The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean
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Regarding the most southern Phoenician region, a clear cultural continuity with the rest of the land can be noted and, therefore, it would be arbitrary to establish boundaries corresponding to current political borders, particularly as far as regions like Upper Galilee or the Plain of Sharon are concerned (Xella 2017a). For example, information we possess about the cults of Akko and the Carmel region fits very well into general Phoenician traditions. The goddess Ashtart was worshiped together with a local Baal (Aphrodite and Belos, respectively, according to numismatic evidence). An important inscription from Mount Carmel (third–second centuries bce) provides evidence of a cult place in honor of Baal, as confirmed by the biblical tradition of the prophets of this god (1 Kings 18:19ff.). Here Baal is probably Milqart, surely the same god to whom some Phoenician devotees addressed a dedication on Mount Carmel.
Other epigraphic material provides evidence for gods and cults, such as votive inscriptions from Shiqmona, Nebi Yunis, Elyakhin, Kuntillet-ʿAjrud, and Har Mizpé Yammim. An inscription from Nebi-Yunis (third–second centuries bce) includes mention of a molk-sacrifice dedicated to Eshmun (Delavault and Lemaire 1976): it is the only time that this term occurs in the Levant and the addressee of the rite (Eshmun) is quite unexpected, but the inscription testifies to the existence of such ritual in Phoenicia (additional discussion follows).
Regarding other Near Eastern areas, the Phoenician presence in Anatolia—mostly due to commercial activities—contributed to the prestige of Phoenician culture, and their language was often used by Luwian kings in their inscriptions (e.g., at Karatepe). Nevertheless, Phoenician cult and deities did not have real roots in this region (Niehr 2002).
In the other pantheons of Mediterranean Punic centers, characters and ideologies of Phoenician and Carthaginian origin undergo autonomous developments and changes due to external influences and indigenous traditions, as will be shown later.
On Cyprus, the kingdom of Kition (Larnaka) may be considered as a true Phoenician state tied to the homeland: here Milqart—identified with a particular epiclesis of Herakles—played the role of the polyadic god. As for other deities, Ashtart on the one hand, and Reshef on the other, enjoyed great veneration, also owing to their syncretism, respectively, with Aphrodite (especially at Paphos and Amathus) and Apollo. These Greek theonyms, in turn, conceal archaic Cypriote deities, thus confirming that we are dealing here with an ancient and stratified religious tradition (Fourrier 2015 and chapter 31, this volume).
A different situation is attested in the Aegean area, where the Phoenicians were settled mainly as merchant communities. Their devotion to the gods of their homeland is well attested, with a special tendency to venerate marine deities such as Baal of Berytos (as Poseidon) and Ashtart (as Aphrodite Euploia), in addition to Milqart, Baal of Tyre (as Herakles), and the other Baals (usually called Zeus). (About the Aegean, see chapter 32, this volume.)
In addition to the universal prestige in the field of so-called magic, Egypt had welcomed some Syro-Palestinian deities at least since the Late Bronze Age, who were also venerated at Pharaoh’s court (Scandone and Xella 1995). This phenomenon was due both to the Egyptian military campaigns in Asia and to the penetration into Egypt of West Semitic peoples. So it was that Anat, Reshef, Ashtart, Horon, Baal Saphon, and other deities were introduced into the land of the Nile, where the presence of Phoenician-speaking people during the Iron Age is well attested both by material culture and by epigraphic evidence found in various parts of the Egyptian territory (Abu Simbel, Elephantine, Abydos, Memphis/Saqqara, Naucratis, Aburis, Karnak, Tell el-Mashkuta). At Memphis (Herodotus 2.112), an entire city district was inhabited by Tyrians who preserved their traditions and cults. The epigraphic texts cover a period between the eighth century bce and the Hellenistic times and are of different types: graffiti on the colossal statues of Ramses II left by mercenaries at Abu Simbel, ostraca from Elephantine, votive texts from Abydos, graffiti on the walls of the Osireion, papyri from Memphis/Saqqara, and other documents.
Carthage and the Western Mediterranean World
Phoenician expansion toward the western Mediterranean led to the foundation of an extensive series of sites, such as Carthage, in each of which, mutatis mutandis, religious conceptions originally borrowed from the homeland can be detected, even though subject to autonomous local developments and external influences.
