79.) The mermaid of the Ottawas was "woman to the waist and fair;" thence fish-like.
"For six months the Carib father must not eat birds or fish, for whatever
Soon the fish in the water--brochet, camoo, meye, crocro, mullet, down to the eel, the crawfish, the loche, the tétar, and the dormer--died, and were thrown on the banks.
In the Hindoo legend we find the fish-god, who represents Poseidon, father of Atlantis, helping Manu over "the Mountain of the North." In the Chaldean legend Khasisatra's vessel is stopped by "the Mountain of Nizir" until the sea goes down.
The Hindoo Bhâgavata-Purâna tells us that the fish-god, who warned Satyravata of the coming of the Flood, directed him to place the sacred Scriptures in a safe place, "in order to preserve them from Hayagriva, a marine horse dwelling in the abyss."
All mankind are changed into fish, with the exception of one man and his wife, who save themselves in a bark made of the trunk of a cypress-tree.
Then all mankind was lost and drowned, and found themselves changed into fish.
"But as soon as they had finished they went out, and the water remained calm, for the wood no longer moved, and, on opening it, they began to see fish.
"Then they lit a fire, by rubbing together pieces of wood, and they roasted fish.
He began to chide, saying, 'Who has made this fire here?' And, seizing hold of the fish, he shaped their loins and heads, and they were transformed into dogs (chichime)."
even the mountains sunk into the water;" not only the land on which the people dwelt who were turned into fish, but the very mountains of that land sunk into the water.
"One morning water for washing was brought to Manu, and when he had washed himself a fish remained in his hands, and it addressed these words to him: 'Protect me, and I will save thee.' 'From what wilt thou save me?' 'A deluge will sweep all creatures away; it is from that I will save thee.' 'How shall I protect thee?' The fish replied, 'While we are small we run great dangers, for fish swallow fish.
When I shall have grown still more, throw me into the ocean; then I shall be preserved from destruction.' Soon it grew a large fish.
"After keeping him thus, Manu carried the fish to the sea.
In the year indicated Manu built a vessel and worshipped the fish.
Then the fish came swimming up to him, and Manu fastened the cable of the ship to the horn of the fish, by which means the latter made it pass over the Mountain of the North.
The fish said, 'I have saved thee; fasten the vessel to a tree, that the water may not sweep it away while thou art on the mountain; and in proportion as the waters decrease thou shalt descend.' Manu descended with the waters, and this is what is called the descent of Manu on the Mountain of the North.
"We must also 'remark that in the Purânas it is no longer Manu Vaivasata that the divine fish saves from the Deluge, but a different personage, the King of the Dâstas--i.
Nor must we pay less attention to the directions given by the fish-god to Satyravata for the placing of the sacred Scriptures in a safe place, in order to preserve them from Hayagriva, a marine horse dwelling in the abyss.
The references to "the three worlds" and the "fish-god" in these legends point to Atlantis.
He is thus a sea-god, or fish-god, and be comes to save the representative of his country.
They built them homes and throve upon its shores, for there was need of many men to till, to weave the golden reed, to build, at first but crudely, then the costly piles that crumble, crumble where the fish desport in sullen pleasure and where bright shells mark a spot within the shadows of the deep.
"Barbarian" children were they called who dwelt where forest hid their hut, and beasts and fish did furnish all their food, save the date and fig that cast ripe fruit unto their feet.
Fish, flesh of "sheep," ye speak, and wheat—the mixture of the maize and "rice" with fiery fruits that grew there as the years brought foreign tree and shrub unto that isle.
From bones of certain fish—the "shark," the "gar," they made them weapons in the early-crudest age; such ivory as ye seldom see because the seeming, worthless bones by simple method long ago employed.
Oil of the fish gave all the light Atlantis knew in homes when darkness hid the light of day.
of scales the fish might deftly grow, embroidered with each name all set in gems of azure, yellow, too, I see the noble captains of the host affect—the color of the shifting light on corn, the yellow symbol, too, of holiness—the flower's heart—the center of an orb—the pigment pure that mellows flesh in tint.
We feed the fish upon thy northern bulk today, a dainty rare for sharks.
The fish of foul portent shall batten upon priestly fare today!" And so three galleys sailed to beat to nothingness the galley of the priests.
The sea may swallow and the fish may eat!" was each Atlantian's thought.
There dead-filled galleys pile on earlier pile; the fish float heavy from their feed of dead, and to the northward hastening are seen such numbers as have chosen flight to glorious death.
The seas and rivers provided them with fish, the flesh of which they ate, though often in such an advanced stage of decomposition as would be to us revolting.
Aithiopian Ikhthyophagoi (Fish-Eaters): Inhabitants of Menê, a sacred city on the Amazones’ island.
.The Amazones (Amazons), then, the account continues, being a race superior in valour and eager for war, first of all subdued all the cities on the island except one called Menê (Moon), which was considered to be sacred and was inhabited by Aithiopian Ikhthyophagoi (Fish-Eaters), and was also subject to great eruptions of fire and possessed a multitude of the precious stones which the Greeks call anthrax, sardion, and smaragdos; and after this they subdued many of the neighbouring Libyans and nomad tribes, and founded within the marsh Tritonis a great city which they named Kherronesos (Chersonese) (Peninsular) after its shape.Setting out from the city of Kherronesos, the account continues, the Amazones embarked upon great ventures, a longing having come over them to invade many parts of the inhabited world.
