι ΔΕΡ-ΚΗΤΟΥ͂Ν—τὸ μὲν προσώπου εχει γυναῖκος, τὸ δὲ ἀλλο σῶμα πᾶν ἰχθύος—“ a goddess named by the Syrians, DER-KETOS, whose countenance was that of a woman; all the other parts of her figure being a fish." Lucian says (de Dea Syria), Phenicia, I saw the image of DER-KETOS-a strange sight indeed! for she had the upper half of a woman, but from the thighs downward the tail of a fish."

"In

Pliny says (Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 23.), at Hierapolis, in Syria," ibi prodigiosa Atergatis, Grecia autem DER-KETOs dicta, colitur." There is worshipped, the monstrous [unnaturally compounded] Atergatis; by the Greeks called DER-KETOS.

The Greeks supposed that Semiramis was the daughter of DER-KETOS, who was changed into a fish; as Semiramis was changed into a dove, says Diodorus Siculus.

Thus we see what was the form of Derketos, in Palestine, and in Syria around Judea. Atergatis, or rather Adergetis, was called the mother of the gods," and is described as a sacred receptacle, wherein the gods [the second progenitors of mankind] were enclosed," says Mr. Bryant.

We find no assistance from etymology in the Greek language, for the first part of this word, Der. It is a Syriac word, and perhaps it was retained by the Greeks, as the Syriac title of the goddess.

We know, indeed, that it is usual to derive DER and ADER from the Hebrew ader (7) glorious, magnificent, superb-q. “ a magnificent ketos:"-but, how could a fish be magnificent? or what, in the nature or form of a fish, should suggest the idea? we beg leave, with some hesitation, rather to derive it from the Chaldee dialect [of which the Syriac was a branch], in which ader, or ADUR, signifies-the inhabited, the dwelling, the residence; so, we find it used, Daniel iv. 12. [ver. 9. orig.] "The beasts of the field were under its shadow, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in (IDERUN) i. e. INHABITED its branches." So ver. 18. "The beasts of the field ( TeDUR) DWELT under it." In several other places of this prophet, the word and its relatives signify to reside, or inhabit, and this, rather for a time, than permanently. If this import be accepted, then our print evinces the propriety of a KETOS being denominated "the inhabited Ketos;" i. e. that in which a person or persons had, or had had, their habitation. Compare what is observed on the word ADIR on a medal of Gordian ; in Fragments, No cCXIII.

We come now to the last inquiry; what was this KETOS? which was thus inhabited. No doubt, it answered perfectly to the dag, as already explained; i. e. what was sym bolized by the figure of a fish. Ketos in Greek, like dag in Hebrew, signifies a fish; but we are led to remark, I. that Pliny has the expression, fabulosa ceto [keto], the historical or mythological, i. e. the emblematical keto—or fish; which, says Mr. Bryant, is an emblem describing the ark [of Noah, originally]. "The ark was described under the emblem of a large fish." Vol. ii. page 408. 2. Hesychius says, KATHNE Tλolov META & KHTOΣ "GREAT ships were often called katene, from Ketos:" which signiὡς ΚΗΤΟΣ fied not only a sea-monster, a whale, a great fish, but, an unwieldy, immense, great ship, or vessel, i. e. a preserver on the waters.

It is now apparent, (1) that our emblems, both masculine and feminine, run at last into a memorial of the same event; and that the titles of these deities are coincident; the "inhabited ketos" being a strong reference to the " PRESERVER of Noah." (2) That the word DAG may signify either a fish, or that which a fish symbolizes: that is to say, either a natural, or an artificial PRESERVER [on, or from, waters], of a large kind. Also, that KETOS is precisely of the same import; a large and unwieldy floater, i. e. a PRESERVER on the waters. (3) That in the instances of DAG-AUN, and DER-KETOS, the fish part of the emblem referred originally to the ark of PRESERVATION.

The name Dagon was more frequent in Judea, than a cursory reader may suppose : so we have Beth-Dagon, the " temple of Dagon" in Judah (Josh. xv. 41.), another in the border of Ashur (Josh. xix. 27.); also, 1 Macc. x. 83. where it may be either a separate place, or a part of Azotus. It was, certainly, considered as a strong hold, a fortress, or place of refuge and security; i. e. of preservation; and Josephus distinctly speaks of a fortress named Dagon, above Jericho, Ant. xiii. 15. and de Bello i. 2. There was also a Caphar-Dagon, between Jamnia and Diospolis; as we learn from Eusebius.

[But the principal history in reference to Dagon, is that which occurred at Ashdod (1 Sam. v.) which we think we may now examine with advantage.-" And the Philistines took the Ark of God, and introduced it into the temple of Dagon, and placed it before Dagon. And the Ashdodites rose on the morrow morning, and beheld!