As in general for the Levant, our knowledge of Punic religion has major limitations owing to the nature of the sources. Literary sources are scarce, epigraphic evidence is abundant but very repetitive, archaeology provides information difficult to interpret, and as far as Carthaginian temples and sanctuaries are concerned (excluding the tophet), archaeological evidence does not provide explicit data (Mancini 2010).
Likewise, the description we can provide of the pantheon is characterized by more shadowy areas than certainties (Huss 1985: 511ff.; Lancel 1992: 213ff.; Lipiński 1995: 351ff.). It is almost impossible to identify lines of development and changes in the theological conceptions and cultic practices that must have characterized Punic religion.
The best representative example of a western Phoenician pantheon is that of Carthage, founded in Africa by Tyrian sailors in the ninth century bce. If compared with the homeland, the local pantheon shows elements of both continuity and considerable innovation. In turn, the Punic metropolis acted as an irradiating center in the western Mediterranean from multiple points of view. Consequently, as for religious beliefs and cults, it is not easy to distinguish between Levantine and Carthaginian traditions, on the one hand, and autonomous developments in the diaspora world, on the other hand, where the influence exercised over time by autochthonous substrata play a substantial role (e.g., Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman, Sardinian, Libyan, Iberian).
The origins of Carthage, “New City” (i.e., a new Tyre), are at the center of a cycle of literary traditions shaped by the Classical worldview, with regard not only to the story of its foundation but also to the evaluation of Phoenicians as a foreign and barbarian people. The various versions provided by the Classical writers form a narrative corpus of prevailingly legendary flavor, even though not entirely devoid of historical background. Elissa (Dido, in Virgil’s Latin version) was the daughter of Belos and the sister of Pygmalion, king of Tyre, whom Flavius Josephus places in the ninth century bce. Married to Sichaeus, her rich uncle and priest of Milqart, she was widowed when her husband was assassinated by Pygmalion. Subsequently, Elissa fled from Tyre, taking the riches of her husband and, after a brief stop in Cyprus (where some women were taken on board to exercise sacred prostitution), headed toward Africa. Upon landing, and after various adventures, she founded Carthage. There was, however, no peace for the new queen. To escape marriage with the local king Hiarbas, and so avoid the risks of exogamy, she sacrificed herself on a pyre and, according to some sources, was posthumously honored as a goddess by his subjects (see chapter 11, this volume).
All in all, a partially plausible historical background emerges from this story: the general dating of the events, the personal names (all certainly Semitic, except perhaps Dido), the link with Tyre and its palatine environment, characterized by tensions between political and religious powers, and a scene of conspiracies and dynastic struggles, with the control of the state at stake. Viewed from an insider’s (i.e., Punic) standpoint, the story of the unhappy queen could be interpreted as a reference to a legendary archaic era, when there was a monarchy, even though no sure evidence for historical kingship can be found. According to some scholars, the ritual suicide of Elissa could even evoke the rites of the tophet, as well as the self-immolation in the fire attested for other figures of Punic history, such as the general Hamilcar during the military campaigns in Sicily, or the wife of Hasdrubal before the Roman conqueror, Scipio, at the moment of the destruction of the city. In particular, the tragic death of the woman could ideally be placed in parallel with that of Queen Elissa, so that two female suicides, both by fire, would mark, respectively, the beginning and the end of Cart
haginian history.
As regards the Carthaginian pantheon, it is difficult to reconstruct a clear hierarchy of the gods, or to identify the most important polyadic deity. On the one hand, a prominent role of Baal Shamem has been suggested, but the scarcity of evidence and the very personality of this celestial god make this hypothesis unlikely. Another candidate would be Milqart, but evidence is scanty and he appears, rather, as a divine cultural hero linked to Phoenician/Carthaginian expansion.
On the other hand, if we rely on the number of the epigraphic mentions, there would be little doubt that Baal Hammon and Tinnit were the most authoritative figures at Carthage. Epigraphic evidence regarding these deities comes almost exclusively from the local tophet, and, as a consequence, it has been argued that Baal Hammon and Tinnit were “simply” the deities of the tophet. However, this sanctuary was not a cult place like others: it had enormous importance as a point of contact between the divine and the human spheres, and there the faithful came addressing their prayers for help in all of the most important issues of their lives. In addition, the hypothesis of a major role of Baal Hammon is made probable by the persistence and the enormous spread and of the cult of his Romanized heir, Saturn (Greek Kronos), after the fall of Carthage.
