Full Answer
Where did the Phoenicians colonize?
Phoenicia. Its colonies later reached the Western Mediterranean, such as Cádiz in Spain and most notably Carthage in North Africa, and even the Atlantic Ocean. The civilization spread across the Mediterranean between 1500 BC and 300 BC.
What happened to the Phoenicians in Africa?
In 197 BC, Phoenicia along with Syria reverted to the Seleucids. The region became increasingly Hellenized, although Tyre became autonomous in 126 BC, followed by Sidon in 111. While Phoenician culture disappeared entirely in the motherland, Carthage continued to flourish in Northwest Africa.
What happened to the Phoenicians during the Seleucid Empire?
During the Seleucid Dynastic Wars (157–63 BC), the Phoenician cities were fought over by the warring factions of the Seleucid royal family. The Seleucid Empire, which once stretched from the Aegean Sea to Pakistan, was reduced to a rump state comprising portions of the Levant and southeast Anatolia.
Who ruled the Phoenician empire?
Following Alexander, the Phoenician homeland was controlled by a succession of Macedonian rulers: Laomedon (323 BC), Ptolemy I (320), Antigonus II (315), Demetrius (301), and Seleucus (296).
Who took over Phoenicians?
Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Phoenicia in 539 BCE. The Persians divided Phoenicia into four vassal kingdoms: Sidon, Tyre, Arwad, and Byblos.
Which two nations defeated the Phoenician empire?
Phoenician ships made up the bulk of the Persian fleet that was defeated by the Greeks at the massive sea battle of Salamis in 480 BCE.
Who colonized Phoenicians?
According to ancient writers, Phoenician colonization began from the 12th century BCE, but some modern historians consider this too early a date and suggest the process was contemporary with Greek colonization in the 8th century BCE.
Who was the leader of the Phoenician empire?
Luli | king of Phoenicia | Britannica.
Where did the Phoenicians go?
The people known to history as the Phoenicians occupied a narrow tract of land along the coast of modern Syria, Lebanon and northern Israel.
What is Phoenicia called today?
Phoenicia was an ancient civilization composed of independent city-states located along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea stretching through what is now Syria, Lebanon and northern Israel.
When was Phoenicia conquered?
Cyrus the Great conquered Phoenicia in 539 BCE. The Persians divided Phoenicia into four vassal kingdoms.
Why were the Phoenicians colonists?
Seeking resources for their metalworking industry and luxury goods for their land and sea trade networks, Phoenician merchant venturers founded assorted coastal and inland colonies.
How did the Phoenicians colonize?
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When did the Phoenicians start and end?
The Phoenicians (1500–300 B.C.)
What were the Phoenicians known for?
The Phoenicians are perhaps best known for creating the first alphabet, which influenced writing systems everywhere.
What means Phoenician?
Definition of Phoenician 1 : a native or inhabitant of ancient Phoenicia. 2 : the Semitic language of ancient Phoenicia.
What led to the decline of the Phoenicians?
By 572 B.C.E., the Phoenicians fell under the harsh rule of the Assyrians. They continued to trade, but encountered tough competition from Greece over trade routes. As the 4th century B.C.E. approached, the Phoenicians' two most important cities, Sidon and Tyre, were destroyed by the Persians and Alexander the Great.
How long did the Phoenicians last?
The Phoenicians (1500–300 B.C.)
Where is the country of Phoenicia?
LebanonPhoenicia, ancient region along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean that corresponds to modern Lebanon, with adjoining parts of modern Syria and Israel. Its location along major trade routes led its inhabitants, called Phoenicians, to become notable merchants, traders, and colonizers in the 1st millennium bce.
Did the Phoenicians colonize Greece?
Phoenician colonies They had trading contacts in Egypt and Greece, and established colonies as far west as modern Spain, at Gadir (modern Cádiz), and modern Morocco, at Tingis and Mogador.
Who captured Phoenician cities?
The Amarna letters report that from 1350 to 1300 BC, neighboring Amorites and Hittites were capturing Phoenician cities, especially in the north. Egypt subsequently lost its coastal holdings from Ugarit in northern Syria to Byblos near central Lebanon. The southern Phoenician cities appeared to have remained autonomous, though under Seti I (1306–1290 BC) Egypt reaffirmed its control.
Who conquered Phoenicia?
The Assyrian conquest of Phoenicia began with King Shalmaneser III, who rose to power in 858 BC and began a series of campaigns against neighboring states. The Phoenician city states fell under his rule over a period of three years, forced to pay heavy tribute in money, goods, and natural resources.
