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[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 …

[German version] A. General The modern B. were named Gymnḗsiai by the Greeks, because their inhabitants went naked during the summer. The two main islands were referred to respectively as insula maior and insula minor; the names of Maiorica and Menorica (modern Mallorca and Minorca) are only found from the 3rd cent. AD (Georgius Cyprianus, p. 108, 673 Gelzer). Apart from those two islands, Plin. HN 3,78 also lists Capraria, Triquada and parva (sc. insula) Hannibalis, also Menariae. They can undoubtedly be identified with the islands of Cabrera, Porrasa, Sech and the Las …

[German version] (Ἔβουσος; Ébousos). According to archaeological finds, the larger one of the two  Pityussae (‘Spruce islands’), Ibiza and Formentera, was settled around the middle of the 7th cent. BC, initially under the name of ybšm by Phoenician colonists from the Straits of Gibraltar. The founding of a settlement by Carthage reported in Diod. Sic. 5,16,1-3, evidently refers to an expansion carried out by the north African metropolis some 100 years later. Thanks to its prominent position, the town of E. became an important Pu…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt In Egypt and southern Mesopotamia navigation played a major role, especially in inland traffic but also in communication across the sea. In both countries, rivers and canals were the major traffic arteries that were even used by the gods on their mutual visits and by rulers on their tours. Beyond their ordinary significance as a means of transportation for people and goods, ships also had a religious connotation. In Egypt the vocabulary of navigation entered daily life.…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Christianity | Africa | | Coloniae | Africa | Commerce | Limes | Limes | Punic Wars | Rome | Rome (Cirta Regia, Punic Krtn). Numidian foundation on the other side of the Ampsaga river [1. 72 n. 141], modern Constantine. C. came under Punic influence no later than the 3rd cent. BC [2; 3]. It was first the chief city of Gaia, then of  Syphax and finally of  Massinissa and his successors (Liv. 29,32,14; 30,12,3-22; Str. 17,3,7; 13; Mela 1,30; App. Lib. 27,111f.; Oros. 4,18,21; Zon. 9,13). After the fall of  Carthage, C. appa…

[German version] Prehistoric Tartessian, fortified proto-urban settlement with a harbour at the ancient junction of the Río Guadalete and the Bahía de Cádiz, now a hill in the alluvial land east of the port of Puerto de S. Maria, since the 8th cent. BC obviously with a large proportion of Phoenician settlers and a cultural strongly Oriental profile to match. From the necropolis ( de las Cumbres) are tomb inventories typically influenced by the Orient. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography D. Ruiz Mata, in: Madrider Mitteil. 27, 1986, 87ff. Id., C. J. Pérez, El poblado fenicio d…

(τορευτικὴ τέχνη/ toreutikḕ téchnē; Lat. caelatura; literally 'chiseling', from τορεύς/ toreús, Lat. caelum, 'chisel') denotes the chasing and repoussé work of thin plates of metal, or else works in which chasing is combined with repoussé work to design relief work; repoussé work may be replaced by casts. [German version] I. The Ancient Orient and Egypt Toreutics designates primarily the productive technique by which metals (gold/electrum, silver, copper/bronze, lead, iron) were shaped in a cold state. The objects (plaques), usually thin, were formed and dec…

[German version] The c. 550 m high massif over the eastern shore of the bay of Tunis holds between its two distinctive peaks (Verg. Aen. 1,162f. vastae rupes geminique minantur [1]) an important sanctuary of Saturnus Balcaranensis (Punic Baal Qarnēm, ‘Baal of the two horns’), from the Roman imperial period but based on Punic tradition. Picture-steles ( c. 600 preserved) of dedication basically belong to two different groups: either popular-‘neo-Punic’ with symbolic pictures or conventional Roman sacrificial scenes. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography 1 H. G. Niemeyer, in: AU, 1993/…

[German version] King of Tyre ( Tyrus) ( c. 962-929 BC). The name is shortened from the Phoenician Aḥīram (‘my brother is exalted’); known primarily for the trading expeditions sent as ‘joint ventures’ with King Solomon of Jerusalem to Ophir (India? East Africa? 1 Kg 9:26-28) and Tarsish (in the west of the Iberian peninsula,  Tartessus; 1 Kg 10:22, cf. Ez 27:12) [1. 251]. According to reliable surviving reports, including Josephus (Ap. 1,109-121), he was an active urban builder in Tyre and erected new temples f…

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(βαιτύλια; βαίτυλοι; baitýlia, baítyloi). [German version] I. Religious Studies Large upright stones which are included in the cult activity in sanctuaries are to be found throughout the entire Mediterranean region [1]. It was the Phoenicians in particular who contributed to the spread of these. The baitylia in Tyrus and in Emesa were famous [2]. In Israel polemics and the inclusion of baitylia in the cult (Maṣṣebah) with the predication of God, exist side by side (God as a rock: Ps 28,1 [3]). Minoan iconography portrays ecstatic theophany (?) [4]. In Gre…

[German version] I. Phoenicia Facial masks and head protomes (also shortened human representations including the neck and shoulder part) are a common type of monument since the 9th/8th cent. BC in the Phoenician-Punic world. They spread from the Levant (here going back to the 2nd millennium, e.g. in Tell Qāṣila, also from Tyrus, Amrīt, Akhzib, Hazor, Sarepta etc.) via Cyprus, Carthage, Sicily (Motya), Sardinia and Ibiza into the far west (Cadiz). The masks (with openings for eyes and mouth) mostly …