Phoenicia
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2008-07-14T04:28:59Z
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/* Origins */
{{History of Lebanon}}
'''Phoenicia''' ([[Phoenician language|Phoenician]]: <span dir="rtl">[[Image:Phoenician kaph.svg|12px|כ]][[Image:Phoenician nun.svg|12px|נ]][[Image:Phoenician ayin.svg|12px|ע]][[Image:Phoenician nun.svg|12px|נ]]</span>, Canaan or Kana'an, nonstandardly, ''Phenicia''; {{pronEng|fɨˈnɪʃiə}}<ref>[[OED]]</ref>, {{lang-el|Φοινίκη}}: Phoiníkē, {{lang-la|Phœnicia}}) was an ancient [[civilization]] centered in the north of ancient [[Canaan]], with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day [[Lebanon]], [[Syria]] and [[Israel]]. Phoenician civilization was an enterprising [[thalassocracy|maritime trading culture]] that spread across the [[Mediterranean]] between the period of 1550 BC to 300 BC. Though ancient boundaries of such city-centered cultures fluctuated, the city of [[Tyre (Lebanon)|Tyre]] seems to have been the southernmost. [[Sarepta]] (modern day Sarafand) between [[Sidon]] and Tyre, is the most thoroughly excavated city of the Phoenician homeland. The Phoenicians often traded by means of a [[galley]], a man-powered sailing vessel and are credited with the invention of the [[Galley#Biremes and Triremes|bireme]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Casson | first = Lionel | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World | publisher = The Johns Hopkins University Press | date = December 1 1995 | location = | pages = 57-58 | url = http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=sDpMh0gK2OUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=+bireme+Assyrian+Casson&ots=SzGT0dkwlq&sig=zyJHXe3O3BzTfuNZjMtm7NaoXNw#PPA57,M1 | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0801851308 }}</ref>
It is uncertain to what extent the Phoenicians viewed themselves as a single ethnicity. Their civilization was organized in [[city-states]], similar to [[ancient Greece]]. Each city-state was an independent unit politically, although they could come into conflict, be dominated by another city-state, or collaborate in leagues or alliances. Tyre and Sidon were the most powerful of the Phoenician states in the [[Levant]], but were not as powerful as the North African ones.
The Phoenicians were also the first state level society to make extensive use of the [[History_of_the_alphabet#The_Semitic_alphabet|alphabet]], and the Canaanite-Phoenician alphabet is generally believed to be the ancestor of all modern alphabets. Phoenicians spoke the [[Phoenician languages|Phoenician language]], which belongs to the group of [[Canaanite languages]] in the [[Semitic languages|Semitic language family]]. Through their maritime trade, the Phoenicians spread the use of the [[alphabet]] to [[North Africa]] and [[Europe]] where it was adopted by the [[Greeks]], who later passed it on to the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] and [[Etruscans]].<ref>Edward Clodd, ''Story of the Alphabet'' (Kessinger) 2003:192ff</ref> In addition to their many inscriptions, the Phoenicians wrote many books, which have not survived. ''Evangelical Preparation'' by [[Eusebius of Caesarea]] quotes extensively from [[Philo of Byblos]] and [[Sanchuniathon]].
==Etymology==
The name ''Phoenician'', through [[Latin]] ''punicus'', comes from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] ''phoînix'', often suggested as "[[Tyrian purple]], crimson; [[murex]]" (from ''phoinos'' "blood red"<ref>Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged''. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1993.</ref>). Professor Michael Astour argues that ''phoînix'' is in fact not Greek and not from ''phoinos'', but that it is a West Semitic loanword sourced probably "among the very people who were famous as crimson and purple dyers and whom the Greeks called Phoinikes".<ref> {{cite journal|title=The Origin of the Terms "Canaan," "Phoenician," and "Purple"|journal=ournal of Near Eastern Studies|date=Oct 1965|first=Michael C.|last=Astour|coauthors=|volume=24|issue=3|pages=346–350|id= |url=|format=|accessdate=|doi=10.1086/371830 }}</ref> As mentioned above, Phoenicia in Latin is 'Punicus', therefore, Rome's wars with Carthage (a former province of Phoenicia) are called the Punic Wars.
The Phoenician's nickname "Purple People" came from the purple dye they manufactured in Mesopotamia and [[Mogador]].