She could hear a snake glide, and could smell a fish in the water.
The Zeeland skippers, who were not satisfied to live upon fish, and who hated the Gauls, took to robbing the Phœnician ships.
Deity Association: Fish are associated with the Matsya avatar of Vishnu, where Vishnu takes the form of a fish to save the world during a great flood.
Symbolism: Fish symbolize fertility, creation, and the sustenance of life.
Part human Part fish - A collection of myths about the knowledge bringers, likely because the emerged from the waters.
Hea or Ea, the god of the Nineveh tablets, was a fish-god: he was represented in the Chaldean monuments as half man and half fish; he was described as the god, not of the rivers and seas, but of "the abyss"--to wit, the ocean.
I also put it next to Poseidon on deities associated with fish, water, and the sea.
I put Poseidon-blood giants next to the Nephilim and Poseidon’s sea-god fatherhood on deities associated with fish, water, and the sea.
I put it next to Mount Pelion, Mount Lycaeus, Mount Zaphon, the Nephilim, and deities associated with fish, water, and the sea.
Deities associated with fish, water, and the sea: Poseidon as Aloadae father / sea-god bridge.
The body of a fish but underneath having the form of a man.
Hea or Ea, the god of the Nineveh tablets, was a fish-god: he was represented in the Chaldean monuments as half man and half fish; he was described as the god, not of the rivers and seas, but of “the abyss”–to wit, the ocean.
Across cultures, gods and spirits rise from the sea, wear fish form, or rule floods and rivers.
Which deities are linked to fish and water?
That question pulls together fish-form teachers, sea rulers, flood avatars, and water-mother figures.
Oannes and other fish-civilizers are labeled parallels.
Deities linked to fish and water are gods, goddesses, and spirits whose main myths or icons involve the sea, rivers, lakes, floods, fish-form bodies, or teaching that comes from the waters.
Fish-form / amphibious teachers: Oannes; Dagon in popular reception
Flood / fish avatars: Matsya
Oannes is the strongest fish-civilizer on this page.
In the first year there appeared, from that part of the Erythræan sea which borders upon Babylonia, an animal destitute of reason, by name Oannes, whose whole body (according to the account of Apollodorus) was that of a fish; that under the fish’s head he had another head, with feet also below, similar to those of a man, subjoined to the fish’s tail.
Meaning: advanced culture arrives from the waters in fish-man form.
Popular reception depicts Dagon as part man and part fish.
Medieval commentary, art, and Milton lean on Hebrew dag (“fish”).
That fish-form image is the reason Dagon sits on this page.
The fish image carries the page topic.
Matsya is Vishnu in fish form.
In the Bhagavata Purana 8.24 tradition, the fish warns of a great inundation.
A boat of seeds, sages, and living beings is fastened to the fish’s horn.
I treat Matsya as the flood / fish avatar on this page.
He has a human torso and a fish tail.
Visually he neighbors Oannes as fish-form.
Atlas is not a fish deity.
Wider survey names that also appear in fish and water myths include Njord, Yemaya, Sedna, Ryujin, Tangaroa, Varuna, Glaucus, and others.
He is a Mesopotamian fish-civilizer who brings advanced teaching from the sea.
Other cultures supply fish and water deities that rhyme with the same ocean–kingship–civilization imagery.
I read that rhyme as the same kind of memory: fish-form teachers and sea patrons beside Atlantis.
I am not saying every fish god is the same being.
Oannes as fish-civilizer feeds Aessir / Anunnaki.
Matsya and flood-fish imagery feed Vaivasvata Manu and Creation Stories.
Dagon’s popular fish image keeps West Semitic reception on the map.
The grain etymology keeps me from overclaiming fish identity from the name alone.
Gods, goddesses, and spirits whose myths or icons center on the sea, rivers, floods, fish-form bodies, or teaching from the waters.
High-signal names on this page include Oannes, Dagon (popular fish reception), Atargatis, Matsya, Poseidon, Neptune, Amphitrite, Triton, Nammu, and Nun.
Atlas belongs as Atlantis namesake, not as a fish god.
Oannes is the amphibious fish-man in Berossus who rises from the Erythraean Sea to teach letters, cities, temples, laws, and sciences, then returns to the deep at night.
I use him as a labeled Mesopotamian fish-civilizer parallel beside Atlantis and Anunnaki research, not as a figure inside Plato.
Popular reception says yes: part man and part fish, often from Hebrew dag (“fish”).
I keep the fish image for this page’s topic and note the grain etymology as clarity.
Appearance: Oannes is typically described as having the body of a fish but underneath having the form of a man.
He was said to have the head of a fish, with another head of a man beneath it, and the feet of a man emerging from beneath the fish’s tail.
The Apkallu, to which Oannes belongs, are often depicted as either fish-men or bird-men, representing various forms of divine 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.