What were the city states of Phoenicians called?
The collection of city states constituting Phoenicia came to be characterized by outsiders, and even the Phoenicians themselves, by one of the dominant states at a given time. For many centuries, Phoenicians and Canaanites alike were alternatively called Sidonians or Tyrians.
What were the cities of the Phoenicians?
The Phoenician city states were considered "favored cities" to the Egyptians, helping anchor Egypt's access to resources and trade. Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, and Byblos were regarded as the most important. Though nominally under Egyptian rule, the Phoenicians had considerable autonomy and their cities were fairly well developed and prosperous. They are described as having their own established dynasties, political assemblies, and merchant fleets, even engaging in political and commercial competition amongst themselves. Byblos was evidently the leading city outside Egypt proper, accounting for most of the Amarna communications. It was a major center of bronze-making, and the primary terminus of precious goods such as tin and lapis lazuli from as far east as Afghanistan. Sidon and Tyre also commanded interest among Egyptian officials, beginning a pattern of rivalry that would span the next millennium.
What is the significance of the hoards of silver in Phoenicia?
A unique concentration in Phoenicia of silver hoards dated some time during its high point contains hacksilver (used for currency) that bears lead isotope ratios matching ores in Sardinia and Spain. This metallic evidence indicates the extent of Phoenician trade networks. It also seems to confirm the Biblical attestation of a western Mediterranean port city, Tarshish, supplying King Solomon of Israel with silver via Phoenicia.
How did the Phoenicians come to prominence?
The Phoenicians came to prominence following the collapse of most major cultures during the Late Bronze Age. They developed an expansive maritime trade network that lasted over a millennium, becoming the dominant commercial power for much of classical antiquity. Phoenician trade also helped facilitate the exchange of cultures, ideas, and knowledge between major cradles of civilization such as Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. After its zenith in the 9th century BC, Phoenician civilization in the eastern Mediterranean slowly declined in the face of foreign influence and conquest, though its presence would remain in the central and western Mediterranean until the second century BC.
Why did the Phoenicians lack the size and population to support a large military?
As a mercantile power concentrated along a narrow coastal strip of land , the Phoenicians lacked the size and population to support a large military. Thus, as neighboring empires began to rise, the Phoenicians increasingly fell under the sway of foreign rulers, who to varying degrees circumscribed their autonomy.
Who conquered Phoenicia?
The Seleucid Kingdom, including Phoenicia, was seized by Tigranes the Great of Armenia in 82 BC thus ending once and for all the Hellenistic influence on the region. With their strategically valuable buffer state absorbed into a rival power, the Romans were moved to intervene and conquer the territory in 62 BC.
Where did the Phoenicians get their goods from?
Phoenician goods have been found from Spain and Morocco to Russia and Iraq; much of what is known about Phoenician art is based from excavations outside of Phoenicia proper. Phoenician art was highly influenced by the many cultures the Phoenicians traded and interacted with, primarily Egypt, Greece, and Assyria.
Why did the Phoenicians establish colonies?
To facilitate their commercial ventures, the Phoenicians established numerous colonies and trading posts along the coasts of the Mediterranean. Phoenician city states generally lacked the numbers or even the desire to expand their territory overseas. Few colonies had more than 1,000 inhabitants; only Carthage and some nearby settlements in the western Mediterranean would grow larger. A major motivating factor was competition with the Greeks, who began expanding across the Mediterranean during the same period. Though a largely peaceful rivalry, their respective settlements in Crete and Sicily did clash intermittently.
What were the natural resources of the Phoenicians?
Phoenicia lacked considerable natural resources other than its cedar wood. Timber was probably the earliest and most lucrative source of wealth; neither Egypt nor Mesopotamia had adequate wood sources. Unable to rely solely on this limited resource, the Phoenicians developed an industrial base manufacturing a variety of goods for both everyday and luxury use. The Phoenicians developed or mastered techniques such as glass-making, engraved and chased metalwork (including bronze, iron, and gold), ivory carving, and woodwork.
What was Alexander the Great's first target?
Hellenistic period (332–152 BC) Phoenicia was one of the first areas to be conquered by Alexander the Great during his military campaigns across western Asia. Alexander's main target in the Persian Levant was Tyre, now the region's largest and most important city.
What does the name Phoenicians mean?
