The Phoenicians lived in modern-day Lebanon and were known throughout the ancient world as sailors and merchants. They created colonies all along the Mediterranean coast from nearby their homeland to Spain to help facilitate their trade routes and move supplies. The most famous of these colonies is Carthage, which was on the coast of modern-day Tunisia. If you vaguely recall your world history class or perhaps read The Aeneid in your English class, you can remember that Carthage was a great rival of Rome and was completely destroyed at the end of the Punic Wars. Supposedly the vitriol between the two was so strong that the Roman sowed the ground with salt after burning the city for seventeen days to ensure that nothing would grow on that land afterward.

Although Carthage today is most known for its relationship with Rome, it was a mighty city in its own right with a rich culture before Rome appeared on the scene. And scholars are certain that they did child sacrifice. Not only are there pictorial depictions but graves with thousands of children have been excavated. Supposedly right before the end, the Carthaginians sacrificed hundreds to appeal to the gods for help against the Roman threat.

I was listening to a podcast of scholars discussing the Phoenicians, and the moderator asked why the Carthaginians sacrificed children. The scholars replied to create a separate cultural identity because they were colonists who needed to remain independent from the native surrounding peoples. See, this is why people hate academia sometimes. This answer makes no fucking sense and it shows how out of touch you are with reality. If it's what they're claiming, that means the Carthaginians sat down and said to themselves, "Okay, we want to show how we're different from these Africans living around us. We can see they're not killing their kids. Why don't we kill our kids?" That sounds really fucking ridiculous.

The real answer is this: "The Phoenicians in Lebanon already had a tradition of child sacrifice, which carried from the motherland to their colonies. We don't have enough evidence to say why the Phoenicians started it." That's it. Because otherwise you're over-analyzing it. Yeah, every group of immigrants who settle in another land want some way to retain their ethnic identity, but saying that was the primary reason they do it is rather crazy. It's like saying the Jews eat bagels because they want to differentiate themselves from the other immigrant communities in New York. No, it's just they fucking ate bagels back home in Eastern Europe, liked the food they grew up with, and made it in their new home. Maybe on some level it helps preserve a sense of who they are, but to claim that's anyone's main reason is just way too much thinking.