42 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown
42 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown
<!-- factbase:f760d3 -->
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# Phoenicia
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## Overview
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Phoenicia (~1500–300 BCE) was a maritime civilization of city-states along the coast of modern Lebanon. The Phoenicians were master sailors and traders who developed the alphabet that became the ancestor of Greek, Latin, and most modern alphabets. @t[~1500 BCE..300 BCE]
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## Key Facts
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- Region: Coastal Lebanon and parts of coastal Syria, with colonies across the Mediterranean
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- Period: ~1500–300 BCE @t[~1500 BCE..300 BCE]
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- Major cities: Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, Berytus (Beirut), Arwad
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- Language: Phoenician (Northwest Semitic)
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- Writing: Phoenician alphabet (~1050 BCE), ancestor of Greek and Latin alphabets @t[~1050 BCE] [^1]
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- Government: Independent city-states, each ruled by a king with merchant councils; trade largely state-directed [^3]
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## Origins
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The Phoenicians were the direct successors of the Bronze Age Canaanites, continuing their cultural traditions after the Late Bronze Age collapse (~1200 BCE) without interruption. @t[~1200 BCE] They came to prominence in the mid-12th century BCE as most other major Mediterranean cultures declined. [^4]
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## Achievements
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- Developed the first widely-used phonetic alphabet ~1050 BCE @t[~1050 BCE] [^1]
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- Founded Carthage (~814 BCE) and colonies across the western Mediterranean @t[~814 BCE] [^1]
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- Pioneered long-distance maritime trade (tin from Britain, silver from Spain, copper from Cyprus, gold from West Africa) [^3]
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- Exported cedar and fir timber to Egypt and Mesopotamia; cedar used in Solomon's Temple and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus [^3]
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- Produced Tyrian purple dye from murex snails (*Murex brandaris*); dye extracted from thousands of shellfish, driving the species near extinction along the Phoenician coast [^3]
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- Pioneered transparent glass production from the 7th century BCE @t[~600 BCE]; major centers at Sidon, Tyre, and Sarepta [^3]
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- Invented the bireme (two-banked oared warship) [^5]
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- Circumnavigated Africa under commission from Pharaoh Necho II (~600 BCE) @t[~600 BCE] [^2]
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## Religion
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The Phoenician pantheon was polytheistic, with each city-state venerating its own patron deity. Major deities included Baal (storm and fertility god), Astarte (goddess of fertility, love, and war), and Melqart (patron god of Tyre, associated with the sea and trade). El was the supreme creator deity. Religious practices varied by city; Tyre's cult of Melqart spread throughout Phoenician colonies, including Carthage. [^4]
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## Trade Network
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By the 9th century BCE, the Phoenicians had established themselves as the Mediterranean's dominant trading power. @t[~900 BCE] Their cargo ships sailed to the Greek islands, southern Europe, the Atlantic coast of Africa, and Britain. Overland caravans connected them to Mesopotamia and Arabia. They acted as middlemen, transporting papyrus, textiles, metals, and spices between civilizations. Phoenician traders appear in sources ranging from Mesopotamian reliefs to Homer, Herodotus, and the Book of Ezekiel. [^3]
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## Decline
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Phoenician city-states fell under successive foreign rule: Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and finally Macedonian. Tyre was besieged and captured by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. @t[=332 BCE] From the 7th century BCE onward, Phoenician trade dominance was increasingly eclipsed by Carthage, the Greeks, and eventually Rome. [^3]
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---
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[^1]: Markoe, G. *Phoenicians* (University of California Press, 2000)
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[^2]: Herodotus, *Histories* 4.42
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[^3]: Cartwright, M. "Trade in the Phoenician World." *World History Encyclopedia*, 2016. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/881/trade-in-the-phoenician-world/
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[^4]: Sader, H. *The History and Archaeology of Phoenicia* (SBL Press, 2019)
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[^5]: New World Encyclopedia, "Phoenician Civilization." https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Phoenician_Civilization |