Punic religion

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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)

The Punic religion, Carthaginian religion, or Western Phoenician religion in the western Mediterranean was a direct continuation of the

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.

Pantheon

Stele from the tophet of Salammbô at Carthage, bearing the sign of Tanit.
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.

onomastic evidence.[8][1]

It is difficult to reconstruct a hierarchy of the Carthaginian gods.

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

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

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

Tartessus.[24][25]

Practices

Priesthood

.
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

Venus Erycina at Eryx in western Sicily.[27]

Funerary practices

The funerary practices of the Carthaginians were very similar to those of Phoenicians located in

Cemeteries were located outside settlements.

baetyls
.

At different times, Punic people practiced both

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.

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.

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

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

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,

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.

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

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

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

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

References

  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. 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. ISSN 0008-7912
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  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.
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  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.
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  45. ^ Bernardini 2005, p. 74.
  46. ^ Gener Basallote et al. 2014, p. 136.
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  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.
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  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. .
  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.

Bibliography

External links