==Origins==
[[Image:Anthropoid sarcophagus discovered at Cadiz - Project Gutenberg eText 15052.png|thumb|180px|right|Phoenician sarcophagus found in [[Cadiz]], [[Spain]]; now in Archaeological Museum of Cádiz. The sarcophagus is thought to have been designed and paid for by a Phoenician merchant, and made in Greece with Egyptian influence.]]
Stories of their emigrating from various places to the eastern Mediterranean are probably founded in 'oral fact', but researchers are pursuing DNA tests to verify this assertion. A written reference, [[Herodotus]]'s account (written c. 440 BC) refers to a memory from 800 years earlier, which may be subject to question in the fullness of genetic results. (''History,'' I:1).
{{cquote|According to the [[Persians]] best informed in history, the Phoenicians began the quarrel. These people, who had formerly reached the shores of the [[Erythraean Sea]], having migrated to the Mediterranean from an unknown origin and settled in the parts which they now inhabit, began at once, they say, to adventure on long voyages, freighting their vessels with the wares of Egypt and Assyria....}}
This is a legendary introduction to Herodotus' brief retelling of some mythical Hellene-Phoenician interactions. Though few modern archaeologists would confuse this myth with history, a grain of truth may yet lie therein. (For the theory that the history of Phoenician seafaring starts with the arrival of the [[Sea Peoples]] to the shores of present-day Lebanon, see the relevant article.)
In terms of archaeology, language, and religion, there is little to set the Phoenicians apart as markedly different from other local cultures of Canaan, because they were Canaanites themselves. However, they are unique in their remarkable seafaring achievements. Indeed, in the [[Amarna letters|Amarna tablets]] of the [[14th century BC]] they call themselves ''Kenaani'' or ''Kinaani'' (Canaanites). Note, however, that the Amarna letters predate the invasion of the [[Sea Peoples]] by over a century. Much later in the [[6th century BC]], [[Hecataeus of Miletus]] writes that Phoenicia was formerly called ''χνα'', a name Philo of Byblos later adopted into his mythology as his eponym for the Phoenicians: "Khna who was afterwards called Phoinix". Egyptian seafaring expeditions had already been made to [[Byblos]] to bring back "[[Lebanon Cedar|cedars of Lebanon]]" as early as the [[third millennium BC]].
Archaeologists argue that the Phoenicians are simply the descendants of coastal-dwelling Canaanites, who over the centuries developed a particular seagoing culture and skills. Other suggestions are that Phoenician culture must have been inspired from external sources (Egypt, North Africa etc.), that the Phoenicians were sea-traders from the [[Land of Punt]] who co-opted the Canaanite population; or that they were connected with the [[Minoans]], or the [[Sea Peoples]] or the [[Philistines]] further south; or even that they represent the maritime activities of the coastal [[Israelite]] tribes like [[Tribe of Dan|Dan]], who from the Song of Deborah in Judges, are listed as being "amongst their ships".
The Middle East Phoenician - Aramaic derivative 'Semitic language' gave some evidence of invasion at the site of Byblos, which may suggest origins in the highly disputed 'wave of Semitic migration' that hit the [[Fertile Crescent]] between ca. 2300 and 2100 BC, some scholars, including [[Sabatino Moscati]] believe that the Phoenicians' ethnogenesis included prior non-Semitic people of the area, suggesting a mixture between two populations. Both Sumerian and Akkadian armies had reached the Mediterranean in this area from the beginning of recorded Hebrew history, but very little is known of Phoenicia before it was conquered by [[Thutmoses III]] of Egypt around [[1500 BC]]. The [[Amarna correspondence]] (ca. 1411-1358 BC) reveals that [[Amorites]] and [[Hittites]] were defeating the Phoenician cities that had been vassals to Egypt, especially [[Rib-Hadda|Rib-Addi]] of Byblos and [[Abi-Milku]]/Abimelech of Tyre, but between 1350 and 1300 BC Phoenicia was reconquered by Egypt. Over the next century [[Ugarit]] flourished, but was permanently destroyed at the end of it (ca. 1200 BC).
Historian [[Gerhard Herm]] asserts that, because the Phoenicians' legendary sailing abilities are not well attested before the invasions of the [[Sea Peoples]] around 1200 BC, that these Sea Peoples would have merged with the local population to produce the Phoenicians, whom he says gained these abilities rather suddenly at that time. There is also archaeological evidence that the Philistines, often thought of as related to the Sea Peoples, were culturally linked to [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] Greeks, who were also known to be great sailors even in this period.
