View source for Baal Hammon

{{Short description|Chief god in ancient Carthaginian religion}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Canaanite
| name = Baʿal Ḥammon
| image = Terracotta statue of Baal-Hammon on a throne AvL.JPG
| alt =
| caption = Statue of Baʿal Hammon on his throne with a crown and flanked by [[sphinx|sphinges]], 1st century.
| god_of = [[Weather god|Weather]] and [[Vegetation god|Vegetative]] [[Fertility god|Fertility]]<br/>[[King of the Gods]]
| abode = 
| symbol = 
| consort = [[Tanit]]
| parents = 
| siblings = 
| children = 
| mount =
| Greek_equivalent = [[Cronus]]
| Roman_equivalent = [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]]
| Canaanite_equivalent = [[El (deity)|El]]
}}

{{Fertile Crescent myth (Levantine)}}{{Middle Eastern deities}}
'''Baal Hammon''', properly '''Baʿal Ḥamon''' ([[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] and {{langx|xpu|{{script|Phnx|𐤁𐤏𐤋 𐤇𐤌𐤍}}|translit=Baʿl Ḥamōn}}),<ref>{{cite book |last=Krahmalkov |first=Charles R. |date=2000 |title=Phoenician-Punic Dictionary |location=Leuven |publisher=Peeters |page=113 |isbn=90-429-0770-3}}</ref> meaning "Lord Hammon", was the chief god of [[ancient Carthage]]. He was a [[weather god]] considered responsible for the [[vegetation god|fertility of vegetation]] and esteemed as [[king of the gods]]. He was depicted as a bearded older man with curling ram's horns.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baratte |first1=François |author2=Louvre |author2-link=Louvre |title=From Hannibal to Saint Augustine: Ancient Art of North Africa from the Musée Du Louvre |date=1994 |publisher=Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University |isbn=978-0-9638169-1-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YnZgQgAACAAJ |language=en}}</ref> Baʿal Ḥammon's female cult partner was [[Tanit]].<ref>Serge Lancel. ''Carthage: A History''. p. 195.</ref>

==Etymology==
He is identified as one of the Phoenician deities covered under the name of [[Baal]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Carthaginian_Religion/|title=Carthaginian Religion|work=[[World History Encyclopedia]]|access-date=2017-08-04}}</ref> However, the meaning of his second name is unclear. Frank Moore Cross argued for a connection to ''Hamōn'', the [[Ugaritic language|Ugaritic]] name for Mount Amanus, a peak in the [[Nur Mountains]] that separate [[Syria]] from [[Cilicia]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cross|first1=Frank Moore|title=Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic|date=1973|publisher=Harvard University Press|page=26-28|isbn=9780674091764|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-eOycxXAoHMC&q=Ugaritic|accessdate=19 January 2017}}</ref> In the 19th century, when [[Ernest Renan]] excavated the ruins of Ḥammon, now [[Umm_al-Amad, Lebanon|Umm al-Amad]], between [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] and [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], he found two Phoenician inscriptions dedicated to [[El (deity)|El]]-Ḥammon.<ref name=Walbank/>

Others have proposed Ḥammon as a [[syncretism|syncretic]] association with [[Amun]], the god of [[ancient Libya]],<ref>S. G. F. Brandon, ''Dictionary of Comparative Religion'', 1970, Littlehampton, 978-0297000440</ref> In [[Siwa Oasis]], a solitary [[oracle]] of Amun remained near the [[Libyan Desert]],<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' x.13 § 3</ref>  while a last current has called instead for a connection with the [[Northwest Semitic languages|Northwest Semitic]] word ''ḥammān'' "[[brazier]]", suggesting the sense "Lord of the Brazier".<ref name=Walbank/>

==Cult and attributes==
The worship of Baʿal Hammon flourished in the [[Phoenicia]]n colony of Carthage. His supremacy among the Carthaginian gods is believed to date to the fifth century BC after relations between Carthage and [[Tyre (Lebanon)|Tyre]] were broken off at the time of the [[Battle of Himera (480 BC)]].<ref>Moscati, Sabatino (2001). ''The Phoenicians''. Tauris, p. 132. {{ISBN|1-85043-533-2}}</ref> 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 with [[child 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. <ref>{{cite web |last1=Kennedy |first1=Maev |title=Carthaginians sacrificed own children, archaeologists say |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jan/21/carthaginians-sacrificed-own-children-study |website=The Guardian |date=21 January 2014 |accessdate=19 May 2020}}</ref>{{dubious|date=April 2020}}

