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Punic religion

The Punic religion, Carthaginian religion, or Western Phoenician religion in the western Mediterranean was a direct continuation of the Phoenician variety of the polytheistic ancient Canaanite religion. However, significant local differences developed over the centuries following the foundation of Carthage and other Punic communities elsewhere in North Africa, southern Spain, Sardinia, western Sicily, and Malta from the ninth century BC onward. After the conquest of these regions by the Roman Republic in the third and second centuries BC, Punic religious practices continued, surviving until the fourth century AD in some cases. As with most cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, Punic religion suffused their society and there was no stark distinction between religious and secular spheres.[1] Sources on Punic religion are poor. There are no surviving literary sources and Punic religion is primarily reconstructed from inscriptions and archaeological evidence.[2] An important sacred space in Punic religion appears to have been the large open air sanctuaries known as tophets in modern scholarship, in which urns containing the cremated bones of infants and animals were buried. There is a long-running scholarly debate about whether child sacrifice occurred at these locations, as suggested by Greco-Roman and biblical sources.

Adorned Statue of the Punic Goddess Tanit, 5th-3rd centuries BC, from the necropolis of Puig des Molins, Ibiza (Spain), now housed in the Archaeology Museum of Catalonia (Barcelona)

Pantheon edit

 
Stele from the tophet of Salammbô at Carthage, bearing the sign of Tanit.
 
Roman coin (59 BC) depicting Sid Babi (Sardus Pater), a Punic god worshipped in Sardinia.

The Punics derived the original core of their religion from Phoenicia, but also developed their own pantheons.[3] The poor quality of the evidence means that conclusions about these gods must be tentative.[4] There are no surviving hymns, prayers, or lists of gods and while there are many inscriptions,[5] these are very formulaic and generally only mention the names of gods.[6][7] The names of gods were also often incorporated into theophoric personal names and some gods are known primarily from this onomastic evidence.[8][1]

It is difficult to reconstruct a hierarchy of the Carthaginian gods.[9] It was common for the pantheons of Phoenician cities to be headed by a divine couple, entitled Baal (lord) and "Baalat" ("lady").[10] At Carthage, this divine couple appears to have consisted of the god Baal Hammon and the goddess Tanit, who appear frequently in inscriptions from the tophet of Salammbô, with which they seem to have been especially associated.[4][11] From the fifth century BC, Tanit begins to be mentioned before Baal Hammon in inscriptions and bears the title "Face of Baal" (pene Baal), perhaps indicating that she was seen as mediating between the worshipper and Baal Hammon.[12] An anthropomorphic symbol, composed of a circular "head", horizontal "arms", and a triangular "body," which is frequently found on Carthaginian stelae, is known by modern scholars as the sign of Tanit, but it is not clear whether the Carthaginians themselves associated it with Tanit. The connections of Baal Hammon and Tanit to the Phoenician pantheon are debated: Tanit may have a Libyan origin,[12] but some scholars connect her to the Phoenician goddesses Anat, Astarte or Asherah; Baal Hammon is sometimes connected to Melqart or El.[4] The gods Eshmun and Melqart also had their own temples in Carthage.[4] The priests of other gods are known from epigraphic evidence, include Ashtart (Astarte), Reshef, Sakon, and Shamash.[11]

Different Punic centres had their own distinct pantheons. In Punic Sardinia, Sid or Sid Babi (known to the Romans as Sardus Pater and apparently an indigenous deity) received worship as the son of Melqart and was particularly associated with the island.[13] At Maktar, to the southwest of Carthage, an important god was Hoter Miskar[14] ("the sceptre of Miskar"). At Leptis Magna, a number of unique gods are attested, many of them in Punic-Latin bilingual inscriptions, such as El-qone-eres, Milkashtart (Hercules), and Shadrafa (Liber Pater).[15] Inscriptions in the tophet at Motya in western Sicily, as in Carthage, frequently refer to Baal Hammon, but do not refer to Tanit at all.[16]

Following the common practice of interpretatio graeca, Greco-Roman sources consistently use Greek and Latin names, rather than Punic ones, to refer to Punic deities.[8] They typically identify Baal Hammon with Cronus/Saturn, Tanit with Hera/Juno Caelestis,[11] Melqart with Hercules,[12] and Astarte with Venus/Aphrodite, although the Etruscan-Punic bilingual Pyrgi Tablets produced around 500 BCE identify her with the Etruscan goddess Uni (Hera/Juno).[16] Both Reshef and Eshmun could be Apollo, but Eshmun was also identified with Asclepius.[8][12] Many of these Roman gods, especially Saturn, Caelestis, Hercules, and Asclepius remained very popular in North Africa after the Roman conquest and probably represent an adaptation and continuation of the Punic deities.[17]

An important source on the Carthaginian pantheon is a treaty between Hamilcar of Carthage and Philip III of Macedon preserved by the second-century BC Greek historian Polybius which lists the Carthaginian gods under Greek names, in a set of three triads. Shared formulas and phrasing show it belongs to a Near Eastern treaty tradition, with parallels attested in Hittite, Akkadian, and Aramaic.[18][19] Given the inconsistencies in identifications by Greco-Roman authors, it is not clear which Carthaginian gods are to be interpreted.[8] Paolo Xella and Michael Barré (followed by Clifford) have put forward different identifications.[15][18][19] Barré has also connected his identifications with Tyrian and Ugaritic predecessors[19]

Identifications of the Carthaginian gods
in the Treaty between Hamilcar and Philip III
Greek
god
Carthaginian
god (Xella)[15]
Carthaginian
god (Barré,
Clifford)[19][18]
Tyrian
god
Ugaritic
god
Zeus Baal Hammon Baal Hammon Bayt-il El
Hera Tanit Tanit Anat-Bayt-il Anat
Apollo Eshmun? Reshef
Reshep
[“Daimon of the Carthaginians”] Gad? Ashtarte Ashtarte Attart
Herakles Melqart Melqart Milqart Milk
Iolaos [“problematic”] Eshmun Eshmun
?
Ares Reshef? Baal Shamem Baal Shamem Haddu
Triton [“Maritime deity”] Kushor Baal Malaqe Kotaru
Poseidon [“Maritime deity”] Baal Saphon Baal Sapun Balu-Sapani (=Haddu)

The Carthaginians also adopted the Greek cults of Persephone (Kore) and Demeter in 396 BCE as a result of a plague that was seen as divine retribution for the Carthaginian desecration of these goddesses' shrines at Syracuse.[20] Nevertheless, Carthaginian religion did not undergo any significant Hellenization.[21] The Egyptian deities Bes, Bastet, Isis, Osiris and Ra were also worshiped.[22][8]

There is very little evidence for a Punic mythology, but some scholars have seen an original Carthaginian myth behind the story of the foundation of Carthage that is reported by Greek and Latin sources, especially Josephus and Vergil. In this story, Elissa (or Dido) flees Tyre after her brother, king Pygmalion murders her husband, a priest of Melqart, and establishes the city of Carthage. Eventually, Elissa/Dido burns herself on a pyre. Some scholars connect this and other instances of self-immolation in historical accounts of Carthaginian generals with tophet rituals.[23] Josephine Crawley Quinn has proposed that myth of the Philaeni brothers in Libya had its roots in Punic myth and Carolina López-Ruiz has made similar arguments for the story of Gargoris and Habis in Tartessus.[24][25]

Practices edit

Priesthood edit

 
Terra cotta incense burner in the shape of Baal-Hammon, 2nd century BCE, Carthage National Museum.
 
Ceramic mask recovered from a Carthaginian tomb, Bardo National Museum.

