Melqart from Sciacca

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Melqart from Sciacca

The so-called Melqart von Sciacca or Melqart von Selinunte is a 38 cm high bronze statuette that was found in January 1955 in the sea between Selinunte and Capo San Marco near Sciacca on the southwest coast of Sicily . The statue was cast between the 13th and 9th centuries BC. It is exhibited in the Antonio Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum in Palermo .

Archaeological interpretation

The statue depicts a Canaanite deity who archaeologists first identified as Melqart and later as Baʿal or Hadad . The Salinas Museum is now proposing an interpretation as Reschef , a Mediterranean god from the Hyksos period in ancient Egypt . The sitter is to be classified between the ancient Mesopotamian gods of the sky (Hadad or Teššup the Hurrian ) and the following Syro - Anatolian derivatives (Canaanite Baʿal, Greek Zeus , Roman Iupiter Dolichenus ).

Baʿal by Ugarit in the Louvre

The similarity to the famous Baʿal of Ugarit (14th century BC) preserved in the Louvre should be emphasized . The conical hat with a button-shaped elevation resembles the Atef crown of the Egyptian Osiris . The right arm, which is widespread in this threatening warning position in the artistic production of the civilizations of that time, often held lightning bolts, sceptres, objects or weapons (axes, maces , clubs) that the god's power over the atmosphere, thunderstorms and cyclones symbolize. The fact that the hand is kinked suggests a similar representation. The goatee, which is characteristic of the Mesopotamian peoples, differs from other depictions of Melqart, who is depicted as a beardless son , and is more likely to belong to the iconographic context of Baʿal, Hadad, Teššup and Reschef. He rules out an interpretation as a female deity like Anat .

The discovery in the sea qualifies the find as non-autochthonous and can be interpreted as an indication of cultural exchange with the peoples of the Aegean and the Middle East , so that it can be assumed that Sicily was already on one of the main routes of the ancient Mediterranean in pre-Greek times. The statue could therefore be one of the testimonies to the expansion of the Canaanite peoples in the western Mediterranean around 1200 to 1000 BC. Be.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gianfranco Purpura: Sulle vicende ed il luogo di rinvenimento del cosiddetto Melqart di Selinunte. Published by Estratto dalla Rivista Sicilia Archeologica , ed.EPT Trapani, 1981. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  2. ^ Giuseppe Stabile: Il Melqart di Sciacca. In: Arkeomania.com. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  3. ^ Regione Siciliana: Museo Archeologico A. Salinas - Sculture. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  4. ↑ gates Kjeilen: Reshef. In: LookLex Encyclopaedia. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  5. ^ Giovanni Garbini : Hadad. In: Enciclopedia dell'arte antica. Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1960 ( treccani.it . Retrieved October 24, 2019).
  6. ↑ Figure see Cycle de Baal in the French Wikipedia
  7. ^ A b Sabatino Moscati : L'arte della Sicilia punica. Jaca Book, Milan 1987, ISBN 88-16-60067-5 , p. 14.
  8. ^ Mircea Eliade : Trattato di Storia delle Religioni. Edited by Pietro Angelini, translated by Virginia Vacca, revised by Gaetano Riccardo, Bollati Boringhieri, Milan 2001, ISBN 88-339-1136-5 , p. 83 (“ […] è estremamente significativa la supremazia raggiunta da dei come Tesup, Hadad , Baʿal nei culti paleo-orientali […] Era un dio del cielo e dell'uragano, dei venti e del fulmine. I suoi titoli mettono in rilievo il suo prestigio celeste e il suo rango di sovrano assoluto: 'Re del Cielo', 'Signore del paese di Hatti'. L'epiteto più frequente è 'potentissimo' e suo simbolo è il fulmine, l'ascia o la clava. ”).
  9. ↑ Simin Uysal: The Land of Thousand Deities. In: Anatolian Stories , November 27, 2013. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  10. ↑ Anna Maria Bisi : Fenici o Micenei in Sicilia nella seconda metà del Millennio II? (in margine al cosiddetto Melqart di Sciacca). In: Atti e memorie del 1º congresso internazionale di micenologia. September 27 - October 3, 1967. Part two. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome 1967, pp. 11-22, Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale IT \ ICCU \ PUV \ 0236783.