Da'gon. (a fish). Apparently the masculine, 1 Samuel 5:3-4, correlative of Atargatis, was the national god of the Philistines. The most famous temples of Dagon were at Gaza, Judges 16:21-30, and Ashdod. 1 Samuel 5:5-6; 1 Chronicles 10:10. The latter temple was destroyed by Jonathan in the Maccabaean wars.

Traces of the worship of Dagon, likewise, appear in the names Caphar-dagon, (near Jamnia), and Beth-dagon in Judah, Joshua 15:41, and Asher. Joshua 19:27. Dagon was represented with the face and hands of a man and the tail of a fish. 1 Samuel 5:5. The fish-like form was a natural emblem of fruitfulness, and as such was likely to be adopted by seafaring tribes in the representation of their gods.