The Carthaginians appear to have had both part-time and full-time priests, the latter called khnm (singular khn, cognate with the Hebrew term kohen), led by high priests called rb khnm.[26] Lower-ranking religious officials, attached to specific sanctuaries, included the "chief of the gatekeepers," people called "servants" or "slaves" of the sanctuary (male: ˤbd, female: ˤbdt or mt), and functionaries like cooks, butchers, singers, and barbers.[21][27] Goddesses may have been worshiped together and shared the same priests.[28] A class of cultic officials known as the mqm ˤlm (vocalized miqim elim, usually translated "Awakener of the god") was responsible for ensuring that the dying-and-rising god Melqart returned to watch over the city each year.[20][29] Sanctuaries had associations, referred to as mrzḥ in Punic and Neo-Punic inscriptions, who held ritual banquets.[27] M'Hamed Hassine Fantar proposes that the part-time priests, appointed in some way by the civil authorities, were in control of religious affairs, while the full-time priests were primarily responsible for rites and the interpretation of myth.[30] At Carthage, for example, there was a thirty-person council that regulated sacrifices.[31] Some Phoenician communities practiced sacred prostitution; in the Punic sphere this is attested at Sicca Veneria (El Kef) in western Tunisia and the sanctuary of Venus Erycina at Eryx in western Sicily.[27]

Funerary practices edit

The funerary practices of the Carthaginians were very similar to those of Phoenicians located in Levant. They include the rituals surrounding the disposal of the remains, funerary feasts, and ancestor worship. A variety of grave goods are found in the tombs, which indicate a belief in life after death.[32]

Cemeteries were located outside settlements.[33] They were often symbolically separated from them by geographic features like rivers or valleys.[34] A short papyrus found in a tomb at Tal-Virtù in Malta suggests a belief that the dead had to cross a body of water to enter the afterlife.[35] Tombs could take the form of fossae (rectangular graves cut into the earth or bedrock), pozzi (shallow, round pits), and hypogea (rock-cut chambers with stone benches on which the deceased was laid). There are some built tombs, all from before the sixth century BC.[36][37] Tombs are often surmounted by small funerary stelae and baetyls.

At different times, Punic people practiced both cremation and inhumation. Until the sixth century BCE, cremation was the normal means of disposing of the dead.[32][38] In the sixth century BCE, cremation was almost entirely superseded by inhumation. Thereafter, cremation was largely restricted to infant burials.[32][38] This change is sometimes associated with the expansion of Carthaginian influence in the western Mediterranean, but exactly how and why this change occurred is unclear.[38] Around 300 BC, cremation once again became the norm, especially in Sardinia and Ibiza.[39] Cremation pits have been identified at Gades in Spain and Monte Sirai in Sardinia.[40][41][42] After cremation, the bones were cleaned and separated from the ashes and then placed carefully in urns before burial. At Hoya de los Rastros, near Ayamonte in Spain, for example, the bones were arranged in order in their urns so that the feet were at the bottom and the skull at the top.[40][43] Cremated and inhumed remains could be placed in wooden coffins or stone sarcophagi.[44][38] Examples are known from Tharros and Sulci in Sardinia,[45] Lilybaeum in Sicily, Casa del Obispo at Gades in Spain,[46] and Carthage and Kerkouane in Tunisia.[40] Before burial, the deceased was anointed with perfumed resin,[47] coloured red with ochre or cinnabar,[48] traces of which have been recovered archaeologically.[49]

The funeral was accompanied by a feast in the cemetery.[50] This banquet, called a mrz, is attested in inscriptions of the fourth and third centuries BC, but is known in the Levant in earlier periods. The attendees decorated an altar and sacrificed an animal which they then ate.[50] The feasts included the consumption of wine,[50] which may have had symbolic links to blood, the fertility of the Earth, and new life, as it did for other Mediterranean peoples.[51] At the end of the feast, the crockery was smashed or buried in order to ritually kill it.[50][52] Cemeteries included spaces and equipment for food preparation.[50] The feast may have played a role in determining inheritance and could have symbolised the enduring bond between the deceased and their survivors.[50] These funerary feasts were repeated at regular intervals as part of a cult of the ancestors (called rpʼm, cognate with the Hebrew rephaim). In Neo-Punic texts, the rpʼm are equated with the Latin Manes.[53] At Monte Sirai in Sardinia, tombs included amphorae to channel libations offered on these occasions down into the tomb.[54] The funerary stelae and baetyls erected on top of tombs, which are often inscribed with the name of the deceased and anthropomorphised, may have been intended as the focus for worship of the deceased within the context of this ancestor cult.[55] Small stone altars were found in the cemeteries at Palermo and Lilybaeum in Sicily and are depicted on funerary stelae in Sardinia and Sicily. It appears that fires were lit on top of them as part of purification rites.[56][57]

A range of grave goods are found deposited with the deceased, which seem to have been intended to provide the deceased with protection and symbolic nourishment.[58] These do not differ significantly based on the gender or age of the deceased.[59] Grave offerings could include carved masks[21] and amulets, especially the eye of Horus (wadjet) and small glass apotropaic heads (protomae), which were intended to protect the deceased.[60] Offerings of food and drink were probably intended to nourish the deceased in the afterlife.[20][33] They were often accompanied by a standardised set of feasting equipment for the deceased, consisting of two jugs, a drinking bowl, and an oil lamp.[44][61] Oil and perfume may have been intended to provide the deceased with heat and light.[62] Chickens and their eggs were particularly frequent offerings and may have represented the soul's resurrection or transition to the afterlife in Punic thought.[44][63] Razors, left next to the head of the deceased, may indicate that the corpse was shaved before burial or an expectation that priests would continue to shave in death as they had in life.[49][64] Bronze cymbals and bells found in some tombs may derive from songs and music played at the funeral of the deceased - perhaps intended to ward off evil spirits. Terracotta figurines of musicians are found in graves, and depictions of them were carved on funerary stelae and on razors deposited in the grave. Almost all these musicians are female, suggesting that women had a particular role in this part of the funeral; most play the drums, kithara, or aulos.[65][66]

Funerary iconography edit

 
Inscription CIS I 2992 from Carthage, showing "crescent and disc" (above), "Tanit symbol" (below, middle), and a pair of caducei or standards (below, left and right). The text reads: "[Stela dedicated] to the Lady to Tinnit-Phane[b]al, and to the Lord to Baal-Ḥa[mm]on, that has vo[wed] Garas(?)".
 
Inscription CIS I 1828 from Carthage, showing (slightly damaged) "hand" (above) and "bottle" (below) symbols. The text reads: "[Stela dedicated] to the Lady to Tinnit-Phaneb[al, and] to the Lord to Baal-Ḥammon, th[at] has vowed Ḥann[... ...]".

Most Punic grave stelae, in addition to an engraved text and sometimes a standing figure bearing a libation cup, show a standard repertoire of (religious) symbols. It is thought that such symbols, which may be compared to a cross on a Christian gravestone, generally represent "deities or beliefs related to the after-life, aimed probably at facilitating or at protecting the eternal rest of the deceased".[67] The symbols also helped the large majority of people who were illiterate to understand the function of the stela.[68]

The main Punic funerary symbols are:[68][69]

  • the so-called "Tanit symbol", a female figure built up from a triangle (the body), plus a circle (the head), and a horizontal line (the arms, often with hands stretched out upwards). The symbol often appears on stelae dedicated to the two gods "Tinnit-Phanebal and Baal-Hammon". Of unknown origin, unlike the other funerary symbols, the worship of Tanit (or Tinnit) seems autochthonous: it is found hardly anywhere else but in Punic culture. Little is known about Tanit, but she is considered to be a symbol of fertility and abundance (the Tanit symbol also looks very similar to the Egyptian Ankh symbol, a symbol of life). The Tanit symbol is found most often in the neo-Punic period (after 146 BCE).
  • the "crescent and disc", a very common symbol on Carthaginian grave stelae, a circle covered by a sickle. Probably portraying the new ("crescent") and full ("disc") moon.[70] This symbol seems to refer to the passage of time, but the precise meaning is unknown. Used rarely on later neo-Punic stelae. Sometimes replaced by a "rosette and crescent", where the rosette is placed above an inverted, ship-like crescent.
  • a raised right hand, hand palm outward, seemingly picturing a blessing or prayer. Often combined with a text like "He (the god) blessed me" or "I was blessed". This symbol disappeared completely by the neo-Punic period.
  • a caduceus, or messenger's staff. It basically consists of three elements, from below to top a stem, a circle, and a "U" shape. Maybe adopted from the caduceus of the Greek god Hermes, who was a guide to the Netherworld. However, in Carthage the caduceus symbol often seems to have been associated not with death but with healing, and with Esmun, the god of healing. The symbol was common in the 4th-2nd century BCE, but became ever more rare in the neo-Punic period.
  • a standard. Usually used pairwise, one of the two "standards" placed at left and the other one at the right of a central picture. Often combined with the "Tanit symbol". In the 2nd century BCE it "fused" with the caduceus.
  • a bottle or vase symbol, appearing in the 4th and 3rd century BCE. Attempts to interpret it have been widely varying, but there seem to be parallels with an Egyptian sign picturing the grave of Osiris, which has led to speculation that the symbol "expressed the hope of personal renewal in the afterlife".[71]

