Women’s sacrifice in Classical Cyprus? The Kition tariff ( CIS I, 86) revisited according to a Brelichian approach

Pestarino, Beatrice ORCID: 0000-0002-3095-1128 (2026) Women’s sacrifice in Classical Cyprus? The Kition tariff ( CIS I, 86) revisited according to a Brelichian approach Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. qbag003-. ISSN 0076-0730, 2041-5370

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Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines women’s social roles in Classical and early Hellenistic Cyprus through epigraphic evidence, focusing on the participation of twenty-two young girls in a sacrifice recorded in the Kition tariff (fifth–fourth century Bce; CIS I, 86), a Phoenician gypsum tablet often misinterpreted in earlier scholarship. This document, likely issued by the royal administration of Kition—a prominently Phoenician Cypriot city-kingdom with ties to Tyre—records institutional accounts and expenditures. The study reassesses whether the girls were actual sacrificial victims and argues that, rather than being killed, they were more plausibly involved in a substitution rite supported by the royal administration, aligned with Greek ritual models circulating in the Levant, and functioning as pharmaka or scapegoat figures intended to secure communal well-being and reinforce kingship. Particular attention is given to how gender and age shaped ritual efficacy and symbolism, while also addressing the debated question of human sacrifice in Cyprus through the theoretical framework of Angelo Brelich, whose work highlights the relationship between kingship, social hierarchy, and the symbolic role of young women in sacrificial contexts.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	4303 Historical Studies, 43 History, Heritage and Archaeology
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures > Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	11 Feb 2026 08:11
Last Modified:	22 Mar 2026 10:25
DOI:	10.1093/bics/qbag003
Open Access URL:	https://doi.org/10.1093/bics%2Fqbag003
Related Websites:	Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3196972
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