Carthaginian Religion

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Carthaginian Religion

Postby Quintus Aurelius Orcus on Wed Aug 04, 2004 12:23 pm

Salvete

This is a part of my essa on Carthage. this part centers around the religion of the Carthaginians.
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RELIGION


Phoenician religious practices have received a lot of attention, especially the child sacrifices that occurred in their cities to ensure their health and well being of their community. The major gods were Baal (also known with other epithets or other names), Tanith, Baal's consort, Eshmoun and Melqart who was later assimilated into Hercules. At Carthage the most important deity of all was Tanith, Baal's consort. Her symbols include doves, palm tree, grapes, crescent moon, ... Like Isis, she is the goddess with many names, a queen of the Manes (Shades of the dead). Like I said earlier, by the 5th and 4th century there were several Greeks living in Carthage, who brought the cult of Demeter with them at the request of the Carthaginian government. Unlike Christian- Judaic religions, Carthaginian religion didn’t have any dogma. They had an established priesthood. These priests could serve more than one deity, there was even mention of sacred prostitution, a practice that was brought with them from their homeland. Baal-Hammon and Tanith were the patron deities of Carthage. Other Carthaginian/ Phoenician cities had different patron deities, even different theologies and the priests debated among themselves on who is the ruler of the Carthaginian/ Phoenician pantheon of Gods. In this they don’t differ that much from other polytheistic religions. In Carthage, this was likely to be Baal-Hammon and his consort Tanith, in other cities this could have been Melqart or someone else. Like some Roman priesthoods, there were some strange rules for certain priesthoods. A priest or priestess was believed to give their lives to their gods if necessarily. If they broke a rule or did something wrong, their lives could be taken, not by the gods themselves, but by humans. On the other side, the same priest could use his function so that they would spare his life. The goddess Tanith seem to have originated from Libya, but her cult and name was not found among the Berbers. But than it seems more likely that before the Phoenicians came to North Africa, there was already contact between Phoenicians and North Africans, even Iberians. Baal is the most interested deity of all. His name originally was a title (lord) but over the centuries, this title which belong to several deities like Hammon (who is more from Egyptian origin) and others, evolved to became a name of a deity. Baal evolved from a title to a deity. Baal- Hammon is the chief deity of Phoenician Carthage and a fertility god. His cult spread to Malta, Sardinia and Sicily, and sacrificing children played an important role in this cult. His names mean something like "lord of the incense-altars". The Greek equated him with their Kronos and the Romans with Saturn His wife is Tanit. Melqart is being compared with Herakles/ Hercules as with Gilgamesj. Dagon, the name means "corn", is an ancient Mesopotamian vegetation god, father of Baal in his father's attributes. He is the god of crop fertility and the inventor of the plough. He passed this knowledge to mankind to let them better till the soil and produce food. Dagon's temples were in Philistine for about 2000 years, although Baal took over in most parts of the Middle East. Dagon is one of the really old gods. The Ras Shamra texts describe Dagon as coeval with El, who is the most ancient and senior of all the Semitic gods. Dagon's temple at Ashdod still existed right up until the time of the Hasmoneans. Dagon was portrayed half man and half fish.
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Carthaginian/ Phoenician deities

Postby Quintus Aurelius Orcus on Wed Aug 04, 2004 12:25 pm

Salvete

Here is a list of Carthaginian/ Phoenician deities:

Baal- hammon: King of the Gods, ruler of the universe, son of Dagon, also known as Baal (el).
Tanit (Astarte): Queen of heaven
Tanit, also spelled TINITH, TINNIT, or TINT, chief goddess of Carthage, equivalent of Astarte. Although she seems to have had some connection with the heavens, she was also a mother goddess, and fertility symbols often accompany representations of her. She was probably the consort of Baal Hammon (or Amon), the chief god of Carthage, and was often given the attribute "face of Baal." Although Tanit did not appear at Carthage before the 5th century BC, she soon eclipsed the more established cult of Baal Hammon and, in the Carthaginian area at least, was frequently listed before him on the monuments. In the worship of Tanit and Baal Hammon, children, probably firstborn, were sacrificed. Ample evidence of the practice has been found west of Carthage in the precinct of Tanit, where a tofet (a sanctuary for the sacrifice of children) was discovered. Tanit was also worshiped on Malta, Sardinia, and in Spain.
Astarte: Also spelled ASHTART, great goddess of the ancient Near East, chief deity of Tyre, Sidon, and Elath, important Mediterranean seaports. She was called Asherar-yam, our lady of the sea, and in Byblos she was Baalat, our dear lady. Astarte was linked with mother goddesses of neighboring cultures, in her role as combined heavenly mother and earth mother. Cult statues of Astarte in many different forms were left as votive offerings in shrines and sanctuaries as prayers for good harvest, for children, and for protection and tranquillity in the home. Hebrew scholars now feel that the goddess Ashtoreth mentioned so often in the Bible is a deliberate compilation of the Greek name Astarte and the Hebrew word boshet, "shame," indicating the Hebrew contempt for her cult. Ashtaroth, the plural form of the goddess's name in Hebrew, became a general term denoting goddesses and paganism. King Solomon, married to foreign wives, "went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians" (I Kings 11:5). Later the cult places to Ashtoreth were destroyed by Josiah. Astarte/Ashtoreth is the Queen of Heaven to whom the Canaanites had burned incense and poured libations (Jer. 44). Astarte, goddess of love and war, shared so many qualities with her sister, Anath, that they may originally have been seen as a single deity. Their names together are the basis for the Aramaic goddess Atargatis. Astarte was worshipped as Astarte in Egypt and Ugarit and among the Hittites, as well as in Canaan. Her Akkadian counterpart was Ishtar. Later she became assimilated with the Egyptian deities Isis and Hathor, and in the Greco-Roman world with Aphrodite, Artemis, and Juno, all aspects of the Great Mother.
Anath, Goddess of Love and War, sister of Baal
Anath, also spelled ANAT, chief West Semitic goddess of love and war, the sister and helpmate of the god Baal.
Considered a beautiful young girl, she was often designated "the Virgin" in ancient texts. Probably one of the best known of the Canaanite deities, she was famous for her youthful vigour and ferocity in battle; in that respect she was adopted as a special favourite by the Egyptian king Ramses II (reigned 1279-13 BC). Although Anath was often associated with the god Resheph in ritual texts, she was primarily known for her role in the myth of Baal's death and resurrection, in which she mourned and searched for him and finally helped to retrieve him from the netherworld.
Egyptian representations of Anath show a nude goddess, often standing on a lion and holding flowers. During the Hellenistic Age, the goddesses Anath and Astarte (q.v.) were blended into one deity, called Atargatis (q.v.)
Adon (Adonis), Handsome and Young God
Melqart, God of Tyre, King of the Underworld and Cycle of vegetation
Melqart, Son of Baal (or El, Ruler of the Universe), God of Tyre, King of the Underworld, Protector of the Universe symbolized the annual cycle of vegetation and was associated with the female deity Astarte in her role as the maternal goddess. Also, he was considered the Heracles or Hercules of the Tyrians though he came from a more distant past than the Greek Heracles/Hercules.
Melqart was also known as Eshmun by the Sidonians. The Greeks equated Melqart with Heracles who was held to be the mythical founder of the Macedonian dynasty. Melqart was also known by other names -- like other Phoenician gods and goddesses. He was known as Baal- Adon- Eshmun- Melqart and also as Thasian Heracles because he was worshipped on the island of Thasos. Also, a Temple of Melqart is known to have been on the island of Sancti Petri near Cadiz.
Many historians such as Josephus Flavius refer to Melqart and Heracles interchangeably. Also, Herodutus, Theophrastus (Arsistotle's pupil) and Horace the Roman wrote about Melqart's Temple in Tyre. It had two pillars one of pure gold and the other of emeralds which shone brilliantly at night. Melqart made Tyre a Phoenician Jerusalem whose kings minted Tyrians coins with Melqart riding on the Phoenician Hippocampus (seahorse/monster). This unique position of Tyre in Phoenician mythology survived into the Christian Era as an amazingly modern city. The remains of the Temple of Eshmun (Sidon's Melqart) have been found in Sidon.
The fame and name of Melqart travelled to the far corners of the Phoenician colonies around the Mediterranean and the other dominions and territories where the Phoenicians settled. The famous Pillars of Hercules of Gibraltar were actually known as the Pillars of Melqart but as time went by and the two gods became combined into one, the Pillars became those of Heracles or Hercules.
Asherha or Baalat Gubi, Goddess of Byblos
Eshmun or Baalat Asklepios: God of Healing
Kothar, Hasis, the Skilled, God of Craftmanship
They are a group of goddesses associated with conception and childbirth. '...The swallow-like daughters of the crescent moon.' They are also associated with the new moon. They attend Daniel for seven days to aid in the conception of Aqhat and recieve his sacrifice.
Mot, God of Death
Lord of the Underworld and the barren season then defeats Ba'al, enraging Ba'al's consort Anath, who ironically in the Ugarit form of the myth enters the fray as a Death Goddess upholding the paternal order. When Mot refuses to revive Ba'al, Anath kills and dismembers him, scattering his remains over the land. Baal, now revived, undertakes a full-scale war against all the other gods, who are now referred to as the "Sons of Asherah," and is victorious. The death of Mot is conceived in a seven year cycle as representing the end of seven years of drought and famine.
Resheph: ????
Shamash: God of the sun (derived from being mentioned in the Gilgamesh epic)
Shahar: God of dawn
Shalim: God of Dusk
El: The Bull. the Father of Men, the Kindly One, the Compassionate. Creator of all things, greatest of all the gods, father of the divine family.
Shapash: Sun Goddess
Yamm: God of the Seas
God of primordial chaos, much like Tiamat and Coatlicue. Baal-Haddad's enemy. Before the great combat with Baal-Haddad, Yamm terrified the divine assembly of gods and sent emissaries to demand tribute from them. Part of the tribute he demanded was Baal-Haddad as a slave. Infuriated, Baal-Haddad drove the emissaries from the hall with lashings, and so the war began.
Yarikh: God of the Moon
Molech/ Moloch: God of Fire