Sacrifice and dedications edit

 
Image of the Marseille Tariff by Louis Félicien de Saulcy, 1847

Animals and other valuables were sacrificed to propitiate the gods; such sacrifices had to be done according to strict specifications,[20] which are described on nine surviving inscriptions known as "sacrificial tariffs."[27] The longest of these is KAI 69, known as the Marseille Tariff, after its find-spot, which probably originally stood in Carthage. It lists the portions of sacrifices that the priests of a temple of Baal Saphon were entitled to. The other sacrificial tariffs are CIS I.165, 167–170, 3915–3917, all found in North Africa. These tariffs are similar to a pair of fifth-century BC tariff inscriptions found at the Phoenician city of Kition in Cyprus. They also share some terminology and formulae with Ugaritic and Biblical Hebrew texts on sacrifice. There is also a list of festival offerings, CIS I.166 and many short votive inscriptions, mostly associated with the tophets.[72] Many of these tophet inscriptions refer to the sacrificial ritual as mlk (vocalized mulk or molk), which some scholars connect with the biblical Moloch.[73][74] Votive inscriptions are also found in other contexts; a long inscription on an eighth-century BC bronze statuette found at Seville dedicates it to Athtart (KAI5 294).[75] A fifth-century BC inscription (KAI 72) from Ebusus records the dedication of a temple, first to Rašap-Melqart, and then to Tinnit and Gad by a priest who states that the process involved making a vow.[76] A stele erected at Carthage in the mid-second century BC by a woman named Abibaal shows the sacrifice of a cow's head by burning on an altar; the details of the image show continuity with much earlier Near Eastern sacrificial rituals.[77]

Libations and incense also appear to have been an important part of sacrifices, based on archaeological finds.[78] A custom attested at Byblos by the Greek author Lucian of Samosata that those sacrificing to Melqart had to shave their heads may explain ritual razors found in many Carthaginian tombs.[64]

Tophets and child sacrifice edit

Various Greek and Roman sources describe and criticize the Carthaginians as engaging in the practice of sacrificing children by burning.[12] Classical writers describing some version of child sacrifice to "Cronos" (Baal Hammon) include the Greek historians Diodorus Siculus and Cleitarchus, as well as the Christian apologists Tertullian and Orosius.[79][80] These descriptions were compared to those found in the Hebrew Bible describing the sacrifice of children by burning to Baal and Moloch at a place called Tophet.[79] The ancient descriptions were seemingly confirmed by the discovering of the so-called "Tophet of Salammbô" in Carthage in 1921, which contained the urns of cremated children.[81] However, modern historians and archaeologists debate the reality and extent of this practice.[82][83] Some scholars propose that all remains at the tophet were sacrificed, whereas others propose that only some were.[84]

Archaeological evidence edit

 
Stelae in the Tophet of Salammbó covered by a vault built in the Roman period

The specific sort of open aired sanctuary described as a Tophet in modern scholarship is unique to the Punic communities of the Western Mediterranean.[85] Over 100 tophets have been found throughout the Western Mediterranean,[86] but they are absent in Spain.[87] The largest tophet discovered was the Tophet of Salammbô at Carthage.[81] The Tophet of Salammbô seems to date to the city's founding and continued in use for at least a few decades after the city's destruction in 146 BCE.[88] No Carthaginian texts survive that would explain or describe what rituals were performed at the tophet.[87] When Carthaginian inscriptions refer to these locations, they are referred to as bt (temple or sanctuary), or qdš (shrine), not Tophets. This is the same word used for temples in general.[89][86]

As far as the archaeological evidence reveals, the typical ritual at the Tophet – which, however, shows much variation – began by the burial of a small urn containing a child's ashes, sometimes mixed with or replaced by that of an animal, after which a stele, typically dedicated to Baal Hammon and sometimes Tanit was erected. In a few occasions, a chapel was built as well.[90] Uneven burning on the bones indicate that they were burned on an open air pyre.[91] The dead children are never mentioned on the stele inscriptions, only the dedicators and that the gods had granted them some request.[92]

While tophets fell out of use after the fall of Carthage on islands formerly controlled by Carthage, in North Africa they became more common in the Roman Period.[93] In addition to infants, some of these tophets contain offerings only of goats, sheep, birds, or plants; many of the worshipers have Libyan rather than Punic names.[93] Their use appears to have declined in the second and third centuries CE.[94]

Controversy edit

The degree and existence of Carthaginian child sacrifice is controversial, and has been ever since the Tophet of Salammbô was discovered in 1920.[95] Some historians have proposed that the Tophet may have been a cemetery for premature or short-lived infants who died naturally and then were ritually offered.[83] The Greco-Roman authors were not eye-witnesses, contradict each other on how the children were killed, and describe children older than infants being killed as opposed to the infants found in the tophets.[81] Accounts such as Cleitarchus's, in which the baby dropped into the fire by a statue, are contradicted by the archaeological evidence.[96] There are not any mentions of child sacrifice from the Punic Wars, which are better documented than the earlier periods in which mass child sacrifice is claimed.[81] Child sacrifice may have been overemphasized for effect; after the Romans finally defeated Carthage and totally destroyed the city, they engaged in postwar propaganda to make their archenemies seem cruel and less civilized.[97] Matthew McCarty argues that, even if the Greco-Roman testimonies are inaccurate "even the most fantastical slanders rely upon a germ of fact."[96]

