In Philistine temples, the triad of deific masks they revered was the Canaanite Baal, Astarte and Dagan (this is a simplification and by no means the extent).
Dagan’s temple is well known in the Bible and is often demonized for the propaganda of the Hebrew kingdom and later Christian spiritual texts.
Cultic rituals were performed by priests called Kohanim or diviners, Qosemin.The Baal-Zebub temple in Ekron would have both Kohanim and
Qosemin who by sacred acts of sacrifice and offering of animal, incense or libation including items of wealth offered to the temple would the Baal of Ekron speak by dream or trance to the Qosemin. In the Dagan temple at Gaza and Ashdod, clay statues of the god Dagan were consecrated and were upon the altar.
The most famous in the Old Testament was the Temple
of Dagan located in Gaza and is associated with the Jewish Hero Samson. While in famous art pieces by great artists such as Dore, the temple is a huge and Roman/Greek inspired building reflecting the known grandeur of those cultures; the reality is the temples were slightly smaller as archeology now provides in historical fact.
Dagan had established temples throughout not only the land of the Philistines yet also throughout the Ancient Near East; often as it seems even prior of many of the later pantheons. As Dagan is called the ‘Father of Baal Hadad’ his cult must have been great and ancient even at the time of the Ugaritic texts around 1300 B.C. – we know that NaramSin the great Akkadian conqueror offers along with his grandfather Sargon I of Agade to Dagan in sacrifice to victory around 2100 B.C.E.!!!
The Philistines had a temple of Dagan at Ashdod also;
from the Old Testament tale of the Philistine victory and capture of the Hebrew Ark; now known as a type of
‘war totem’ representing the Will of the Hebrew god,
Yahweh was taken to the Temple of Dagan in Ashdod.
Dagan is described in this text as having
anthropomorphic features; his palms are outward and turned upward. The Hebrews spin a tale of the Ark and how the Philistines were terrified of it; however it is of documented tradition that captured ‘standards’ or idols gained in warvictory were often placed in an associated War-God’s (or God of Victory) Temple as an offering to the deity.
As in Ashdod, the Philistines had many of their temples open to the general public; except for a few of the more important Deific Masks of which there were significant
‘entry’ rituals and honors reserved for an important figure, king, etc. The Dagan temple in Ashdod had a
‘Threshold’ of which one had to ‘leap’, perhaps as a symbolic gesture of invocation with Dagan.
The Philistines did not bring Dagan to the Levant; rather they assimilated Dagan from the lands they settled in.
Dagan as mentioned previously was well established in Upper and Lower Mesopotamia from records as early
as 2400 B.C.E. and like deity-names like ‘Baal’ and
‘Marduk’ or ‘Bel’ was utilized culturally as a name added to various individuals. We see for example a king in Mesopotamia from 2145 B.C.E. as ‘Idin-Dagan’.
The Hellenic-Chaldean ‘Priest of Bel-Marduk’
Berossos wrote the history of Babylon and wrote of the Oannes god who instructed humanity on culture
including the arts, writing, agriculture and more. One of the seven antediluvian kings of Mesopotamia had the name of Odakon, while the Sumerian root of the word is not clearly defined.
If the Minoan-Crete Greek ‘Philistines’ assimilated Dagan into their pantheon, no doubt the traits of another Greek-Minoan god would have blended into the Levant Dagan based on associations with nature, elements and similar parallels. Dagan being a very important Deific Mask is known as having underworld, agricultural, storm, rain and war attributes throughout the Ancient Near East. When it is explored to etymological origins, there is little to support the Jewish Medieval scribes and their associations of Dagan with taking fish-form.
Just as the Philistines was a part of the ‘Sea Peoples’, some served as mercenaries in the New Kingdom Egyptian Army. In Ugaritic tablets, Kothar wa-Hasis, the Ptah assimilated god who resides in two places;
Memphis (Egypt) and Kaphtor (Crete) so a deep relation between the artisans and warriors of Crete and Egypt are noted.
The Aegean influences harmonized well with the ancient near eastern symbolism; horned altars have been discovered throughout the Levant with a major center in Philistine settlement areas. The Minoan ‘Horns of Consecration’ are found at the tops of the altars and incense burners, there are four on the altars while in the Aegean there have been two. In Beer-Sheeva a horned altar was uncovered with a snake motive carved in. The serpent is a symbol of fertility and common in the region. The horns on the altar are the most sacred part and sacrifices were made and the blood would cover the altar. Both burnt and blood offerings were made as well on these altars.