The word φοῖνιξ phoînix meant variably "Phoenician person", " Tyrian purple, crimson " or " date palm ." Homer used it with each of these meanings. (The mythical bird phoenix also carries the same name, but this meaning is not attested until centuries later.) It is difficult to ascertain which meaning came first, but it is understandable how Greeks may have associated the crimson or purple color of dates and dye with the merchants who traded both products. A derivative, po-ni-ki-jo, is already attested in Mycenean Greek Linear B from the 2nd Millennium BC. In these records, it means "crimson" or "palm tree" and does not denote a group of people. The Greek word may derive directly from the Phoenicians' endonym; the land was natively known as 𐤐𐤕 (Pūt) and its people as the 𐤐𐤍𐤉𐤌 (Pōnnim).
What were the Phoenicians' achievements?
The Phoenicians are also credited with innovations in shipbuilding, navigation, industry, agriculture, and government. Their international trade network is believed to have fostered the economic, political, and cultural foundations of Classical Western civilization.
Rise and Decline
The high point of Phoenician culture and sea power is usually placed c. 1200-800 BCE, though many of the most important Phoenician settlements had been established long before this period. Archeology has identified cultural elements of the Phoenician zenith as early as the 3rd millennium BCE.
Persian Rule
Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Phoenicia in 539 BCE. The Persians divided Phoenicia into four vassal kingdoms: Sidon, Tyre, Arwad, and Byblos. Though these vassal kingdoms prospered and furnished fleets for the Persian kings, Phoenician influence declined after this period.
Hellenistic Rule
Alexander the Great took Tyre in 332 BCE after the Siege of Tyre, and kept the existing king in power. He gained control of the other Phoenician cities peacefully, and the rise of Hellenistic Greece gradually ousted the remnants of Phoenicia’s former dominance over the Eastern Mediterranean trade routes.
Where did the Phoenicians come from?
The Phoenician culture originated in the Eastern Mediterranean region of the Levant (Southern Syria, Lebanon and Northern Israel) in the 2nd millennium BCE (although this area had been settled since the Neolithic period). The Phoenicians founded the coastal city-states of Byblos, Sidon and Tyre (ancient Canaan).
Where did the Phoenicians build their empire?
Instead of acquiring a physical empire of contiguous lands, they gradually built a large trading and colonial network from their home base of a few independent city-states along the coast of what is now Lebanon, Southern Syria and Northern Israel. Spreading westward, the Phoenicians founded colonies on Cyprus and in the region of the Aegean Sea (including the coast of Turkey); on the islands of Malta, Sardinia, Sicily and the Balearic archipelago; and in North Africa, Spain and Portugal (as well as other locations in the Mediterranean).
What was the Phoenicians known for?
It is important to understand there was never a country or empire called “Phoenicia.” A possible origin of the historical name for this Semitic/Canaanite culture might have come from the ancient Greek Φοινίκη (Phoiníkē) meaning “Purple Land.” That is because the Phoenicians were famous in their own time for their dark purple dye —a rare and prized commodity. Inhabitants of the Phoenician city-states along the Eastern Mediterranean coast (like Sidon and Tyre) might have called themselves Kenaani (Canaanites); or with appellations relating to their particular city-states (e.g. “Sidonians” or “Tyrians”).
When was Carthage founded?
According to legend it was founded in 813 BCE by Queen Dido, and its name meant “New Village” ( Qart-ḥadašt) in the extinct Phoenician dialect (Punic) of that city-state. Carthage (Latin: Carthago) was destroyed in 146 BCE thus ending the era of Phoenician power and expansion.
What religions were polytheistic?
The Phoenician religion was polytheistic, and their gods required sacrifices to forestall disaster, especially Baal, the God of Storms, and his consort Tanit. The Bible, Roman and Greek accounts tell of child sacrifices practiced regularly by the Phoenicians, which many modern historians believed were merely an ancient form of anti-Phoenician propaganda.
What were the Phoenicians' most valuable items?
Having limited natural resources, they imported raw materials and fashioned them into more valuable objects that could be shipped profitably, such as jewelry, ivory carvings (discovered at sites in Mesopotamia) metalwork, furniture (found in tombs on Cyprus), housewares, and specialty items like painted ostrich eggs. They borrowed techniques and styles from all corners of the world that they touched as traders. The ancient Roman Pliny, writing about the Phoenicians decades after the fall of Carthage, stated that they “invented trade.”
What was the only obvious opportunity for expansion and economic gain?
The only obvious opportunity for expansion and economic gain was by sea; and over the centuries the Phoenician trading posts and colonies spread west across the Mediterranean. The largest and most prosperous of all the Phoenician-founded city-states was Carthage (in present-day Tunisia). At its zenith, Carthage nearly conquered its greatest rival: The Roman Republic.