Many archaeologists argue that the ancient authors and the evidence of the Tophet indicates that all remains in the Tophet must have been sacrificed. Others argue that only some infants were sacrificed.[84] Paolo Xella argues that the weight of classical and biblical sources indicate that the sacrifices occurred.[98] He further argues that the number of children in the tophet is far smaller than the rate of natural infant mortality.[99] In Xella's estimation, prenatal remains at the tophet are probably those of children who were promised to be sacrificed but died before birth, but who were nevertheless offered as a sacrifice in fulfillment of a vow.[100] He concludes that the child sacrifice was probably done as a last resort and probably frequently involved the substitution of an animal for the child.[101]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Xella 2019, p. 273.
  2. ^ Xella 2019, p. 273, 281.
  3. ^ Christian 2013, p. 202.
  4. ^ a b c d Clifford 1990, p. 62.
  5. ^ Morstadt 2017, p. 22.
  6. ^ Xella 2019, p. 281.
  7. ^ Clifford 1990, p. 55.
  8. ^ a b c d e Hoyos 2021, p. 15.
  9. ^ Xella 2019, p. 282.
  10. ^ Xella 2019, pp. 275–276.
  11. ^ a b c Xella 2019, pp. 282–283.
  12. ^ a b c d e Warmington 1995, p. 453.
  13. ^ Miles 2010, p. 104.
  14. ^ Whitehouse, John; Harize, Sami (13 March 2023). "Local Communities and Archaeological Sites in Tunisia: A Case Study at Dougga (Ancient Thugga) about Cultural Memory and Cultural Markers in the Longue Durée". Journal of African Archaeology. 21 (1): 63–80. doi:10.1163/21915784-bja10024. ISSN 1612-1651.
  15. ^ a b c Xella 2019, p. 283.
  16. ^ a b Xella 2019, p. 284.
  17. ^ Xella 2019, pp. 283–284.
  18. ^ a b c Clifford 1990, pp. 61–62.
  19. ^ a b c d Barré 1983, pp. 100–103, 125.
  20. ^ a b c d Hoyos 2021, p. 16.
  21. ^ a b c Warmington 1995, p. 454.
  22. ^ Fantar 2001, p. 64.
  23. ^ Xella 2019, pp. 281–282.
  24. ^ Quinn 2014.
  25. ^ López-Ruiz 2017.
  26. ^ DeGuglielmo, Antonine A. (1955). "Sacrifice in the Ugaritic Texts". The Catholic Biblical Quarterly. 17 (2): 76–96. ISSN 0008-7912.
  27. ^ a b c d Xella 2019, p. 287.
  28. ^ Christian 2013, pp. 201–202.
  29. ^ Zamora 2017, pp. 66–67.
  30. ^ Fantar 2001, p. 62.
  31. ^ Morstadt 2017, p. 24.
  32. ^ a b c López-Bertran 2019, p. 293.
  33. ^ a b López-Bertran 2019, p. 296.
  34. ^ Gómez Bellard 2014, p. 71.
  35. ^ Frendo, de Trafford & Vella 2005, p. 433.
  36. ^ Gómez Bellard 2014, pp. 71–72.
  37. ^ Ben Younès & Krandel-Ben Younès 2014, pp. 149–153.
  38. ^ a b c d Gómez Bellard 2014, p. 72.
  39. ^ Gómez Bellard 2014, pp. 72–73.
  40. ^ a b c López-Bertran 2019, p. 300.
  41. ^ Sáez Romero & Belizón Aragón 2014, pp. 194.
  42. ^ Guirguis 2010.
  43. ^ García Teyssandier et al. 2016, pp. 493–530.
  44. ^ a b c López-Bertran 2019, p. 301.
  45. ^ Bernardini 2005, p. 74.
  46. ^ Gener Basallote et al. 2014, p. 136.
  47. ^ Bénichou-Safar 1975–1976, pp. 133–138.
  48. ^ Alatrache et al. 2001, pp. 281–297.
  49. ^ a b López-Bertran 2019, p. 297.
  50. ^ a b c d e f López-Bertran 2019, p. 303-304.
  51. ^ Ben Younès & Krandel-Ben Younès 2014, pp. 155–156.
  52. ^ Lipinski 1993, pp. 257–281.
  53. ^ Garbati 2010, p. 43.
  54. ^ Guirguis 2010, p. 38.
  55. ^ López-Bertran 2019, p. 304.
  56. ^ López-Bertran 2019, p. 303.
  57. ^ Spatafora 2010, p. 30.
  58. ^ Gómez Bellard 2014, p. 74.
  59. ^ López-Bertran 2019, p. 305.
  60. ^ López-Bertran 2019, p. 298.
  61. ^ Spatafora 2010, pp. 25–26.
  62. ^ López-Bertran 2019, p. 302.
  63. ^ Jiménez Flores 2002, p. 280.
  64. ^ a b Cooper 2005, p. 7131.
  65. ^ López-Bertran 2019, pp. 298–299.
  66. ^ López-Bertran & Garcia-Ventura 2012, pp. 393–408.
  67. ^ Sader, Hélène (2005). "Iron Age Funerary Stelae from Lebanon". Cuadernos de Arqueología Mediterránea. 11: 11–157. Retrieved 4 December 2022. Quote is on p.22.
  68. ^ a b Mendleson, Carole (2001). "Images & Symbols: on Punic Stelae from the Tophet at Carthage" (PDF). Archaeology & History in Lebanon. Spring (13): 45–50. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  69. ^ G. Tore, "L'art. Sarcophages, relief, stèles: C. Stèles", in: Krings, Véronique (1995). La Civilisation Phénicienne et Punique. Manuel de Recherche (Handbuch der Orientalistik, I.20). Leiden, New York, Köln: Brill. pp. 475–493. ISBN 9004100687.
  70. ^ But often interpreted as a moon and sun: Sader (2005), pp. 118-120; Mendleson (2001) p. 47.
  71. ^ Culican, William (1968). "Problems of Phoenicio-Punic Iconography—A Contribution" (PDF). Australian Journal of Biblical Archaeology. 1 (3): 28-57: pp. 34-45. Retrieved 4 December 2022. Quotation from p. 43.
  72. ^ Richey 2019, p. 234.
  73. ^ Xella 2013, p. 269.
  74. ^ Holm 2005, p. 7134.
  75. ^ Richey 2019, p. 231.
  76. ^ Richey 2019, pp. 231–232.
  77. ^ Miles 2010, p. 18.
  78. ^ Morstadt 2017, p. 26.
  79. ^ a b Stager & Wolff 1984.
  80. ^ Quinn 2011, pp. 388–389.
  81. ^ a b c d Hoyos 2021, p. 17.
  82. ^ Schwartz & Houghton 2017, p. 452.
  83. ^ a b Holm 2005, p. 1734.
  84. ^ a b Schwartz & Houghton 2017, pp. 443–444.
  85. ^ Xella 2013, p. 259.
  86. ^ a b McCarty 2019, p. 313.
  87. ^ a b Bonnet 2011, p. 373.
  88. ^ Bonnet 2011, p. 379.
  89. ^ Bonnet 2011, p. 374.
  90. ^ Bonnet 2011, pp. 378–379.
  91. ^ McCarty 2019, p. 315.
  92. ^ Bonnet 2011, pp. 383–384.
  93. ^ a b McCarty 2019, p. 321.
  94. ^ McCarty 2019, p. 322.
  95. ^ McCarty 2019, p. 316.
  96. ^ a b McCarty 2019, p. 317.
  97. ^ Macchiarelli & Bondioli 2012.
  98. ^ Xella 2013, p. 266.
  99. ^ Xella 2013, p. 268.
  100. ^ Xella 2013, pp. 270–271.
  101. ^ Xella 2013, p. 273.

