BAAL HAMMON STATUE.

The article focuses on Baal Hammon, the supreme god of the Carthaginians, who was associated with fertility, good weather, and the city's prosperity, and was believed to demand the sacrifice of newborn children. While earlier historians dismissed ancient Greek and Roman claims of child sacrifice as propaganda, a 2014 academic study provided strong evidence that such sacrifices were widespread in Carthage, with victims often only weeks old. Baal Hammon, thought to derive from the Canaanite god Baal, was worshipped alongside the goddess Tanit at sanctuaries like Thinissut in Tunisia, where terracotta statues depicting him flanked by sphinxes or rams were found. The god was sometimes represented with ram horns, and historical accounts describe sacrificial rituals involving statues, including one made of bronze used to immolate children. The statue discussed is currently housed in the Bardo National Museum in Tunis. [Extracted from the article]