The Question of "Plasticity" of Ethnic and Cultural Identity: the Case Study of Kharayeb

The work deals with the problem of the role of cults in defining and preserving ethnic and cultural identity. In particular it is focused on the question of the continuity and change of local religious traditions in Persian and Hellenistic rural inner southern Phoenicia. During these periods peoples of the hilly country of the inland of Tyre lived the experience of the comparison with the vivid and multicultural coastal society, characterized by the presence of strong Egyptian and Greek influence, well recognizable in different aspects of the artistic production and material culture. Using what Jean-Loup Amselle calls the "démarche discontinuiste", that is to analyse human activities focusing on the identification of what is indistinct instead of what is well defined and classified, we will present the documentation of the rural sanctuary of Kharayeb, founded around the sixth - fifth century and remained in use until the first cent. B.C.