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Tanit
| Tanit | |
|---|---|
Goddess of civilized life | |
 Carthagenian coin depicting the face of Tanit on the front and her symbols, the horse and the date palm tree in the back | |
| Other names | Thinnith, Tannit, Tinnit, Tinnith |
| Abode | In the heavens with Baal Hammon |
| Animals | horse, Lion, Dove |
| Symbol | Aegis, spear, armor, chariot |
| Tree | Olive tree, Dates tree |
| Gender | female |
| Region | North Africa: Carthage, Numidia, Libya |
| Genealogy | |
| Avatar birth | Lake Tritonis |
| Parents | Atlas, Triton |
| Siblings | Pallas |
| Consort | Baal Hammon |
| Equivalents | |
| Canaanite | Anat[1] |
| Roman | Minerva |
| Egyptian | Neith |
| Greek | Athena[2] |
Tanit or Tinnit (Punic: 𐤕𐤍𐤕 Tīnnīt[3]) was a chief deity of Ancient Carthage; she derives from a local Berber deity and the consort of Baal Hammon.[a][5][6] As Ammon is a local Libyan deity,[7] so is Tannit, which she represents the matriarchal aspect of Numidian society,[2] whom the Egyptians identify as Neith and the Greeks identify as Athena.[8][b][c][2] She was the goddess of Wisdom, civilization and the crafts; she is the defender of towns and homes where she is worshipped. Ancient North Africans used to put her sign on tombstones and homes to ask for protection,[9][10] her main temples in Thinissut (Bir Bouregba, Tunisia), Cirta (Constantine, Algeria), Lambaesis (Batna, Algeria) and Theveste (Tebessa, Algeria).[11][9][10] She had a yearly festival in Antiquity[d] which persists to this day in many parts of North Africa but was banned by Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, who called it a pagan festival.
The names themselves, Baal Hammon and Tanit, have Berber linguistic structure. Many feminine and masculine names end with "t" and "n" in the Berber languages. The variation of the name "Tanit" appears to may have originated in Carthage (modern-day Tunisia), though it does not appear in local theophorous names.[12] Before 1955, the only attestations of the goddess's name were in Punic, which is written without vowels as "TNT" Tanit or "TNNT" as Tannit and was arbitrarily vocalized as "Tanit". In 1955, Punic inscriptions transliterated in Greek characters found at El-Hofra (near Constantine, Algeria) transliterated the name as Ancient Greek: Θινιθ (Thinith) and Ancient Greek: Θεννειθ (Thenneith). The inscriptions indicate that the name was likely pronounced as Tinnīt.[3] Still, many scholars and writings continue to use "Tanit". She was later worshipped in Roman Carthage in her Romanized form as Dea Caelestis, Juno Caelestis, or simply Caelestis.
In modern-day Tunisian Arabic, it is customary to invoke Omek Tannou or Oumouk Tangou ('Mother Tannou' or 'Mother Tangou', depending on the region), in years of drought to bring rain.[13] Similarly, Algerian, Tunisian and many other spoken forms of Arabic refer to "Baali farming" to refer to non-irrigated agriculture.[14]
- ^ Richard J. Clifford (August 1990). "Phoenician Religion". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (279): 62. doi:10.2307/1357208.
- ^ a b c Camps, G. (1989-01-01). "Athéna". Encyclopédie berbère (in French) (7): 1011–1013. doi:10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.1211. ISSN 1015-7344.
- ^ a b Friedrich, Johannes (1957). "Punische Studien". Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft. 107 (n.F. 32) (2): 282-298: p. 283, 285–286. JSTOR 43369103. Retrieved 19 December 2022. (JStor)
- ^ Camps, G. (1986-09-01). "Ammon". Encyclopédie berbère (in French) (4): 596–599. doi:10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.2477. ISSN 1015-7344.
- ^ Miles, Richard (2011). Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization. Penguin. p. 68.
- ^ The standard survey is: Hvidberg-Hansen, F. O. (1982). La déesse TNT: Une Etude sur la réligion canaanéo-punique (in French). Copenhagen: Gad.. An extensive critical review by G. W. Ahlström appeared in Journal of Near Eastern Studies 45(4), October 1986, pp. 311–314.
- ^ Livius. "Ammon (Deity)". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
- ^ "Pausanias and His Description of Greece", Pausanias and Other Greek Sketches, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–159, 2012-06-28, doi:10.1017/cbo9781139207669.002, ISBN 978-1-108-04751-7, retrieved 2024-08-04
- ^ a b Camps, G.; Longerstay, M. (2000-01-01). "Haouanet". Encyclopédie berbère (in French) (22): 3361–3387. doi:10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.1697. ISSN 1015-7344.
- ^ a b Le Glay, M. (1992-09-01). "Caelistis". Encyclopédie berbère (in French) (11): 1696–1698. doi:10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.1896. ISSN 1015-7344.
- ^ Bertrandy, S. (1994-02-01). "Cirta". Encyclopédie berbère (in French) (13): 1964–1977. doi:10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.2289. ISSN 1015-7344.
Durant la période d'indépendance de la monarchie numide, Cirta a abrité un sanctuaire très important consacré au culte de Ba'al Hammon et de sa parèdre Tanit
- ^ Bleeker, Claas Jouco; Widengren, Geo (1988). Historia Religionum, Volume 1: Religions of the Past. Brill. pp. 209 ff. ISBN 90-04-08928-4.
At Carthage the great goddess is called Tinnit (formerly read Tanit).... It would seem that Tinnit is the specific Carthaginian form of Astarte, but strangely enough there are no theophorous names containing the element Tinnit, while there are a few with Astarte. The name seems to have originated in Carthage....
- ^ Rezgui, Sadok (1989). Les chants tunisiens (in French). Tunis: Maison tunisienne de l'édition.
- ^ Ottavo contributo alla storia degli studi classici e del mondo antico Arnaldo Momigliano - 1987 p240.
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