Baal Hammon and Tinnit have their roots in the Levant, but they enjoyed increasing popularity in the western Mediterranean world. This divine couple symbolizes the ancestral progenitors to which the faithful turn in the most important and critical moments of their life. Both deities are invoked in thousands of dedications, mostly together and in that sequence. It is only from the fifth century bce onward that Tinnit is found in the first place in invocations, but her divine husband continued to be considered the lord of the sanctuary. The “rise” of the goddess is probably motivated by the increasing importance of her role as tutelary numen of Carthage and mediator between her partner (as pene/pnei Baal, “face of Baal”), and humankind. As regards Baal Hammon (perhaps “Lord of the chapel”), identified with Saturn (or Kronos), his personality of celestial father and lord of the universe subsumes a wide range of prerogatives and powers, extended to human fertility and the fecundity of nature (Xella 1991). For her part, Tinnit mostly appears as a divine compassionate mother, identified with Iuno Caelestis (Lancellotti 2010) in Roman times. The popularity of the Carthaginian couple continued over time, even without being tied exclusively to the tophet. In particular, the heir of Baal Hammon, Saturn/Kronos, became the most popular god in Romanized North African regions, possibly as representative of a special “indigenous” identity, characterized by different cultural roots rather than the gods imported by the Romans.
Many other divine figures were venerated in Carthage, at different levels and in different layers of the population. Some of them were already familiar from the Levant (Eshmun, Ashtart, Milqart, Reshef, Shadrafa, Sakon), while others are more obscure (sometimes even unknown elsewhere, such as Baal Mgnm) or are attested only indirectly in theophoric names. The inscriptions also testify to the existence of priests and temples, the divine owners of which are mentioned: Ashtart, Milqart, Eshmun, Milkashtart, Hoter Miskar, Sakon, Sid-Tinnit, and Shamash. Unfortunately, we have no archaeological evidence for any of these cult places or any other information, except perhaps for the Eshmun temple, if it can be identified with the shrine of Apollo near Carthage’s agora mentioned by the Classical writers. In addition, foreign deities, especially Egyptian (Isis, Horus, Bastet, and Bes) and Greek (Demeter and Kore) also enjoyed cult at Carthage.
As for the hierarchy of the Carthaginian pantheon, a document of utmost interest is the treaty of alliance stipulated between Hannibal and Philip V of Macedonia in 215 bce, preserved by Polybius (7.9.2–3). Here we have a kind of official version of the Punic pantheon with mention, in Greek, of the names of the Punic gods invoked as witnesses of the political agreement (Barré 1983; Huss 1986). It is not easy to identify the Punic deities concealed behind the Greek names, which are quoted in triads. The first triad is composed of Zeus (probably, Baal Hammon), followed by Hera (Tinnit), and Apollo (maybe Eshmun); the second triad includes the “daimon of the Carthaginians” (Gad?), Herakles (Milqart), and Iolaos, whose identity is problematic; the third triad consists of Ares (Reshef?) and two maritime deities called, respectively, Triton and Poseidon.
As regards North Africa beyond Carthage, the supremacy of the couple Baal Hammon-Tinnit is widely confirmed by the available evidence (Leglay 1966; Cadotte 2007). Other deities mentioned in the inscriptions roughly correspond to the gods of Carthage, although local variants are also documented, as at Maktar (Hoter Miskar—i.e., “Sceptre of Miskar”) and Leptis Magna, where the cults of El-qone-eres, Milkashtart (Hercules), and Shadrafa (Liber Pater) are attested.
In any case, evidence of Punic cults is scattered throughout the whole of North Africa, in a context of indigenous traditions. In addition to Libyan cults, Roman religion was partly superimposed upon both indigenous and Punic traditions. As a result, regarding the final centuries bce and first centuries ce, a series of “syncretistic” pantheons are documented, where the most popular gods are, first of all, Saturn (Baal Hammon) and Caelestis (Tinnit), then Hercules (Milqart), Aesculapius (Eshmun), and other deities who are usually a Romanized version of ancient Punic gods (on the Late Punic or “neo-Punic” legacy, see also chapter 14, this volume).
