The term “religion” is oversupplied with meaning. There is no corresponding universal cultural taxon. The inefficiency of cultural recurrence is problematic for meme theories of cultural and religious evolution, despite the notion’s attractive fit with evolutionary biology. Reducing religion to intergroup competition – “a space in which competing sets of social interests meet” – postpones the question of definition indefinitely. A useful taxonomy of religion may be possible, and seems necessary, but is beyond the scope of the present undertaking. Rather than delineate a subspecies “Punic religion,” the following discussion will depend on traditional categories of religious behaviors: sacrifice, offerings, prayer, purity regulations, cultic sites, cultic personnel, festivals, and funerary practices.

The word “Phoenician” derives from phoinīkes, which Homer (Il. 23.744; Od. 13.272; 14.288; 15.415, 419, 473) and later Greek writers used to designate foreign traders from the Levant. The Greek word entered Latin as Poeni, “Punic” being derived from the Latin adjective Punicus. Thus both the Greek and Latin terms label the same group. English uses “Phoenician” to refer to the East and “Punic” for the West, particularly in reference to language. The Phoenician language developed new features in the West, warranting the distinct label Punic. With respect to the practice of religion there are fewer contrasts between East and West, weakening the rationale for distinct labels. Religious practice within the Phoenician and Punic city-states remained largely a matter of local custom.