The Legend of Tanit and Baal Hammon
Tanit and Baal Hammon were the supreme deities of Carthage (in modern Tunisia), a civilization that blended Phoenician and Berber religious traditions. Tanit, the goddess of fertility, motherhood, and the moon, was the patron deity of Carthage—often depicted with a solar disc and crescent moon. Baal Hammon, the chief god, was a weather and fertility god who brought rain and controlled the storms, associated with the ram. According to tradition, the cult of Tanit and Baal Hammon involved child sacrifice (the 'tophet'), a practice that horrified Greek and Roman writers. Legend says that when Car