Edited Volumes by Adriano Orsingher
This volume intends to pay tribute to Professor Maria Giulia Amadasi Guzzo, who is one of the lea... more This volume intends to pay tribute to Professor Maria Giulia Amadasi Guzzo, who is one of the leading experts in Semitic epigraphy and North-West Semitic philology. This Festschrift mirrors her multifaceted intellectual interests by gathering together eighteen original contributions of students, friends and colleagues. Although with a focus mainly on the Phoenician-Punic Mediterranean of the 1st millennium BC, this volume also addresses other neighbouring regions and extends up to the Roman imperial period. In doing so, it encompasses the publication of new inscriptions and epigraphic corpora, provides a fresh look at remarkable finds, groups of artefacts and specific sites, but also shows a variety of new approaches and issues in historical and religious studies.
Papers by Adriano Orsingher
This paper offers a diachronic and updated overview on the Levantine-type transport amphorae curr... more This paper offers a diachronic and updated overview on the Levantine-type transport amphorae currently attested in Cyprus. The survey begins with a brief review of the evidence from the Middle Cypriot III, Late Cypriot and Cypro-Geometric periods. The amphorae of the ninth to third centuries BCE are organised into a new classification, which may represent a useful tool and a starting point for further consideration. The typological variants, spatial distribution, find-contexts, chronologies and main parallels in the Levant and the western Mediterranean are analysed for each of the 12 identified types.
This article examines three cave-sanctuaries in the Iron Age western Mediterranean: Gorham’s Cave... more This article examines three cave-sanctuaries in the Iron Age western Mediterranean: Gorham’s Cave in Gibraltar, Es Culleram in Ibiza and Grotta Regina in western Sicily. Notwithstanding some gaps in the archaeological record resulting from the history of their investigation, they are compared by considering parameters such as their landscape, position, visibility, physical features, provenance/type of finds, titular deities, ritual activities and sensorial experiences. The complexity of their data and the type of ritual activities performed inside these spaces show the variety of religious responses to cavescapes. Their location between land and sea and in a border position emphasises the connection of these three sanctuaries and their deities to liminality and physical and spiritual journeys, although specific facets of the deities worshipped in these caves emerge particularly at Es Culleram and Grotta Regina, which also show a strong connection to the territory and the local people.
Agricultural practices in Iron Age Phoenicia are an understudied field of research. The most rece... more Agricultural practices in Iron Age Phoenicia are an understudied field of research. The most recently excavated faunal evidence from Tell el-Burak, a coastal agricultural domain linked to either Sidon or Sarepta, will increase our understanding of this topic. This paper provides the first diachronic and detailed analysis of the Late Iron Age and Persian period faunal data from Tell el-Burak, and investigates the subsistence practices of its people during the late 8th to mid-4th centuries BCE. The diet of its inhabitants mainly consists of caprines, while a high percentage of donkeys and cattle remains coincide with the peak of winemaking activities at the site. The results from Tell el-Burak are then compared with faunal data from other sites in the territory traditionally known as Phoenicia, as well as with faunal data from the neighbouring regions of the Levant. The comparisons show differences between the northern and southern Levant and similarities between southern Phoenicia and the southern Levant.
The proximity of the Levantine coast to Cyprus is at the origin of the multiple connections betwe... more The proximity of the Levantine coast to Cyprus is at the origin of the multiple connections between these two regions and their polities over millennia. Their relationship during the Iron Age (ca 12th–6th century BC) is usually analysed from the perspective of the central Levant, a region conventionally identified with ancient Phoenicia, and under the premise that the Phoenicians played a major role in the island. Conversely, this paper attempts to reverse the perspective by analysing the Iron Age Cypriot decorated wares that were imported in Phoenicia, which represent the main marker of the relations between these two regions, and providing their first diachronic overview. Although their provenance can currently only tentatively be suggested on stylistic grounds, a major role for Salamis and Amathus emerges in these maritime connections.
