By Bashar Mustafa & Nidal Abbas
ABSTRACT
Two anthropomorphic Phoenician sarcophagi, located in a necropolis from the territory of the Phoenician
site Amrit are discussed in a formal analysis of each and a spatial contextualization of their discoveries from
rescue excavation. A comparison with other sarcophagi known in the region with similar characteristics, e.g.
raw materials, style, and the representation of gender across the entire Mediterranean basin, is made. The
origin and the date of the pieces as well as patterns of suppliers of these funerary containers to the Syrian
coast, and the socio-ideological significance of the sarcophagi, is made. These critically involved data offer a
substantive contribution to the social history of the Levantine Phoenicians in the earliest periods of their
cultural distinctiveness.
