Who Was Melqart?

The name appears to be formed meaning “the king of the city”. The deity in question originally had a tribal character,  and consequently, once the Phoenicians became urbanized, he became the protector of the city. The first evidence referring to the deity dates to before the 10th century B.C., but should instead be framed within texts of the 2nd millennium B.C., when a god Malik is found in Mesopotamia and the divine designation “MLK” at Ugarit.  Josephus tells us how the king of Tyre Hiram, in the 10th century B.C., raised a temple to Melqart and to Ashtart on the ruins of a temple of a previous deity. In the 7th century B.C. Melqart is mentioned in an official document, namely the treaty between the king of Tyre Baal and the Assyrian king  Esarhaddon. The Greeks assimilated  Melqart to Herakles; this version shows how Melqart was regarded as a supreme deity, linked to the solar aspect of the god. As a god-son he represents a fertility  and fecundating deity like Adon  at Byblos or Eshmun at Sidon. As for the version of Eudoxus of Cnidus (apud Atheneum), according to the myth in question Herakles-Melqart, son of Zeus and Asteria, was killed by Typhon, but Iolaus-Eshmun brings him back to life by making him smell a quail. The resurrection feast of Melqart, the most important festival of Tyre,  took place in spring, at the passage of the quails,  linked to the fertility character of the deity. The cult of Melqart  also spread to Carthage, to Gadir,  and Lixus, Tharros, and Karali.

Del DR.Archeolog. Daniele Castori

Archeologo (Specialista in Archeologia Classica)

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Who Was Melqart?

The name appears to be formed meaning “the king of the city”. The deity in question originally had a tribal character,  and consequently, once the Phoenicians became urbanized, he became the protector of the city. The first evidence referring to the deity dates to before the 10th century B.C., but should instead be framed within texts of the 2nd millennium B.C., when a god Malik is found in Mesopotamia and the divine designation “MLK” at Ugarit.  Josephus tells us how the king of Tyre Hiram, in the 10th century B.C., raised a temple to Melqart and to Ashtart on the ruins of a temple of a previous deity. In the 7th century B.C. Melqart is mentioned in an official document, namely the treaty between the king of Tyre Baal and the Assyrian king  Esarhaddon. The Greeks assimilated  Melqart to Herakles; this version shows how Melqart was regarded as a supreme deity, linked to the solar aspect of the god. As a god-son he represents a fertility  and fecundating deity like Adon  at Byblos or Eshmun at Sidon. As for the version of Eudoxus of Cnidus (apud Atheneum), according to the myth in question Herakles-Melqart, son of Zeus and Asteria, was killed by Typhon, but Iolaus-Eshmun brings him back to life by making him smell a quail. The resurrection feast of Melqart, the most important festival of Tyre,  took place in spring, at the passage of the quails,  linked to the fertility character of the deity. The cult of Melqart  also spread to Carthage, to Gadir,  and Lixus, Tharros, and Karali.