Far from being two distinct and distant spheres, play and ritual had blurred boundaries in antiqu... more Far from being two distinct and distant spheres, play and ritual had blurred boundaries in antiquity, when they may have sometimes overlapped. In light of recent attention to toys in the ancient Mediterranean, this article reconsiders a remarkable yet fragmentary nude standing female figure with articulated arms from the excavations by the German Archaeological Institute in the so-called Magon Quarter at Carthage. It provides a detailed analysis of this terracotta figurine and its find-context, but it also assesses various hypotheses on its original use by considering similar artefacts in ancient and contemporary societies. Through this investigation, dolls emerge as objects whose use was not merely limited to children and play, but it could have been extended to adults and ritual, especially in those cases when a possible divine iconography was portrayed.
This paper provides a re-examination of a duck-shaped “offering spoon” that was originally found ... more This paper provides a re-examination of a duck-shaped “offering spoon” that was originally found in the so-called Chapelle Cintas within the Tophet sanctuary of Carthage, but that has remained unpublished until very recently. It is argued that, given its Egyptian prototypes, it enriches the variety of Mediterranean connections already shown by the other artefacts that were retrieved in the same find-context. In addition, it shows that the early ivories found in the North African metropolis can be related to various ivory carving traditions and confirms the special and direct relationship that Carthage had with Egypt/Nubia, but also the connection between its ivories and those from the Iberian Peninsula, where the closest parallel for this spoon is currently known. Moreover, the use of an object that in the Egyptian tradition was associated with wellbeing, prosperity, fertility, birth and regeneration fits very well with the current understanding of Tophets and would imply a clear awareness of its original meaning and that it was not deposited by chance in the Carthaginian sanctuary.
This article re-examines a circular ivory pyxis lid from Tharros, which-despite its fine craftsma... more This article re-examines a circular ivory pyxis lid from Tharros, which-despite its fine craftsmanship-has been little studied and remains almost unknown. After a short history of studies on the Near Eastern ivories of the 1st millennium bc and their problematic association with the Phoenicians, this find is thoroughly investigated and is compared to some fragmentary examples from Nimrud and a circular pyxis from Tell Halaf dating to around the 10th-8th century bc. Among the various hypotheses that have been formulated to explain the function of these pyxides, the more compelling argument is that they originally contained expensive spices and condiments to be used as drink or food additives, as their association with the banquet is supported by the few available iconographic sources. Finally, the question remains open whether this lid should be considered a Near Eastern ivory heirloom or -as some discrepancies with the Levantine examples would indicate-a later artefact manufactured in a western Mediterranean centre, with Tharros itself and Carthage being the most likely candidates.
Studying disguised activities in antiquity implies asking what could have been a mask in a specif... more Studying disguised activities in antiquity implies asking what could have been a mask in a specific society and how it could have been used. As the number of currently known masks from pre-theatrical societies is still very low, new examples are especially important, particularly those from sites or regions where they were previously unattested. This paper presents an unpublished finely-made mask from Tell Mardikh/Ebla (Syria). The detailed analysis of its find-context supports its dating to the Late Bronze Age and its provenance from a house. Both these factors make it possible to connect this mask to coeval examples from the Middle Euphrates River Valley, but it differs from them in the practice of inlaying the eye cavities. The use of red slip hints at a comparison with similar metal finds, while the profile of the mask and its size suggest that it could not have been originally worn. Instead, it is argued that this mask could have covered the face of a life-size statue or could have been applied to a mannequin or a pole that was made of wood or other perishable material. Its discovery in a house makes it plausible to suggest that – following what has already been proposed for the examples from the Middle Euphrates region – it might have been used in domestic cults devoted to the ancestors or the clan/family deities. As the house from which the mask comes was built on the area previously occupied by the Sacred Area of Ishtar, a connection between the goddess and this terracotta could be an intriguing working hypothesis.
