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Baal Hammon / Saturne 25 baal hammon / saturne 25 CHAPITRE 1 BAAL HAMMON / SATURNE Grâce au travail considérable de M. Le Glay, le culte du Saturne africain est bien connu, d’autant plus qu’il fut fort répandu et a laissé de nombreuses traces dans l’épigraphie et les monuments. Ce dieu, qui dans le reste de l’empire était quelque peu oublié et ne correspondait plus qu’à un thème littéraire (l’Âge d’Or du Latium), a connu une formidable destinée sur le sol d’Afrique en recouvrant le culte punique de Baal Hammon. 1.1 Origines Cette assimilation des deux dieux était déjà en usage depuis long- temps lors de l’occupation romaine, puisque le Baal Hammon de Carthage était identifié à Kronos, l’équivalent grec de Saturne, dès le Ve s. av J.-C., comme en fait foi un passage de Sophocle qui parle des sacrifices humains offerts à ce dieu par les « barbares », faisant ainsi allusion aux sacrifices d’enfants1. Un passage du pseudo- Platon, datable du IVe s., en fait également mention2 et la version grecque du Périple d’Hannon, datant de la même époque, rapporte qu’Hannon aurait fait suspendre dans l’enceinte de Kronos le récit de son aventure3. Au IIIe s. également, Clitarque mentionne lui aussi les sacrifices d’enfants au dieu Kronos4. On constate d’ailleurs que cette dénomination était en usage en Afrique même, puisque des stèles grecques de Cirta, datant d’avant l’époque romaine, sont alternativement dédiées à Baal Hammon (B£l `Amoun), ou à Kronos 1 Sophocle, Andromède, fr. 126, dans S. Radt, Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, IV. Sophocles, 1977, p. 157; voir E. LipiÔski, Dieux et déesses, 1995, p. 256-257. 2 Dialogue Minos 315E, dans J. Souilhé (éd.), Platon XIII/2. Dialogues suspects, 1930, p. 91. 3 M. Sznycer, « La littérature punique », Archéologie vivante, I, 2, 1968-1969, p. 146-147. 4 W. Chase Greene, Scholia Platonica. Scholia in Remp., 1938, 337a. 26 chapitre 1 (KrÒnoj)5. D’ailleurs, le Saturnus Achaiae de la Gens Bacchuiana est probablement un écho de cette vieille assimilation6. On connaît mal les raisons qui ont poussé les Anciens à une telle assimilation des deux dieux; Diodore de Sicile et Tertullien7 ont cru voir un lien entre les sacrifices d’enfants qu’on offrait à Baal Hammon et l’épisode mythologique dans lequel Kronos avait tué ses propres enfants, mais cette hypothèse est peu satisfaisante et, selon E. LipiÔski, il faudrait remonter à l’ancienne assimilation de Kronos à Dagon, dont Baal Hammon était vraisemblablement l’alter ego8. Quoiqu’il en soit, lors de l’occupation romaine, c’est tout naturellement Saturne qui a hérité des fonctions de Baal Hammon, d’autant plus que les deux divinités avaient en commun leurs fonctions agraires. En effet, Baal Hammon était un dieu de l’agriculture et il est généralement représenté debout ou trônant, avec des épis de blés dans la main9. Du reste, l’équivalence Baal Hammon/Saturne ne fait pas de doute, on en a une preuve concrète dans une dédicace bilingue à Sabratha10, en Tripolitaine, dans laquelle le dominus Sapurnus (sic) du texte latin correspond bien au Baal du texte néopunique11. Des inscriptions du sanctuaire de Thinissut viennent confirmer cette identification: une dédicace punique12 voue « au seigneur Baal et à Tanit Pene Baal les deux sanctuaires qu’ont faits les citoyens de Tenesmat », alors qu’à l’époque romaine, au même endroit, on trouve des dédicaces à Saturne et à Caelestis13. D’autre part, les points communs entre les deux divinités ne man- 5 ILAlg, II, 505, 506, 507, 509, 510, 521. Ces textes corroborent les récits romanesque d’Hégésianax (C. Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, III, p. 70-71, n° 11) qui font allusion aux sacrifices humains à Kronos pratiqués par les Massyles. Voir également M. Le Glay, Sat. Afr., Mon., II, 1966, p. 24-25. 6 Cat., n° 122. 7 Diodore de Sicile, Bibliothèque historique, XX, 14, 7; Tertullien, Apologétique, IX. 8 E. LipiÔski, ibid., p. 257-258. 9 E. LipiÔski, ibid., p. 262; G. Charles-Picard, RAA, 1954, p. 72-73. 10 Cat., n° 40. 11 M. Sznycer, « À propos de la stèle néopunique de Tarhuna en Tripolitaine romaine », Mélanges M. Le Glay, 1994, p. 27 sv.; M. Fantar, Carthage, approche d’une civilisation, 1993, p. 264. 12 A. Merlin, « Le sanctuaire de Ba’al et de Tanit près de Siagu », Notes et docu- ments, 4, 1910, p. 22-24. 13 Cat., n° 171-175. Voir également G. Charles-Picard, RAA, 1954, p. 105; M. Le Glay, Sat. Afr., Hist., 1966, p. 216; M. Benabou, Résistance africaine, 1976, p. 363..
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