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External links edit

  •   Media related to Punic religion at Wikimedia Commons

punic, religion, carthaginian, religion, western, phoenician, religion, western, mediterranean, direct, continuation, phoenician, variety, polytheistic, ancient, canaanite, religion, however, significant, local, differences, developed, over, centuries, followi. The Punic religion Carthaginian religion or Western Phoenician religion in the western Mediterranean was a direct continuation of the Phoenician variety of the polytheistic ancient Canaanite religion However significant local differences developed over the centuries following the foundation of Carthage and other Punic communities elsewhere in North Africa southern Spain Sardinia western Sicily and Malta from the ninth century BC onward After the conquest of these regions by the Roman Republic in the third and second centuries BC Punic religious practices continued surviving until the fourth century AD in some cases As with most cultures of the ancient Mediterranean Punic religion suffused their society and there was no stark distinction between religious and secular spheres 1 Sources on Punic religion are poor There are no surviving literary sources and Punic religion is primarily reconstructed from inscriptions and archaeological evidence 2 An important sacred space in Punic religion appears to have been the large open air sanctuaries known as tophets in modern scholarship in which urns containing the cremated bones of infants and animals were buried There is a long running scholarly debate about whether child sacrifice occurred at these locations as suggested by Greco Roman and biblical sources Adorned Statue of the Punic Goddess Tanit 5th 3rd centuries BC from the necropolis of Puig des Molins Ibiza Spain now housed in the Archaeology Museum of Catalonia Barcelona Contents 1 Pantheon 2 Practices 2 1 Priesthood 2 2 Funerary practices 2 3 Funerary iconography 2 4 Sacrifice and dedications 2 5 Tophets and child sacrifice 2 5 1 Archaeological evidence 2 5 2 Controversy 3 See also 4 References 5 Bibliography 6 External linksPantheon edit nbsp Stele from the tophet of Salammbo at Carthage bearing the sign of Tanit nbsp Roman coin 59 BC depicting Sid Babi Sardus Pater a Punic god worshipped in Sardinia The Punics derived the original core of their religion from Phoenicia but also developed their own pantheons 3 The poor quality of the evidence means that conclusions about these gods must be tentative 4 There are no surviving hymns prayers or lists of gods and while there are many inscriptions 5 these are very formulaic and generally only mention the names of gods 6 7 The names of gods were also often incorporated into theophoric personal names and some gods are known primarily from this onomastic evidence 8 1 It is difficult to reconstruct a hierarchy of the Carthaginian gods 9 It was common for the pantheons of Phoenician cities to be headed by a divine couple entitled Baal lord and Baalat lady 10 At Carthage this divine couple appears to have consisted of the god Baal Hammon and the goddess Tanit who appear frequently in inscriptions from the tophet of Salammbo with which they seem to have been especially associated 4 11 From the fifth century BC Tanit begins to be mentioned before Baal Hammon in inscriptions and bears the title Face of Baal pene Baal perhaps indicating that she was seen as mediating between the worshipper and Baal Hammon 12 An anthropomorphic symbol composed of a circular head horizontal arms and a triangular body which is frequently found on Carthaginian stelae is known by modern scholars as the sign of Tanit but it is not clear whether the Carthaginians themselves associated it with Tanit The connections of Baal Hammon and Tanit to the Phoenician pantheon are debated Tanit may have a Libyan origin 12 but some scholars connect her to the Phoenician goddesses Anat Astarte or Asherah Baal Hammon is sometimes connected to Melqart or El 4 The gods Eshmun and Melqart also had their own temples in Carthage 4 The priests of other gods are known from epigraphic evidence include Ashtart Astarte Reshef Sakon and Shamash 11 Different Punic centres had their own distinct pantheons In Punic Sardinia Sid or Sid Babi known to the Romans as Sardus Pater and apparently an indigenous deity received worship as the son of Melqart and was particularly associated with the island 13 At Maktar to the southwest of Carthage an important god was Hoter Miskar 14 the sceptre of Miskar At Leptis Magna a number of unique gods are attested many of them in Punic Latin bilingual inscriptions such as El qone eres Milkashtart Hercules and Shadrafa Liber Pater 15 Inscriptions in the tophet at Motya in western Sicily as in Carthage frequently refer to Baal Hammon but do not refer to Tanit at all 16 Following the common practice of interpretatio graeca Greco Roman sources consistently use Greek and Latin names rather than Punic ones to refer to Punic deities 8 They typically identify Baal Hammon with Cronus Saturn Tanit with Hera Juno Caelestis 11 Melqart with Hercules 12 and Astarte with Venus Aphrodite although the Etruscan Punic bilingual Pyrgi Tablets produced around 500 BCE identify her with the Etruscan goddess Uni Hera Juno 16 Both Reshef and Eshmun could be Apollo but Eshmun was also identified with Asclepius 8 12 Many of these Roman gods especially Saturn Caelestis Hercules and Asclepius remained very popular in North Africa after the Roman conquest and probably represent an adaptation and continuation of the Punic deities 17 An important source on the Carthaginian pantheon is a treaty between Hamilcar of Carthage and Philip III of Macedon preserved by the second century BC Greek historian Polybius which lists the Carthaginian gods under Greek names in a set of three triads Shared formulas and phrasing show it belongs to a Near Eastern treaty tradition with parallels attested in Hittite Akkadian and Aramaic 18 19 Given the inconsistencies in identifications by Greco Roman authors it is not clear which Carthaginian gods are to be interpreted 8 Paolo Xella and Michael Barre followed by Clifford have put forward different identifications 15 18 19 Barre has also connected his identifications with Tyrian and Ugaritic predecessors 19 Identifications of the Carthaginian godsin the Treaty between Hamilcar and Philip III Greekgod Carthaginiangod Xella 15 Carthaginiangod Barre Clifford 19 18 Tyriangod Ugariticgod Zeus Baal Hammon Baal Hammon Bayt il El Hera Tanit Tanit Anat Bayt il Anat Apollo Eshmun Reshef Reshep Daimon of the Carthaginians Gad Ashtarte Ashtarte Attart Herakles Melqart Melqart Milqart Milk Iolaos problematic Eshmun Eshmun Ares Reshef Baal Shamem Baal Shamem Haddu Triton Maritime deity Kushor Baal Malaqe Kotaru Poseidon Maritime deity Baal Saphon Baal Sapun Balu Sapani Haddu The Carthaginians also adopted the Greek cults of Persephone Kore and Demeter in 396 BCE as a result of a plague that was seen as divine retribution for the Carthaginian desecration of these goddesses shrines at Syracuse 20 Nevertheless Carthaginian religion did not undergo any significant Hellenization 21 The Egyptian deities Bes Bastet Isis Osiris and Ra were also worshiped 22 8 There is very little evidence for a Punic mythology but some scholars have seen an original Carthaginian myth behind the story of the foundation of Carthage that is reported by Greek and Latin sources especially Josephus and Vergil In this story Elissa or Dido flees Tyre after her brother king Pygmalion murders her husband a priest of Melqart and establishes the city of Carthage Eventually Elissa Dido burns herself on a pyre Some scholars connect this and other instances of self immolation in historical accounts of Carthaginian generals with tophet rituals 23 Josephine Crawley Quinn has proposed that myth of the Philaeni brothers in Libya had its roots in Punic myth and Carolina Lopez Ruiz has made similar arguments for the story of Gargoris and Habis in Tartessus 24 25 Practices editPriesthood edit nbsp Terra cotta incense burner in the shape of Baal Hammon 2nd century BCE Carthage National Museum nbsp Ceramic mask recovered from a Carthaginian tomb Bardo National Museum The Carthaginians appear to have had both part time and full time priests the latter called khnm singular khn cognate with the Hebrew term kohen led by high priests called rb khnm 26 Lower ranking religious officials attached to specific sanctuaries included the chief of the gatekeepers people called servants or slaves of the sanctuary male ˤbd female ˤbdt or mt and functionaries like cooks butchers singers and barbers 21 27 Goddesses may have been worshiped together and shared the same priests 28 A class of cultic officials known as the mqm ˤlm vocalized miqim elim usually translated Awakener of the god was responsible for ensuring that the dying and rising god Melqart returned to watch over the city each year 20 29 Sanctuaries had associations referred to as mrzḥ in Punic and Neo Punic inscriptions who held ritual banquets 27 M Hamed Hassine Fantar proposes that the part time