Rooted in Late Bronze Age Levantine traditions, Phoenician art emerges in the early first millennium bce, spiced with new elements adopted and adapted from contemporary Egyptian models, while also permeable to influence from artistic trends popular with neighboring cultures and overseas recipients of Phoenician luxurious exports. During its acme between the late ninth and early seventh centuries bce, the art shared a common repertoire of motifs among sculptors, metalsmiths, ivory carvers, and seal cutters in a predominantly Egyptianizing style. Mass-produced terracotta plaques, figurines, and the minor arts displayed a more diversified array of autochthonous characteristics. In line with the evolution of sculpture, the Cypriot component was definitely replaced by Greek idioms from the later sixth century bce onward. If Punic art cannot possibly be defined as a mere perpetuation of the Phoenician production, and was impacted by more complex patterns of cultural interaction (e.g. North Africa, Iberia), the latter’s heritage is undeniable in many artistic media.
Complex patterns of divergence among green-sensitive (RH2a) African cichlid opsins revealed by Clade model analyses