The question of the Phoenicians' origin persists. Archaeologists have pursued the origin of the Phoenicians for generations, basing their analyses on excavated sites, the remains of material culture, contemporary texts set into contemporary contexts, as well as [[linguistics]]. In some cases, the debate is characterized by modern cultural agendas. Ultimately, the origins of the Phoenicians are still unclear: where they came from and just when (or if) they arrived, and under what circumstances, are all still energetically disputed.
[[Spencer Wells]] of the [[Genographic Project]] has conducted [[genetic]] studies which demonstrate that male populations of [[Lebanon]] and [[Malta]] and other areas which are past Phoenician settlements, share a common m89 chromosome Y type,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature2/online_extra.html|publisher=National Geographic|title=In the Wake of the Phoenicians: DNA study reveals a Phoenician-Maltese link |date=[[8 January]] [[2008]]}}</ref> while male populations which are related with the Minoans or with the Sea Peoples have completely different genetic markers. This implies that Minoans and Sea Peoples probably didn't have any ancestral relation with the Phoenicians.[http://www.democracyinlebanon.org/Documents/CDL-Documentaries/Phoenicians(NatGeo).htm][http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/97/12/6769]
In 2004, two [[Harvard University]] educated geneticists and leading scientists of the National Geographic [[Genographic Project]], Dr. Pierre Zalloua and Dr. [[Spencer Wells]] identified the haplogroup of the Phoenicians as [[haplogroup]] [[J2]], with avenues open for future research.<ref>National Geographic Magazine, October 2004. Available online: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/features/world/asia/lebanon/phoenicians-text/1; and http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=57215 [accessed: March 10, 2008]</ref> As Dr. Wells commented, "The Phoenicians were the Canaanites—and the ancestors of today's Lebanese."<ref>http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/features/world/asia/lebanon/phoenicians-text/5 [[Accessed April 11, 2008]]</ref> The male populations of Tunisia and Malta were also included in this study and shown to share overwhelming genetic similarities with the Lebanese-Phoenicians. See [[Genetics of the Ancient World]].
John D. Baldwin: "Prehistoric Nations" contends that the ancient Phoenicians were of Cushite of Hamite origin. Speaking of their stupendous architectural remains, he says:- "The Cushite origin of these cities is so plain that those most influenced by the strange monomania which transforms the Phoenicians into Semites now admit that the Cushites were the civilizers of Phoenicia".
==Cultural and economic "empire"==
[[Image:Phoenicia map-en.svg|thumb|250px|Map of Phoenicia.]]
[[Fernand Braudel]] remarked in ''The Perspective of the World'' that Phoenicia was an early example of a "world-economy" surrounded by empires. The high point of Phoenician culture and seapower is usually placed ca. 1200 – 800 BC.
Many of the most important Phoenician settlements had been established long before this: [[Byblos]], [[Tyre (Lebanon)|Tyre]], [[Sidon]], [[Simyra]], [[Arwad|Aradus]] and [[Beirut|Berytus]] all appear in the Amarna tablets; and indeed, the first appearance in archaeology of cultural elements clearly identifiable with the Phoenician zenith is sometimes dated as early as the third millennium BC.
This league of independent [[city-state]] ports, with others on the islands and along other coasts of the [[Mediterranean Sea]], was ideally suited for trade between the [[Levant]] area, rich in natural resources, and the rest of the ancient world. Suddenly, during the early [[Iron Age]], in around 1200 BC an unknown event occurred, historically associated with the appearance of the [[Sea Peoples]] from the north who were perhaps driven south by crop failures and mass starvation following the eruption at the island Thera. The powers that had previously dominated the area, notably the [[Egypt]]ians and the [[Hittites]], became weakened or destroyed; and in the resulting power vacuum a number of Phoenician cities established themselves as significant maritime powers.
[[Image:PhoenicianCoin2A.jpg|thumb|120px|An ancient Phoenician coin.]]
