section_path: Religion
section_name: Religion
paragraph_text: Religion
  
  The religious practices and beliefs of Phoenicia were generally common to those of their neighbors in Canaan, which in turn shared characteristics common throughout the ancient Semitic world. Religious rites were primarily for city-state purposes; payment of taxes by citizens was considered in the category of religious sacrifices. The Phoenician sacred writings known to the ancients have been lost.
  
  Several Canaanite practices are alleged in ancient sources and mentioned by scholars, such as temple prostitution and child sacrifice. Special sites known as " Tophets " were allegedly used by the Phoenicians "to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire", and are condemned by Yahweh in the Hebrew Bible, particularly in Jeremiah 7:30–32, and in 2nd Kings 23:10 and 17:17. Later scholarship differs. William Dever writes that it is out of "prejudices, ancient and modern", that the "myth of "cult prostitution"" arose. He comments that "other texts in addition to II Kings 23:10 unhesitatingly describe child sacrifice among the Israelites", and points to I Kings 16:34. Notwithstanding differences, cultural and religious similarities persisted between the ancient Hebrews and the Phoenicians. Biblical traditions state that the Tribe of Asher lived among local Phoenicians. Eventually, David and Solomon gave Phoenicia full political autonomy due to their supremacy in shipping and trade.
  
  Canaanite religious mythology does not appear as elaborate as their Semitic cousins in Mesopotamia. In Canaan the supreme god was called El (𐤀𐤋, 'god'). The son of El was Baal (𐤁𐤏𐤋, 'master', 'lord'), a powerful dying-and-rising storm god. Other gods were called by royal titles, such as Melqart, meaning 'king of the city', or Adonis for 'lord'. Such epithets may often have been merely local titles for the same deities.
  
  The Semitic pantheon was well-populated; which god became primary evidently depended on the exigencies of a particular city-state. Melqart was prominent throughout Phoenicia and overseas, as was Astarte, a fertility goddess with regal and matronly aspects.
  
  Religious institutions in Tyre called marzeh (𐤌𐤓𐤆𐤄, 'place of reunion'), did much to foster social bonding and "kin" loyalty. Marzeh held banquets for their membership on festival days, and many developed into elite fraternities. Each marzeh nurtured congeniality and community through a series of ritual meals shared among trusted kin in honor of deified ancestors. In Carthage, which had developed a complex republican system of government, the marzeh may have played a role in forging social and political ties among citizens; Carthaginians were divided into different institutions that were solidified through communal feasts and banquets. Such festival groups may also have composed the voting cohort for selecting members of the city-state's Assembly.
  
  The Phoenicians made votive offerings to their gods, namely in the form of figurines and pottery vessels. Hundreds of figurines and fragments have been recovered from the Mediterranean, often spanning centuries between them, suggesting they were cast into the sea to ensure safe travels. Since the Phoenicians were predominantly seafaring people, it is speculated that many of their rituals were performed at sea or aboard ships. However, the specific nature of these practices is unknown. On land they were renowned temple builders, perhaps inspiring elements of the architecture of the First Temple, the Temple of Solomon. 'The plan of the building, the chisel-dressed masonry, and the various decorative motifs are all clearly of Phoenician inspiration, as we now know.'