Baal Hammon

Supreme god of Carthage, 'Lord of the Brazier'; ram-horned, equated with Kronos/Saturn, head of the Tophet cult with Tanit.

Domains

• supreme sky
• fertility

Powers

• Receive offerings at the burning incense-altar
• Quicken the grain and ripen the crops

Epithets

• bʿl ḥmn phoenician · baʿal ḥammon · epigraphicLord of the Brazier/Amanus; the supreme god of CarthageCarthaginian Tophet stelae (thousands of votive dedications); KAI 61, 78 (primary)
• qrn phoenician · qarnaim · epigraphicOf the two horns; the ram-horned aspect (Baal Qarnaim)Punic dedications (Baal Qarnaim); cf. equation with Kronos/Saturn (secondary)
• 𐤁𐤏𐤋 𐤒𐤓𐤍𐤌 Punic · Baʿal Qarnaim · cultLord of the Two HornsLipiński, Dieux et déesses de l'univers phénicien et punique (1995) (secondary)

Relations

• spouse: TanitReciprocal of phoenician_tanit.spouse — Tanit 'Face of Baal' and Baal Hammon preside as the paired chief deities of the Carthaginian tophet.Lancel, Carthage: A History (1995) (secondary)
• interpretatio: CronusReciprocal of greek_hesiod_cronus.interpretatio — Greek writers call Carthage's supreme god Kronos, via the Tophet child-offering motif matched to Kronos devouring children. Preserves the aged-supreme-father slot; the equation is driven by Greek polemic.Diodorus Siculus 20.14.4-6 (Kronos at Carthage) (primary)
• syncretism: SaturnUnder Rome, Baal Hammon's African cult continued wholesale as Saturnus — the dominant god of Roman Africa. Preserves the aged supreme father and the vow-offering (molk) system; the Roman name is a shell.M. Leglay, Saturne africain (1966) (secondary)

Sources

• existence: Punic dedicatory inscriptions, Tophet of Salammbô, Carthage (primary); Philo of Byblos via Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica (Kronos) (primary)