Dagon (dâ'gon), fish. The national deity of the Philistines. There was a temple of Dagon at Gaza, Judges 16:23, and one at Ashdod, 1 Samuel 5:1; 1 Samuel 5:7; the latter was destroyed by Jonathan Maccabæus. Probably the worship of the male (Dagon) and female (Derceto) deities was conjoined in the same sanctuary. 1 Samuel 31:10; 1 Chronicles 10:10. There are places called Beth-dagon, where doubtless this idolatrous worship prevailed. Joshua 15:41; Joshua 19:27. Dagon was represented with the face and hands of a human being, and with a fishy tail. Some representations of a fish-god have been discovered among the Assyrian sculptures.