Editing Atargatis (section)

=== Syncretism ===
{{Fertile Crescent myth (Levantine)}}
In many cases Atargatis, 'Ashtart, and other goddesses who once had independent cults and mythologies became [[syncretism|fused to such an extent as to be indistinguishable]]. This fusion is exemplified by the temple at Carnion ([[Ashteroth Karnaim|Carnaim]]), which is probably identical with the famous temple of 'Ashtart at Ashtaroth-Karnaim.

Not unnaturally she is identified with the Greek [[Aphrodite]]. By the conjunction of her many functions (as fertility goddess and of appliances),{{efn|Cf. ''supra''}} she becomes ultimately a great nature-goddess<ref name="EB1911" /> analogous to [[Cybele]] and [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], despite originating as a sea deity analogous to [[Amphitrite]]. In one aspect she typifies the protection of water in producing life; in another, the universal of other-earth;<ref>[[Macrobius]]. ''Saturnalia'', 1.23.</ref> in a third (influenced, no doubt, by [[Babylonian mathematics|Chaldean]] astrology), the power of Destiny.<ref name="EB1911"/> She was also identified with [[Hera]] by [[Lucian]] in his ''[[De Dea Syria]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harland |first1=Philip |title=Dynamics of Identity in the World of the Early Christians |date=2009 |publisher=Continuum Books |isbn=978-0-567-11146-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BtrN7iNEEfAC&pg=PA54 |access-date=24 January 2019}}</ref>

As a consequence of the first half of the name, Atargatis has frequently, though wrongly, been identified as [[Astarte|Ashtart]].<ref>Dirven's hypothesis that at Palmyra Atargatis was identical to Astarte, who functioned as the [[Gad (deity)|Gad]] of Palmyra, has been criticised by Ted Kaizer (''The Religious Life of Palmyra'' 2002 :153f), who suggests that we "stick to the divine names actually given by the worshippers" and follow the Palmyrene inscriptions, which distinguish between them.</ref> The two deities were probably of common origin and have many features in common, but their cults are historically distinct. There is reference in [[2 Maccabees]] 12.26<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.livius.org/maa-mam/maccabees/2macc12.html |title=on-line text |publisher=Livius.org |date=2006-12-08 |access-date=2014-08-11 |archive-date=2015-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150330022513/http://www.livius.org/maa-mam/maccabees/2macc12.html  }}</ref> and [[1 Maccabees]] 5:43<ref>Simply referring to "the temple that was in Carnaim" ([http://st-takla.org/pub_Deuterocanon/Deuterocanon-Apocrypha_El-Asfar_El-Kanoneya_El-Tanya__8-First-of-Maccabees.html#Chapter%205 on-line text]).</ref> to an Atargateion or Atergateion, a temple of Atargatis, at Carnion in [[Gilead]], but the home of the goddess was unquestionably not [[Israel]] or [[Canaan]], but Syria itself; at [[Manbij|Hierapolis Bambyce]] she had a temple in her name.<ref name="EB1911"/>

A recent analysis of the cult of Atargatis is an essay by Per Bilde,<ref>Bilde, Per (1990). ''Religion and Religious Practice in the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] Kingdom'' (in series "Studies in Hellenistic Civilization") Aarhus University Press</ref> in which Atargatis appears in the context of other Hellenized Great Goddesses of the East.