Search

[German version] [1] Town on the Capo di Pula on the south coast of Sardinia This item can be found on the following maps: Sardinia et Corsica | Theatre | Colonization | Phoenicians, Poeni (Νώρα; Nṓra). Town on the Capo di Pula on the south coast of Sardinia, approx. 20 km south of Cagliari. N. is regarded as the oldest town on the island (Paus. 10,17,5; Solin. 4,1; on its location cf. Itin. Anton. 85,2f.; Tab. Peut. 4,1). After a pre-colonial phase (cf. Phoenician inscriptions CIS I 144 c. 800 BC; [1. 1]), N. was founded by the Phoenicians in the mid 7th cent. BC. The Phoenician …

[German version] I. Names and concept, sources The name and concept of the Phoínikes (Φοίνικες)/Phoenicians (= P.) were formed in the Greek world [1]. Those designated by it understood themselves primarily as citizens or members of a union of cities, e.g. as Tyrians, Sidonians or - after the shared cultural region - as Canaanites [2]. In this they were referring to a political or ethnic identity derived from the Ancient Near Eastern Bronze Age. The various designations can only be reconciled from case to cas…

[German version] Phoenician settlement founded in the 7th cent. BC on the southern coast of Sardinia, with an acropolis and harbour; mentioned by Ptol. 3,3,3 under the name of Biqia. Remains of a sanctuary with a temple, perhaps of Ešmun, near the necropolis located on the seaside with its cremation burials from the 7th/6th cents. and body burials from the 6th -2nd cents. BC. Many terracottas of a style known from Ibiza and Carthage derive from a votive depository. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography DCPP, s.v. B., 73f. M. L. Uberti, Le figurine fittili di Bithia, 1973.

[German version] Phoenician-Punic settlement, c. 10 km east of Palermo, known from the chance finds of two anthropoid sarcophagi (in 1695 and 1725), and from surface finds. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography DCPP, s.v. C., 88.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Caesar | Wine | | Commerce | Hispania, Iberia | Colonization | Phoenicians, Poeni | Punic Wars | Punic Wars | Pyrenean peninsula (oldest Phoenician form of the name Gdr, ‘wall’, ‘citadel’, ‘fortress’, cf. Avien. 85, 267, 269, and [1. I 119; 3. 101f.], Greek Γάδειρα ( Gádeira), Latin Gades, modern Cádiz). The date of its foundation is linked to the foundations of Utica and Carthage; according to literary sources, it is estimated for c. 1100 BC (Vell. Pat. 1,2; Iust. 44,5,2; Mela 3,46; Plin. HN 16,216; cf. [3. 5-12;…

[German version] I. Middle East and Phoenicia Ivory, i.e. tusks of the boar, the hippopotamus and particularly the (African as well as Asian)  elephant, was extremely popular from the Neolithic period onwards as a material in ‘craftwork’. In the Bronze Age and the early Iron Age, the important workshops of the Syrian-Phoenician coastal towns and also of Egypt developed styles that were recognizably their own. Ivory carvings (IC) were widespread through intensive trade and almost always formed part of t…

Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) [German version] I. Archaeological Excavations (CT) Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) [German version] A. From the beginnings to the settling of the White Fathers in 1875 (CT) Legends about the untold riches of the Punic metropolis have always fascinated treasure hunters, starting with Scipio's soldiers, who ransacked and razed the city in 146 BC, and with Pompey's legionnaires, who, two generations later, after the victory against the Numidian king Hiarbas near Utica (83 BC), scoured the nearby d…

[German version] I. General Pins and needles (βελόνη/ belónē, περόνη/ perónē, ῥαφίς/ rhaphís, Latin acus) were put to a variety of uses in the ancient household: they were used for hair, garments and sewing. They were also a utensil, for example, in the work of doctors (Surgical instruments), sailmakers etc. Tattoos were also done using special needles. The shape of the pin, long and thin with one sharp end, has not changed since prehistoric times. In sewing needles, the head is generally unadorned and flat; …

[German version] I. General Cisterns as storage for rain water or as reservoirs for spring and well water were customary and necessary for a regulated and sufficient  water supply in the climatically unfavourable regions of the southern and eastern Mediterranean, both as small systems for individual houses and farms and as communal systems for settlements. Höcker, Christoph (Kissing) [German version] II. Ancient Orient s.  Water supply I. D. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) [German version] III. Phoenician-Punic region Systems for securing the water supply by collecting …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | | Commerce | Hispania, Iberia | Colonization | Phoenicians, Poeni | Punic Wars | Pyrenean peninsula (Μαλάκη; Malákē). City on the Spanish east coast, modern Málaga (name probably Semitic, not from Hebrew malkah, ‘queen but from Phoenician mlkt, ‘place of work [1. 5742]; in [2. 574; 4. 76] the possibility of a semantic reference to fish processing is mentioned); probably a settlement that was not established until the early 6th cent. BC as a substitute for the 200 years older Ph…

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Caesar | Africa | Wine | | Coloniae | Africa | Commerce | Colonization | Limes | Phoenicians, Poeni | Punic Wars | Punic Wars | Rome | Rome (Λέπτις μεγάλη, Léptis megálē, Punic Lpqj) ([1. 39-48]). [German version] A. History Originally settled by Phoenicians, the modern Lebda in Libya ([2. 36f., 74]; Sall. Iug. 78,1; 4; Sil. Pun. 3,256; Plin. HN 5,76?). Frequently given the epithet Megálē/ Magna (‘great’), to differentiate it from Leptis Minor (Plin. HN 5,27; Ptol. 4,3,13; Stadiasmus maris magni 93; Sol. 27,8; Tab. Pe…

