DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45618#0024
184
Division III Section B Part 6
Jupiter Heliopolitain — ce qui autorise a le reconnaitre dans la dedicace de Kefr-Nebo
sous le vocable Αεο'/π. A Emese, Gennaios se manifesta sous la forme d’un betyle”.
The triad at Kefr Nabo, then, was in reality Seimios, Sima and Leon = Gennaios.
The learning and research of M. Dussaud 1 2 and others 3 have made the following state-
ments fairly certain : —
(1) In all these cases, excepting possibly the last mentioned, this triad is the same
as the well-known triad of Heliopolis (Ba'albek), i. e. Jupiter Heliopolitanus, Venus,,
and Mercury.3
(2) The first of these deities, Jupiter Heliopolitanus at Bacalbek, Balmarqod at
Deir el-Qalca, Iarebol at Homs (or Palmyra), Helios at Tyre, etc., is the god of the
heavens, the Babylonian Marduk, the Syrian Hadad,4 among whose symbols were sun-
rays and the bull.
(3) The second is his consort, the Babylonian Istar 5 or cAtarcate, the Syrian Atar-
gatis, Lucian’s (?) Dea Syria, among whose symbols were sun-rays, sun-disk and moon-
crescent combined, and the lion. This goddess was identified under Greek and Roman
influences most commonly with Piera = Juno, or with Aphrodite = Venus, sometimes-
apparently with Athena Kyria.
(4) The third deity of the triad, Mercury at Ba'albek, elsewhere Simios, or in
feminine form Sima etc., was considered the son or daughter of the other two. This
Mercury has been identified with Nebo,6 and Nebo is the son of Marduk and Venus
Sarpanitu.7 That Simios is the son of Juno (Atargatis), or Sima the daughter of
Jupiter (Balmarqod), or that Balmarqod and Atargatis together are the parents of
Simios or Sima, is stated in Inscription 1 from Deir el-Qalca. Xanthus the Lydian
tells8 that Atargatis had a son Ίχδύς, with whom she was thrown into a lake by
Mopsus. I am inclined to agree with M. Dussaud that this Ίχθός is another name for
Simios. The story told by Diodorus,9 although confused, points to the same conclusion;
Derketo, here evidently the same as Atargatis,10 fell in love with a young Syrian
whose name is not given. By him she had a daughter called Semiramis. Ashamed
of her conduct Derketo made away with the young man, and had her infant daughter
exposed in a desert: she then changed herself into a fish and disappeared in a lake.
The daughter was reared for a time by doves,11 but finally was rescued by shepherds
and given to a royal overseer named Simmas.
1 “Notes de Mythologie Syrienne” IV, § 4: “Les Dieux Symbetyles Simios et Simia”, in R. A. 4e S. IV (1904, 2),
p. 251-260, and, in general, his “Notes de Myth. Syr.” I, in R. A. I (1903, 1), p. 347-382, and IV, in R. A. iv, 225-260.
2 Perdrizet, in R. A. 3e S. XXXII (1898, 1), p. 39-41; Ronzevalle, in R. A. 4e S. II (1903, 2), p. 29-49; Clermont-
Ganneau, Recueil vi (1905), p. 35-41.
3 See C. I. L. Ill, 7280. Perdrizet in C. R. de I'Acad. 1901, p. 131 f. Cumont, in Musee Beige V (1901), p. 149.
Dussaud, I. c., p. 258.
4 Possibly also Malachbel.
5 The Phoenician Astarte, though doubtless originally identical with Istar, appears to have had an independent develop-
ment, probably under Egyptian influence.
6 Perhaps he is also the Aglibol of Palmyra: see above, p. 183, note 7.
" Dussaud, I. c. p. 258. 8 Frg. II in F. H. G. I, p. 38 (Athenaeus VIII, c. 37).
9 Book 11, c. 4.
19 Although perhaps to be distinguished from Atargatis elsewhere, as M. Dussaud believes.
11 Fishes and doves were sacred in the Cults of Atargatis, which had a wide vogue in Syria and Phoenicia, and at
least the fish as a symbol was carried, doubtless chiefly by the Phoenicians, westward through the Mediterranean and especially
along the African coast, where it still survives under circumstances which indicate an unbroken tradition from ancient paganism.
Moreover the fish is still a sacred object to some of the modern natives of Northern Syria and Asia Minor, who will not eat
fish, doubtless originally for this reason. These facts, established by Professor Dolger {Das Fischsymbol 1 (1910) p. 425-446),.
and others, throw a strange light upon the use of the fish and the dove as symbols by the early Christians.
