Baal hammon

A deity of Syro-Phoenician origin, perhaps revered already in Ugarit ^[4] , and later in Palmyra , where his name is attested by inscriptions from at least the 1st century BC. e. In Palmyra, he was identified with the local Baal , the supreme god of the oasis, and appears under the name Bebel-Hamon ( Bel-Bel-Hamon ) ^[4] .

The meaning of the name is interpreted differently. In 1883, Joseph Halevi proposed to understand this as "Mr. Amana ." In 1902, on the eastern slope of the ridge in Zincirli , an inscription dating from approx. 825 BC e. and containing the earliest full name of this deity ^[5] .

According to other versions, this name may mean “lord of the altar with incense,” “lord of hammans” (sacred pillars in front of the altar) ^[6] . According to Yu. B. Tsirkin and I. Sh. Shifman , the most likely meaning is “lord of heat” ^[7] (Shifman compares the name Hammon with the Hebrew word hamm , “sun” ^[8] ).

According to E. Lipinsky , the name should be written as “Baal Hamon,” since doubling appeared as a result of the later identification of this deity with Zeus (Jupiter) Ammon, revered in North Africa ^[3] .

In Carthage, the Baal-Hammond cult was brought in by a new wave of immigrants from Tire in the 7th-6th centuries BC. e. Betelis with his name are found from the VI century BC. e. ^[2] , images of a god in a typical Near Asian style soon appear - a powerful bearded old man in long, often pleated clothing, sitting on a throne, usually decorated with Kerubas . On the deity’s head there is a high conical tiara with a pelerine , or a crown of feathers, it raises its right hand in a blessing gesture, in its left holds a staff with a topping in the form of a pine cone, or one or three bread ears. A solar disk is often placed next to the head, sometimes with wings, as in Egyptian bas-reliefs ^{[7] [9]} .

Around the middle of the 5th century BC. e. Baal-Hammon begins to be revered with Tanit , whose full name is “Tannit in front of Baal” ^[10] , making a divine pair with her. In other Phoenician colonies (in Malta , Motia and Sardinia ) this addition was witnessed later - in the IV century BC. e. ^[6] .

Attributes testify to the Baal Hammon as a deity of fertility and a solar deity ; pine cone - a long-standing symbol of immortality and male fertility. On the gem of the VII or VI century BC. e. the throne of God stands on a boat floating on the waters of the underground ocean, as indicated by the stems of plants growing downward, therefore, he can be considered as the sovereign of the heavenly, earthly and underground worlds ^[11] .

The Greeks identified him with Kronos , whose image in Hesiod's Theogony is very similar to the Hurrit-Hittite Kumarbi , identified by the Semites with the fertility god Dagon , the same, in turn, was revered in Syria and Lebanon as Baal Hamon, and in Hellenistic times as Kronos ^[12] .

In Roman times it was identified with Saturn , which in Italian mythology was a deity of fertility; in Roman inscriptions dedicated to Baal-Hammon, it is called senex ("old man"), frugifer ("fruitful"), deus frugum ("god of cereals") and genitor ("parent") ^{[11] [9]} . The image of God was minted on the denarius of Claudius Albin , who fought for imperial power in 193-197 and came from Hadrumet , where coins with the image of Baal-Hammon were minted in the era of Augustus ^[9] .

Like Tanit, Baal-Hammon was offered human sacrifices , preferably children ^[13] .

According to Diodorus , in Carthage was a giant bronze statue of Kronos with long arms reaching to the ground, palms up and believed to be connected to the body by a lifting mechanism. The sacrifice laid on his hands, the idol was lowered down and it fell into a pit of fire ^[14] .

Modern researchers believe that the rite, known as the milk , might not be as savage as it is described in popular literature, and the child was killed before being burned ^[15] .

The Greeks disgusted the Carthaginian customs, and Plutarch reports that the tyrant Gelon , who defeated the Carthaginians at the battle of Gimer , specifically included in the peace treaty a condition prohibiting them from continuing to sacrifice their children to Kronos .

One of the largest sacrifices was performed in 310 BC. e. when Carthage was besieged by Agathocles . The Punians explained their failures by moving away from ancient piety and by the fact that instead of their own children, for quite some time, they had brought strangers to God - bought and secretly grown. To appease the wrath of the deity, 200 children from noble families sacrificed, and another 300 people sacrificed themselves voluntarily ^[16] .

Baal Hammond was revered in other Phoenician and Carthaginian colonies in the western Mediterranean. Strabo mentions the Kron Temple in Hades ^[17] , probably there was such a temple in Malaka , on the coins of which there is an inscription šmš (“shamash”) on the image of the temple ^[18] .

In North Africa, the Baal Hammon cult remained one of the most popular in Roman times; according to Augustine , the local pagans in his time opposed their Saturn to Christ ^[19] .

• Tsirkin Yu. B. Carthage and its culture. - M .: Science, 1986.
• Tsirkin Yu. B. Phoenician culture in Spain. - M .: Science, 1976.
• Shifman I. Sh. Baal-Hammon // Myths of the world. Volume 1. AK. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1991. - ISBN 5-85270-016-9 .
• Lipinski E. Pantheon of Carthage // VDI . No. 3, 1992. - M. , 1992.