priests appointed in some way by the civil authorities were in control of religious affairs while the full time priests were primarily responsible for rites and the interpretation of myth 30 At Carthage for example there was a thirty person council that regulated sacrifices 31 Some Phoenician communities practiced sacred prostitution in the Punic sphere this is attested at Sicca Veneria El Kef in western Tunisia and the sanctuary of Venus Erycina at Eryx in western Sicily 27 Funerary practices edit The funerary practices of the Carthaginians were very similar to those of Phoenicians located in Levant They include the rituals surrounding the disposal of the remains funerary feasts and ancestor worship A variety of grave goods are found in the tombs which indicate a belief in life after death 32 Cemeteries were located outside settlements 33 They were often symbolically separated from them by geographic features like rivers or valleys 34 A short papyrus found in a tomb at Tal Virtu in Malta suggests a belief that the dead had to cross a body of water to enter the afterlife 35 Tombs could take the form of fossae rectangular graves cut into the earth or bedrock pozzi shallow round pits and hypogea rock cut chambers with stone benches on which the deceased was laid There are some built tombs all from before the sixth century BC 36 37 Tombs are often surmounted by small funerary stelae and baetyls At different times Punic people practiced both cremation and inhumation Until the sixth century BCE cremation was the normal means of disposing of the dead 32 38 In the sixth century BCE cremation was almost entirely superseded by inhumation Thereafter cremation was largely restricted to infant burials 32 38 This change is sometimes associated with the expansion of Carthaginian influence in the western Mediterranean but exactly how and why this change occurred is unclear 38 Around 300 BC cremation once again became the norm especially in Sardinia and Ibiza 39 Cremation pits have been identified at Gades in Spain and Monte Sirai in Sardinia 40 41 42 After cremation the bones were cleaned and separated from the ashes and then placed carefully in urns before burial At Hoya de los Rastros near Ayamonte in Spain for example the bones were arranged in order in their urns so that the feet were at the bottom and the skull at the top 40 43 Cremated and inhumed remains could be placed in wooden coffins or stone sarcophagi 44 38 Examples are known from Tharros and Sulci in Sardinia 45 Lilybaeum in Sicily Casa del Obispo at Gades in Spain 46 and Carthage and Kerkouane in Tunisia 40 Before burial the deceased was anointed with perfumed resin 47 coloured red with ochre or cinnabar 48 traces of which have been recovered archaeologically 49 The funeral was accompanied by a feast in the cemetery 50 This banquet called a mrz is attested in inscriptions of the fourth and third centuries BC but is known in the Levant in earlier periods The attendees decorated an altar and sacrificed an animal which they then ate 50 The feasts included the consumption of wine 50 which may have had symbolic links to blood the fertility of the Earth and new life as it did for other Mediterranean peoples 51 At the end of the feast the crockery was smashed or buried in order to ritually kill it 50 52 Cemeteries included spaces and equipment for food preparation 50 The feast may have played a role in determining inheritance and could have symbolised the enduring bond between the deceased and their survivors 50 These funerary feasts were repeated at regular intervals as part of a cult of the ancestors called rpʼm cognate with the Hebrew rephaim In Neo Punic texts the rpʼm are equated with the Latin Manes 53 At Monte Sirai in Sardinia tombs included amphorae to channel libations offered on these occasions down into the tomb 54 The funerary stelae and baetyls erected on top of tombs which are often inscribed with the name of the deceased and anthropomorphised may have been intended as the focus for worship of the deceased within the context of this ancestor cult 55 Small stone altars were found in the cemeteries at Palermo and Lilybaeum in Sicily and are depicted on funerary stelae in Sardinia and Sicily It appears that fires were lit on top of them as part of purification rites 56 57 A range of grave goods are found deposited with the deceased which seem to have been intended to provide the deceased with protection and symbolic nourishment 58 These do not differ significantly based on the gender or age of the deceased 59 Grave offerings could include carved masks 21 and amulets especially the eye of Horus wadjet and small glass apotropaic heads protomae which were intended to protect the deceased 60 Offerings of food and drink were probably intended to nourish the deceased in the afterlife 20 33 They were often accompanied by a standardised set of feasting equipment for the deceased consisting of two jugs a drinking bowl and an oil lamp 44 61 Oil and perfume may have been intended to provide the deceased with heat and light 62 Chickens and their eggs were particularly frequent offerings and may have represented the soul s resurrection or transition to the afterlife in Punic thought 44 63 Razors left next to the head of the deceased may indicate that the corpse was shaved before burial or an expectation that priests would continue to shave in death as they had in life 49 64 Bronze cymbals and bells found in some tombs may derive from songs and music played at the funeral of the deceased perhaps intended to ward off evil spirits Terracotta figurines of musicians are found in graves and depictions of them were carved on funerary stelae and on razors deposited in the grave Almost all these musicians are female suggesting that women had a particular role in this part of the funeral most play the drums kithara or aulos 65 66 Funerary iconography edit nbsp Inscription CIS I 2992 from Carthage showing crescent and disc above Tanit symbol below middle and a pair ofcaduceiorstandards below left and right The text reads Stela dedicated to the Lady to Tinnit Phane b al and to the Lord to Baal Ḥa mm on that has vo wed Garas nbsp Inscription CIS I 1828 from Carthage showing slightly damaged hand above and bottle below symbols The text reads Stela dedicated to the Lady to Tinnit Phaneb al and to the Lord to Baal Ḥammon th at has vowed Ḥann Most Punic grave stelae in addition to an engraved text and sometimes a standing figure bearing a libation cup show a standard repertoire of religious symbols It is thought that such symbols which may be compared to a cross on a Christian gravestone generally represent deities or beliefs related to the after life aimed probably at facilitating or at protecting the eternal rest of the deceased 67 The symbols also helped the large majority of people who were illiterate to understand the function of the stela 68 The main Punic funerary symbols are 68 69 the so called Tanit symbol a female figure built up from a triangle the body plus a circle the head and a horizontal line the arms often with hands stretched out upwards The symbol often appears on stelae dedicated to the two gods Tinnit Phanebal and Baal Hammon Of unknown origin unlike the other funerary symbols the worship of Tanit or Tinnit seems autochthonous it is found hardly anywhere else but in Punic culture Little is known about Tanit but she is considered to be a symbol of fertility and abundance the Tanit symbol also looks very similar to the Egyptian Ankh symbol a symbol of life The Tanit symbol is found most often in the neo Punic period after 146 BCE the crescent and disc a very common symbol on Carthaginian grave stelae a circle covered by a sickle Probably portraying the new crescent and full disc moon 70 This symbol seems to refer to the passage of time but the precise meaning is unknown Used rarely on later neo Punic stelae Sometimes replaced by a rosette and crescent where the rosette is placed above an inverted ship like crescent a raised right hand hand palm outward seemingly picturing a blessing or prayer Often combined with a text like He the god blessed me or I was blessed This symbol disappeared completely by the neo Punic period acaduceus or messenger s staff It basically consists of three elements from below to top a stem a circle and a U shape Maybe adopted from the caduceus of the Greek god Hermes who was a guide to the Netherworld However in Carthage the caduceus symbol often seems to have been associated not with death but with healing and with Esmun the god of healing The symbol was common in the 4th 2nd century BCE but became ever more rare in the neo Punic period a standard Usually used pairwise one of the two standards placed at left and the other one at the right of a central picture Often combined with the Tanit symbol In the 2nd century BCE it fused with the caduceus a bottle or vase symbol appearing in the 4th and 3rd century BCE Attempts to interpret it have been widely varying but there seem to be parallels with an Egyptian sign picturing the grave of Osiris which has led to speculation that the symbol expressed the hope of