Birth and prospects of a discipline

Abstract

In this third introductory chapter, the author looks back at the formative years of the study of the Phoenician and Punic worlds, taking a cue from a paper written fifty years ago by the person who can arguably be called the most influential scholar in the field during the second half of the twentieth century, Sabatino Moscati. Against the background of Moscati’s work, in particular the limitations of and opportunities provided by his field projects, the author then moves on to propose eight particular ways in which the field can move forward: a geography of knowledge; recognition of difference; life histories of objects’ contextual approach; food, cooking, and social ideas; people, collaboration; and publication.