Puff the Magic Dagon

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H. P. Lovecraft created an entire mythological world (the Cthulhu Mythos) that borrowed from ancient mythological themes and ideas. Although not part of his original Cthulhu cycle, his story concerning Dagon also draws from ancient mythology. Click to hear more.

Thanks to my niece Zoe for all the help in getting podcasts figured out!

6 thoughts on “Puff the Magic Dagon”

  3. Steve

    Really enjoyed this podcast, but I’ve got a question: if the KJV translation “fishy part” (actually, it was a footnote), now usually translated something like “stump” is more likely to mean something like “grain”, how do we make sense of the passage? “Only the grainy part was left”?

    Also, I read somewhere that the “storm god” aspect might have naturally evolved into a role over the sea for a maritime people, and from there moved into “fishy” territory. Any thoughts on this?

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    • Steve Wiggins

      Thanks for asking. It is possible by the time that the Samuel account was written that the original association with Dagan and grain had already been misunderstood. In other words, the Israelites may have thought Dagan to be a fish-god. From that point out, his fate was ordained — once the Bible says it many people take it to be beyond question! It is an interesting suggestion that Dagan may have taken on sea-faring traits with sea-fairing peoples. It is somewhat surprising that the Philistines would have latched onto Dagan at all, although they did borrow other gods known from the Levant after they settled there. I suppose there may be something to a grain god turning to a fish god within a new, sea-faring context. Nice suggestion!

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