Source:
Encyclopedia Mythica: http://www.pantheon.org/
Phoenicia Website; http://www.phoenicia.org/pagan.html#anchor252057
Hannibal Barca and the Punic Wars; section Religion of Carthage: http://www.barca.fsnet.co.uk/carthage-religion.htm
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Carthaginian priests

Postby Quintus Aurelius Orcus on Wed Aug 04, 2004 12:28 pm

Salvete
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Religion: priests:


Carthaginian religion didn’t have any dogma. They had an established priesthood. These priests could serve more than one deity; there was even mention of sacred prostitution, a practice that was brought with them from their homeland. Baal-Hammon and Tanith were the patron deities of Carthage. Like some Roman priesthoods, there were some strange rules for certain priesthoods. A priest or priestess was believed to give their lives to their gods if necessarily. If they broke a rule or did something wrong, their lives could be taken, not by the gods themselves, but by humans. On the other side, the same priest could use his function so that they would spare his life. The priestly class was the most important class in Carthage. Priests were called (kohanim). Priests were the servants of Melqart, Tanith, Baal Hammon, Esjmoen, Resjef, Sjadrapa, Astarte, Jam, Dagon and many other deities, some local, some introduced foreign deities. The priests insured the city of the protection of the Gods. Priests were thought to bring fertility to man and animal, victory to soldiers, etc… Whenever a catastrophe took place, they blamed it on the citizens for the lack of religious conviction which in turn caused outburst of religious ecstasy that mostly ended in horrific fire sacrifices.
But being priest was not without peril. Who became priest, give his life to the deity or deities he or she served and these deities or deity could take it when they saw fit. Sometimes this kind of sacrifice was made as the story of king Malchus proofs. King Malchus wanted a priest of Melqart to be part of his plot to overthrow the current administration. The priest refused and as a punishment for this refusal the child of the priest was crucified in priest robes. It seems that this kind of brutal execution was sill practiced in Roman Carthage in the 3rd century B.C. where they threw prisoners in customs to wild animals.
Chastity was not demanded from priests. Most priests were married and had a mortal office. But certain priests or priestesses, like those of the African Ceres were forbidden to see men, even male relatives. It seems that they want to be sure that they didn’t have any intercourse with any men nor had interaction with any of them. This was probably not from a religious point of view that they forced this upon these priestesses. It could very well have a social background to why these women were not allowed to see any men. Most priests were bald; they had shaven their head bald. There was no hair on their head. This custom which was not demanded, probably originated from Egyptian priests who did do this. The clothes of the priests were pretty simple in when you compare to the Roman priests. The colour of their robes was white. On steles, priests as deities were depicted and their appearance was simple, not complex. The way Carthaginian and probably Phoenician priests were dressed originated in Egyptian religious practices. The Phoenicians only adapted it. Like some Roman priesthoods, there were some strange rules for certain priesthoods. A priest or priestess was believed to give their lives to their gods if necessarily. If they broke a rule or did something wrong, their lives could be taken, not by the gods themselves, but by humans. On the other side, the same priest could use his function so that they would spare his life. Like in the temples of Astarte, Aphrodite and Ishjtar, there was also mention of sacred prostitution. In Carthage, this took place in the temple of Tanith because some compared Tanith with Astarte, but in reality these two goddesses are two completely different deities. Sacred prostitution was not really an integral part of Carthaginian religion and it only took place in temples of foreign deities. In Carthage, like in Eleusis and in some parts of Hellas, the priestly class was preserved for the noble families in the city. This has more to do with the fact that the priestly class brought prestige and power with the function. This was still done in the dark ages and it reached even up to the function of the pope. There were popes who became popes just because the families wanted a relative (son or nephew) to be a bishop, cardinal or pope because it brought prestige to the families. It had more to do with reputation and money than religious zealous.
Sources:

Encyclopedia Mythica: http://www.pantheon.org/
Hannibal Barca and the Punic Wars; section Religion of Carthage: http://www.barca.fsnet.co.uk/carthage-religion.htm
Zo leefden de Carthagers ten tijde van Hannibal; translated from French by Gilbert and Colette Charles-Picard.
Original title: La Vie quotidienne a Carthage au temps d’Hannibal : troisième siècle avant Jésus- Christ published in 1959.
Phoenicia Website; http://www.phoenicia.org/pagan.html#anchor252057

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