Which islands were occupied by the Phoenicians?
Points on an alternative route by way of Sicily, Sardinia, and the Balearic Islands also were occupied. The Phoenicians lacked the manpower and the need to found large colonies as the Greeks did, and few of their settlements grew to any size.
Where was the Phoenicians first located?
The earliest site outside the Phoenician homeland known to possess important aspects of Phoenician culture is Ugarit (Ras Shamra), about six miles north of Latakia. The site was already occupied before the 4th millennium BC, but the Phoenicians only became prominent there around 1991-1786 BC.
How did the Phoenicians and Carthaginians stimulate colonial activity?
It is very probable that the tremendous colonial activity of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians was stimulated in the 8th to 6th centuries BC by the military blows that were wrecking the trade of the Phoenician homeland in the Levant. Also, competition with the synchronous Greek colonization of the western Mediterranean cannot be ignored as a contributing factor.
When was the first Phoenicians trading post?
Tradition dated the foundation of Gades (modern Cádiz; the earliest known Phoenician trading post in Spain) to 1110 BC , Utica (Utique) to 1101 BC, and Carthage to 814 BC. The dates appear legendary, and no Phoenician object earlier than the 8th century BC has yet been found in the west. At Carthage some Greek objects have been found, datable to about 750 or slightly later, which comes within two generations of the traditional date. Little can be learned from the romantic legends about the arrival of the Phoenicians at Carthage transmitted by Greco-Roman sources. Though individual voyages doubtless took place earlier, the establishment of permanent posts is unlikely to have taken place before 800 BC, antedating the parallel movement of Greeks to Sicily and southern Italy.
When was Carthage founded?
According the Greek historian Timaeus (c. 356-260 B.C.), Carthage was founded in 814 B.C. by a Elyssa who gathered up the royal treasury and a group of supporters and traveled to Cyprus, another Phoenician colony. Thereafter she traveled to North Africa where present day country of Tunis is.
Where was Carthage built?
The site chosen for Carthage in the centre of the shore of the Gulf of Tunis was ideal: the city was built on a triangular peninsula covered with low hills and backed by the Lake of Tunis with its safe anchorage and abundant supplies of fish. The site of the city was well protected and easily defensible. On the south the peninsula is connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land. The ancient citadel, the Byrsa, was on a low hill overlooking the sea. It is said, the local Berber permitted Elyssa and her people to have as much land at that which could be covered with a single oxhide. Hence, she was supposed to have cut an oxhide into thin strips and encircled the hill. Some of the earliest tombs have been found there, though nothing remains of Carthage's domestic and public buildings. Byrsa means fortress in Phoenician. Byrsa in Greek and Latin mean hide from which bourse or stock-market, and purse are derived.
What is the name of the city that was buried under sand?
This city subsequently became the centre of a Greek city, Neapolis, of which most of the monuments are buried under sand.
The Phoenicians, the First Sailers to Discover West Africa?
When people think of explorers, many people think of Europeans such as Vasco de Gama, Columbus, or Ferdinand Magellan.
The Phoenician Civilization
Map of Phoenician Colonies throughout the Mediterranean by en.wikipedia.org
What was the trade of Phoenicia?
Nevertheless, Phoenicia was principally a great seafaring trading civilization which by around 1200 BC had entered the business of mass commercial shipbuilding through the construction of massive merchant vessels (Scott 2018).
What were the Phoenicians cultural interlockers between?
The Phoenicians were also cultural interlockers between civilizations such as Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria. Moreover, Lebanon/Phoenicia is also blessed with a rich history. It is home to the famous cedar woods of Lebanon which were imported and used in abundance by ancient civilizations. It is also the land of Byblos the oldest continuous living ...
What was the Phoenicians greatest achievement?
However, arguably the Phoenicians greatest yet rarely discussed achievement was their voyage to the Americas a theory that several scholars have claimed to be authentic. One such scholar was Thomas Crawford Johnston (1913), an Honorary Member of the Geographical Society of California, who claimed that millennia before both Christopher Columbus and the Vikings, Phoenician sailors reached the shores of the New World (Johnston 1913). Mr. Crawford Johnston supported his case through using a methodological and systemic approach. In his research he found strong evidence showing relics of Phoenician trade, artwork, commercial and colonial settlements around the world including on the coasts of Spain, Britain and the Levant. These he compared to ancient remnants that were discovered in the Americas which he concluded were too similar to those found in the aforementioned places, Britain, Spain and the Levant and that therefore, they must have originated from the same source which is Phoenicia (Smeaton in Johnston 1913).
