Editing Melqart

{{short description|Major deity in the Phoenician and Punic pantheons}}
<!--This article is in Commonwealth English-->{{Infobox deity
| type = Canaanite
| name = Melqart
| image = Testa di herakles-melqart, 500-480 ac ca, da cipro.jpg
| caption = Phoenician Melqart, 6th century BC<br>([[Barracco Museum of Antique Sculpture]])
| deity_of = God of strength and [[Hero|heroes]]<br>[[Dying-and-rising deity|Dying-and-rising]] god<br>Patron deity of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]]
| symbol = [[Axe]], [[lion]]
| abode = [[Underworld]]
| greek_equivalent = [[Heracles]]
| roman_equivalent = [[Hercules]]
| cult_center = [[Pillars of Heracles|Pillars of Melqart]]<br>[[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]], [[Phoenicia]]<br>[[Cadiz|Gadir]], [[Carthaginian Iberia|Iberia]]
| festivals = Egersis
| father = [[El (deity)|El]], [[Baal]]
| mother = [[Astarte]]
| siblings = paternal: [[Anat]], [[Attar (god)|Attar]], [[Mot (god)|Mot]], [[Shahar (god)|Shahar]], [[Shalim]], [[Shapash]], [[Yam (god)|Yam]]
}}
{{Fertile Crescent myth (Levantine)}}{{Middle Eastern deities}}

'''Melqart''' ({{Langx|phn|𐤌𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤕|translit=Mīlqārt}}) was the [[tutelary god]] of the [[Phoenicia]]n city-state of [[Tyre (Lebanon)|Tyre]] and a major deity in the [[Phoenician religion|Phoenician and Punic pantheons]]. He may have been central to the [[Founding myth|founding-myths]] of various Phoenician colonies throughout the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]], as well as the source of several myths concerning the exploits of [[Heracles]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |title=Melqart |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Melqart/ |access-date=2023-08-03 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Hitti|first=Philip|author-link=Philip K. Hitti|date=1957|title=Lebanon in History|url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.53848|location=India|publisher=Macmillan and Co Ltd|page=118|quote=Corinth is associated in Greek legend with a god of Phoenician origin, Melikertes (Melkarth), later identified with Herakles. The contests of the Phoenician god with the twelve hostile beasts of the zodiac are the origin of the twelve labours of the Greek hero.}}</ref> Many cities were thought to be founded (in one way or another) and protected by Melqart, no doubt springing from the original Phoenician practice of building a [[Temple]] of Melqart at new colonies.<ref name=":0" /> Similar to [[Tammuz (god)|Tammuz]] and [[Adonis]], he symbolized an annual cycle of death and rebirth. 

Reflecting his dual role as both protector of the world and ruler of the underworld, he was often shown holding an [[Ankh]] or [[Lotus Flower|Flower]] as a symbol of life, and a [[Axe|fenestrated axe]] as a symbol of death.

As Tyrian trade, colonization and settlement expanded, Melqart became venerated in [[Phoenicia]]n and [[Punic]] cultures across the Mediterranean, especially its colonies of [[Carthage]] and [[Cádiz]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Melqart|title=Melqart {{!}} Phoenician deity|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2020-04-26}}</ref> During the high point of Phoenician civilization between 1000 and 500 BCE, Melqart was associated with other pantheons and often venerated accordingly. Most notably, he was identified with the [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] [[Herakles|Heracles]] and the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[Hercules]] from at least the sixth century BCE, and eventually became interchangeable with his Greek counterpart.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Melqart {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/melqart|website=www.encyclopedia.com|access-date=2020-05-20}}</ref> 

In [[Cyprus]], Melqart was syncretized with [[Eshmun]] and [[Asclepius]],{{sfn|Sauer|2018|p=140}}{{sfn|Greenfield|1995|p=433}} and also in [[Ibiza]], as given by a dedication reciting: "to his lord, Eshmun-Melqart".{{sfn|Ogden|2021|p=470}} In Tyre, women, foreigners, and [[Religious restrictions on the consumption of pork|pork]] were not allowed in the [[sanctuary]] of Melqart's temple.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herodotus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OdLLZ8S0uAC |title=The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories |date=2009-06-02 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4000-3114-6 |language=en}}</ref>
{{anchor|Name|Etymology}}

