The Obituary
Dagon was an ancient Semitic god of grain and fertility, worshipped from the third millennium BCE at Ebla and Mari and named in Ugaritic texts as the father of Baal. The Philistines adopted him as their national god, raising temples at Ashdod and Gaza. The Book of Samuel famously describes his idol falling shattered before the Ark of the Covenant, and Samson pulling down his temple. His Philistine and Phoenician cult faded through the Iron Age and was gone by Roman times.
Worth remembering
- In the Book of Samuel his idol at Ashdod falls and breaks before the captured Ark of the Covenant.
- Father of Baal in Ugaritic texts, he was an ancient grain-god whose name was linked to Hebrew dagan, 'grain.'
Sources
- Dagon was a Mesopotamian and Canaanite god associated with grain and fertility Wikipedia
- The Philistines worshipped Dagon at temples in Ashdod and Gaza Encyclopaedia Britannica
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.