Giving a face to a name. Phoenician and Punic Divine Iconographies, Names and Gender

, determining the type of deities and identifying their name. The analysis then considers engende-ring characterisation, gender ambiguity and gender in ritual practices, with a special focus on a mask apparently embodying female and male elements, and on the shrine of Sarepta, where a double reality – textual and visual – emerges. This article argues that a certain iconographic fluidity characterising Phoenician and Punic divine images occurred around the time of the “Phoenician expan-sion” and it may have helped in establishing a “middle ground” for cultural contacts and trade relations.