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[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. Niemeye…

[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…

[German version] Usual name (Lat., Greek bursa, ‘cow hide’) for the acropolis of  Carthage, supposedly as a reminder of Dido's legendary purchase of land (‘as much as a cow hide can cover’) for the foundation of the town, or oldest place name (Serv. Aen. 1,70: Carthago ante Byrsa, post Tyros dicta est), as a result of misunderstanding the Phoenician toponym bir-ša (‘Sheep's well’). Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography E. Lipiński, B., in: Actes du IVe colloque international sur l'histoire et archéologie de l'Afrique du Nord. Strassbourg 1988, 1990, 123-130. Id., in: DCPP, s…

(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 …

[German version] Largest island (40 ha) of one of the small archipelagos of the Atlantic coast of southern Morocco opposite the port of Essaouira (originally also an island), which is presumably identical with the  insulae purpurariae (Plin. HN 6,201; 203), on which Iuba [2] II established dyeing workshops. In the 7th cent., as evidenced by ceramics found (some with Phoenician graffiti!), Phoenicians founded a trading post there, which existed until the end of the 6th cent. BC. Africa (with map) Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography E. Lipiński, s.v. M., DCPP, 296  M.G. Amada…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Colonization (Μαινάκη/ Mainákē?; Lat. M(a)enaca, Maenoba?). Modern name of a Phoenician settlement to the west of Torre del Mar (province of Málaga in Spain) at the mouth of the Río de Vélez, with a protected harbour; a pass leads into the highlands and the mining regions around Jaén. Excavations (1964-1986) discovered a trading post founded c. 730 BC by the Phoenicians. The settlement, which flourished in the 7th cent., extended to the Cerro del Peñón (94 m) to the west, where at a moderate elevat…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Phoenicians, Poeni | Pyrenean peninsula Today Vera near Villaricos (province of Almeria), city of the  Bastetani with strong Punic influences, at the mouth of the Almanzora. Possibly allied with the Carthaginians. Since the 6th cent. BC Punic main centre for the development of the important mining area (silver, copper, lead) of the Sierra Almagrera. More than 2,000 graves have been uncovered from the time between the 6th and 1st cent. BC, the typology and grave contents of which are stamped by Carthaginian-Punic influence. Sc…

[German version] I. Definition Silver (ἀργύριον/ argýrion, ἄργυρος/ árgyros; Latin argentum) is a precious metal, which in Antiquity was extracted primarily by smelting silver-bearing ores of lead. Four different kinds occur naturally: 1. as pure silver; 2. as silver ore; 3. as a component of galena, the only economically interesting ore of lead; 4. in alloy with gold, i.e. as electrum (Elektron), in which the gold content can amount to less than 30 %. Pure silver is rare and its surface corrodes, so that…

[German version] I. Definition 'Town' and 'city' in modern parlance have become general terms to describe settlements of a particular size, with a particular complement of buildings and administrative and legal structure. Owing, however, to the manifold forms assumed by towns and cities, we lack a specific, all-embracing definition: criteria such as a closed built environment, a highly evolved division of labour, and central administrative and economic functions for the surrounding territory, have p…

[German version] I. Ancient Near East Mouldable, quickly hardening material of gypsum, lime, sand and water, occasionally with stone powder, which was used in many places (in Egypt from the Old Kingdom onwards, c. 2700-2190 BC) to smooth walls and as a base for painting. Figurines, vases and moulds for casting metal were also made from stucco. From the Parthian period onwards (1st cent. BC), figured or geometric stucco reliefs covering long walls are attested. They were modelled by hand or using templates; in the Sassanid and early Islamic periods they were also carved. Nissen, Hans Jörg…

[German version] Large rural sanctuary to Juno/Astarte on the Gulf of Marsaxlokk in the southeast of Malta (Melite [7]), originally dedicated to the mother goddess of the indigenous megalith culture of the Copper Age (3rd millennium BC), from no later than the 8th/7th cent. the site of a Phoenician cult of štrt/ Astarte, who is named in inscriptions on votive gifts. Plundered by Verres during his period in office as propraetor of Sicily (Cic. Verr. 2,4,103 f.: fanum Iunonis), it was extended in the Roman period, then abandoned in the 2nd cent. AD. An early mediaeval m…