This article first addresses the issue of defining ancient masks and briefly explores masking cul... more This article first addresses the issue of defining ancient masks and briefly explores masking cultures in the Iron Age Mediterranean, then emphasizes the role that Carthage appears to have played in both maintaining and renewing the Levantine disguised traditions. Among the newly invented masks of Carthage, it focuses on and reviews a small group of masks and amulets portraying black African twisted faces and dating to between the seventh and mid-sixth century BC. These masks support the existence of wooden prototypes and currently provide the earliest evidence of black African imagery used for ritual purposes. Based on their features and compelling parallels, it is argued that their iconography was inspired by facial paralysis and they should be interpreted as images of a demon used in curing rituals.
This paper explores the relationship between divine names, iconographies and gender within the fr... more This paper explores the relationship between divine names, iconographies and gender within the framework of Phoenician and Punic religious beliefs and rituals. After an introduction to gender studies in this field, it briefly outlines the strategies for representing deities in the Levant and acknowledges some difficulties in distinguishing divine imagery, determining the type of deities and identifying their name. The analysis then considers engendering characterisation, gender ambiguity and gender in ritual practices, with a special focus on a mask apparently embodying female and male elements, and on the shrine of Sarepta, where a double reality – textual and visual – emerges. This article argues that a certain iconographic fluidity characterising Phoenician and Punic divine images occurred around the time of the “Phoenician expansion” and it may have helped in establishing a “middle ground” for cultural contacts and trade relations.
In this paper, I focus on the archaeological record at Motya between the two battles of Himera, w... more In this paper, I focus on the archaeological record at Motya between the two battles of Himera, which was a short but significant period of peace in the history of western Sicily. Such a diachronic analysis provides insights into the ways in which the cityscape, as well as the materiality of social and ritual practices in Motya changed during the 5th century BC. Hybridisation, here intended as juxtaposition and mixing of various styles and cultural habits, appears to have been the most prominent feature of the city in these decades.
Scholars have generally assumed that Selinunte’s position as the westernmost Greek colony in Sici... more Scholars have generally assumed that Selinunte’s position as the westernmost Greek colony in Sicily and its proximity to North Africa favoured this city’s relations with Carthage and the Phoenician and Punic settlements on the island. Based on the analysis of the Phoenician and Punic pottery from the Institute of Fine Arts–NYU and University of Milan excavations in the main urban sanctuary, this article shows the extent of these trade networks in comparison with the data available from other Greek cities in Sicily and suggests the possible use of some ceramic containers in ritual activities performed in this sacred area. In addition, a few pottery fragments suggest the occasional consumption of wine and food according to Phoenician and Punic practices.
Despite the importance of wine in the Iron Age Mediterranean, known structures associated with it... more Despite the importance of wine in the Iron Age Mediterranean, known structures associated with its production are rare. Recent excavations at Phoenician Tell el-Burak have now revealed the first Iron Age wine press in Lebanon. Its remarkable state of preservation enables a systematic study of its plaster to be made as well as a comparison with two other plastered installations at the site. Archaeometric analyses offer new data concerning the composition and technology of Iron Age lime-plaster production, confirming the existence of a local and innovative tradition of plaster production in southern Phoenicia. These results contribute to the wider discussion of Phoenician technology in the broader Iron Age Mediterranean.
This paper reconsiders the cave sanctuary at Grotta Regina, to the north of Palermo, where a cult... more This paper reconsiders the cave sanctuary at Grotta Regina, to the north of Palermo, where a cult was established between the 5th and the 2nd/1st century BC. After a brief description of the cave, I outline the history of the research, and then point out what the new research perspectives might be. In particular, I emphasize a connection between the cave and war, which seems emblematic of a phase when Sicily was the stage of numerous clashes that saw Carthage play a leading role in the island’s events. There seem to be many links between this sanctuary and the North African metropolis, enough to suggest the involvement of Carthage in the use of this sacred place.
