Phoenician gods: tell me your name show me your image!

According to Julian (Letters, 89b, 291 b ), the denominations of the gods are linked to their visual images. This approach, which correlates the verbal and visual systems of communication, corroborates this study which aims to put some order into the jungle of real, detailed, hypothetical (not to mention imaginative) connections between the images and names of Phoenician gods. In order to properly investigate the matter, this study focuses exclusively on objects where the inscribed name of a Phoenician god is clearly related to the image represented, and on the comparison of the construction mechanisms at work in Semitic languages and in the iconography of Phoenician gods. Considering that Semitic gods were, all things considered, limited, and that iconographic attributes were equally limited and not exclusive to one single god, some basic types are identified: smiting, striding, enthroned. The absence of a fixed iconography, except for a more or less canonical representation of Melqart with "orthodox" attributes (that can, however, be shared by other deities), let to the worshipper a very important role in emphasizing the main aspect of a deity and of his/her attributes. Both iconography and names of Phoenician gods are geographically and chronologically widespread. Therefore, using images and names as hints to identify certain aspects of the ancient perception of the divine is only possible at the condition of connecting them to the cultural context in which they were expressed.