[blam]

GGG Ping.

[inquest]

"We didn't do it," says the 69-year-old archaeologist, rejecting accusations that the ancient citizens of this North African land sacrificed babies to appease their gods.

"We"? You and they aren't even the same people. The Romans wiped out the Carthaginians, and the Arabs moved in some centuries later. It'd be like Americans referring to pre-Columbian Indian practices with the word "we".

[wideawake]

Infant sacrifice by fire in Phoenician cultures and Carthage in particular is well-attested.

There is a ton of archaeological and significant documentary evidence.

But it seems as if Tunisia will now conveniently misplace much of the existing evidence.

Shameless revisionism.

[siunevada]

"We must stop looking at our past through the eyes of foreigners," says Mr. Fantar, "When Arabs read and understand our own history, we will be at the dawn of a real revolution. This is what we are trying to do in Tunisia."

Maybe they could tailor their tourist programs to Planned Parenthood members.

Mr. Fantar shouldn't worry, he is probably not a descendant of the Carthaginians defeated by Rome. He's a descendant of the later conquerors.

[thoughtomator]

Why should Muslims be ashamed of historical infanticide, even if they were a continuation of the same people? They show no discomfort at modern infanticide, even the mass-murder kind. Note their total silence about Beslan.

[Airborne1986]

"Carthago Delende Est"

("Carthage Must be Destroyed!")

--Cato

There is much we can learn from the Romans.

[hubbubhubbub]

Carthegenians hired mercenaries to fight their wars and never gave Hannibal they support he needed. Result was they fell and were estinguished after the third punic war. Rome rid herself of her biggest rival in the Mediterranean. Rome later fell (centuries later) after turning socialist (nobody worked), debasing their currency and having others (non-Romans) protect the boundaries of the empire.

[Calusa]

Ping.

[Modernman]

the Romans, who leveled the city and, according to legend, plowed salt into farmland to make it barren.

Probably just legend. Salt was too expensive to be used in such quantities.

[Alouette]

He wasn't called "Hannibal the Cannibal" for nothing.

[AlaskaErik]

"We didn't do it," says the 69-year-old archaeologist, rejecting accusations that the ancient citizens of this North African land sacrificed babies to appease their gods.

Now that he's reached the desired conclusion all he has to do is twist and distort the facts to make it all fit. Kinda like the eco-terrorists and the so-called "global warming" issue.

[SunkenCiv]

This guy's full of it. The worship of Moloch involved the sacrifice of worshippers' children.

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/moloch.html

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[swilhelm73]

Still, he isn't expecting to win them over. "No one really relishes having ancestors who committed such heinous acts," he says.

As a practical matter, are today's Tunisians actually even related to ancient Carthinigians? The area was colonized by Rome after they destroyed the city and conquered by the Arabs after all.

[restornu]

Mr. Fantar is campaigning to clear his forefathers of a nasty stigma: a reputation for infanticide.

I am also reminded that during the birth of Jesus the King Herod ordered all male babies under two to be slain...and did this not also take place during the time of Moese birth?

Just thought I thorw this in the mix why not.....

"LOST" TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL...FOUND! BOOK SUMMARY

[LibKill]

I have been there. The guide showed us tiny stone caskets with tiny bones in them.

I wish I could post a picture but they are on paper, and in storage.

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Yeah, and I remember a guide in Cancun claiming that meso-american human sacrifice was extremely rare too...

[wildbill]

Human sacrifice was endemic throughout the Meditrerranean cultures, not just at Carthage, although sacrifice of children may have been more prevalent there. I did a paper on it once using evidence from ancient texts, plays, and images on pottery, etc. from the area including Greece, Italy and Israel.

Don't forget the sacrifice of Iphegenia in Greek folk history and the uncompleted sacrifice of his son by Abraham in the Bible. Both show the practice was not as uncommon as one might believe.