Dercetis

Dercĕtis, is, and Dercĕto, ūs, f., Δερκίτις and Δερκετώ,

• a Syrian goddess, called also Atargatis, supposed to be the same with the Greek Aphrodite, Ov. M. 4, 45; Hyg. Fab. 223; Plin. 5, 23, 19, § 81.

Dercetis, is, f. u. Dercetō, ūs, f. (Δερκετώ), die auch Atargatis genannte syrische Göttin, mit der griechischen Aphrodite verglichen, in Gestalt eines Fisches verehrt, Form -tis, Hyg. fab. 223 (wo Genet. Dercetis). Ov. met. 4, 45 (wo Vok. Derceti). – Form-to, Plin. 5, 81.

Dercĕtis, is, f. , Ov. M. 4, 45 et Dercĕtō, ūs, f. (Δερκετώ), Plin. 5, 81, Dercétis ou Dercéto [divinité des Syriens].

Dercĕtis

or Dercĕto (Δερκετίς or Δερκετώ), also called Atargătis. A Syrian goddess (Diod.Sic. ii. 4). She offended Aphrodité, who in consequence inspired her with love for a youth, to whom she bore a daughter, Semiramis; but ashamed of her frailty, she killed the youth, exposed her child in a desert, and threw herself into a lake near Ascalon. Her child was fed by doves, and she herself was changed into a fish. The Syrians thereupon worshipped her as a goddess. The upper part of the statue represented a beautiful woman, while the lower part terminated in the tail of a fish. She appears to be connected with the fish-god Dagon mentioned in the Old Testament as a deity of the Philistines.