Phoenician votive inscriptions

Most of the inscriptions are written in the exact same formula. This formula opens with the dedication to the god or gods (for example: = "To the lady - to Tinnit the face of Baal, and to the lord - to Baal Hammon"). After the dedication, the statement of the vow ( = "which devoted", "which vowed") and the name (and his/her ancestry, and sometimes the employment as well) appears (for example: = "which Meherbaal the writer son of Bodastart son of Milkyathon son of Addirbaal devoted"). copper altar, wooden cart/carts/female calf, et cetera. Some of the inscriptions describe the stele of the vowed object as a gift, mostly in the version ("which gave", as opposed to ) or with ("gift"), and some mix both the gift and the vow versions. Some inscriptions are made in an extremely short formula, including only the vower's name and the word (as a noun – "the vow of") or ("the gift of"). The closing statement rarely appears as "for he/she/they heard the voice of his words". There are also some exceptions in the order of the parts of the standard formula. A few inscriptions warn a potential thief that Tinnit or Baal Hammon, to whom the stelae were dedicated, will punish him. Examples An inscription written in a standard formula: A Phoenician votive inscription written in Greek transliteration: A second inscription, according to which the stele was erected as a gift, and not as a result of a vow, reads: == Distribution ==

More than 3,000 votive inscriptions were found In Carthage itself. Karaly, in Phoenicia proper, and in Hammon. Inscriptions in similar formulas were found in Sidon, near Tyre, in Athens, Rhodes, Egypt, Kition and Idalion, as well as unstandard versions in Carthage. Outside Carthage, the vows to gods other than Tinnit and Baal Hammon. Based on an inscription bearing the standard formula without the name of the vower, as well as a Phoenician standard votive inscription with the name of the vower in Greek alphabet, it is assumed that the stelae with the standard formula were manufactured in large quantities, and only when someone was to by a stele as a result of a vow he vowed, their name was added. == Symbolism ==

, showing a votive inscription, symbols of Tinnit and Baal Hammon, Caduceus, an incense burner, a Priest spreads his hand up, and a line of stelae on a stage, similar to the stelae found in Hazor The stelae themselves were mostly artistic and stylized, and various decorations and religious symbols are engraved on them, often related to the content of the inscriptions. The most common symbols are Sign of Tinnit, a crescent with a disc, a hand or two spread up, and Caduceus. The first sign, called "Sign of Tinnit", symbolizes according to most researchers the goddess Tinnit; her common epithet, appears as ΦΑΝΗΒΑΛΟΣ on a coin from Ashkelon near the symbol of Tinnit. The second symbol, a crescent with a disc, is the symbol of Baʿal Ḥammon; it appears on stelae dedicated to both Tinnit and Baal Hammon or only to Baal Hammon, but does not appear on stelae dedicated only to Tinnit. Moreover, the symbol appears on stelae from Samʼal, on which Baal Hammon is mentioned (like Kilamuwa stele). The Caduceus might symbolize both gods in some sort of a joint cult, but it exact meaning remains unknown. The epithet ("the face of Baal") is reflected on Punic masks of faces from Carthage, featuring the symbol of Baal Hammon on them, literally the "face of Baal" – . Some of the characteristics of this cult are tied to the Canaanite cult in Hazor, where (in its Orthostat temple) a stele, with a crescent with a disc and two hand spread ur towards them, was found. In the courtyard of the temple's workshop, a clay mask with no beard or mustache was found, similar to the Punic masks. Lilybaeum stele, which was found near Motya – a Punic governmental centre in Sicily, bears a votive inscription, as well as symbols of Tinnit and Baal Hammon, Caduceus, an incense burner and a Priest spreads his right hand up, as well as a depiction of a line of stelae on a stage, similar to the stelae found in Hazor. File:Orthostat_Temple,_Hazor,_15th-13th_C._BC_(cropped).jpg|Stelae and statues from Orthostat temple in Hazor. The crescent stele is in the niddle of the line File:Tunis_Bardo_Masque_1.jpg|A Punic mask of a face featuring the symbol of Baal Hammon == Gallery ==

File:Tophet Carthage.1.jpg File:Tophet Carthage.5.jpg File:Carthage National Museum 039.jpg File:Stèle votive punique. Signe de Tanit et Caducée. Musée du Louvre, AO 5191.jpg File:Constantine votive stele2 sII louvre.jpg File:Constantine votive stele1 sII louvre.jpg File:Stele with open hand and Tanit sign-MBA Lyon 1969-86-IMG 0549.jpg File:Stele with caducea axe and Tanit sign-MBA Lyon 1969-87-IMG 0550.jpg File:Stele with palm and Tanit sign-MBA Lyon 1969-86-IMG 0548.jpg|alt= File:Stèle éléphant musée carthage-v2.jpg|alt= File:Stèle signe tanit.jpg|alt= == Further reading ==