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Iconography of Deities and Demons: Electronic Pre-Publication 1/4 Last Revision: 26 April 2007 Iconography of Deities and Demons: Electronic Pre-Publication 1/4 Last Revision: 26 April 2007 Melqart Hellenization of the Phoenician religion and the strong assimilation between M. and I. Introduction. Phoenician/Punic god. →Heracles, an iconography which is M., whose name means “king of the city” attested to in Palestine/Israel and may, in (milk qart), was the patron god of the some cases, refer to the Tyrian god. From Phoenician city of Tyre and one of the the 6th-5th cent., and more intensively after major gods of the Phoenician and Punic Alexander’s conquest, Greek iconography pantheons. He was also known as Baal Ṣur was adopted in Phoenician art. The strong (“Lord of Tyre”) and identified with identification between M. and Heracles →Heracles since at least the 6th or even 8th imponed a Greek iconographical language cent., according to iconographic evidence and completely concealed Phoenician from the Levantine coast and Cyprus. customs. This situation is aggravated by the Because M. was originally conceived as a fact that excavations in Tyre have thus far king and thus a mortal human being, he was only reached Hellenistic and Roman levels, probably a kind of “heroic figure” according but not the earlier Phoenician ones. On the to Greek categories, while Heracles was the religious level, the two cults and figures paradigm of the Greek hero who passed were fused together (best observed in through apotheosis after his death. Cyprus or Gades [Spain]) resulting in the Different literary sources link M.’s Heraclean iconography alluding to both origin with the foundation of Tyre gods. That Heraclean iconography was so (Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica I, 10, 27, successfully used for a Semitic god may be 3; Nonnos, Dionysiaca XL, 311-580). due to the fact that some Oriental models Herodotus (Historiae 2.44) tells us that had already contributed to the elaboration of according to priestly traditions, M.’s Tyrian Heracles’ image. This complex phenome- sanctuary was as old as the city itself. non of iconographical borrowing, from the However, it is possible that M.’s cult Orient to Greece and from Greece to the derives from a long-standing religious Orient, also explains why it is so difficult to tradition, the royal ancestors’ cult well precisely identify the figure. documented in Syria since the 3rd mill. Since the second group is discussed in In regard to the relevance of M. for the the entry on →Heracles, only non- biblical tradition, →Baal’s cult – introduced Heraclean iconography of M. is discussed in Israel during the 9th cent. by king Ahab below, with references to depictions as late and his wife Jezebel, a Tyrian princess as the Persian period. (1 Kgs 16) – against which the prophet II.1. Phenotypes Elijah fought on Mt. Carmel (1 Kgs 18:20- A. ANTHROPOMORPHIC 40) could refer to M. The text, which 1. STANDING WITH A FENESTRATED AXE narrates the challenge between Elijah and ON THE SHOULDER. This phenotype appears Baal’s prophets, alludes to a god who sleeps for the first time on the Bar-Hadad stela and travels just like M., the god of the from Breidj, near Aleppo (1*). An Aramaic egersis “resurrection” (see below) and the votive royal inscription identifies the god companion of the Tyrian expansion along represented as M. He is shown striding from the Mediterranean shores. In the 6th cent. right to left, with a naked torso and bare Ezekiel’s oracle against Tyre (Ezek 28:1- feet, bearded, with a loincloth and a dome- 19) probably refers to the cultural shaped hat, a fenestrated axe on his left background of Tyrian kingship, when he shoulder (royal symbol; on this feature on attributes these words to the king: “I am a an Late Bronze Age pottery mould from Tel god, I sit on a divine throne, in the heart of Qarnayim and ivory from Megiddo cf. the seas.” M. was thus probably well-known →Onuris § II.1.5.1) and what may be an in Palestine/Israel. ankh sign or a lotus flower in the right hand II. Typology. The figurative docu- (symbol of immortality). This is clearly a mentation of M. is poor and problematic. composite image with Egyptian and Syro- One can distinguish two groups of images: Hittite affiliations. It is thus difficult to The “truly” Phoenician ones belong to the establish whether this is the canonical first group, where M. is not (yet) Phoenician iconography of M. contaminated by Heraclean iconography. Most likely the standing (GUBEL 1980: Most of theses images, none of which come 11, n. 76; BONNET 1988: 136) deity with the from Palestine/Israel, are uncertain in regard fenestrated axe on his shoulder on a scarab to