Division III Section B Part 6
Jupiter Heliopolitain — ce qui autorise a le reconnaitre dans la dedicace de Kefr-Nebo
sous le vocable Αεο'/π. A Emese, Gennaios se manifesta sous la forme d’un betyle”.
The triad at Kefr Nabo, then, was in reality Seimios, Sima and Leon = Gennaios.
The learning and research of M. Dussaud 1 2 and others 3 have made the following state-
ments fairly certain : —
(1) In all these cases, excepting possibly the last mentioned, this triad is the same
as the well-known triad of Heliopolis (Ba'albek), i. e. Jupiter Heliopolitanus, Venus,,
and Mercury.3
(2) The first of these deities, Jupiter Heliopolitanus at Bacalbek, Balmarqod at
Deir el-Qalca, Iarebol at Homs (or Palmyra), Helios at Tyre, etc., is the god of the
heavens, the Babylonian Marduk, the Syrian Hadad,4 among whose symbols were sun-
rays and the bull.
(3) The second is his consort, the Babylonian Istar 5 or cAtarcate, the Syrian Atar-
gatis, Lucian’s (?) Dea Syria, among whose symbols were sun-rays, sun-disk and moon-
crescent combined, and the lion. This goddess was identified under Greek and Roman
influences most commonly with Piera = Juno, or with Aphrodite = Venus, sometimes-
apparently with Athena Kyria.
(4) The third deity of the triad, Mercury at Ba'albek, elsewhere Simios, or in
feminine form Sima etc., was considered the son or daughter of the other two. This
Mercury has been identified with Nebo,6 and Nebo is the son of Marduk and Venus
Sarpanitu.7 That Simios is the son of Juno (Atargatis), or Sima the daughter of
Jupiter (Balmarqod), or that Balmarqod and Atargatis together are the parents of
Simios or Sima, is stated in Inscription 1 from Deir el-Qalca. Xanthus the Lydian
tells8 that Atargatis had a son Ίχδύς, with whom she was thrown into a lake by
Mopsus. I am inclined to agree with M. Dussaud that this Ίχθός is another name for
Simios. The story told by Diodorus,9 although confused, points to the same conclusion;
Derketo, here evidently the same as Atargatis,10 fell in love with a young Syrian
whose name is not given. By him she had a daughter called Semiramis. Ashamed
of her conduct Derketo made away with the young man, and had her infant daughter
exposed in a desert: she then changed herself into a fish and disappeared in a lake.
The daughter was reared for a time by doves,11 but finally was rescued by shepherds
and given to a royal overseer named Simmas.
1 “Notes de Mythologie Syrienne” IV, § 4: “Les Dieux Symbetyles Simios et Simia”, in R. A. 4e S. IV (1904, 2),
p. 251-260, and, in general, his “Notes de Myth. Syr.” I, in R. A. I (1903, 1), p. 347-382, and IV, in R. A. iv, 225-260.
2 Perdrizet, in R. A. 3e S. XXXII (1898, 1), p. 39-41; Ronzevalle, in R. A. 4e S. II (1903, 2), p. 29-49; Clermont-
Ganneau, Recueil vi (1905), p. 35-41.
3 See C. I. L. Ill, 7280. Perdrizet in C. R. de I'Acad. 1901, p. 131 f. Cumont, in Musee Beige V (1901), p. 149.
Dussaud, I. c., p. 258.
4 Possibly also Malachbel.
5 The Phoenician Astarte, though doubtless originally identical with Istar, appears to have had an independent develop-
ment, probably under Egyptian influence.
6 Perhaps he is also the Aglibol of Palmyra: see above, p. 183, note 7.
" Dussaud, I. c. p. 258. 8 Frg. II in F. H. G. I, p. 38 (Athenaeus VIII, c. 37).
9 Book 11, c. 4.
19 Although perhaps to be distinguished from Atargatis elsewhere, as M. Dussaud believes.
11 Fishes and doves were sacred in the Cults of Atargatis, which had a wide vogue in Syria and Phoenicia, and at
least the fish as a symbol was carried, doubtless chiefly by the Phoenicians, westward through the Mediterranean and especially
along the African coast, where it still survives under circumstances which indicate an unbroken tradition from ancient paganism.
Moreover the fish is still a sacred object to some of the modern natives of Northern Syria and Asia Minor, who will not eat
fish, doubtless originally for this reason. These facts, established by Professor Dolger {Das Fischsymbol 1 (1910) p. 425-446),.
and others, throw a strange light upon the use of the fish and the dove as symbols by the early Christians.