Sakkun () was a Phoenician god. He is known chiefly from

theophoric names A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that deit ...

such as

Sanchuniathon Sanchuniathon (; Ancient Greek: ; probably from Phoenician: , "Sakon has given"), also known as Sanchoniatho the Berytian, was a Phoenician author. His three works, originally written in the Phoenician language, survive only in partial paraphras ...

( ''sknytn'') and

Gisgo __NOTOC__ Gisgo or Gisco is the latinization or hellenization ( grc-gre, Γέσκων, ''Géskōn'') of the Punic masculine given name Gersakkun (, ).. The name means "Client of the god Sakkun." Notable people with the name Gisgo or Gisco includ ...

( ''grskn''). As of 1940, his earliest appearance in epigraphical evidence is from the 5th century BC. There is a consensus that the vocalisation of Phoenician (''skn'') is *''Sakkun'', that Sakkun is the "administrator" or "superintendent" and that he was identified with

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orato ...

. Albert Baumgartner doubts the arguments: He claims that *''Sakun'', *''Sakkon'' and *''Sakon'' are likely vocalisations as well, based on comparisons to the

Masoretic The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

Niqqud In Hebrew orthography, niqqud or nikud ( or ) is a system of diacritical signs used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Several such diacritical systems were developed in the ...

of the Greek name ''ʾkyš'', ancient Latin transliterations of the name ( CIL VIII 698, 5099) and

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christ ...

' variations; He argues that the etymological foundation of a connection between the god ''skn'' and the Canaanite noun ''skn'' (reconstructed vocalisation *''sākinu'', after the

Canaanite shift In historical linguistics, the Canaanite shift is a vowel shift/sound change that took place in the Canaanite dialects, which belong to the Northwest Semitic branch of the Semitic languages family. This sound change caused Proto-NW-Semitic *ā ...

*''sōkinu'') is weak; and he claims that the two evidence that establish the identification with Hermes – the Homeric epithet (''Sōkos'') for Hermes in the

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...

(20, 72) and a Phoenician inscription dedicating an altar to Sakkun ( KAI 58) found in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Sar ...

near one altar dedicated to Hermes and another one to

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, ...

Soter Soter derives from the Greek epithet (''sōtēr''), meaning a saviour, a deliverer; initial capitalised ; fully capitalised ; feminine Soteira (Σώτειρα) or sometimes Soteria (Σωτηρία). Soter was used as: * a title of gods: Poseidon ...

(and were suggested to be together read as a bilingual inscriptionFirst by Then by ) – are both wrong: the epithet is probably derived from the verb , and there is no reason to read the inscriptions as one.

Philo of Byblos Philo of Byblos ( grc, Φίλων Βύβλιος, ''Phílōn Býblios''; la, Philo Byblius; – 141), also known as Herennius Philon, was an antiquarian writer of grammatical, lexical and historical works in Greek. He is chiefly known f ...

, whose

Interpretatio graeca ''Interpretatio graeca'' (Latin, "Greek translation") or "interpretation by means of Greek odels is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cultures; a comparative methodology using ancient G ...

to Phoenician gods is reliable, identifies Hermes with Taautos (=

Thoth Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or ...

References

Sources

* West Semitic gods Phoenician mythology {{Phoenicia-stub