Authority seems to have stabilized because it derived from three power-bases: the king; the temple and its priests; and councils of elders. Byblos soon became the predominant center from where they proceeded to dominate the Mediterranean and Erythraean (Red) Sea routes, and it is here that the first inscription in the Phoenician alphabet was found, on the sarcophagus of [[Ahiram]] (ca. 1200 BC). However, by around 1000 BC Tyre and Sidon had taken its place, and a long hegemony was enjoyed by Tyre beginning with [[Hiram I]] (969-936 BC), who subdued a rebellion in the colony of [[Utica, Tunisia|Utica]]{{Fact|date=February 2007}}. The priest [[Ittobaal]] (887-856 BC) ruled Phoenicia as far north as Beirut, and part of Cyprus. [[Carthage]] was founded in [[814 BC]] under [[Pygmalion of Tyre|Pygmalion]] (820-774 BC). The collection of city-kingdoms constituting Phoenicia came to be characterized by outsiders and the Phoenicians themselves as ''Sidonia'' or ''Tyria'', and Phoenicians and Canaanites alike came to be called ''Zidonians'' or ''Tyrians'', as one Phoenician conquest came to prominence after another.
==Important cities and colonies==
[[Image:AntikeGriechen1.jpg|right|325px|thumb|Map of Phoenician and Greek colonies at about 550 BC (with German legend).]]
From the [[10th century BC]], their expansive culture established cities and colonies throughout the Mediterranean. Canaanite deities like [[Baal]] and [[`Ashtart|Astarte]] were being worshipped from Cyprus to Sardinia, Malta, Sicily, Spain, Portugal, and most notably at Carthage in modern Tunisia.
In the Phoenician homeland:
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* [[Arqa|Arka]]
* [[Arwad]] (Classical Aradus)
* [[Beirut|Berut]] (''Greek'' Βηρυτός; ''Latin'' Berytus;<br>''Arabic'' بيروت; ''English'' [[Beirut]])
* Botrys (modern [[Batroun]])
* Gebal (''Greek'' [[Byblos]])
* [[Safita]]
* [[Sarepta]] (modern Sarafand)
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* [[Sidon]]
* [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]]
* [[Tyre (Lebanon)|Tyre]]
* [[Ugarit]]
* [[Zemar]] ([[Sumur]])
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Phoenician colonies, including some of lesser importance (this list might be incomplete):
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* Located in modern [[Algeria]]
** [[Hippo Regius|Hippo]] (modern [[Annaba]])
** Ikosium (modern [[Algiers]])
** Iol (modern [[Cherchell]])
* Located in modern [[Cyprus]]
** Kition (modern [[Larnaca]])
* Located in modern [[Italy]]
** Mainland
*** [[Genoa]]
** [[Sardinia]]
*** Karalis (modern [[Cagliari]])
*** [[Nora, Italy|Nora]]
*** [[Olbia]]
*** [[Sulci]]<ref>Claudian, B. Gild. 518</ref>
*** [[Tharros]]
** [[Sicily]]
*** Ziz, Classical Lilybeaum (modern [[Marsala]])
*** [[Motya]]
*** Panormos (modern [[Palermo]])
*** Solus (modern Solunto)
* Located in modern [[Libya]]
** [[Leptis Magna]]
** Oea (modern [[Tripoli]])
** [[Sabratha]]
* Located in modern [[Mauritania]]
** [[Cerne]]
* Located in modern [[Morocco]]
** [[Acra (fortress)|Acra]]
** [[Mogador|Arambys]]<ref>C. Michael Hogan, ''Mogador: promontory fort'', The Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham, Nov. 2, 2007 [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=17926]</ref>
** [[Caricus Murus]]
** Gytta
** [[Lixus (ancient city)|Lixus]] (modern [[Larache]])
** Tingis (modern [[Tangier]])
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* Located in modern [[Spain]]
** [[Abdera, Spain|Abdera]] (modern [[Adra]])
** Abyla (modern [[Ceuta]])
** Akra Leuke (modern [[Alicante]])
** Gadir (modern [[Cádiz]])
** Ibossim (modern [[Ibiza]])
** Malaca (modern [[Málaga]])
** Onoba (modern [[Huelva]])
** [[Cartagena, Spain|Qart Hadašt]] (''Greek'' Νέα Καρχηδόνα; ''Latin'' Carthago Nova; ''Spanish'' [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]])
** Rusadir (modern [[Melilla]])
** [[Sexi]] (modern [[Almuñécar]])
* Located in modern [[Portugal]]
** Olissipona (modern [[Lisboa]])
** Ossonoba (modern [[Faro]])
* Located in modern [[Tunisia]]
** [[Hadrumetum]] (modern [[Sousse|Susat]])
** Hippo Diarrhytos (modern [[Bizerte]])
** [[Carthage|Qart Hadašt]] (''Greek'' Καρχηδόνα; ''Latin'' Carthago; ''English'' [[Carthage]])
** [[Thapsus]] (near modern [[Bekalta]])
** [[Utica, Tunisia|Utica]]
* Located in modern [[Turkey]]