==Etymology ==
Melqart was written in the Phoenician [[abjad]] as {{sc|MLQRT}} ({{langx|phn|𐤌𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤕}} ''Mīlqārt''). [[Edward Lipiński (orientalist)|Edward Lipinski]] theorizes that it was derived from {{sc|MLK QRT}} ({{lang|phn|𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤒𐤓𐤕}} ''Mīlk-Qārt''), which means "King of the City".<ref>{{cite book|last=Lipiński|first=Edward|title=Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar|publisher=Peeters Leeuven|year=2002|isbn=978-90-429-0815-4|series=Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta|volume=80|place=Belgium|publication-date=2001|page=235}}</ref> The name is sometimes transcribed as '''Melkart''', '''Melkarth''', or '''Melgart'''. In [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], his name was written '''Milqartu'''.

To the Greeks and the Romans, who identified Melqart with [[Hercules]], he was often distinguished as the {{nowrap|'''Tyrian Hercules'''}}.

==Cult==

Melqart was possibly the [[Ba‘al]] found in the [[Hebrew Bible]], specifically in [[1 Kings 16]]:31&ndash;10.26) whose worship was prominently introduced to [[Israel]] by King [[Ahab]] and largely eradicated by King [[Jehu]].{{citation needed|date=June 2014}} In [[1 Kings 18]]:27, it is possible that there is a mocking reference to legendary Heraclean journeys made by the god and to the annual ''egersis'' ({{langx|grc|ἔγερσις||awakening, resurrection}}) of the god: "And it came to pass at noon that [[Elijah]] mocked them and said, 'Cry out loud: for he is a god; either he is lost in thought, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.'"

The Phoenician<ref name="Cambridge 136">{{cite book|title=The Cambridge History of Classical Literature|volume=1, part 4|year=1993|orig-year=1985|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vx2gJyWxrtMC|isbn=0521359848|page=136 |last1=Easterling |first1=P. E. |author1-link=P. E. Easterling |last2=Knox |first2=B. M. W. |author2-link=Bernard Knox |publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> novelist, [[Heliodorus of Emesa]], in his ''[[Aethiopica]],'' refers to the [[dancing]] of sailors in honor of the Tyrian Heracles: "Now they leap spiritedly into the air, now they bend their knees to the ground and revolve on them like persons possessed."

The historian [[Herodotus]] recorded (2.44):
{{blockquote|In the wish to get the best information that I could on these matters, I made a voyage to Tyre in Phoenicia, hearing there was a temple of Heracles at that place, very highly venerated. I visited the temple, and found it richly adorned with a number of offerings, among which were two pillars, one of pure gold, the other of ''[[Emerald|smaragdos]]'', shining with great brilliance at night. In a conversation which I held with the priests, I inquired how long their temple had been built, and found by their answer that they, too, differed from the Hellenes. They said that the temple was built at the same time that the city was founded, and that the foundation of the city took place 2,300 years ago. In Tyre I remarked another temple where the same god was worshipped as the Thasian Heracles. So I went on to [[Thasos]], where I found a temple of Heracles which had been built by the Phoenicians who colonised that island when they sailed in search of [[Europa (mythology)|Europa]]. Even this was five generations earlier than the time when Heracles, son of [[Amphitryon]], was born in [[Ancient Greece|Hellas]]. These researches show plainly that there is an ancient god Heracles; and my own opinion is that those Hellenes act most wisely who build and maintain two temples of Heracles, in the one of which the Heracles worshipped is known by the name of [[Twelve Olympians|Olympian]], and has sacrifice offered to him as an immortal, while in the other the honours paid are such as are due to a hero.}}

[[Josephus]] records (''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'' 8.5.3), following [[Menander of Ephesus]] the historian, concerning King [[Hiram I]] of Tyre (c. 965&ndash;935&nbsp;BCE):
{{blockquote|He also went and cut down materials of timber out of the mountain called [[Mount Lebanon|Lebanon]], for the roof of temples; and when he had pulled down the ancient temples, he both built the temple of Heracles and that of [[`Ashtart]]; and he was the first to celebrate the awakening (''egersis'') of Heracles in the month Peritius.<ref>[[William Whiston]]'s translation incorrectly has "first set up the temple of Heracles in ..".</ref>}}

The annual celebration of the revival of Melqart's "awakening" may identify Melqart as a [[dying-and-rising god]].

