DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0143
RELIGION OF THE PHOENICIANS. Ill
Atargatis had a dove on its head : at Askalon, Derketo was half-female, half-
fish, in her form. Of her many loves, the most celebrated was Tammuz, whom
the Greeks made Adonis. For him, when slain, her Syrian worshippers
mourned with loud wailings ; and, when he lived again, his coming to life was
celebrated with equal excess.
The other side of this goddess's character, standing for the destructive ele-
ments in nature, was worshipped under the name Astarte, a stern virgin, bent
on war, and associated with the moon. To this goddess human offerings were
made; youths and maidens being sacrificed to her, as they were to her male
counterpart, Moloch. As the Syrians interpreted the worship of the goddess
of fruitfulness according to their conception of her character, by giving full
license to lust ; so they interpreted the contrary character of Astarte, by killing
out all natural feeling, the most acceptable offering to her being emasculation
on the part of her priests and devotees.
Besides uniting thus in one deity these opposite characteristics, in which
sexual and ascetic elements were pronounced, the Phoenicians also combined
in one of their deities the male and female natures in a being of androgy-
nous character. At Carthage, Dido Astarte was to be seen with Melkart's
beard; and, at certain feasts of Baal, the priests and worshippers of the an-
drogynous god appeared in reddish transparent garments of women ; while
the women, in male attire, carried swords and lances.'35 This strange religion,
carried by the Phoenicians wherever they went, was, moreover, mingled with
a most appalling cruelty and bloodshed, altogether strange to the religions of
the Aryan race, as mirrored in its earliest existing sacred books, the Rig-Veda
of the Hindoos in India, and the Avesta of the Parsees in Iran. With such
barbarous conceptions of their deities on the part of the Phoenicians, it is
not strange that they never succeeded in giving their idols grace and beauty,
and that these always remained hideous symbols.
The land of the Phoenicians was small, a mere ribbon of rock and soil,
girding the base of Lebanon, and washed by the restless sea. Although fer-
tile, this territory was so limited in extent, that the cultivation of the soil
alone could not support the dense and growing population, who were therefore
compelled to resort to commerce, both by sea and land. Phoenician civiliza-
tion became, in consequence, eminently commercial in character, a fact which
is of prime importance in considering the art of this people, especially in its
relations to that of the other nations of antiquity. At first we meet them as
an adventurous fisher-folk, — the name of their oldest city, Sidon, signifying
"fishery,"—and see them gathering in the shells lining their coasts, from
which they extracted a liquid of unrivalled brilliancy for dyeing purposes.'35a
But, besides possessing such wealth in the sea, their land was rich in metals and
timber; its cedars were sought far and wide ; and, at a very early date, we learn
of this people travelling with their wares to distant lands, and bringing back
Atargatis had a dove on its head : at Askalon, Derketo was half-female, half-
fish, in her form. Of her many loves, the most celebrated was Tammuz, whom
the Greeks made Adonis. For him, when slain, her Syrian worshippers
mourned with loud wailings ; and, when he lived again, his coming to life was
celebrated with equal excess.
The other side of this goddess's character, standing for the destructive ele-
ments in nature, was worshipped under the name Astarte, a stern virgin, bent
on war, and associated with the moon. To this goddess human offerings were
made; youths and maidens being sacrificed to her, as they were to her male
counterpart, Moloch. As the Syrians interpreted the worship of the goddess
of fruitfulness according to their conception of her character, by giving full
license to lust ; so they interpreted the contrary character of Astarte, by killing
out all natural feeling, the most acceptable offering to her being emasculation
on the part of her priests and devotees.
Besides uniting thus in one deity these opposite characteristics, in which
sexual and ascetic elements were pronounced, the Phoenicians also combined
in one of their deities the male and female natures in a being of androgy-
nous character. At Carthage, Dido Astarte was to be seen with Melkart's
beard; and, at certain feasts of Baal, the priests and worshippers of the an-
drogynous god appeared in reddish transparent garments of women ; while
the women, in male attire, carried swords and lances.'35 This strange religion,
carried by the Phoenicians wherever they went, was, moreover, mingled with
a most appalling cruelty and bloodshed, altogether strange to the religions of
the Aryan race, as mirrored in its earliest existing sacred books, the Rig-Veda
of the Hindoos in India, and the Avesta of the Parsees in Iran. With such
barbarous conceptions of their deities on the part of the Phoenicians, it is
not strange that they never succeeded in giving their idols grace and beauty,
and that these always remained hideous symbols.
The land of the Phoenicians was small, a mere ribbon of rock and soil,
girding the base of Lebanon, and washed by the restless sea. Although fer-
tile, this territory was so limited in extent, that the cultivation of the soil
alone could not support the dense and growing population, who were therefore
compelled to resort to commerce, both by sea and land. Phoenician civiliza-
tion became, in consequence, eminently commercial in character, a fact which
is of prime importance in considering the art of this people, especially in its
relations to that of the other nations of antiquity. At first we meet them as
an adventurous fisher-folk, — the name of their oldest city, Sidon, signifying
"fishery,"—and see them gathering in the shells lining their coasts, from
which they extracted a liquid of unrivalled brilliancy for dyeing purposes.'35a
But, besides possessing such wealth in the sea, their land was rich in metals and
timber; its cedars were sought far and wide ; and, at a very early date, we learn
of this people travelling with their wares to distant lands, and bringing back