** Phoenicus (modern [[Finike]])
* Other colonies
** [[Gibraltar|Calpe]] (modern [[Gibraltar]])
** [[Gunugu]]
** [[Thenae]]
** [[Tipassa]]
** [[Sundar]]
** [[Surya]]
** [[Shobina]]
** [[Tara]]
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==Trade==
[[Image:PhoenicianTrade.png|right|325px|thumb|Map of Phoenicia and trade routes]]
The Phoenicians were amongst the greatest traders of their time and owed a great deal of their prosperity to trade. The Phoenicians' initial trading partners were the [[Greeks]], with whom they used to trade wood, slaves, glass and a Tyrian Purple powder. This powder was used by the Greek elite to color clothes and other garments and was not available anywhere else. Without trade with the Greeks they would not be known as Phoenicians, as the word for Phoenician is derived from the [[Ancient Greek]] word ''phoinikèia'' meaning "purple".
In the centuries following 1200 BC, the Phoenicians formed the major naval and trading power of the region. Phoenician trade was founded on [[Tyrian Purple]], a violet-purple dye derived from the ''[[Murex]]'' sea-snail's shell, once profusely available in coastal waters of the eastern Mediterranean Sea but exploited to local extinction. [[James B. Pritchard]]'s excavations at [[Sarepta]] in present day Lebanon revealed crushed Murex shells and pottery containers stained with the dye that was being produced at the site. The Phoenicians established a second production center for the purple dye in [[Mogador]], in present day [[Morocco]]. Brilliant textiles were a part of Phoenician wealth, and Phoenician [[glass]] was another export ware.
From elsewhere they obtained other materials, perhaps the most important being [[silver]] from [[Iberian Peninsula]] and [[tin]] from [[Great Britain]], the latter of which when smelted with [[copper]] (from [[Cyprus]]) created the durable metal [[alloy]] [[bronze]]. [[Strabo]] states that there was a highly lucrative Phoenician trade with Britain for tin.
The Phoenicians established commercial outposts throughout the [[Mediterranean]], the most strategically important being [[Carthage]] in [[North Africa]], directly across the narrow straits in [[Sicily]] and the island of [[Malta]] in the center of the Mediterranean; carefully selected with the design of monopolizing the Mediterranean trade beyond that point and keeping their rivals from passing through. Other colonies were planted in [[Cyprus]], [[Corsica]], [[Sardinia]], the [[Iberian Peninsula]], and elsewhere. They also founded innumerable small outposts a day's sail away from each other all along the North African coast on the route to Iberia's mineral wealth.
The date when several of these cities were founded has been very controversial. Greek sources put the foundation of many cities very early. [[Cadiz|Gades (Cadiz)]] in Spain was traditionally founded in [[1110s|1110]] BC, while [[Utica, Tunisia|Utica]] in Africa was supposedly founded in [[1100s|1101]] BC. However, no archaeological remains have been dated to such a remote era. The traditional dates may reflect the establishment of rudimentary way stations that left little archaeological trace, and only grew into full cities centuries later. (''The World of the Phoenicians'', Sabatino Moscati, 1965). Alternatively, the early dates may reflect Greek historians' belief that the legends of Troy (mentioning these cities) were historically reliable.
Phoenician ships used to ply the coast of southern Spain and along the coast of Portugal. It is often mentioned that Phoenicians ventured north into [[Atlantic Ocean|the Atlantic ocean]] as far as Great Britain, where the tin mines in what is now Cornwall provided them with tin, although no archaeological evidence supports this belief and reliable academic authors see this belief as hollow (''see'' Malcolm Todd - 1987, reference below). They also sailed south along the coast of [[Africa]]. A Carthaginian expedition led by [[Hanno the Navigator]] explored and colonized the Atlantic coast of Africa as far as the [[Gulf of Guinea]]; and according to Herodotus, a Phoenician expedition sent down the [[Red Sea]] by pharaoh [[Necho II]] of Egypt (c. 600 BC) even [[circumnavigation|circumnavigated]] Africa and returned through the [[Pillars of Hercules]] in three years.
