Fishygods

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  • ichthys (ιχθυς): (Greek) fish → acronym used by early Christians to denote their god Jesus Christ, from the Greek Ιησους Χριστος Θεου Υιος Σωτηρ ("Jesus Christ, Son of God [and] Saviour")
  • Abtu: In Egyptian mythology, a sacred fish, who swims in front of Ra's sun boat, to warn of any possible dangers ahead. "The Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, saith:- I am a perfect soul dwelling in the divine egg of the Abtu Fish."[1]
  • Hatmehit: In Egyptian mythology, a fish-goddess, originally a deification of the Nile River. In Ancient Egyptian art Hatmehit was depicted either as a fish, or a woman with a fish emblem or crown on her head, and was known as the Foremost of Fish or Chief of Fish. She was a goddess of life and protection. When the cult of Osiris arose, as wife of Osiris, and mother of Horus, she eventually became identified as a form of Isis.
  • Atargatis: a Syrian deity, commonly known to the ancient Greeks by a shortened form of the name, Derceto or Derketo and as Dea Syria, "Goddess of Syria", occasionally rendered in one word Deasura. She is often now popularly described as the mermaid-goddess, from her fish-bodied appearance at Ascalon and in Diodorus Siculus — a widely accessible source — but which is by no means her universal appearance. "Diodorus Siculus (ii. 4), in dependence upon Ctesias (cf. ii. 20), narrates that Aphrodite was angry with Derketo, and caused her to fall in love with a beautiful youth among those who sacriliced in the temple in Askalon. By him she became the mother of Semiramis. Filled with shame, she caused the youth to disappear, and placed the child in a desert, wher she was fed by doves. She then cast herself into a lake near Askalon and was changed into a fish, with the exception of her face. This isthe origin of the half-human half-lish image of Derketo." [2]
  • Adapa: a fishgod associated with the Seven Sages of ancient Mesopotamian mythology
  • Oannes was the name given by the Babylonian writer Berossus in the 3rd century BC to a mythical being who taught mankind wisdom. "Now it happened that in the first year, in the confines of Babylonia, there emerged from the Red Sea an awesome creature which was named Oannes. As Apollodorus relates in his book, [this being] had the complete body of a fish. Yet by the fish's head was another appropriate [human] head, and by the tail were [a pair of] human feet, and it could speak human language. A picture/likeness of [Oannes] has been preserved to this day. He further states that this creature kept company with humans during the day, completely abstaining from any kind of food, instructing people in letters and the techniques of different arts [including] city and temple [building], knowledge of laws, the nature of weights and measures, how to collect seeds and fruits; indeed, he taught humankind everything necessary for domestic life on earth. From that time on no one [individual] has discovered more. Now when the sun went down, the Oannes creature once again returned to the sea, remaining until morning in the vast expanse of the waters. Thus it lived the life of an amphibian. Subsequently other similar creatures came forth, as the book of the kings makes clear. Furthermore it is said that Oannes wrote about deeds and virtues, giving humankind words and wisdom."[3]
  • Dagon was a major northwest Semitic god, reportedly of grain and agriculture. He was worshipped by the early Amorites and by the inhabitants of the cities of Ebla and Ugarit. He was also a major member, or perhaps head, of the pantheon of the Biblical Philistines.
  • Fintan Mac Bóchra: one of several deities in Irish mythology who could assume the form of a fish (typically a salmon); Fintan was the sole survivor of the Flood; see T. F. O'Rahilly, Early Irish History and Mythology (Dublin 1946) for a fuller treatment of the subject
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