Statues and Reliefs: Some Assyrian palace reliefs depict Apkallu figures, often shown as fish-men or bird-men.
Description of Oannes: Berossus describes Oannes as having the body of a fish with a human head beneath the fish's head and human feet under the fish's tail.
"In the first year, there appeared from the Erythraean Sea, which borders upon Babylonia, an animal endowed with reason, by name Oannes, whose whole body was that of a fish; under the fish's head he had a human head, and under the fish's tail, human feet.
The people were transformed into fish.
End: This world was destroyed by great floods, and the people turned into fish.
Characteristics: During this era, the people of the world were said to be transformed into fish.
The floodwaters destroyed everything, and the people were transformed into fish to survive the watery cataclysm.
The transformation of humans into fish symbolizes adaptation and survival through transformation.
Matsya (The Fish): Saves the Vedas from a great deluge.
Matsya (The Fish): Saves the Vedas from a great deluge.
A fish (whale) as the warning of the gods (Manu)?
The story I am about to tell you came to me as a marvellous, mysterious, miraculous myth of the long ago, when strange powers dwelt in both animals and men, and when cannibalism might have been carried on to be reported later under the guise of eating the flesh of beast or fish.
In the long ago there were two “fish” crossing the trackless waters of the Pacific Ocean.
These “fish” were great canoes filled with men.
So the two “fish”—the two boats—after weary days and nights of storm and calm, of soft breeze and strong, continuous winds, found the northeast side of the island of Oahu with its rugged front of steep, precipitous rocks.
Here they made examination of the unfriendly coast and decided to journey entirely around the island, one fish, or boat, going toward the north and the other toward the south.
“The fish from Tahiti was caught by the fishermen of Hauula.
Thus the visitors found death instead of friendship, and cannibalism was thereby veiled by calling the victims “fish” and the victory a “catch.”
The custom of hiding hints of cannibalistic feasts and more definitehuman sacrifices under the name of “fish” continued through thecenturies even after the discovery of the islands by Captain Cook andthe advent of white men.
It was in this way: The priest accompanied by a number of others went out to sea to fish for ulua with hook and line, using squid for bait.
This sacrifice was called ulua, and was placed before the god of the templeas if it were a fish.
The second fish from Tahiti had gone on southward in its journey aroundthe island of Oahu.
The legend says that the fish changed itself into a man and went inland to search the coast for its friend, but the search was unsuccessful.
Now they appeared no longer as “fish,” but went to the village at Kahuku as men.
They heard the story of a battle with a great fish at Hauula and the capture of the monster.
Then the “fish” from Tahiti went on around to Hauula.
The Tahitians were “fish,” therefore they went back into the ocean to swim around the islands.
Thus the legendsays the two fish came from Tahiti, and thus they became the origin ofsome of the beautiful fish whose colors flash like the rainbow throughthe clear waters of Hawaii.
Once the gods came to their sister’s home and received from her dried fish for food.
The gods went inland along the bank of the river, and the fish turned also, forcing their way over the sand-bank which marked the mouth of the little stream.
Ever since, when high water has made the river accessible, these fish, namedulua, have come to the place where the gods were worshipped by thekahuna and where they rested and drank awa with him.
When the gods had taken enough of the awa of the priest they turned away with the warning that when he heard a great noise on the shore he must not go down to see what the people were doing, but ask what the excitement was about,and if it was a shark or a great fish he was to remain at home.
Probably it was the intention of the villagers to cut the great fish into pieces and have a feast.
The old priest was very anxious to see the marvellous fish.
The old priest stood by the tail of the great fish.
Ammenon: The fourth epoch, during which Oannes, a fish-man, came from the Red Sea to teach mankind.
There are abundant local fish, birds and wildlife.Celebratory feasts are part of the routine of the Gabobora peoples' lives - for weddings, funerals, the birth of first child, and harvest.
As he was walking, he came upon Otter sitting near a hole on the ice with a pile of fish.
"You've got a mighty big pile of fish there," Bear said.
"How did you get them fish?"
Instead of telling how he dove down into the water and caught the fish, Otter decided to trick Bear.
"The way I catch my fish is by putting my tail in this ice hole," Otter explained.
"I wiggle it around once in a while so the fish see it.
When a fish bites onto my tail, I quickly pull it up and out of the water."
"That sure is an easy way to catch fish," Bear said.
Otter, laughing behind the Bear's back, said, "I have enough fish.
Then Otter picked up his fish and walked away.
Once in a while he'd wiggle his tail so the fish could see it.
Bear waited until the sun began to set, but not one fish even nibbled at his tail.
One story says it was in the wintertime and the bear was hungry for fish.
And so he got a large stick and he poked a hole in the ice, and he told the bear, "Well, gee, I know you are hungry for a fish.
I know a way you can get a fish." The bear says, "How?" The fox says, "Go over there and stick your tail down in this hole in the ice, and when a fish comes along he will bite your tail and you can pull it out." And the bear said, "Well, all right, that sounds good to me." It was a dumb bear.
Meanwhile the fox had gone away and the bear got tired of waiting for a fish to come bite his tail.
They survived by diverting water, catching fish, and eating mushrooms that grew in the caves.