Melqart played the central role in the Phoenician spring festival during which he died and was resurrected.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ginge |first1=Birgitte |last2=Thurton |first2=Mary |last3=Aubet |first3=Maria Eugenia |last4=Ridgway |first4=David |date=1996 |title=The Phoenicians and the West: Politics, Colonies, and Trade |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/4351841 |journal=The Classical World |volume=89 |issue=5 |pages=427 |doi=10.2307/4351841 |jstor=4351841 |issn=0009-8418|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The Roman Emperor [[Septimius Severus]] was a native of [[Lepcis Magna]] in Africa, an originally Phoenician city where worship of Melqart was widespread. He is known to have constructed in Rome a temple dedicated to "[[Liber]] and Hercules," and it is assumed that the Emperor, seeking to honour the god of his native city, identified Melqart with the Roman god Liber.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{Gallery
|title=
|align= center
|width=
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|File:Sacerdote de Cádiz - M.A.N. 02.jpg|Bronze statuette of a priest of Melqart, 7th century BC [[National Archaeological Museum (Madrid)|National Archaeological Museum Madrid]]
|File:Melqart_god_of_the_Phoenician_city_of_Tyre.jpg|Undated bust of Tyrian Melqart, [[National Museum of Denmark]]
|File:Herakles-Melqart, inizi V sec. a.C., da Cipro.JPG|Herakles-Melqart from Cyprus, early 5th century BC
|File:TyrianHalfShekel102-101-BNF-Gallica.jpg|Melkarth on a [[Tyrian shekel]] (102 BC) with an eagle ([[reverse (coin)|reverse]]), one foot on a galley prow, next to the god's club
}}

==Archaeological evidence==
[[File:Stela with Melqart on his lion.JPG|thumb|Stela with Melqart on his lion from [[Amrit]] in [[Syria]], c. 550 BC]]
The first occurrence of the name is in the 9th-century BCE the "Ben-Hadad" inscription found in 1939 north of [[Aleppo]] in today's northern [[Syria]]; it had been erected by the son of the king of [[Arameans|Aram]] "for his lord Melqart, which he vowed to him and he heard his voice".<ref>''ANET'' 655, noted in James Maxwell Miller and John Haralson Hayes, ''A History of Ancient Israel and Judah'' (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press) 1986 p. 293f.</ref>

Archaeological evidence for Melqart's cult is found earliest in Tyre and seems to have spread westward with the Phoenician colonies established by Tyre as well as eventually  overshadowing the worship of Eshmun in [[Sidon]].  The name of Melqart was invoked in oaths sanctioning contracts, according to Dr. [[María Eugenia Aubet]],<ref>[[María Eugenia Aubet]], ''The Phoenicians and the West: Politics, Colonies and Trade,'' 2nd ed., 2001.</ref> thus it was customary to build a temple to Melqart, as protector of Tyrian traders, in each new Phoenician colony: at [[Cádiz]], the temple to Melqart is as early as the earliest vestiges of Phoenician occupation. (The Greeks followed a parallel practice in respect to Heracles.) [[Carthage]] even sent a yearly tribute of 10% of the public treasury to the god in Tyre up until the [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic period]].

In Tyre, the high priest of Melqart ranked second only to the king. Many names in Carthage reflected this importance of Melqart, for example, the names [[Hamilcar]] and Bomilcar; but ''Ba‘l'' "Lord" as a name-element in Carthaginian names such as Hasdrubal and [[Hannibal]] almost certainly does not refer to Melqart but instead refers to [[Baal Hammon|Ba`al Hammon]], chief god of Carthage, a god identified by Greeks with [[Cronus]] and by Romans with [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]], or is simply used as a title.

