According to Berosus, of Babylon,--the Chaldean priest and astronomer, who extracted from the sacred books of "that great city" much interesting ancient lore, which he introduced into his 'History of Syria,' written, about B.C. 260, for the use of the Greeks,--at a time when men were sunk in barbarism, there came up from the Erythrean Sea (the Persian Gulf), and landed on the Babylonian shore, a creature named Oannes, which had the body and head of a fish. But above the fish's head was the head of a man, and below the tail of the fish were human feet. It had also human arms, a human voice, and human language. This strange monster sojourned among the rude people during the day, taking no food, but retiring to the sea at night; and it continued for some time thus to visit them, teaching them the arts of civilized life, and instructing them in science and religion.[34] [34] Berosus, lib. i. p. 48. [Illustration: FIG. 2.--HEA, OR NOAH, THE GOD OF THE FLOOD. _Khorsabad._] In this tale we have a distorted account of the life and occupation of Noah after his escape from the deluge which destroyed his home and drowned his neighbours. Oannes was one of the names under which he was worshipped in Chaldea, at Erech ("the place of the ark"), as the sacred and intelligent fish-god, the teacher of mankind, the god of science and knowledge. There he was also called Oes, Hoa, Ea, Ana, Anu, Aun, and Oan. Noah was worshipped, also, in Syria and Mesopotamia, and in Egypt, at "populous No,"[35] or Thebes--so named from "Theba," "the ark." [35] Nahum iii. 8. [Illustration: FIG. 3.--DAGON. _From a bas relief. Nimroud._] The history of the coffin of Osiris is another version of Noah's ark, and the period during which that Egyptian divinity is said to have been shut up in it, after it was set afloat upon the waters, was precisely the same as that during which Noah remained in the ark. Dagon, also--sometimes called Odacon--the great fish-god of the Philistines and Babylonians, was another phase of Oannes. "Dag," in Hebrew, signifies "a male fish," and "Aun" and "Oan" were two of the names of Noah. "Dag-aun" or "Dag-oan" therefore means "the fish Noah." He was portrayed in two ways. The more ancient image of him was that of a man issuing from a fish, as described of Oannes by Berosus; but in later times it was varied to that of a man whose upper half was human, and the lower parts those of a fish. The image of Dagon which fell upon its face to the ground before "the ark of the God of Israel," was probably of this latter form, for we read[36] that in its fall, "the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold: only the _stump_ (in the margin, "_the fishy part_") of Dagon was left to him." This was evidently Milton's conception of him: "Dagon his name; sea-monster, upward man And downward fish."[37] [36] 1 Samuel v. 4. [37] 'Paradise Lost,' Book i. l. 462. [Illustration: FIG. 4.--DAGON. _After Calmet._]