And
so every state question for this government became a matter of
commerce. The Carthaginians were hated by all other peoples, who found
them cruel, greedy, and faithless. And yet, since they had a good
fleet, had money to purchase soldiers, and possessed an energetic
government, they succeeded in the midst of barbarous and divided
peoples in maintaining their empire over the western Mediterranean for
300 years (from the sixth to the third century B.C.).
=The Phoenician Religion.=--The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians had a
religion similar to that of the Chaldeans. The male god, Baal, is a
sun-god; for the sun and the moon are in the eyes of the Phoenicians
the great forces which create and which destroy. Each of the cities of
Phoenicia has therefore its divine pair: at Sidon it is Baal Sidon (the
sun) and Astoreth (the moon); at Gebel, Baal Tammouz and Baaleth; at
Carthage, Baal-Hamon, and Tanith. But the same god changes his name
according as he is conceived as creator or destroyer; thus Baal as
destroyer is worshipped at Carthage under the name of Moloch. These
gods, represented by idols, have their temples, altars, and priests.
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