Tanit, votive female figure. Phoenicia, 10th - 8th century BC.

Tanit, votive female figure. Phoenicia, 10th - 8th century BC.
Terracotta.
It shows erosion and concretions typical of its age.
Measurements: 18,3 cm high.

Female votive figure made in terracotta, identifiable with Tanit or with a feminine divinity of the Phoenician-Punic environment. The piece presents a hieratic conception, with the body arranged in vertical axis, schematic facial features and an elongated silhouette, typical of the small devotional images destined to the domestic cult or votive contexts.

This type of representation is linked to the Phoenician religious universe, in which female divinities played a prominent role as protectors of fertility, life, fecundity and the continuity of the community.

Terracotta votive figures, due to their intimate and devotional character, are particularly evocative testimonies of ancient religious practices, where the image served as a symbolic intermediary between the faithful and the divinity.