personal renewal in the afterlife 71 Sacrifice and dedications edit nbsp Image of the Marseille Tariff by Louis Felicien de Saulcy 1847 Animals and other valuables were sacrificed to propitiate the gods such sacrifices had to be done according to strict specifications 20 which are described on nine surviving inscriptions known as sacrificial tariffs 27 The longest of these is KAI 69 known as the Marseille Tariff after its find spot which probably originally stood in Carthage It lists the portions of sacrifices that the priests of a temple of Baal Saphon were entitled to The other sacrificial tariffs are CIS I 165 167 170 3915 3917 all found in North Africa These tariffs are similar to a pair of fifth century BC tariff inscriptions found at the Phoenician city of Kition in Cyprus They also share some terminology and formulae with Ugaritic and Biblical Hebrew texts on sacrifice There is also a list of festival offerings CIS I 166 and many short votive inscriptions mostly associated with the tophets 72 Many of these tophet inscriptions refer to the sacrificial ritual as mlk vocalized mulk or molk which some scholars connect with the biblical Moloch 73 74 Votive inscriptions are also found in other contexts a long inscription on an eighth century BC bronze statuette found at Seville dedicates it to Athtart KAI5 294 75 A fifth century BC inscription KAI 72 from Ebusus records the dedication of a temple first to Rasap Melqart and then to Tinnit and Gad by a priest who states that the process involved making a vow 76 A stele erected at Carthage in the mid second century BC by a woman named Abibaal shows the sacrifice of a cow s head by burning on an altar the details of the image show continuity with much earlier Near Eastern sacrificial rituals 77 Libations and incense also appear to have been an important part of sacrifices based on archaeological finds 78 A custom attested at Byblos by the Greek author Lucian of Samosata that those sacrificing to Melqart had to shave their heads may explain ritual razors found in many Carthaginian tombs 64 Tophets and child sacrifice edit Main article Tophet Carthage and the western Mediterranean Various Greek and Roman sources describe and criticize the Carthaginians as engaging in the practice of sacrificing children by burning 12 Classical writers describing some version of child sacrifice to Cronos Baal Hammon include the Greek historians Diodorus Siculus and Cleitarchus as well as the Christian apologists Tertullian and Orosius 79 80 These descriptions were compared to those found in the Hebrew Bible describing the sacrifice of children by burning to Baal and Moloch at a place called Tophet 79 The ancient descriptions were seemingly confirmed by the discovering of the so called Tophet of Salammbo in Carthage in 1921 which contained the urns of cremated children 81 However modern historians and archaeologists debate the reality and extent of this practice 82 83 Some scholars propose that all remains at the tophet were sacrificed whereas others propose that only some were 84 Archaeological evidence edit nbsp Stelae in the Tophet of Salammbo covered by a vault built in the Roman period The specific sort of open aired sanctuary described as a Tophet in modern scholarship is unique to the Punic communities of the Western Mediterranean 85 Over 100 tophets have been found throughout the Western Mediterranean 86 but they are absent in Spain 87 The largest tophet discovered was the Tophet of Salammbo at Carthage 81 The Tophet of Salammbo seems to date to the city s founding and continued in use for at least a few decades after the city s destruction in 146 BCE 88 No Carthaginian texts survive that would explain or describe what rituals were performed at the tophet 87 When Carthaginian inscriptions refer to these locations they are referred to as bt temple or sanctuary or qds shrine not Tophets This is the same word used for temples in general 89 86 As far as the archaeological evidence reveals the typical ritual at the Tophet which however shows much variation began by the burial of a small urn containing a child s ashes sometimes mixed with or replaced by that of an animal after which a stele typically dedicated to Baal Hammon and sometimes Tanit was erected In a few occasions a chapel was built as well 90 Uneven burning on the bones indicate that they were burned on an open air pyre 91 The dead children are never mentioned on the stele inscriptions only the dedicators and that the gods had granted them some request 92 While tophets fell out of use after the fall of Carthage on islands formerly controlled by Carthage in North Africa they became more common in the Roman Period 93 In addition to infants some of these tophets contain offerings only of goats sheep birds or plants many of the worshipers have Libyan rather than Punic names 93 Their use appears to have declined in the second and third centuries CE 94 Controversy edit The degree and existence of Carthaginian child sacrifice is controversial and has been ever since the Tophet of Salammbo was discovered in 1920 95 Some historians have proposed that the Tophet may have been a cemetery for premature or short lived infants who died naturally and then were ritually offered 83 The Greco Roman authors were not eye witnesses contradict each other on how the children were killed and describe children older than infants being killed as opposed to the infants found in the tophets 81 Accounts such as Cleitarchus s in which the baby dropped into the fire by a statue are contradicted by the archaeological evidence 96 There are not any mentions of child sacrifice from the Punic Wars which are better documented than the earlier periods in which mass child sacrifice is claimed 81 Child sacrifice may have been overemphasized for effect after the Romans finally defeated Carthage and totally destroyed the city they engaged in postwar propaganda to make their archenemies seem cruel and less civilized 97 Matthew McCarty argues that even if the Greco Roman testimonies are inaccurate even the most fantastical slanders rely upon a germ of fact 96 Many archaeologists argue that the ancient authors and the evidence of the Tophet indicates that all remains in the Tophet must have been sacrificed Others argue that only some infants were sacrificed 84 Paolo Xella argues that the weight of classical and biblical sources indicate that the sacrifices occurred 98 He further argues that the number of children in the tophet is far smaller than the rate of natural infant mortality 99 In Xella s estimation prenatal remains at the tophet are probably those of children who were promised to be sacrificed but died before birth but who were nevertheless offered as a sacrifice in fulfillment of a vow 100 He concludes that the child sacrifice was probably done as a last resort and probably frequently involved the substitution of an animal for the child 101 See also editReligions of the ancient Near East Phoenician religion History of the Jews in CarthageReferences edit a b Xella 2019 p 273 Xella 2019 p 273 281 Christian 2013 p 202 a b c d Clifford 1990 p 62 Morstadt 2017 p 22 Xella 2019 p 281 Clifford 1990 p 55 a b c d e Hoyos 2021 p 15 Xella 2019 p 282 Xella 2019 pp 275 276 a b c Xella 2019 pp 282 283 a b c d e Warmington 1995 p 453 Miles 2010 p 104 Whitehouse John Harize Sami 13 March 2023 Local Communities and Archaeological Sites in Tunisia A Case Study at Dougga Ancient Thugga about Cultural Memory and Cultural Markers in the Longue Duree Journal of African Archaeology 21 1 63 80 doi 10 1163 21915784 bja10024 ISSN 1612 1651 a b c Xella 2019 p 283 a b Xella 2019 p 284 Xella 2019 pp 283 284 a b c Clifford 1990 pp 61 62 a b c d Barre 1983 pp 100 103 125 a b c d Hoyos 2021 p 16 a b c Warmington 1995 p 454 Fantar 2001 p 64 Xella 2019 pp 281 282 Quinn 2014 Lopez Ruiz 2017 DeGuglielmo Antonine A 1955 Sacrifice in the Ugaritic Texts The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 17 2 76 96 ISSN 0008 7912 a b c d Xella 2019 p 287 Christian 2013 pp 201 202 Zamora 2017 pp 66 67 Fantar 2001 p 62 Morstadt 2017 p 24 a b c Lopez Bertran 2019 p 293 a b Lopez Bertran 2019 p 296 Gomez Bellard 2014 p 71 Frendo de Trafford amp Vella 2005 p 433 Gomez Bellard 2014 pp 71 72 Ben Younes amp Krandel Ben Younes 2014 pp 149 153 a b c d Gomez Bellard 2014 p 72 Gomez Bellard 2014 pp 72 73 a b c Lopez Bertran 2019 p 300 Saez Romero amp Belizon Aragon 2014 pp 194 Guirguis 2010 Garcia Teyssandier et al 2016 pp 493 530 a b c Lopez Bertran 2019 p 301 Bernardini 2005 p 74 Gener Basallote et al 2014 p 136 Benichou Safar 1975 1976 pp 133 138 Alatrache et al 2001 pp 281 297 a b Lopez Bertran 2019 p 297 a b c d e f Lopez Bertran 2019 p 303 304 Ben Younes amp Krandel Ben Younes 2014 pp 155 156 Lipinski 1993 pp 257 281 Garbati 2010 p 43 Guirguis 2010 p 38 Lopez Bertran 2019 p 304 Lopez Bertran 2019 p 303 Spatafora 2010 p 30 Gomez Bellard 2014 p 74 Lopez Bertran 2019 p 305 Lopez Bertran 2019 p 298 Spatafora 2010 pp 25 26 Lopez Bertran 2019 p 302 Jimenez Flores 2002 p 280 a b Cooper 2005 p 7131 Lopez Bertran 2019 pp 298 299 Lopez Bertran amp Garcia Ventura 2012 