At least a brief reference should be made to the evidence of cultic practice in other parts of the Mediterranean, such as Malta, the Italian islands, and the Iberian Peninsula, where Phoenician culture is well attested and, in some cases (such as in Sardinia), has left a marked imprint.
On Malta, at Tas-Silġ a rock sanctuary bears witness to an extraordinary functional continuity over time: at the site there is evidence of the cult of Ashtart (possibly together with Milqart) from the archaic period, continuing the worship of a prehistoric mother-goddess (Amadasi Guzzo 2011) (see chapter 36, this volume).
As for Sicily (Ribichini and Xella 1994), the Phoenician presence is limited to the western part of the territory and especially to the small island of Motya. Here a tophet precinct was installed almost from the very foundation of the built-up area. Here Baal Hammon was venerated as the sole recipient of the cult (Ciasca 1992), while the cults of Ashtart and perhaps Milqart are also attested in Motya. On the mainland at Eryx, in Elymian territory, there was a mountain sanctuary dedicated to a local Ashtart, identified with Aphrodite in Greek and Venus Ericina in Latin (Lietz 2012). This sacred place was famous in antiquity for its riches and the practice of sacred prostitution. Another, but very different cult place was located near Palermo, in the Grotta Regina: it was a maritime sanctuary mostly frequented by sailors, who left graffiti on the cave walls bearing dedications to Shadrapha and Isis (on Sicily, see chapter 35, this volume).
More than any other western Mediterranean region, Sardinia received and deeply assimilated Phoenician culture and religious tradition, both directly from the motherland and subsequently from Carthage, even if also heavily influenced by indigenous substrates and later Classical influence. Two of the most ancient known tophets, at Sulci (about 750 bce) and Tharros (early seventh century bce), were installed slightly after the foundation of both cities, in addition to others more or less contemporary (Bithia) or later (Nora, Cagliari, and Monte Sirai). In all these sites, Baal Hammon was the patron of the cult place. Outside the tophets, several cults are also attested. Tinnit, Milqart, Ashtart, and Baal Shamem were worshiped in various parts of the island. In the sanctuary of Antas, in the interior, the god Sid was venerated and identified with Sardus Pater, an ancient indigenous character. Again at Antas, the healer-gods Shadrafa and Horon were attested. An important role was also played by Eshmun, often worshiped in cult places connected with springs and thermal waters (on Sardinia, see chapter 34, this volume).
Turning to the Italian peninsula, in Etruscan territory at Pyrgi (currently, Santa Severa) there was a large sanctuary dedicated to the Etruscan goddess Uni. Here three golden leaves inscribed in Etruscan and Phoenician
came to light in 1964 (Bellelli and Xella 2016). The texts record the dedication of a cult place that was performed in around 500 bce by Thefarie Velianas, king of Caere, to Uni, identified with Ashtart in the Phoenician text. In addition to testifying to the Phoenician presence or influence there, the texts provide information about a feast called the “burial of the divinity,” possibly related to a dying-and-rising-god tradition, of the type widespread throughout the Phoenician Mediterranean (on Italy, see also chapter 33, this volume).
On the Iberian Peninsula, the cult of Tinnit and Ashtart seems to take on a particular importance, judging by the wealth of evidence. Alongside these goddesses, also Baal Hammon and, above all, Milqart enjoyed great veneration. A striking case is represented by the sanctuary of the latter at Gades/Gadir (Cádiz), a sort of a counterpart to Milqart’s sanctuary at Tyre, on the opposite shore of the Mediterranean (Marín Ceballos 2011). According to the Classical authors, that sanctuary—not yet identified archaeologically—was very famous and overflowing with riches and the site of an oracle consulted by important people throughout history. Again, not far from Gadir, a marine and oracular Ashtart was worshiped in a cave. On the island of Ibiza, the cave of Es Cuyram housed another cult place dedicated to a goddess (perhaps Tinnit), where hundreds of votive statues have come to light (for Phoenicians in Iberia, see Dietler and López Ruiz 2009; Ferrer Albelda 2014; and chapters 37, 38 and 39, this volume).