Uploads
Edited Volumes by Adriano Orsingher
Papers by Adriano Orsingher
Despite this renewed interest, play, games, and playthings in the Phoenician/Punic Mediterranean still constitute a relatively unexplored field of study. Accordingly, this paper will first introduce the Phoenician/Punic repertoire of playthings and play activities, and – consequently – set dolls into a wider framework. Secondly, it will assemble the dataset of articulated dolls from the Phoenician/Punic Mediterranean by addressing their specific biographies. Given the current paucity of examples, a comparative and long-term approach will be adopted to fill present-day gaps in the archaeological record by considering coeval evidence from nearby regions such as the Levant and Cyprus, as well as possible ethnographic parallels. In doing so, this paper will attempt at answering questions about the articulated dolls’ users, audience and context of use, as well as how different play traditions and types of dolls could have interacted and, at times, coexisted in such a wide geographical and chronological arena.
Che cos’è il gusto? È possibile definirlo solo attraverso la documentazione archeologica? Quale ruolo può aver svolto il gusto nelle comunità fenicie del Mediterraneo occidentale? Si può presumere che i meccanismi che abbiano portato alla sua costruzione nei contesti coloniali possano essere stati ovunque gli stessi? Oppure devono essere ipotizzate delle differenze in relazione ad esempio alla composizione di ciascuna comunità, al grado di commistione e compenetrazione tra le diverse componenti culturali? Nell’amalgama di abitudini, tradizioni ed esperienze che si andò formando in questi luoghi in relazione al gusto quale ruolo ebbero le distinzioni sociali?
Nel tentativo di provare a rispondere a simili quesiti e comprendere quanto dei risultati e delle riflessioni di Pierre Bourdieu possa essere preso in considerazione in un’indagine archeologica sul gusto, questo contributo si concentra sul caso di Mozia, che – per la qualità e quantità dei dati raccolti in oltre un secolo di ricerche – consente di adottare una prospettiva diacronica ed osservare il gusto nella comunità locale – da declinare nelle sue accezioni alimentare, estetica e di stile di vita – in un percorso lungo quattro secoli.
Sanctuaries were at times established near a natural feature such as a spring, river, pond, lake, woods, outcrop, mountain or cave. Although these natural places can become sacralized spaces without any need of construction activities, they have sometimes developed into built sacred areas, where these elements may even have been monumentalized. This rarely occurred in the case of cave-sanctuaries, which often preserved their original (and sometimes already monumental) aspect, especially when these caves were in remote locations or accessible only by sea. Whatever their position, caves are liminal spaces, zones marked off from the world, but their boundaries are nonetheless permeable. Going into a cave means crossing a threshold, which represents the border between the worlds of the familiar and the unknown. Why was such liminality required? What type of deities inhabited these spaces? What rites were performed there?
This paper aims at carefully exploring the historical, social and topographical context which influenced the establishment of certain cave-sanctuaries in the ancient Mediterranean. Three case studies will be considered: 1) Gorham’s cave (c. 8th-2nd century BC) in Gibraltar; 2) es Culleram (c. 5th-2nd century BC) in Ibiza, and 3) Grotta Regina (c. 5th-2nd/1st centuries BC) near Palermo. These three caves show different characteristics with regard to their position, landscape, sensescape, provenance and type of finds, presence/absence of inscriptions and clear evidence for a titular deity. All of them are located within Phoenician/Punic territories and were probably established by Phoenician/Punic speaking groups. The goal is to determine why, by whom and for what purpose these sanctuaries were established, by whom they were frequented, what cultic activities may have been performed inside these caves and to what types of deities they were dedicated. By comparing their features, it will be possible to identify common elements and peculiarities, and, consequently, determine their possible association with certain types of deity.
