Eshmun
Punic · deity · primordial · deity
The healer-god, equated with Asklepios/Aesculapius; at Carthage his temple on the Byrsa was the principal sanctuary and the last redoubt in 146 BCE. Shares theonym and origin with the eastern Phoenician Eshmun (corpus id phoenician_eshmun); authored here in his Punic/Carthaginian role. SOLITARY in this batch: at Sidon he is paired in cult with Astarte, but no Punic kinship is attested, so no kin edge is asserted (the Astarte pairing and the late youth-revival myth of Damascius via Photius cod. 242 are noted, not wired). The Asklepios interpretatio and the etymology are flagged as interpretive/unresolved.
Domains
- healing
- civic tutelage
Powers
- Cures disease and restores bodily health
Epithets
- Asklēpios / Aesculapius (interpretatio)