It is now supposed by some scholars that the Phœnician religion was at first monotheistic, and that later the worship of many gods was common. The third stage in its progress would be the greater portion of the period known to us, when the gods of other peoples were allowed, by the side of those native to the country. In Carthaginian tombs images of Egyptian deities have been found side by side with those of ancient Tyre and Sidon. In the beginning, the Phœnician worship was probably one manifestation of the Sun-worship, common to Semitic peoples. The religion of any people is a matter of growth, invariably undergoing change, until it finally resembles but slightly what it was in the beginning. Thus the faith of Phœnicia underwent many changes during her 1500 years. It is agreed that the Phœnicians worshipped curiously shaped stones at an early period, believing that deities had their abode within them; plants also were importuned, to appease the spirit that dwelt within them and cause each to yield food. Finally the heavenly bodies became objects of worship, the sun being considered most important. There must always be something appealing in the adoration felt by primitive minds toward the sun. Most ancient people worshipped it in one form or another, and the planet was surrounded by unfathomable mystery in the infancy of the world.
Baal was god of the sun, Astoreth, goddess of the moon. Baal symbolized the life-giving power of the sun as well as its destructive forces.
Maleck or Molock was the god of fire. He was a god of cruelty and thirsted for blood. It was to satisfy some of his supposed cravings that the human sacrifices took place. The first-born child, pure maidens, favorite sons, were fed to the flames to appease his wrath. These sacrifices seem strange to us today, and nations of antiquity, immuned to cruelty and bloodshed, turned from these Phœnician customs in horror.
An annual spring festival of great antiquity was celebrated. Probably in early times it lacked the feature of the human sacrifice which made it most objectionable later. Great forest trees were brought into the temple court and planted. From their branches were suspended animals, birds and all else intended for the sacrifice. After the images of the gods were marched around these trees, all was set on fire and consumed in a mighty conflagration. To make the celebration more impressive, human sacrifices were added, especially before some great undertaking, or upon the occasion of some national calamity.
Astoreth was the great virgin goddess. In the beginning she was worshipped with simple rites.
"Astoreth, whom the Phœnicians called
Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns;
To whose bright image nightly by the moon
Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs."
In course of time the character of the goddess changed, and she was worshipped by most licentious practices.
In addition to their own gods, the Phœnicians readily incorporated into their pantheon deities of those tribes and nations with whom they opened trade. Some years after Phœnicia ceased to be a power, a Carthaginian general made a treaty with the Emperor of Greece. The two are reported to have sworn by numerous deities that they would preserve it. "They swore by Zeus, Hera, and Apollo, by the tutelary deities of the Carthaginians, by Hercules, by the moon, and the earth, by rivers, meadows, and waters, by the gods of the allied armies, and the sun, by all the gods who ruled over Carthage, by all the gods who ruled over Macedon and the rest of Greece, and by all the gods of those who were present to ratify the treaty."
At first the Phœnicians worshipped in the open air, with merely an altar of stone. Later they built elaborate and costly temples, but they still celebrated certain ceremonies out of doors, in groves or under the shade of trees.
The religion of the Phœnicians was most innocent and attractive in its earliest stages. As it developed, with its numerous priesthood performing their bloody rites, and its necessary sacrifices, teaching cruelty and blunting the sensibilities of its adherents, it became very repulsive. Far from inculcating noble ideals, it made a virtue of renouncing dear ones to agony and death; and a people who from infancy grew accustomed to such scenes and such conceptions could never develop finest qualities of character. Wherever Phœnician vessels landed with their wares, there Phœnician gods and practices went also. The good done in spreading the habits of civilization to regions remote was mitigated by the harm done in spreading this abhorrent faith.