Religion, Phoenician and Punic

Résumé En

The Phoenician and Punic religion was a polytheistic system, characterized by local speci ficities and some common features. It is attested in the whole Mediterranean basin throughout the first millennium BCE, with significant evolutions since the Archaic period, due to frequent contacts with many different cultures, such as Greece, Egypt, Etruria, etc. Each kingdom or city-state (Arwad, Beirut, Byblos, Sidon, Sarepta, Tyre, to mention the most important) shapes its own pantheon, which becomes a crucial expression of mi cro-identities. However, many gods are shared and present both in Phoenicia and in the Mediterranean diaspora, where they undergo transformations and integrate multicultural environments. The absence of Phoenician and Punic literature is a huge obstacle to a pre cise understanding of the religious dynamics. Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Assyrian, and Egypt ian sources fortunately provide a consistent body of evidence on gods, rituals, myths, or narratives, but they need to be accurately deciphered. The Phoenician and Punic religion appears as particularly open to foreign influences and borrowings; it often employs com posite images between anthropomorphism and aniconism. As in many other religions, sacrifices represent the core of the ritual system, a "middle ground," where gods and men interact.