The proximity of the Levantine coast to Cyprus is at the origin of the multiple connections between these two regions and their polities over millennia. Their relationship during the Iron Age is usually analyzed from the perspective of the central Levant, a region conventionally identified with ancient Phoenicia, and under the premise that the Phoenicians played a major role in the island. What happens if we consider the question from the opposite perspective, that is by looking at Cypriot materials in the Levant? Some of the challenges that archaeologists must face are the same, such as the difficulties in identifying Cypriot resources and products exported abroad (except for pottery and the very few and late Cypriot-syllabic inscribed artefacts) and in assessing their provenance from a specific Cypriot city/territory. This paper aims at assembling and interpreting the scattered Cypriot evidence currently attested in the central Levant during the Iron Age (c. 12th-4th centuries BC), in order to identify routes, carriers, middlemen, harbors, stopovers and distribution centers of these resources and products. Along with the finds that certainly come from Cyprus, those of uncertain provenance that are attested in both these regions will be also considered, because they may provide evidence of a connection between Cyprus and the central Levant or at least of their inclusion in the same trade network.
This paper will address the relationship between divine names, iconographies and gender within the framework of Phoenician and Punic religion. The first millennium BC marked a shift in the way(s) gods were represented in the coastal Levant. Along with a tradition going back to the Bronze Age, when deities were depicted and differentiated by means of gestures, emblems and accompanying animals, new strategies of representing deities emerged during the Iron Age, such as -sometimes- limiting their images to facial portraits. Why did this change occur? More importantly, could a divine image refer to a specific feature or an epiclesis of the divinity and, if this is the case, how? The general lack of Phoenician and Punic religious and mythical texts accounts for the difficulties in dealing with such topics, making it necessary to further theoretical approaches and methodologies, and make use of the corpora of evidence from neighbouring regions.
Grotta Regina è il nome di una caverna posizionata sulle pendici nord-orientali del monte Gallo, vicino Mondello, ad ovest di Palermo. Questa regione è ricca di cavità naturali frequentate fin da epoca preistorica. Ugualmente la Grotta Regina – un unico grande ambiente lungo 50 m, largo 20 m e alto 15 m che si restringe verso il fondo – ha restituito frammenti ceramici risalenti al Neolitico, al Calcolitico e all’età del Bronzo. Tuttavia le testimonianze più celebri si datano ad epoca tardo-punica e neo-punica (c. V-II/I secolo a.C.), quando si ipotizza l’esistenza di un santuario in grotta. Due tipi di evidenze – iscrizioni e disegni tracciati con una sostanza nera sulle pareti della caverna – caratterizzano il luogo sacro in questa fase. Sebbene la lettura delle dediche votive sia spesso incerta, l’identificazione sicura e multipla del teonimo Shadrafa suggerisce l’esistenza di un culto salutifero e probabilmente – data la natura e la fisionomia del luogo – ctonio. Le immagini di navi militari dimostrano invece un legame di alcuni frequentatori con la navigazione e forse una connotazione bellica del dio, che sembrerebbe testimoniata già nella celebre stele di Amrit (c. VI-V secolo a.C.) e più tardi in un bassorilievo di Palmira (c. I-III secolo d.C.). La cronologia di questa fase d’uso della grotta si basa su sporadici frammenti di vasi e sulla forma dei segni alfabetici.
L’obiettivo di questo contributo è quello di riesaminare i dati raccolti durante le indagini condotte a cavallo tra gli anni Sessanta e Settanta del secolo scorso (1969, 1972, 1975) al fine di mettere a fuoco le caratteristiche di questo luogo sacro rispetto ad altri culti in grotta attestati nel Mediterraneo durante il I millennio a.C. ed inserire Grotta Regina nel quadro storico della Sicilia coeva, dove al crescente impegno militare di Cartagine nell’isola si accompagna una contaminazione riconoscibile anche nelle pratiche religiose.
La disfatta cartaginese ad Himera nel 480 a.C. segna la momentanea fine degli interventi militari della metropoli nordafricana in Sicilia, inaugurando una fase di pace nelle vicende dell’isola, i cui centri conoscono ora una rinnovata prosperità economica e culturale. Nella cuspide occidentale questa temperie sembra esprimersi soprattutto a Mozia: è un periodo – inaugurato da un nuovo impegno edilizio – di grande creatività artigianale e artistica, durante il quale sono già evidenti gli esiti di processi – ancora in corso – di acculturazione, ibridazione e sperimentazione, che testimoniano l’avvento di nuovi usi e costumi.