The Phoenicians were not an agricultural people, because most of the land was not arable; therefore, they focused on commerce and trading instead. They did, however, raise sheep and sell them and their wool.
==Language and literature==
{{main|Phoenician languages|Phoenician alphabet|Alphabet}}
[[Image:Phoenician alphabet.svg|right|200px|thumb|The [[Phoenician alphabet]]]]
The Phoenicians are credited with spreading the [[Phoenician alphabet]] throughout the Mediterranean world. It was a variant of the Semitic alphabet of the Canaanite area developed centuries earlier in the Sinai region, or in central Egypt. Phoenician traders disseminated this writing system along Aegean trade routes, to coastal Anatolia, the Minoan civilization of Crete, [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenean Greece]], and throughout the Mediterranean.
This alphabet has been termed an ''[[abjad]]'' or a script that contains no vowels. A [[cuneiform (script)|cuneiform]] ''abjad'' originated to the north in [[Ugarit]], a Canaanite city of northern Syria, in the [[14th century BC]]. Their language, [[Phoenician languages|Phoenician]], is classified as in the [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]] subgroup of Northwest [[Semitic languages|Semitic]]. Its later descendant in [[North Africa]] is termed [[Punic]].
The earliest known inscriptions in Phoenician come from Byblos and date back to ca. 1000 BC. Phoenician inscriptions are found in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Cyprus and other locations, as late as the early centuries of the Christian Era. In Phoenician colonies around the western Mediterranean, beginning in the [[9th century BC]], Phoenician evolved into Punic. Punic Phoenician was still spoken in the 5th century CE: [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]], for example, grew up in [[North Africa]] and was familiar with the language.
[[Image:Kadmos dragon Louvre E707.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Cadmus fighting the dragon. Side A of a black-figured [[amphora]] from [[Euboea]], ca. 560–550 BC, [[Louvre]]]]
==Art==
Phoenician art had no unique characteristic that could be identified with. This is due to the fact that Phoenicians were influenced by foreign designs and artistic cultures mainly from [[Egypt]], [[Greece]] and [[Assyria]]. Phoenicians who were taught on the banks of the [[Nile]] and the [[Euphrates]] gained a wide artistic experience and finally came to create their own art, which was an amalgam of foreign models and perspectives.<ref name="NYT">{{cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9800E4DF123EE73BBC4D53DFB7668382669FDE&oref=slogin|title=Phoenician Art|format=.pdf|work = The New York Times |accessdate=2008-06-20}}</ref> In an article from [[The New York Times]], Phoenician art was described in this part: <blockquote>''He entered into other men's labors and made most of his heritage. The [[Sphinx]] of Egypt became [[Asiatic]], and its new form was transplanted to [[Nineveh]] on the one side and to Greece on the other. The rosettes and other patterns of the [[Babylonian]] cylinders were introduced into the handiwork of Phoenicia, and so passed on to the West, while the hero of the ancient [[Chaldean]] epic became first the [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyrian]] [[Melkart|Melkarth]], and then the [[Herakles]] of Hellas''.</blockquote>
==Gods==
{{see|Canaanite religion}}
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===Attested 2nd Millennium===
*[[Adonis]]
*[[Amen]]
*[[Astarte]]
*[[Baal Saphon]]
*[[Baalat Gebal]] "Lady of Byblos"
*[[Baal Shemen]] consort of Baalat Gebal
*[[El]]
*[[Eshmun]]
*[[Isis]]
*[[Melqart]]
*[[Osiris]]
*[[Shed]]
*Venerable [[Reshef]] (Reshef of the Arrow)
Gebory-Kon
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===Attested 1st Millennium===
*Chusor
*Dagon
*Eshmun-Melqart
*Milkashtart
*Reshef-Shed
*Shed-Horon
*Tanit-Astarte
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==Decline==
[[Image:A naval action during the siege of Tyre by Andre Castaigne (1898-1899).jpg|thumb|right|''The Siege of Tyre'' by Andre Castaigne]]
[[Cyrus the Great]] conquered Phoenicia in [[530s BC|539 BC]]. Phoenicia was divided into four vassal kingdoms by the Persians: [[Sidon]], [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]], [[Arwad]], and [[Byblos]], and prospered, furnishing fleets for the Persian kings. However, Phoenician influence declined after this. It is also reasonable to suppose that much of the Phoenician population migrated to [[Carthage]] and other colonies following the Persian conquest, as it is roughly then (under King [[Hanno]]) that we first hear of Carthage as a powerful maritime entity. In 350 or 345 BC a rebellion in Sidon led by [[Tennes]] was crushed by [[Artaxerxes III]], and its destruction was described, perhaps too dramatically, by [[Diodorus Siculus]].
