| Baʿal Ḥammon | |
|---|---|
 Statue of Baʿal Hammon on his throne with a crown and flanked bysphinges, 1st century. | |
| Consort | Tanit |
| Equivalents | |
| Canaanite | El |
| Greek | Cronus |
| Roman | Saturn |
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Baal Hammon, properlyBaʿal Ḥamon (Phoenician andPunic:𐤁𐤏𐤋 𐤇𐤌𐤍,romanized: Baʿl Ḥamōn),[1] meaning "Lord Hammon", was the chief god ofancient Carthage. He was aweather god considered responsible for thefertility of vegetation and esteemed asking of the gods. He was depicted as a bearded older man with curling ram's horns.[2] Baʿal Ḥammon's female cult partner wasTanit.[3] Baal Hammon was worshipped only inNorth Africa andCarthagenian colonies of the western mediterranean includingIberia,Sicily,Sardinia and theBalearic Islands.
The meaning of his first name "Baal" is identified as one of the Phoenician deities covered under the name ofBaal.[4] However, the meaning of his second name "Hammon" is asyncretic association withAmun, the god ofancient Libya[5] whose temple was inSiwa Oasis where the onlyoracle of Amun remained in that part of theLibyan Desert all throughout the ages[6] this connection toAmun, makes it possible to equate Baal Hammon lord of the sky to eitherZeus orCronos.[7] Historians Crake & Walbank dismiss a claim that Hammon meaning "Brazier" inugarit which implies that Baal Hammon is equated toApollo which is a solar deity, the original author of this claim describes his own conclusions as "clearly very hypothetical"[7]
Frank Moore also dismisses a hypothesis based on arguments presented for a connection toHamōn, theUgaritic name for Mount Amanus, a peak in theNur Mountains that separateSyria fromCilicia, this connection makes Baal Hammon a Moon god which the author sees as another reason why this connection is insufficient.[8]
The worship of Baʿal Hammon flourished in thePhoenician colony of Carthage. His supremacy among the Carthaginian gods is believed to date to the fifth century BC after relations between Carthage andTyre were broken off at the time of theBattle of Himera (480 BC).[9] Baal Hammon was known as the Chief of the pantheon of Carthage and the deity that made vegetation grow; as with most deities of Carthage, he was seemingly propitiated withchild sacrifice, likely in times of strife or crisis, or only by elites, perhaps for the good of the whole community. This practice was recorded by Greeks and Romans, but dismissed as propaganda by modern scholars, until archeologists unearthed urns containing the cremated remains of infants in places of ritual sacrifice. Some scholars believe this confirms the accounts of child sacrifice, while others insist these are the remains of children who died young.[10][dubious –discuss]
He has been identified with a solar deity,[11] althoughYigael Yadin thought him to be a moon god.[12]Edward Lipiński identifies him with the godDagon.[13] In Carthage and North Africa, Baʿal Hammon was especially associated with the ram and was also worshiped as thehorned deity Baʿal Qarnaim "Lord of the Two Horns" in an open-air sanctuary atJebel Boukornine ("the two-horned hill") across the bay from Carthage, inTunisia.[14]
Theinterpretatio graeca identified him with the TitanCronus. Inancient Rome, he was identified withSaturn, and the cultural exchange between Rome and Carthage as a result of theSecond Punic War may have influenced the development of the festival ofSaturnalia.[15][clarification needed]. Attributes of his Romanized form as an African Saturn indicate that Hammon (Amunus inPhilo's work) was a fertility god.[16]
There is a survival in modern times inonomastics with somefirst names in use particularly inTunisia grafted onto the name of the god. Algerian, Tunisian and many other spoken forms of Arabic refer to "Baali farming" to refer to non-irrigated agriculture.[17] Such usage is attested inHebrew, aCanaanite language sister toPhoenician, already in the 2nd century CEMishnah.[18]
A street inmodern Carthage, located near the Punic Ports, bears the name ofBaal Hammon.[19]
The city ofCarmona (Andalusia, Spain) is believed to derive its name fromKar-Hammon, "city of Hammon."[20]
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