[German version] I. Phoenician-Punic A fundamental technical innovation in the creation of floors first occurred in the 5th cent. BC in the region of Carthage (Kerkouane) [1]: the surface was designed with the help of small, rectangular or almost square cubes ( tessellae) made of terracotta ( opus figlinum, see below II.B.), limestone or marble, which were set into a bed of mortar with the tightest possible fit and were then polished for walking upon. It appears to have developed in this important metropolis of the central Mediterranean (Pavi…

[German version] Syrian (western Semitic) god, attested in the area between Ebla, Mari, Byblus and Ugarit from the 3rd millennium BC. In the Phoenician world of the Mediterranean, R. merged syncretistically with Melqart (cf. the votive inscription KAI II 88 f. of Ibiza, 5th/4th cent. [1]). As Smiting God adopted from Egypt in the well known pattern of 'the king striking dead his enemies', he inspired the iconography of fighting deities in the Mediterranean high and 'fringe' cultures [2], and was imitated in regions influenced by the Phoenicia…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Sardinia et Corsica | | Etrusci, Etruria | Colonization | Phoenicians, Poeni (Θάρρος/ Thárros; Latin Tharrus). Phoenician settlement (founded shortly before or c. 700 BC) on the western coast of Sardinia on the Sinis peninsula, which encloses to the west the Gulf of Oristano, between two indigenous nuraghic settlements; There are records of contacts with the Orient from the 2nd millennium BC onwards. Rich finds in the necropoleis (gold jewellery) and the topheth (vot…

[German version] The peninsula, which bounds the gulf of Tunis to the east, extensively covered with fertile horticultural land (Diod. Sic. 10,8,3-4; Pol. 1,29,7), was probably as early as the 5th cent. BC part of the Carthaginian chora and protected by coastal fortifications (Aspis/ Clupea, modern Kélibia, Ras ed-Drek [Hermaia? Str. 17,3,16], Ras el-Fortass). The almost completely excavated small Punic town of Kerkouane on the eastern coast is exemplary for the prosperity of Cape Bon under Carthaginian rule. Also of significance in this were the quarries near El Haouaria in the n…

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Caesar | Christianity | Africa | Wine | | Grain Trade, Grain Import | Commerce | Colonization | Crete | Limes | Rome | Rome (Κυρήνη; Kyrḗnē, Lat. Cyrene). [German version] I. History C. was founded by the Dorian island city of Thera in the mod. Cyrenaica, mod. Shahhat. Documentary evidence: Hdt. 4,150-158; SEG IX 3 (with a true core); Str. 17,3,21 [1. 9-67]. Overpopulation and famine ─ not internal political struggles ─ forced the inhabitants of Thera into the foundation of this   apoikía (differently in Menecl…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Phoenicians, Poeni | Punic Wars (Dar es-Safi/Tamzerat). Carthaginian ‘provincial’ city on the east coast of Cap Bon, founded in the late 6th cent. BC, about 8 ha in size, surrounded by a (once reinforced) wall, presumably destroyed in the 3rd cent. BC during the invasion of Regulus. The find documents the lower middle class culture of the 4th cent.; in tomb chambers eschatological paintings are extant. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography M. Fantar, K., vol. 1-3, 1984-1986 H. Gallet de Santerre, L. Slim, Recherches su…

[German version] [1] City in Mauretanian Tingitana This item can be found on the following maps: Coloniae | Colonization | Phoenicians, Poeni (Phoenician Lkš; Líxos). Huß, Werner (Bamberg) [German version] A. General Founded by the Phoenicians in what was later Mauretania Tingitana, about 120 km south-west of Ceuta, near modern Larache [1. 31f.]. Evidence: Ps.-Scyl. 112 (Λίγξ); Str. 17,3,2 (Λύγξ, Λίξος), 17,3,3 and 3,6 (Λύγξ); 17,3,8 (Λίξος, Λύγξ); Ptol. 4,1,13; 8,13,5 (Λίξ); It. Ant. 7,4 ( Lix colonia); Solin. 24,3 ( Lix colonia); Iulius Honorius, Cosmographia A 47 ( Lix oppidum); S…

[German version] The anchor as a device for tying up a ship in shallow water is an essential prerequisite for the development of advanced seafaring. In the Bronze Age, simple, roughly hewn stone anchors with pointed ends are known; they have one to three holes through their flat part for fixing the anchor rope ( ancorale) and an anchor stock (?). Perhaps invented by the Phoenicians, a wooden anchor becomes common in the early 1st millennium BC, which has the shape of a so-called admiralty anchor with wings/paddles and, at the other end, an anchor st…

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Caesar | Christianity | Africa | Wine | | Coloniae | Africa | Etrusci, Etruria | Commerce | Colonization | Limes | Limes | Pertinax | Phoenicians, Poeni | Pilgrimage | Punic Wars | Punic Wars | Rome | Rome (Phoenician Qrt-ḥdšt, ‘new town’; Greek Καρχηδών/ Karchēdṓn, Lat. Carthago). I. History [German version] A. From Phoenician foundation to Roman colony According to Timaeus' report (FGrH 566 F 60), C. was founded in 814/13 or 813/2 BC -- on the site of Tunis' modern suburb of the same name. The colonist were …