Melqart protected the [[Punics|Punic]] areas of [[Sicily]], such as [[Cefalù]], which was known under Carthaginian rule as "Cape Melqart" ({{langx|xpu|𐤓‬𐤔 𐤌𐤋‬𐤒𐤓‬𐤕}}, {{sc|rš mlqrt}}).{{sfnp|Head & al.|1911|p=877}} Melqart's head, indistinguishable from a Heracles, appeared on its coins of the 4th century BCE.

The [[Cippi of Melqart]], found on [[Malta]] and dedicated to the god as an [[ex voto]] offering, provided the key to understanding the [[Phoenician language]], as the inscriptions on the cippi were written in both Phoenician and [[Greek language|Greek]].<ref name="louvre">{{cite web|url=http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225322&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225322&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500787&bmLocale=en|title= Cippus from Malta|year=2009|publisher=Louvre.com|access-date=February 16, 2011}}</ref>

===Temple sites===
[[Image:Estatuillas votivas del templo de Hércules Gaditano.jpg|thumb|Votive statues from the Temple of Melqart in [[Cadiz]]]]
{{See also|Temple of Hercules Gaditanus}}
Temples to Melqart are found at at least three Phoenician/Punic sites in Spain: Cádiz, Ibiza in the [[Balearic Islands]] and Cartagena. Near Gades/Gádeira (modern [[Cádiz]]) was the westernmost temple of Tyrian Heracles, near the eastern shore of the island ([[Strabo]] 3.5.2&ndash;3). Strabo notes (3.5.5&ndash;6) that the two bronze pillars within the temple, each 8 cubits high, were widely proclaimed to be the true [[Pillars of Heracles]] by many who had visited the place and had sacrificed to Heracles there. Strabo believes the account to be fraudulent, in part noting that the inscriptions on those pillars mentioned nothing about Heracles, speaking only of the expenses incurred by the Phoenicians in their making.

Another temple to Melqart was at Ebyssus ([[Ibiza]]), in one of four Phoenician sites on the island's south coast. In 2004 a highway crew in the Avinguda Espanya, (one of the main routes into Ibiza), uncovered a further Punic temple in the excavated roadbed. Texts found mention Melqart among other Punic gods Eshmun, Astarte and Baʻl.

Another Iberian temple to Melqart has been identified at [[Carthago Nova]] ([[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]]). The Tyrian god's protection extended to the sacred promontory ([[Cape Saint Vincent]]) of the Iberian peninsula, the westernmost point of the known world, ground so sacred it was forbidden even to spend the night.

Another temple to Melqart was at [[Lixus (ancient city)|Lixus]], on the Atlantic coast of [[Morocco]].

==Hannibal and Melqart==
[[Hannibal]] was a faithful worshiper of Melqart: the Roman historian [[Livy]] records the story that just before setting off on his march to [[Italy]] he made a pilgrimage to [[Cádiz|Gades]], the most ancient seat of Phoenician worship in the west. Hannibal strengthened himself spiritually by prayer and sacrifice at the Altar of Melqart. He returned to [[Cartagena, Murcia|New Carthage]] with his mind focused on the god and on the eve of departure to Italy he saw a strange vision which he believed was sent by Melqart.<ref name="Livy">Livy XXI, 21-23</ref>
[[File:Karthago - Münzkabinett, Berlin - 5480205.jpg|thumb|260x260px|[[Carthaginian coinage|Carthaginian shekel]] depicting either Hannibal or Melqart]]
A youth of divine beauty appeared to Hannibal in the night.  The youth told Hannibal he had been sent by the [[King of the gods|supreme deity]], [[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]], to guide the son of [[Hamilcar Barca|Hamilcar]] to Italy. “Follow me,” said the ghostly visitor, “and see that that thou look not behind thee.” Hannibal followed the instructions of the visitor.  His curiosity, however, overcame him, and as he turned his head, Hannibal saw a serpent crashing through forest and thicket causing destruction everywhere. It moved as a black tempest with claps of thunder and flashes of lightning gathered behind the serpent. When Hannibal asked the meaning of the vision the being replied, “What thou beholdest is the desolation of Italy. Follow thy star and inquire no farther into the dark counsels of heaven.”<ref name="Livy" />

