TARTAK

(Tarʹtak).

A deity worshiped by the Avvites, whom the king of Assyria settled in the territory of Samaria after he took the Israelites of the ten-tribe kingdom into exile. (2Ki 17:31) According to the Babylonian Talmud, Tartak had the form of an ass. (Sanhedrin 63b) Based on the conclusion that the name Tartak may be comparable to the Pahlavi (Persian) word tar-thakh (intense darkness, hero of darkness), it has been suggested that Tartak may have been a demon of the lower regions. Aside from the brief reference to Tartak in the Scriptures, however, nothing can be stated with any certainty concerning the nature of this deity.