Questo contributo si pone l’obiettivo di analizzare il panorama culturale di Mozia nel V secolo a.C. attraverso una disamina diacronica della documentazione oggi disponibile, arricchita dai risultati degli scavi che la Missione dell’Università degli Studi di Roma «La Sapienza» conduce annualmente, dal 2002, congiuntamente con il Servizio Beni Archeologici della Soprintendenza Regionale per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali di Trapani. L’orizzonte di questo periodo è caratteristico di un momento di transizione, nel quale sono visibili le trasformazioni in atto nella società moziese, dove si osserva ancora il persistere di radici levantine, insieme al manifestarsi dei legami e dell’influenza del mondo greco-siceliota, prodromi dell’avvento dell’Ellenizzazione.
"
Around the middle of the 11th century BC, commercial activities of the Levant harbour towns recovered. In the following decades, the Phoenicians were the vehicles of some consumer products and prestige goods: for example, wine (transported in amphorae with rounded shoulders, together with the equipment required for its consumption), oil and ointments (contained in juglets with painted concentric circles). The commercial network even in this period from the Syro-Palestinian region reached Cilicia, Egypt and Cyprus, as far as the Aegean Islands. In Cyprus, the economy was organized around temples, and institutions which controlled all the stages of metalworking (the main resource of the island), probably managing also its circulation. Phoenician merchants made use of this system to distribute their products on the island, perhaps even for craftsmanship commissioned by the local elites. Apparently, the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Palaepaphos played a central role in the Cypriot economy of these stages, as evidenced by imports in tomb furnishings of the necropolis surrounding the settlement. The vitality of the Cypriot economy during these phases – due to its central location in the Eastern Mediterranean, which makes it almost an obligatory step in the sea routes – led to (or accelerated) important political and socio-economic changes. Therefore, between the end of the 9th and the early 8th century BC, some territorial monarchies emerged and a marked regionalization of material culture started. In the same years, the Phoenicians settled on the island, but the relationship between these events is uncertain. They are analyzed, presenting a brief, diachronic and stratigraphic summary of those processes – induced by the interaction between internal dynamics and external influences – which led to the emergence of Cypriot kingdoms and to the Phoenician presence on the island.
For further information please email Adriano Orsingher (adriano.orsingher@upf.edu), Ana Delgado Hervás (ana.delgado@upf.edu) or GRACME (gracme@upf.edu).
For further information please email Adriano Orsingher (adriano.orsingher@upf.edu), Ana Delgado Hervás (ana.delgado@upf.edu) or GRACME (gracme@upf.edu).
On the basis that an infant and child tomb is itself an archaeological entity, whose analysis cuts across disciplines - mainly archaeology, bio-archaeology and anthropology, but also philology, ancient literature, gender studies, pedagogy, medical humanities and digital humanities - and in order to promote an interdisciplinary approach, the conference at Trinity College Dublin involves scholars from international institutions, experienced in interdisciplinary methods, in order to create a network specifically focused on the analysis of childhood in ancient societies. The role of this network is to function as an interdisciplinary incubator, offering a platform for dialogue between disciplines around infant and child burials.
We have invited scholars working on the archaeology of Italy from the Early Iron Age through the Archaic Period (c. 1000–500 BC) to present the results of their recent researches on the topic of infant and child burials.
We envision that this platform can be a model for other archaeological studies in the future as well as ideal for developing a new methodological approach to the excavation of infant and child tombs, following best practices in archaeology.
Publication plan
The prestigious series of Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology (SIMA) has already agreed to publish the proceedings of the conference.
For further information please email Jacopo Tabolli (tabollij@tcd.ie) or Hazel Dodge (hdodge@tcd.ie).