What gave the Phoenicians the appetite to go beyond the known and into the unknown?
It was a combination of their bravery, creativity, industriousness, commercial talents and knowledge of the seas (in addition to surviving the geopolitical upheaval caused by the Sea Peoples in the late Bronze Age) which gave the Phoenicians the appetite to go beyond the known and into the unknown.
Why was simplicity important to the Phoenicians?
Additionally, its simplicity allowed the Phoenicians to establish a very organized form of correspondences, contracts and record keeping and was essential to Phoenicia’s ability to establish the world’s premier trading empire during the Iron Age (Scott 2018).
Which civilization spread the world?
However, the civilization that propelled the world’s first global spread, created history’s first universal colonial empire were the Phoenicians of modern-day Lebanon. The first Phoenician settlements in the Levant rose up across the coastal towns of Sidon, Tyre (Sur), Byblos (Gebal) and Aradus/Arwad (today part of Tartus), with Beirut and other regional coastal cities colonized over subsequent periods. Their transition from settlements to city-States took around half millennium to complete starting around 3200 BC and eventually becoming established independent polities by 2750 BC (Mark 2018; Scott 2018). However, the golden age of Phoenician power lasted from around 1500 BC-332 BC (Mark 2018).
Which great powers were highly sought after by the ancient world's great powers?
For example, according to Herodotus, Tyrian (from Tyre), Sidon and Arwad naval squadrons were highly sought after by the ancient world’s great powers such as the Persian imperial navy (Markoe 2005).
Carthage
Spain
- The early colony at Cadiz — known to the Phoenicians as Gadir and to the Romans as Gades — was gradually joined by more cities: Abdera (modern Adra), Sexi (modern Almuñécar), Malaka (modern Malaga) and Carteia (on the Bay of Gibraltar). On the Spanish island of Ibizawas the colony of Ibshim, called Ebusus by the Romans.
Morocco
- Lixis, the early center of Phoenician settlements in Morocco, was called Lixus by the Romans and today is Larache. The others cities which joined it are: Tingis (modern Tangier), Sala (modern Rabat, the capital of Morocco), Zili (modern Asilah) and Mogador (modern Essaouira).
Tunisia
- Utica was the oldest Phoenician colony in what is now Tunisia and — after the passing of Carthage — it regained its position as the leading city of the region. In total magnitude and splendor, however, Carthage rightly was known as the greatest Phoenician city in this land. Other colonies here were: Hippo Diarrhytos (modern Bizerte), Hadrumetum (modern Susah), Thapsus …
Libya
- The colony of Oia, also called Oea, eventually became Tripoli, the capital of Libya. The other local colonies were Leptis (surnamed Magna by the Romans) and Sabrata.
Sicily
- The first prominent Phoenician colony here was at Ortygia, but when the Greeks arrived and took over eastern Sicily, this island port became known as Syracuse and went on to greater glory. After the arrival of the Greeks, the major Phoenician colonies were on the western part of this island, located at: Motya, Panormus (modern Palermo) and Solus (modern Solunto).
Sardinia
- Early settlements were at Nora and Karalis, which is now known as Cagliari and is the capital of Sardinia. Sulci and Tharrosalso had early colonies, which were eventually joined by many others across the island.
Malta
- The Phoenicians surprisingly lived among the Maltese people, for reasons explained in Holst’s book, so they had few distinctive colonies here. The two main islands of Malta are believed to draw their names from the Phoenician Melita (modern Malta) and Gaulos (modern Gozo).
Cyprus
- The main Phoenician city here was Kition (modern Larnaka) where the remains of significant buildings are still visible. Over time a greater, then lesser, part of the island came under Phoenician influence. During the course of the Punic Wars (264 – 146 BC), Rome took almost all of these colonies from the Phoenicians. In fact, acquiring these Phoenician lands gave Rome its …
Overview
Phoenicia was an ancient Semitic-speaking thalassocratic civilization that originated in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon. At its height between 1100 and 200 BC, Phoenician civilization spread across the Mediterranean, from Cyprus to the Iberian Peninsula.
