Tophet

 

The tophet sanctuaries are a fundamental element in the knowledge of Phoenician and Punic religiosity and rituals, although the attention of researchers has always focused on the debate on their functionality, as places of infant sacrifice or necropolis for children. Recent studies underline the necessity to overcome this interpretative dichotomy, predicting multipurpose functions for such sanctuaries and expecting for a larger vision of the problem.

Particular attention was paid to the ceramic typologies of the urns, with relative covers, containing the incinerated remains of children and/or small animals, and to the votive inscriptions which, with their iconographic and epigraphic contribution, have been able to motivate detailed studies.

However, the materials found both in the deposition layers of the urns and inside the containers themselves seem less considered. Fortunately, the most recent excavations in various tophet of the Mediterranean and the studies that are being conducted seem aimed at bridging this silence, thus helping to outline a more articulated framework for these sanctuaries.

Within these “accessory” kits there are also coins, which seem to have had little space between the offerings of the tofet, because the discovery has always seemed sporadic and perhaps not very connected with the ritual gestures that presided over the depositions.

 

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