Phoenicia and the Mediterranean Joel Paola

Background "Phoenicia" is a term used by historians for the Canaanites o Name was given to the Canaanites by the ancient Greek Migrations and invasions of Phoenicia left small traces of the civilization Phoenicians wrote on perishable products (papyrus) Records of Phoenicia come mostly from Greek & Roman records Mass migration and destruction of Canaanite settlements (about 1200 B.C.E., Eastern Mediterranean) forced Phoenicians to a small territory on the coast to the west by 1100 B.C.E.

Near Present day Lebanon, includes parts of Israel and Syria Expanded trade and established colonies throughout the Mediterranean Colonies included: o Cyprus- off the Lebanese-Syrian coast o Northern Africa- parts of Libya and Morocco o Southern Spain o Sicily, Sardinia, and Malta- off the Italian coast

Political Rivers and divides of Mount Lebanon made areas for different city-states on the Phoenician coast Important city states include Byblos, Berytus, Sidon, and Tyre. Dominance of a particular-city state changed over time Trade gave Phoenician city states wealth & a political role in the Mediterranean City-States are believed to have been controlled by kings or leading merchant families Phoenicia was often in conflict with Greece over colonies, particularly Sicily Phoenician colonies in and around Carthage, Tunisia were powerful political powers in the western Mediterranean o Carthage warred with Greeks and Romans o Protected other Phoenician colonies in the west o Became one of the world's largest cities in 500 B.C.E.

Economic Phoenicia was a major trading power of the Mediterranean Traded many raw & manufactured goods with food, such as cedar & pine, metals, wine, fish, textiles, ivory, glass, etc. Traded a valuable purple dye that was extracted from murex snails on the Phoenician coast o Greeks gave the Canaanites the name Phoenicia for their purple dye o Used in Persian, Roman, Hellenistic cultures

Religious Carthaginian religion was polytheistic, similar to Mesopotamian religions Carthaginian gods had to be pleased with devout worship & sacrifice Western Phoenicians in Carthage were believed to have practiced child sacrifice to gods Tophets (enclosed gravestones) contained urns and burned remains of sacrificed children

Intellectual Developed the first alphabetic system of writing Early Canaanite models were made into symbols representing sounds Phoenicians made symbols representing consonants, vowel sounds were to be inferred Greeks added symbols to represent vowel sounds

Failure and Transformation The Assyrian Empire rose to power over the Middle East and dominated civilizations such as Phoenicia, Mesopotamia, and Israel by 650 B.C.E. During Assyrian dominance, powers of Neo-Babylonian (Chaldaean dynasty of Babylonia) and Medes (Iranian people) rose to conquer Assyria Assyrian homeland fell to Medes; other territories fell to Neo-Babylonia Babylonia & its culture was revived and thrived in the 6th century B.C.E. under efforts of King Nabopolassar and King Nebuchadnezzar

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