[German version] Interior or exterior painting of funerary architecture built from stone or carved into rock existed in antiquity and throughout the entire Mediterranean region, also images on wood and stone steles; sarcophagi rarely bore paintings. Each region and period had its own particular programmes of pictures, which are interpreted as realistic or symbolic, and referring to this or the next world depending on the state of research. Due to the perishable nature of the genre, much has been lost. However, significant new finds have also been made in recent years. Grave paintings …

[German version] I. Ancient Orient see  Seals Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) [German version] II. Phoenician Phoenician and Punic gem cutting (GC) (= glyptography) is known almost exclusively through stamp seals in the form of scarabees ( Scarabee) or scaraboids that were very widespread in the ancient world; the body of the beetle is graphically linear in the Phoenician east, whilst in the Punic west ─ under the Ionian-Etruscan influence ─ it is structured much more three-dimensionally. Here Greek motifs (He…

Material and motifs indicate that jewellery in antiquity could be thought of as warding off evil or bringing luck. Not only men, women and children, but also idols wore jewellery. Jewellery was also often used as grave goods. [German version] I. Near East Beads made of shell and bone (later also wood) are again and again found in graves from the 7th/6th millennia BC. Gold and silver jewellery is known from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC from the Near East, sometimes with inlaid semiprecious stones, and in a great variety of forms (p…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt Ceremonially decorated piece of furniture for gods and rulers to sit on, with a high back and often with arm-rests. The sides were often shaped as animals or animal protomae; the legs were often worked in the shape of animal legs. Apart from a few fragments in stone, most thrones were probably made of wood and hence in the area of the Near East have not been preserved, but are known from numerous depictions. Thrones were presumably usually provided with metal (gold) or ivory embellishments (cf. the numerous surviving examples from Egypt). Nissen, H…

[German version] I. Definition Funerary architecture (FA) refers to architectonically designed structures built above the contemporary ground level for the purpose of  burial, as opposed to underground hypogea, which have rooms for the cult of the dead and hero cult. Columbaria can combine both types. Hypogea with a ground level cult room influenced the early Christian martyria above the graves. Regarding further aspects of FA, cf.  Hypogaeum;  Maussolleum;  Necropoleis. Kammerer-Grothaus, Helke (Bremen) II. Egypt and the Near East [German version] A. Egypt The Egyptian buria…

[German version] A cult cave on the north-eastern slope of Monte Gallo near Palermo ( c. 180 m above sea-level) used since prehistoric times. According to Punic inscriptions and paintings (5th-1st cents. BC, among these Tinnit symbols) on the walls, underworld and fertility gods were worshipped here.  Tinnit Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography G. Coacci Polselli, M. G. Guzzo Amadasi, V. Tusa, Grotta Regina ─ II, 1979.

(Μελίτη; Melítē). [German version] [1] Oceanid Oceanid, playmate of Persephone's (Hom. H. 2, 419). Stenger, Jan (Kiel) [German version] [2] Nereid Nereid (Hom. Il. 18,42; Hes. Theog. 247; Verg. Aen. 5,825). She is present on Attic vases at the struggle between Peleus and Thetis [1]. Stenger, Jan (Kiel) [German version] [3] Naiad Naiad ( Nymphs), daughter of the river-god Aegaeus. When Hercules comes to the land of the Phaeacians to atone for the murder of his children, he fathers a son, Hyllus [2], by M. (Apoll. Rhod. 4,537ff.). Stenger, Jan (Kiel) [German version] [4] Lover of Hercules Dau…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Phoenicians, Poeni Sanctuary of a local god (Babay or Babai?) in south-west Sardinia, called Sid Addir in Punic inscriptions and Sardus Pater in Roman ones. The cult image is a rock memorial in an initially open courtyard, in a temenos. A temple is erected in the 3rd cent. BC and again under Caracalla. Many votive offerings. Niemeyer, Hans Georg (Hamburg) Bibliography E. Acquaro et al., Ricerche puniche ad Antas, 1996 G. Tore, s. v. A., in: DCPP, 33-34.