Note 299 — Chapter VI · CHARACTERISTICS OF FISHERMEN IN GREECE AND ROME—POVERTY “THE BADGE OF ALL OUR TRIBE”—DEITIES OF FISHING
Reading edition
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.