Melqart and Heracles

Ancient religions were, more often than not, syncretic. They would associate a god from one culture with one from their own, if they were similar enough (and such similarities did not need to be very strong). This practice was especially prevalent in the Hellenistic period, after Alexander the Great’s conquests brought the Greek world into close contact with many different cultures, especially in the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East. Such syncretism was not new in the Hellenistic period, however. In the Early Iron Age there is evidence for the syncretization of the Greek god Heracles with the Phoenician god Melqart. Herodotus, writing in the mid-fifth century BC, notes the association between Heracles and Melqart (2.44). However, rather than simply calling them one and the same, Herodotus actually notes the…

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Ancient History (Digital) - 1 Issue, AH 53

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