==Graeco-Roman traditions==
[[File:Aurige de Mozia de face.jpg|thumb|''[[Motya Charioteer|Mozian Charioteer]]'' (5th century BC), sometimes interpreted as a [[Hellenization|Hellenized]] Melqart]]
It was suggested by some writers that the Phoenician [[Melicertes]] son of [[Ino (Greek mythology)|Ino]] found in Greek mythology was in origin a reflection of Melqart.  Though no classical source explicitly connects the two, Ino is the daughter of [[Cadmus]] of Tyre. Lewis Farnell thought not, referring in 1916 to "the accidental resemblance in sound of Melikertes and Melqart, seeing that Melqart, the bearded god, had no affinity in form or myth with the child- or boy-deity, and was moreover always identified with Herakles: nor do we know anything about Melqart that would explain the figure of Ino that is aboriginally inseparable from Melikertes."<ref>Lewis R. Farnell, "Ino-Leukothea" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''36''' (1916:36-44) p. 43; Edouard Will, ''Korinthiaka'' (1955) p. 169 note 3 cities the literature disclaiming the connection.</ref>

[[Athenaeus]] (392d) summarizes a story by [[Eudoxus of Cnidus]] (c. 355 BCE) telling how [[Heracles]] the son of [[Zeus]] by [[Asteria]] (= ‘Ashtart ?) was killed by [[Typhon]] in [[Ancient Libya|Libya]]. Heracles' companion [[Iolaus]] brought a quail to the dead god (presumably a roasted quail) and its delicious scent roused Heracles back to life. This purports to explain why the Phoenicians sacrifice quails to Heracles. It seems that Melqart had a companion similar to the Hellenic Iolaus, who was himself a native of the Tyrian colony of [[Thebes, Greece |Thebes]]. [[Sanchuniathon]] also makes Melqart under the name Malcarthos or Melcathros, the son of [[Hadad]], who is normally identified with Zeus.

The ''[[Clementine literature|Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions]]'' (10.24) speaks of the tombs of various gods, including "that of Heracles at Tyre, where he was burnt with fire." The Hellenic Heracles also died on a pyre, but the event was located on [[Mount Oeta]] in [[Trachis]]. A similar tradition is recorded by [[Dio Chrysostom]] ([https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dio_Chrysostom/Discourses/33*.html#47 ''Or.''&nbsp;33.47]) who mentions the beautiful pyre which the [[Tarsus in Cilicia|Tarsians]] used to build for their Heracles, referring here to the [[Cilicia]]n god [[Sandon (god)|Sandon]].

In [[Nonnus]]' ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' (40.366&ndash;580) the Tyrian Heracles is very much a [[Solar deity|Sun-god]]. However, there is a tendency in the later [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] and Roman periods for almost all gods to develop solar attributes, and for almost all eastern gods to be identified with the Sun. Nonnus gives the title ''Astrochiton'' 'Starclad' to Tyrian Heracles and has his [[Dionysus]] recite a hymn to this Heracles, saluting him as "the son of Time, he who causes the threefold image of the Moon, the all-shining Eye of the heavens". Rain is ascribed to the shaking from his head of the waters of his bath in the eastern [[Oceanus|Ocean]]. His Sun-disk is praised as the cause of growth in plants. Then, in a climactic burst of [[syncretism]], Dionysus identifies the Tyrian Heracles with [[Belus (Babylonian)|Belus on the Euphrates]], [[Zeus Ammon|Ammon]] in Libya, [[Apis (Egyptian mythology)|Apis]] by the [[Nile]], [[Arabia]]n Cronus, [[Assyria]]n Zeus,  [[Serapis]], Zeus of [[Egypt]], [[Cronus]], [[Phaethon]], [[Mithras]], [[Delphi]]c [[Apollo]], ''Gamos'' 'Marriage', and ''Paeon'' 'Healer'.