He has been identified with a solar deity,<ref name=Walbank>Walbank, Frank William (1979). ''A Historical Commentary on Polybius'', Volume 2, Clarendon Press, p. 47</ref> although [[Yigael Yadin]] thought him to be a moon god.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=ידין |first=יגאל |author-link=Yigael Yadin |date=1967 |title=על סמלי האלים בשמאל (זינג'ירלי), בקארתאגו ובחצור (Symbols of Deities at Zinjirli, Carthage and Hazor) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23734250 |journal=ידיעות בחקירת ארץ-ישראל ועתיקותיה (Yediot Bahaqirat Eretz-Israel Weatiqoteha) |language=he |volume=31 |issue=1/4 |pages=29–63 |jstor=23734250 |issn=2312-0061}}</ref> [[Edward Lipiński (orientalist)|Edward Lipiński]] identifies him with the god [[Dagon]].<ref>[[Edward Lipiński (orientalist)|Edward Lipiński]], ''Dictionnaire de la civilisation phenicienne et punique'' (1992: {{ISBN|2-503-50033-1}}).</ref> In Carthage and North Africa, Baʿal Hammon was especially associated with the ram and was also worshiped as the [[horned deity]] Baʿal Qarnaim "Lord of the Two Horns" in an open-air sanctuary at [[Jebel Boukornine]] ("the two-horned hill") across the bay from Carthage, in [[Tunisia]].<ref>Roberto Peter Bongiovanni (2014). [http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1136&context=gc_etds "The Interchange of Plain Velar and Aspirate in Kronos/Chronos: A Case for Etymological Equivalence"]. Master's thesis at City University of New York.</ref>

The [[interpretatio graeca]] identified him with the Titan [[Cronus]]. In [[ancient Rome]], he was identified with [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]], and the cultural exchange between Rome and Carthage as a result of the [[Second Punic War]] may have influenced the development of the festival of [[Saturnalia]].<ref>[[Robert E.A. Palmer]], ''Rome and Carthage at Peace'' (Franz Steiner, 1997), pp. 63–64.</ref>

{{clarify |date=April 2020 |reason= Extensive studies claim that child sacrifice was not sacrifice but cremation, and the "Child sacrifice" allegation was intentional slander and demonization of Carthaginian god Baal Hamon. }}. Attributes of his Romanized form as an African Saturn indicate that Hammon (''Amunus'' in [[Philo]]'s work) was a fertility god.<ref>Serge Lancel (1995). ''Carthage: A History'', p197.</ref>
[[File:Incense burner depicting Baal-Hammon AvL.JPG|thumb|An [[incense]] burner depicting Ba'al-Hamon, 2nd century BC]]
{{anchor|Toponymy}}

==Legacy==
There is a survival in modern times in [[onomastic]]s with some [[first name]]s in use particularly in [[Tunisia]] grafted onto<!--what?--> the name of the god. Algerian, Tunisian and many other spoken forms of Arabic refer to "{{lang|aeb-Latn|Baali}} farming" to refer to non-irrigated agriculture.<ref>Ottavo contributo alla storia degli studi classici e del mondo antico Arnaldo Momigliano - 1987 p240.</ref> Such usage is attested in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], a [[Canaanite language]] sister to [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]], already in the 2nd century CE [[Mishnah]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mishnah Sheviit 2:9|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Sheviit.2.9|access-date=2021-08-10|website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>

A street in [[Carthage (municipality)|modern Carthage]], located near the Punic Ports, bears the name of ''Baal Hammon''.<ref>[https://www.google.com/maps /place/Rue+Baal+Hammon,+Tunisie/@36.8480006,10.3239041,753m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x12e2b4cac8227357:0x5d79c4f871806c6!8m2!3d36.8479963.26d19028, Rue Baal Hammon Archaeological Site of Carthage, Tunisia], at ''google.com/maps''</ref>

The city of [[Carmona, Spain|Carmona]] ([[Andalusia]], Spain) is believed to derive its name from ''Kar-Hammon'', "city of Hammon."<ref>Garvey, G., Ellingham, M. (2003:326). ''The Rough Guide to Andalucia''. United Kingdom: [[Rough Guides]].</ref>

==See also==
*[[Baal-zephon]], the storm god of [[Jebel Aqra]]
*[[Beelzebub]]
*[[Punic religion]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{commonscat}}
*[http://bible.cc/songs/8-11.htm On-line parallel Bible]: ''Song of Solomon'' 8:11
{{Middle Eastern mythology}}{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baal Hammon}}
[[Category:Hebrew Bible places]]
[[Category:Child sacrifice]]
[[Category:Carthaginian mythology]]
[[Category:West Semitic gods]]
[[Category:Cronus]]
[[Category:Saturn (mythology)]]
[[Category:Horned gods]]
[[Category:Baal]]
[[Category:Saturnian deities]]