Studi fenici e Storia delle religioni: una lunga stagione di studi

During 20th century, and particularly since the '60s, there has been an ever increasing interest in the civilization of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, due to the discovery and excavation of new sites in both Eastern and Western Mediterranean and to a thorough historiographic research. Anyway, this sake has been extended thanks to the organization of the Phoenician and Punic studies as an independent separate branch of research, where various scientific fields of Antiquity are taken into consideration and where the historical-comparative method is drawn up for the study of religious facts. This new situation has also allowed us to verify the interpretative schemes used in the historical-religious approach adopted in the previous studies, and to identify and reconsider some historiographic clichés and their heuristic value. The survey also examines the historiography of the last 30 years and assesses possible immediate future trends and perspectives.