Atargatis

Atargatis was the chief goddess of northern Syria in Classical antiquity. She was also referred to as Derketo (Ancient Greek: Δερκετὼ) or Deasura (by Romans).

According to the myth, Atargatis fell in love to a mortal shepherd called Hadad and they had a daughter called Semiramis. Semiramis later on became queen of Assyria. She was most well-known for creating the famous hanging gardens of Babylonia.

Atargatis accidentally caused the death of Hadad. She could not live with her guilt and drowned herself into a lake near Ascalon. Waters however could not hide her beauty and she was transformed into a mermaid. A woman with a tail of a fish. Story of Atargatis is one of the first mermaid stories ever told.

The name Atargatis derives from the Aramaic form ʿAtarʿatheh, which comes in several variants. The name ʿAtarʿatheh is widely held to derive from a compound of the Aramaic form ʿAttar, which is a cognate of ʿAțtart minus its feminine suffix -t, plus ʿAttah or ʿAtā, a cognate of ʿAnat. Alternatively, the second half may be a Palmyrene divine name ʿAthe (i.e. tempus opportunum), which occurs as part of many compounds. It has also been proposed that the element -gatis may relate to the Greek gados "fish". (For example, the Greek name for "sea monster" or "whale" is the cognate term ketos). So Atar-Gatis may simply mean "the fish-goddess Atar".