pp 393 408 Sader Helene 2005 Iron Age Funerary Stelae from Lebanon Cuadernos de Arqueologia Mediterranea 11 11 157 Retrieved 4 December 2022 Quote is on p 22 a b Mendleson Carole 2001 Images amp Symbols on Punic Stelae from the Tophet at Carthage PDF Archaeology amp History in Lebanon Spring 13 45 50 Retrieved 3 December 2022 G Tore L art Sarcophages relief steles C Steles in Krings Veronique 1995 La Civilisation Phenicienne et Punique Manuel de Recherche Handbuch der Orientalistik I 20 Leiden New York Koln Brill pp 475 493 ISBN 9004100687 But often interpreted as a moon and sun Sader 2005 pp 118 120 Mendleson 2001 p 47 Culican William 1968 Problems of Phoenicio Punic Iconography A Contribution PDF Australian Journal of Biblical Archaeology 1 3 28 57 pp 34 45 Retrieved 4 December 2022 Quotation from p 43 Richey 2019 p 234 Xella 2013 p 269 Holm 2005 p 7134 Richey 2019 p 231 Richey 2019 pp 231 232 Miles 2010 p 18 Morstadt 2017 p 26 a b Stager amp Wolff 1984 Quinn 2011 pp 388 389 a b c d Hoyos 2021 p 17 Schwartz amp Houghton 2017 p 452 a b Holm 2005 p 1734 a b Schwartz amp Houghton 2017 pp 443 444 Xella 2013 p 259 a b McCarty 2019 p 313 a b Bonnet 2011 p 373 Bonnet 2011 p 379 Bonnet 2011 p 374 Bonnet 2011 pp 378 379 McCarty 2019 p 315 Bonnet 2011 pp 383 384 a b McCarty 2019 p 321 McCarty 2019 p 322 McCarty 2019 p 316 a b McCarty 2019 p 317 Macchiarelli amp Bondioli 2012 Xella 2013 p 266 Xella 2013 p 268 Xella 2013 pp 270 271 Xella 2013 p 273 Bibliography editAlatrache A Mahjoub H Ayed N Ben Younes H 2001 Les fards rouges cosmetiques et rituels a base de cinabre et d ocre de l epoque punique en Tunisie analyse identification et caracterisation International Journal of Cosmetic Science 23 5 281 297 doi 10 1046 j 1467 2494 2001 00095 x PMID 18498476 S2CID 38115452 Barre Michael L 1983 The God list in the treaty between Hannibal and Philip V of Macedonia a study in light of the ancient near eastern treaty tradition Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press ISBN 9780801827877 Benichou Safar H 1975 1976 Les bains de resine dans les tombes puniques de Carthage Karthago 18 133 138 Bernardini P 2005 Recenti scoperte nella necropoli punica di Sulcis Rivista di Studi Fenici 33 63 80 Bonnet Corinne 2011 On Gods and Earth The Tophet and the Construction of a New identity in Punic Carthage In Gruen Erich Stephen ed Cultural identity in the ancient Mediterranean pp 373 387 ISBN 978 0 89236 969 0 Christian Mark A 2013 Phoenician Maritime Religion Sailors Goddess Worship and the Grotta Regina Die Welt des Orients 43 2 179 205 doi 10 13109 wdor 2013 43 2 179 JSTOR 23608854 Clifford Richard J 1990 Phoenician Religion Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 279 279 55 64 doi 10 2307 1357208 JSTOR 1357208 S2CID 222426941 Cooper Alan M 2005 Phoenician Religion first edition In Jones Lindsay ed Encyclopedia of Religion Vol 10 2 ed Macmillan Reference pp 7128 7133 Fantar M Hamed Hassine 2001 Le fait religieux a Carthage Pallas 56 56 59 66 JSTOR 43607567 Frendo A J de Trafford A Vella Nicholas C 2005 Water journeys of the dead a glimpse into Phoenician and Punic eschatology In Spano Giammellaro Antonella ed Atti del V Congresso Internazionale di Studi Fenici e Punici Palermo pp 427 443 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Garbati G 2010 Antenati e defunti illustri in Sardegna qualche considerazione sulle ideologie funerarie di eta punica PDF Bollettino di Archeologia Online 1 37 47 Garcia Teyssandier E Marzoli E D Cabaco Encinas B Heussner B Gamer Wallert I 2016 El descubrimiento de la necropolis fenicia de Ayamonte Huelva siglos VIII VII a C In Jimenez Avila J ed Sidereum Ana III El rio Guadiana y Tartessos actas de la reunion cientifica Merida pp 493 530 ISBN 9788469747889 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Gener Basallote J M Jurado Fresnadillo G Pajuelo Saez J M Torres Ortiz M 2014 El proceso de sacralizacion del espacio en Gadir el yacimiento de la casa del Obispo Cadiz Parte I In Botto M ed Los Fenicios en la Bahia de Cadiz nuevas investigaciones Pisa Fabrizio Serra Editore pp 123 155 ISBN 978 8862277648 Gomez Bellard Carlos 2014 Death among the Punics In Quinn Josephine Crawley Vella Nicholas C eds The Punic Mediterranean Identities and Identification from Phoenician Settlement to Roman Rule Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 69 75 ISBN 9781107295193 Guirguis Michele 2010 Necropoli fenicia e punica di Monte Sirai indagini archeologiche 2005 2007 Cagliari Ortacesus ISBN 978 8889061 72 5 Holm Tawny L 2005 Phoenician Religion Further Considerations In Jones Lindsay ed Encyclopedia of Religion Vol 10 2 ed Macmillan Reference pp 7134 7135 Hoyos Dexter 2021 Carthage A Biography Routledge ISBN 9781138788206 Jimenez Flores Ana Maria 2002 Pueblos y tumbas el impacto oriental en los rituales funerarios del extremo occidente Ecija Graficas Sol ISBN 9788487165924 Lipinski E 1993 Quagebeur J ed Ritual and sacrifice in the ancient Near East proceedings of the international conference organized by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven from the 17th to the 20th of April 1991 Leuven Peeters pp 257 281 ISBN 9789068315806 Lopez Bertran Mirela Garcia Ventura A 2012 Music Gender and Rituals in the Ancient Mediterranean Revisiting the Punic Evidence World Archaeology 44 3 393 408 doi 10 1080 00438243 2012 726043 hdl 10550 58819 S2CID 162345582 Lopez Ruiz Carolina 2017 Gargoris and Habis An Iberian Myth and Phoenician Euhemerism Phoenix 71 3 4 265 287 doi 10 7834 phoenix 71 3 4 0265 Lopez Bertran Mirela 2019 Funerary Ritual In Lopez Ruiz Carolina Doak Brian R eds The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean Oxford University Press pp 293 309 ISBN 9780190499341 Miles Richard 2010 Carthage Must Be Destroyed The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization Penguin ISBN 978 0143121299 McCarty Matthew M 2019 The Tophet and Infant Sacrifice In Lopez Ruiz Carolina Doak Brian R eds The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean Oxford University Press pp 311 325 ISBN 9780190499341 Morstadt Barbel 2017 Die Gotterwelt Karthagos Antike Welt 1 1 22 29 JSTOR 26530885 Macchiarelli R et al 2012 Bones teeth and estimating age of perinates Carthaginian infant sacrifice revisited Antiquity 86 333 738 745 doi 10 1017 S0003598X00047888 ISSN 1745 1744 S2CID 162977647 Quinn Josephine Crawley 2011 The Cultures of the Tophet Identification and Identity in the Phoenician Diaspora In Gruen Erich Stephen ed Cultural identity in the ancient Mediterranean pp 388 413 ISBN 978 0 89236 969 0 Quinn Josephine Crawley 2014 A Carthaginian Perspective on the Altars of the Philaeni In Quinn Josephine Crawley Vella Nicholas C eds The Punic Mediterranean Identities and Identification from Phoenician Settlement to Roman Rule Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 169 179 ISBN 9781107295193 Richey Madadh 2019 Inscriptions In Lopez Ruiz Carolina Doak Brian R eds The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean Oxford University Press pp 223 240 ISBN 9780190499341 Saez Romero A M Belizon Aragon R 2014 Excavaciones en la calle Hercules 12 de Cadiz Avance resultados y primeras propuestas acerca de la posible necropolis fenicia insular de Gadir In Botto M ed Los Fenicios en la Bahia de Cadiz nuevas investigaciones Pisa Fabrizio Serra Editore pp 181 200 ISBN 978 8862277648 Schwartz J H et al 2017 Two tales of one city data inference and Carthaginian infant sacrifice Antiquity 91 356 442 454 doi 10 15184 aqy 2016 270 S2CID 164242410 Spatafora F 2010 Ritualita e simbolismo nella necropoli punica di Palermo In Dolce R ed Atti della giornata di studi in onore di Antonella Spano Facolta di lettere e filosofia 30 maggio 2008 Palermo Universita di Palermo Dipartimento di beni culturali pp 25 26 ISBN 9788890520808 Stager Lawrence E Wolff Samuel R January February 1984 Child Sacrifice at Carthage Religious Rite or Population Control PDF Biblical Archaeology Review dead link Warmington B H 1995 The Carthaginian Period In Mokhtar G ed General history of Africa Vol 2 Ancient civilizations of Africa London Heinemann pp 441 464 Xella Paolo 2013 Tophet an Overall Interpretation In Xella P ed The Tophet in the Ancient Mediterranean Essedue pp 259 281 Xella Paolo 2019 Religion In Lopez Ruiz Carolina Doak Brian R eds The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean pp 273 292 ISBN 978 0 19 049934 1 Ben Younes Habib Krandel Ben Younes Alia 2014 Punic identity in North Africa the funerary world In Quinn Josephine Crawley Vella Nicholas C eds The Punic Mediterranean Identities and Identification from Phoenician Settlement to Roman Rule Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 148 168 ISBN 9781107295193 Zamora Jose A 2017 The miqim elim Epigraphic Evidence for a Specialist in the Phoenician Punic Cult Revista di Studi Fenici 45 65 85 External links edit nbsp Media related to Punic religion at Wikimedia Commons Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Punic religion amp oldid 1190275255, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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