Invisible actors

Acronym: Invisible actors

Description

The project aims to shed new light on 'invisible actors' in Phoenician and Punic society. The aim is to study women and children who, as historical agents, are rarely the focus of scholarly attention. We propose to explore different dimensions of their life experience using an interdisciplinary approach, with the specific aim of promoting a new interpretative paradigm.

This approach stems from the desire to identify and overcome stereotypes that have influenced the overall image of the Phoenicians and their neighbours in relation to both major historical processes and everyday life practices reflected in the archaeological record.

Until recently, Phoenician and Punic studies have been largely conditioned by a marked androcentric point of view. In this perspective, women and children are marginalised (as is particularly the case in the interpretation of archaeological finds) or placed at the centre of cruel and nefarious rituals (as in the case of mythographic and historiographic reconstructions based on classical and biblical sources that elaborate on child sacrifices, sacred prostitution, etc.).