The Tyrian Heracles answers by appearing to Dionysus. There is red light in the fiery eyes of this shining god who clothed in a robe embroidered like the sky (presumably with various constellations). He has yellow, sparkling cheeks and a starry beard. The god reveals how he taught the primeval, earthborn inhabitants of Phoenicia how to build the first boat and instructed them to sail out to a pair of floating, rocky islands. On one of the islands there grew an olive tree with a serpent at its foot, an eagle at its summit, and which glowed in the middle with fire that burned but did not consume. Following the god's instructions, these primeval humans sacrificed the eagle to [[Poseidon]], Zeus, and the other gods. Thereupon the islands rooted themselves to the bottom of the sea. On these islands the city of Tyre was founded.
[[File:OldGreekPhoenikianCoinPurpur2000.jpg|thumb|172x172px|A [[Phoenicia|Phoenician]] coin depicting the legend of the dog biting the sea snail]]
[[Gregory of Nazianzus]]<ref>[[Gregory of Nazianzus]], ''Oratio'', 4.108 (See in [[s:EL:Στηλιτευτικός_πρώτος_κατά_Ιουλιανού_Βασιλέως|the Greek source]] and in [[s:Orations_of_Gregory_of_Nazianzus/First_invective_against_Julian_the_Emperor#108|English translation]])</ref> and [[Cassiodorus]]<ref>[[Cassiodorus]], ''Variae'', 1.2.7 (See in [[wikisource:LA:Variarum_libri_XII/Liber_I#II._THEONI_V._S._THEODERICUS_REX|the Latin source]] and in [https://archive.org/details/letterscassiodo00hodggoog/page/144?q=purple English translation])</ref> relate{{Clarify|reason=They both relate to the dog, but don't mention Hercules|date=February 2024}} how Tyrian Heracles and the [[nymph]] Tyrus were walking along the beach when Heracles' dog, who was accompanying them, devoured a murex snail and gained a beautiful purple color around its mouth. Tyrus told Heracles she would never accept him as her lover until he gave her a robe of that same colour. So Heracles gathered many murex shells, extracted the dye from them, and dyed the first garment of the colour later called [[Tyrian purple]]. The murex shell appears on the very earliest Tyrian coins and then reappears again on coins in Imperial Roman times.

From the sixth century BCE. onward in [[Cyprus]], where there was strong Phoenician cultural influence on the western side of the island, Melqart was often depicted with Heracles' traditional symbols of a lion skin and club, although it is unclear how strongly this connection between the figures was throughout the rest of Phoenician culture.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Phoenicians|last=Markoe|first=Glenn|publisher=University of California Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0520226135|location=Los Angeles, California|pages=124}}</ref>

==Attempts at a synthesis==
[[File:Museo_de_Cádiz_(36137142923).jpg|thumb|Bronze statuette of Melqart from the historical Temple of Melqart at Cadiz ([[Sancti Petri]], [[Museum of Cádiz]])]]
The paucity of evidence on Melqart has led to debate as to the nature of his cult and his place in the Phoenician pantheon. [[William F. Albright]] suggested he was a god of the underworld partly because the god [[Milku]], who may be Melqart, is sometimes equated with the Mesopotamian god [[Nergal]], a god of the underworld, whose name also means 'King of the City'.<ref>''Archaeology and the Religion of Israel'' (Baltimore, 1953;  pp.&nbsp;81, 196)</ref> Others take this to be coincidental, since what is known about Melqart from other sources does not suggest an underworld god, and the city in question could conceivably be Tyre. It has been suggested{{by whom?|date=December 2021}} that Melqart began as a [[sea god]] who was later given solar attributes, or alternatively that he began as a solar god who later received the attributes of a sea god.

