Sakkun was a Phoenician god.[1] He is known chiefly from theophoric names such as Sanchuniathon (sknytn) and Gisgo (grskn).[2] [3] [4] As of 1940, his earliest appearance in epigraphical evidence is from the 5th century BC.[5]
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 Hermes.[6] Albert Baumgartner doubts the arguments: He claims that *Sakun, *Sakkon and *Sakon are likely vocalisations as well, based on comparisons to the Masoretic Niqqud of the Greek name ʾkyš, ancient Latin transliterations of the name (CIL VIII 698, 5099) and Eusebius' 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 *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 (20, 72) and a Phoenician inscription dedicating an altar to Sakkun (KAI 58) found in Piraeus near one altar dedicated to Hermes and another one to Zeus Soter (and were suggested to be together read as a bilingual inscription[7]) – 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, whose Interpretatio graeca to Phoenician gods is reliable, identifies Hermes with Taautos (= Thoth).