Phoenician History

The Phoenicians remain one of the most enigmatic ancient civilizations, with historians and scholars prone to speculation and educated guesses. Although many Greek, Roman, and Egyptian writers reference the Phoenicians in trade records, military battles, and artistic transactions, few records were left by the original Phoenicians themselves, leaving modern scholars to fill in the blanks through educated guesses and material culture.

Of all the peoples of the ancient Near East, the Phoenicians are among the most recognizable but also perhaps the least understood. The Phoenicians never built an empire like the Egyptians and Assyrians; in fact, the Phoenicians never created a unified Phoenician state. Instead, they existed as independent city-state kingdoms scattered throughout the Mediterranean region.

The term "Phoenicians" describes the people living in Phoenicia, a sometimes-forgotten civilization that was age-old and remarkable. Let's check out the tradition, the history, and the specifics of Phoenicia. Phoenicia was a thalassocratic (a state with mostly maritime worlds) society that thrived in the Eastern Mediterranean's Levant area, mainly in modern-day Lebanon. It was fixated the coast of Lebanon, with some seaside parts of modern-day Syria and Galilee included for good procedure, varying as far north as Arwad and as far south as Acre and perhaps Gaza.

As the tee-shirt slogans say, “If you can read this, thank the Phoenicians". The Phoenician achievements include creating the world’s first alphabet, which consisted of 22 consonant letters. If you’re sipping wine as you read, that’s another reason to thank the Phoenicians. From their travels, they learned which grapes were most suited for winemaking and spread those vines to the places along their trading routes. The Phoenicians were the masters of the Mediterranean Sea.

De todos los pueblos del antiguo cercano oriente, los fenicios están entre los más reconocidos, pero quizás también entre los menos comprendidos. Los fenicios nunca construyeron un imperio como los egipcios y los asirios; de hecho, los fenicios nunca crearon un estado fenicio único, en cambio existieron como ciudades-estados que eran reinos independientes, dispersos por toda la región del Mediterráneo.

A lo largo del occidente del Mediterráneo se han descubierto gran número de objetos cuya apariencia o materiales son extraños a las culturas locales, ya sea un amuleto egipcio en Grecia, un vaso griego en África, o miles de extraños amuletos en Gibraltar. Los restos son evidencia de que una gran cantidad de productos fueron alguna vez movidos de un lugar a otro, transportados sistemáticamente y comerciados a lo largo del Mediterráneo por la antigua red comercial de los fenicios.

De todos los pueblos del antiguo cercano oriente, los fenicios están entre los más reconocidos, pero quizás también entre los menos comprendidos. Los fenicios nunca construyeron un imperio como los Egipcios y los Asirios; de hecho, los fenicios nunca crearon un estado fenicio único, en cambio existieron como ciudades-estados que eran reinos independientes, dispersos por toda la región del Mediterráneo.

Ancient remains are evidence that a huge amount of goods was once moved from one land to another, systematically transported and traded across the Mediterranean. A network of this size, with hundreds of colonies and thousands of ships, had to be well coordinated, and it was thanks to important cities along the Mediterranean coast. One of the most crucial cities in the system was hidden beneath the Greek, Roman, and Crusader ruins of Lebanon: the ancient city of Tyre.

What do we really know about ancient Carthage? Most of what has been written about this once-great empire is based on Roman and Greek writings that are biased against the Carthaginians. Now, thanks to careful scholarly work and amazing archaeological discoveries, the real Carthage can finally be revealed.