The Phoenicians came to prominence following the collapse of most major cultures during the La…
Peak and gradual decline (900–586 BC)
The Late Iron Age saw the height of Phoenician shipping, mercantile, and cultural activity, particularly between 750 and 650 BC. Phoenician influence was visible in the "Orientalization" of Greek cultural and artistic conventions through Egyptian and Near Eastern influences transmitted by the Phoenician. The infusion of various technological, scientific, and philosophical ideas from all o…
Origins
Herodotus believed that the Phoenicians originated from Bahrain, a view shared centuries later by the historian Strabo. This theory was accepted by the 19th-century German classicist Arnold Heeren, who noted that Greek geographers described "two islands, named Tyrus or Tylos, and Aradus, which boasted that they were the mother country of the Phoenicians, and exhibited relics of Phoen…
Emergence during the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BC)
In the early 16th century BC, Egypt ejected foreign rulers known as the Hyksos, a diverse group of peoples from the Near East, and re-established native dynastic rule under the New Kingdom. This precipitated Egypt's incursion into the Levant, with a particular focus on Phoenicia; the first known account of the Phoenicians relates to the conquests of Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC). Coastal cities such a…
Ascendance and high point (1200–800 BC)
The Phoenicians, now free from foreign domination and interference, appeared to have weathered the crisis relatively well, emerging as a distinct and organized civilization in 1230 BC, shortly after the approximate transition to the Iron Age (c. 1200–500 BC). For the next several centuries, Phoenicia was prosperous, and the period is sometimes described as a "Phoenician renaissance." They filled t…
Persian period (539–332 BC)
The conquests of the late Iron Age left the Phoenicians politically and economically weakened, with city states gradually losing their influence and autonomy in the face of growing foreign powers. Nevertheless, during most of the three centuries of vassalage and domination by Mesopotamian powers the Phoenicians generally managed to remain relatively independent and prospero…
Hellenistic period (332–63 BC)
Located on the western periphery of the Persian Empire, Phoenicia was one of the first areas to be conquered by Alexander the Great during his military campaigns across western Asia. Alexander's main target in the Persian Levant was Tyre, now the region's largest and most important city. It capitulated after a roughly seven month siege, during which many of its citizens fled to Carthage. …
Overview
Phoenicia was an ancient thalassocratic (a state with primarily maritime realms) civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their history and they possessed several enclaves such as Arwad and Tell Sukas (modern Syria). The core region in which the Phoenicia…
History
Since little has survived of Phoenician records or literature, most of what is known about their origins and history comes from the accounts of other civilizations and inferences from their material culture excavated throughout the Mediterranean. The scholarly consensus is that the Phoenicians' period of greatest prominence was 1200 BC to the end of the Persian period (332 BC).
Etymology
Being a society of independent city-states, the Phoenicians apparently did not have a term to denote the land of Phoenicia as a whole; instead, demonyms were often derived from the name of the city an individual hailed from (e.g. Sidonian for Sidon, Tyrian for Tyre, etc.) If the Phoenicians did possess an etymon to denote the land overall, some scholars believe that they would have used "Canaan" and therefore referred to themselves as "Canaanites". According to one reconstru…
Demographics
The people now known as Phoenicians, similar to the neighboring Israelites, Moabites and Edomites, were a Canaanite people. Canaanites are a group of ancient Semitic-speaking peoples that emerged in the Levant in at least the third millennium BC. Phoenicians did not refer themselves as such but rather are thought to have referred to themselves as "Kenaʿani", meaning Canaanites.
One 2018 study of mitochondrial lineages in Sardinia concluded that the Phoenicians were "inclu…
Economy
The Phoenicians served as intermediaries between the disparate civilizations that spanned the Mediterranean and Near East, facilitating the exchange of goods and knowledge, culture, and religious traditions. Their expansive and enduring trade network is credited with laying the foundations of an economically and culturally cohesive Mediterranean, which would be continue…
Important cities and colonies
The Phoenicians were not a nation in the political sense. However, they were organized into independent city-states that shared a common language and culture. The leading city-states were Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos. Rivalries were expected, but armed conflict was rare.
Numerous other cities existed in the Levant alone, many probably unknown, in…
Society and culture
Since very little of the Phoenicians' writings have survived, much of what is known about their culture and society comes from accounts by contemporary civilizations or inferences from archaeological discoveries. The Phoenicians had much in common with other Canaanites, including language, religion, social customs, and a monarchical political system centered around city-states. How…
Religion
The religious practices and beliefs of Phoenicia were generally common to those of their neighbors in Canaan, which in turn shared characteristics common throughout the ancient Semitic world. Religious rites were primarily for city-state purposes; payment of taxes by citizens was considered in the category of religious sacrifices. Unfortunately, the Phoenician sacred writings known to th…