I thought it would be some garbage like that.
Let's start the demolition:
1.
Dagon was not a fish god.
According to the world renowned
Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Dagan (Dagon) was the god of crop fertility, dagan being the Hebrew for “grain”.
Dagan, also spelled Dagon, West Semitic god of crop fertility, worshiped extensively throughout the ancient Middle East. Dagan was the Hebrew and Ugaritic common noun for “grain,” and the god Dagan was the legendary inventor of the plow. His cult is attested as early as about 2500 bc, and, according to texts found at Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit), he was the father of the god Baal. Dagan had an important temple at Ras Shamra, and in Palestine, where he was particularly known as a god of the Philistines, he had several sanctuaries, including those at Beth-dagon in Asher (Joshua 19:27), Gaza (Judges 16:23), and Ashdod (1 Samuel 5:2–7).
Dagan | Semitic god
A possible etymology of the name Dagan from the West Semitic/Ugaritic root dgn, which can be translated as 'grain', and the Hebrew dāgōn, an archaic word for 'grain' (Black and Green 1998: 56), has tempted some scholars to assume that he played a role in vegetation/fertility, which might be confirmed by his son's, the West Semitic deity Ba'al, role as a vegetation deity (Black and Green 1998: 56). A 4th century AD tradition which places Dagan as a fish deity is erroneous (Black and Green 1998: 56).
Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses - Dagan (god)
2. Ea (Greek Oannes) was the Mesopotamian fish god.
Again according to the world renowned Encyclopedia Brittanica, Ea (Greek
Oannes) was the Mesopotamian fish god.
Oannes, in Mesopotamian mythology, an amphibious being who taught mankind wisdom. Oannes, as described by the Babylonian priest Berosus, had the form of a fish but with the head of a man under his fish’s head and under his fish’s tail the feet of a man. In the daytime he came up to the seashore of the Persian Gulf and instructed mankind in writing, the arts, and the sciences. Oannes was probably the emissary of Ea, god of the freshwater deep and of wisdom.
Oannes | Mesopotamian mythology
3. Not Babylon
The relief picture of the “fish god” most commonly shown is actually from the Assyrian city of Nineveh (not Babylon), and was discovered in the excavations of the 1840s by Austen Henry Layard. (see
www.gutenberg.org/files/39897/39897-h/39897-h.htm)
4. Similar does not mean equivalent.
It is the logical fallacy of
Cum hoc ergo propter hoc (
with this, therefore because of this). That there are similarities between two practices occurring at similar times does not mean that there is a causal link between them. This is even more ridiculous when the supposed common practices are at a distance in time and space.
5.
Nineveh was destroyed, razed to the ground around 612 BC.
The mitre in its current form did not appear until the 12th century AD. It developed from a round headdress like the Jewish priestly turban & as worn today by Eastern Orthodox priests. There are therefore some 16 centuries between the destruction of Nineveh and the supposed appearance of the “fish mouth” shaped mitre.
6. No other similarity
No other similarity is presented between the supposed cult of Dagon and Catholic practices. The whole charge rests on this singular and highly fanciful similarity
For more information on Dagan see:
Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses - Dagan (god)
The picture of "Dagan" in your links is the one produced in a report by the 19th century archaeologist Henry Layard who excavated Ninevah. It came from a bas-relief on a wall in the ruins. In his report he wrote:
“Unfortunately the upper part of all these figures had been destroyed, but as the lower remained from above the waist we can have no difficulty in restoring the whole, especially as the same image is seen entire on a fine Assyrian cylinder of agate in my possession.” (p284)
It was of course in black and white but some of the more inventive purveyors of this nonsense actually colour it in.
