Dagan
Canaanite · deity · cosmogonic · Recorded classification
Grain-god, senior deity ranked just below El; father of Baal-Hadad in the Ugaritic texts.
Children
Domains
- grain fertility
Powers
- Grant grain and abundant harvest to the land
Epithets
- 𐎁𐎓𐎍 𐎄𐎂𐎐 Dagan the grain-lord, senior god honoured with stelae at UgaritKTU 6.13; 6.14 (Dagan stelae) (primary)
- dgn GrainWest Semitic/Ugaritic root dgn 'grain'; Dagan temple at Ugarit (secondary)
Relations
- equated with: EnlilMesopotamian tradition equates Dagan with Enlil (shared 'father of the gods' rank; Dagan even receives Enlil's spouse-name pattern). Preserves senior paternity over the storm-god; domains otherwise differ.L. Feliu, The God Dagan in Bronze Age Syria (2003) (secondary)
- equated with: KumarbiReciprocal of hurrian_kumarbi.equated-with — In Syria Kumarbi was identified with Dagan: both grain-gods and 'fathers' of the storm-god (Dagan of Baal, Kumarbi of Teshub). Preserves the grain-father; Dagan has no succession-myth hostility.L. Feliu, The God Dagan in Bronze Age Syria (2003) (secondary)
Sources
- existence: Ugaritic god-lists KTU 1.47, 1.118 (RS 20.024) (primary); Baal Cycle, KTU 1.2 I 19 (Baal 'son of Dagan') (primary); Philo of Byblos / Sanchuniathon (Dagon as discoverer of grain), via Eusebius (primary)