Tartak

Deity mentioned but once in the Bible (II Kings xvii. 31). His name occurs together with that of Nibhaz or Nibhan, who was a divinity of the Avites, a tribe colonized by Sargon on Israelitish soil. In the Babylonian Talmud (Sanh. 63a; comp. Yalḳuṭ Shim'oni, 234) R. Judah, transmitting a saying in the name of Abba Arika, states that Tartak was worshiped in the form of an ass. All attempts to identify this god have thus far proved unsuccessful. No similar divinity is found among the Babylonians or Assyrians; and an Egyptian parallel exists only in so far as the ass was sacred to the god Typhon and was sacrificed to him.

E. C. S. O.