Image Details

Phoenician emblems. The fifth-century B.C. human-like stick figures, in bone (far right) and bronze, are known as “the sign of Tanit.” An important member of the Phoenician pantheon, the goddess Tanit was especially popular on stelae in the vast precinct of child sacrifice in Phoenician/Punic Carthage (eighth to second centuries B.C.). Tanit is often identified with the mother goddess Asherah; her consort, Baal Hammon, was a leading deity in Carthage. Coins from Roman-period Ashkelon indicate that Tanit’s temple in the city continued to attract worshippers throughout the Roman period (first century B.C.–fourth century A.D.).