== Historical person ==
Herodotus said that the Temple of Melqart at Tyre had a [[tomb]] in its sanctuary, supporting the theory that involved as he was in the founding mythology of Tyre, perhaps Melqart was based on a real historical person.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herodotus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OdLLZ8S0uAC |title=The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories |date=2009-06-02 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4000-3114-6 |language=en}}</ref> Other classical authors say that this supposed Tomb of Melqart was moved to southern [[Spain]], possibly [[Cádiz]].<ref name=":0"/>

In late 2021, archeologists from [[Seville University]] claimed to have located the historical [[Temple of Hercules Gaditanus|Temple of Melqart]] of Spain, which classical authors believed to have contained the supposed Tomb of Melqart, at modern-day [[Sancti Petri]], [[Cádiz]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Spain: Researchers Believe they Found Fabled Temple of Hercules Gaditanus |url=https://www.thearchaeologist.org/blog/spain-researchers-believe-they-found-fabled-temple-of-hercules-gaditanus?format=amp |access-date=2023-08-03 |website=www.thearchaeologist.org}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Mythology|Asia}}
* For information on the title Ba‘al, which was applied to many gods who would not normally be identified with Melqart, see [[Baal|Ba‘al]].
* For views about whether and how Melqart connects with biblical references to Moloch, see [[Moloch]].
* For views about whether and how Melqart connects with the names of God in Islam, see [[Names_of_God_in_Islam|Malek]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|2}}

===Bibliography===
* Bonnet, Corinne, ''Melqart: Cultes et mythes de l'Héraclès tyrien en Méditerranée'' (Leuven and Namur) 1988. The standard summary of the evidences.
*{{citation|last=Greenfield|first=Jonas Carl|year=1995|title= Solving Riddles and Untying Knots: Biblical, Epigraphic, and Semitic Studies in Honor of Jonas C. Greenfield|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=VLyUd1hau1IC&dq=to+his+lord+eshmun+melqart&pg=PA433|publisher=Eisenbrauns|isbn= 978-0-931464-93-5}}.
* {{citation |last=Head |first=Barclay |editor=Ed Snible |author2=G.F. Hill |author3=George MacDonald |author4=W. Wroth |display-authors=1 |display-editors=0 |url=http://snible.org/coins/hn/index.html |title=Historia Numorum |contribution=Zeugitana |contribution-url=http://snible.org/coins/hn/zeugitana.html |pages=877–882 |date=1911 |edition=2nd |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |ref={{harvid|Head & al.|1911}} }}.
*{{citation|last=Ogden|first=Daniel|year=2021|title= The Oxford Handbook of Heracles|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=zy0zEAAAQBAJ&dq=to+his+lord+eshmun+melqart+ibiza&pg=PA470|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn= 9780190650988}}.
*{{citation|last=Sauer|first=A.|year=2018|title= The Archaeology of Jordan and Beyond: Essays in Memory of James A. Sauer|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=st6mDwAAQBAJ&dq=to+his+lord+melqart+eshmun&pg=PA140 |publisher=Brill|isbn= 9789004369801}}.

==External links==
*[https://www.worldhistory.org/Melqart/ Melqart - World History Encyclopedia]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060304175210/http://www.laisladelsur.com/monumentos/sancti-petri.asp Temple of Melqart]
*[http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/westsem/melqart.html Melqart stele]
*[http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2003/2003-12-17.html Roger Wright, review of María Eugenia Aubet, ''The Phoenicians and the West: Politics, Colonies and Trade,'' 2nd ed., 2001]: a circumstantial review that gives a good sketch of Aubet's book, in which Melqart figures strongly; Aubet concentrates on Tyre and its colonies and ends, ca 550 BCE, with the rise of Carthage.
*[http://www.religionswissenschaft.uzh.ch/idd/prepublications/e_idd_melqart.pdf L'iconographie de Melqart (article in PDF eng.)]
{{Middle Eastern mythology}}{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Melqart| ]]
[[Category:West Semitic gods]]
[[Category:Tutelary gods]]
[[Category:Deities in the Hebrew Bible]]
[[Category:Phoenician mythology]]
[[Category:Hellenistic Asian deities]]
[[Category:Heracles]]
[[Category:Baal]]
[[Category:History of Tyre, Lebanon]]
[[Category:Life-death-rebirth gods]]
[[Category:Underworld gods]]
[[Category:Books of Kings]]