the identity of the represented god. from Kition dating to the 6th/5th cent. (2*) The second group relates to Graeco- also represents M., an identification Phoenician iconography derived from supported by the temple of M. at Kition. In Heraclean models, and reflects the this example he holds a staff with a leaf- shaped terminal. For the same type see also IDD website: http://www.religionswissenschaft.unizh.ch/idd Iconography of Deities and Demons: Electronic Pre-Publication 2/4 Last Revision: 26 April 2007 a stamp seal in the Boston Museum of Fine elements seem to fit into the well-known Arts (3). In the case of a green jasper scarab Frazerian pattern of the “dying and rising from Ibiza (4), the standing god with a god,” which has been critically challenged fenestrated axe over his shoulder has raised in recent years. one hand in adoration toward an altar. On theVase of Sidon four scenes of a Although the iconography of the latter two ritual represent the four seasons: the death items is clearly related to the Bar-Hadad of the god in the pyre, his burial, the stela, the identification with M. is not mourning, and the return to “life” or his entirely firm due to the time gap and the epiphany. The god’s image does not present lack of further contextual evidence. any particularity. Different interpretations 2. POSSIBLE. are possible for the inscription (b˓l kr) and 2.1. Two related phenotypes from dif- the symbols placed below the images. This ferent Mediterranean sites may represent document is very interesting from a ritual M., but this cannot be confirmed. A seal standpoint, but also very uncertain as a purportedly from Sardinia shows an source for M. enthroned god holding in one hand a fene- 2.4. Tyrian (HILL 1910: 229f, nos. 11- strated axe resting on his shoulder, in the 24, pls. 28:16-17; 29:2-7) and Aradian other the same type of staff mentioned (HILL 1910: 1f, nos. 1-4, pl. 1:1-3) coinage above. This representation has been related of the 4th (and 3rd) cent. displays a sea-god to →Baalshamen (GUBEL 1980: 11, pl. 2:1- riding a winged hippocampus. Some have 2) and Baal Hammon (BONNET 1997: 831). suggested this figure can be identified with Another seated enthroned god with a M. However, although M. is related to the fenestrated axe on his shoulder but without sea, the sailors, and the Phoenician a staff appears in Punic terracotta figurines; expansion to the West, this seems highly these have been connected to →Baal improbable. Hammon (BISI 1975; CULICAN 1960-1961: B. ANICONIC: POSSIBLE. Some cults of 52; GUBEL 1980: pl. 2:5; BONNET 1997: M., especially in Gades (Spain) and Tyre, comment to no. 5). However, in both cases seem to have involved aniconic features. M. cannot be excluded entirely. →Baetyls, stelae, columns, or standing 2.2. The other type depicts a deity in a stones symbolized the god. This may reflect pose attacking a human or a lion, as shown an older, more traditional form of his cult. on two scarabs from Tharros (CULICAN Tyrian coinage refers to these objects as the 1976: pls. 8:3; 9:3; for a bull-headed most representative local religious symbols, →smiting god with fenestrated axe cf. probably related to the foundation of the BONNET 1988: 239, fig. 16, left). On the Tyrian city (cf. Philo of Byblos, Praeparatio Cypro-Phoenician silver bowls from Evangelica I, 10, 10-11 and Nonnos, Praeneste and Kourion (MARKOE 1985: Dionysiaca XL, 465-500). However, it is 177, 254f; 191, 278f, 283), this figure clear that M. was not consistently worshiped attacks a big ape in a mythical context. in this aniconic form. 2.3. The iconography of the “dying and III. Sources. The chronological range of rising god” is only known from the Vase of certain representations of M. extends from Sidon (?) dating to the 4th cent. and now the Bar-Hadad stela (1*), dated c. 800, lost (BONNET 1988: 78-80, pl. 1:1). While down to the stamp seals of 6th/5th cent. (2*- one cannot be sure that it alludes to the 4), and seems to echo in the Punic icon- egersis of M., this would be a credible ography until at least the 3rd cent. hypothesis. The only representation of M. that Hiram I, king of Tyre in the 10th cent. identifies him by name comes from Aleppo who built new temples for Heracles (= M.) (1*). With the Phoenician cultural expan- and →Astarte, celebrated the egersis for the sion into the Mediterranean, depictions of first time, i.e., the “resurrection” of M. M. spread to the west with reported finds on During this annual ritual the god “died” Cyprus and in Spain (2*-4). Somewhat (maybe in the fire?) and was “awakened” or indeterminate representations of M. come “resuscitated,” probably with the help of from Phoenician sites in the Mediterranean, Astarte.
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