Dagon Worship?
A study by Timothy Youngblood
Copyright © The Master's Table

Dagon, god of fertility worshiped by the Philistines and throughout the ancient Middle East. His cult is known to have existed as early as 2500 BC, and a number of references to him are made in the Old Testament. The possible derivations of his name are numerous; from the Hebrew word for "grain"; from the Semitic word for "corn"; and from a Hebrew word for "fish." The last of these derivations gave rise to the common image of Dagon as a merman-half man, half fish. Dagon is also regarded as the legendary inventor of the plow.
"Dagon," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 97 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Ralph Edward Woodrow states in his book the Babylon Mystery Religion on page 75 and 76 that the expensive and highly decorated garments that the popes wear were patterned after those of the roman emperors. The historians have not let this fact go unnoticed, for indeed their testimony is that "the vestments of the clergy...were legacies from pagan rome."

The tiara crown that the popes wear-though decorated in different ways at different times-is identical in shape to that worn by the "gods" or angles that are shown on ancient pagan Assyrian tablets. It is similar to that seen on dagon, the fish god pictured below. Dagon was actually but a mystery form of the false Babylonian "savior." The name Dagon comes from dag (a word commonly translated "fish" in the Bible) and means "fish god." as we read above. The way Dagon was depicted on Mesopotamian sculpture is seen in the drawing reproduced below.

The fish symbol
The fish symbol has been used for millennia worldwide as a religious symbol associated with the Pagan great mother goddess. It is the outline of her vulva. The fish symbol was often drawn by overlapping two very thin crescent moons. One represented the crescent shortly before the new moon; the other shortly after, when the moon is just visible. The Moon is the heavenly body that has long been associated with the goddess, just as the sun is a symbol of the god. Below you will see a drawing of the pagan goddess Cybele and notice the fish head of dagon on her head. Cybele was worshipped in Rome and was called the great queen mother goddess. The Basilica of Saint Peter's, according to some, stands upon the former site of Cybele's main temple.

The link between the goddess and fish was found in various areas of the ancient world: In China, great mother Kwan-yin often portrayed in the shape of a fish In India, the goddess Kali was called the "fish-eyed one" In Egypt, Isis was called the Great Fish of the Abyss In Greece the Greek word "delphos" meant both fish and womb. The word is derived from the location of the ancient Oracle at Delphi who worshipped the original fish goddess, Themis. The later fish goddess, Aphrodite Salacia, was worshipped by her followers on her sacred day, Friday. They ate fish and engaging in orgies. From her name comes the English word "salacious" which means lustful or obscene.

Also from her name comes the name of our fourth month, April. In later centuries, the Catholic church adsorbed this tradition by requiring the faithful to eat fish on Friday. In ancient Rome Friday is called "dies veneris" or Day of Venus, the Pagan goddess of love. Througout the Mediterranean, mystery religions used fish, wine and bread for their sacramental meal. In Scandinavia, the great goddess was named Freya, and fish were eaten in her honor. The 6th day of the week was named "Friday" after her and also mean to fool around. In the Middle East, the great goddess of Ephesus was portrayed as a woman with a fish amulet over her genitals.

The fish symbol "was so revered throughout the Roman empire that Catholic authorities insisted on taking it over, with extensive revision of myths to deny its earlier female-genital meanings. Sometimes the Christ child was portrayed inside the vesica, which was superimposed on their Mary's belly and obviously represented her womb, just as in the ancient symbolism of the goddess." Another author writes: "The fish headdress of the priests of Ea [a Sumero-Semitic god] later became the miter of the Catholic bishops and the pope. The symbol itself, the eating of fish on Friday and the association of the symbol with deity were all taken over by the early Catholic Church from Pagan sources and carred over in many other Churches. Only the sexual component was deleted. (See Trinity)