Phoenician Maritime Religion: Sailors, Goddess Worship, and the Grotta Regina

Abstract

Summary Devotion to the goddess Tanit/Tinnit, a permutation of ‘Aštarte, took place in Mediterranean cave sanctuaries and on Phoenician ships. Employing both material and textual evidence, it is argued that her worship at sea and at port required a degree of religious competency of seamen that served as crew and combatants on trading vessels and military vessels, respectively. With the Phoenician priesthood centered in cities, coastal inhabitants would have depended on part-time officiants to supervise and perform certain rites. Reasons for the lack of mention in the literature of this non-elite class are proposed.