[[Alexander the Great]] took Tyre in [[332 BC]] following the [[Siege of Tyre]]. Alexander was exceptionally harsh to Tyre, executing 2000 of the leading citizens, but he maintained the king in power. He gained control of the other cities peacefully: the ruler of Aradus submitted; the king of Sidon was overthrown. The rise of [[Hellenistic Greece]] gradually ousted the remnants of Phoenicia's former dominance over the Eastern Mediterranean trade routes, and Phoenician culture disappeared entirely in the motherland. However, its North African offspring, Carthage, continued to flourish, mining iron and [[precious metal]]s from Iberia, and using its considerable naval power and mercenary armies to protect its commercial interests, until it was finally destroyed by Rome in 146 BC at the end of the [[Punic Wars]].
As for the Phoenician homeland, following Alexander it was controlled by a succession of Hellenistic rulers: [[Laomedon of Mytilene|Laomedon]] (323 BC), [[Ptolemy I]] (320), [[Antigonus II Gonatas|Antigonus II]] (315), [[Demetrius I of Macedon|Demetrius]] (301), and [[Seleucus I Nicator|Seleucus]] (296). Between 286 and [[197 BC]], Phoenicia (except for Aradus) fell to the Ptolemies of Egypt, who installed the high priests of [[Astarte]] as vassal rulers in Sidon ([[Eshmunazar I]], [[Tabnit]], [[Eshmunazar II]]). In 197 BC, Phoenicia along with Syria reverted to the Seleucids, and the region became increasingly Hellenized, although Tyre actually became autonomous in [[126 BC]], followed by Sidon in 111. Syria, including Phoenicia, were seized by king [[Tigranes the Great]] from 82 until [[69 BC]] when he was defeated by [[Lucullus]], and in [[65 BC]] [[Pompey]] finally incorporated it as part of the Roman province of Syria.
==Influence in the Mediterranean region==
Phoenician culture had a huge effect upon the cultures of the Mediterranean basin in the early Iron Age. For example, in Greece, the tripartite division between [[Zeus]], [[Hades]] and [[Poseidon]], seems to have been influenced by the Phoenician division between [[Baal]], [[Mot (Semitic god)|Mot]] and [[Yam (god)|Yam]]. Stories like the [[Rape of Europa]], and the coming of [[Cadmus]] also draw upon Phoenician influence. The recovery of the Mediterranean economy after the late [[Bronze Age collapse]], seems to have been largely due to the work of Phoenician traders and merchant princes, who re-established long distance trade between Egypt and Mesopotamia in the 10th century BC. Phoenician motifs are also present in the [[Orientalising period]] of [[Greek art]], and Phoenicians also played a formative role in [[Etruscan civilisation]] in Tuscany. Phoenician temples in various Mediterranean ports sacred to Phoenician [[Melkart]], during the classical period, were recognized as sacred to [[Hercules]]. The Ionian revolution was led by [[History of Philosophy|philosophers]] such as [[Thales of Miletus]] or [[Pythagoras]], both of whom had Phoenician fathers.
There are many countries and cities around the world that derive their names from the Phoenician Language. Below is a list with the respective meanings:
* Altiburus: City in Algeria, SW of Carthage. From Phoenician: "Iltabrush"
* Bosa: City in Sardinia: From Phoenician "Bis'en"
* Cadiz: City in Spain: From Phoenician "Gadir"
* Dhali (Idalion): City in Central Cyprus: From Phoenician "Idyal"
* Erice: City in Sicily: From Phoenician "Eryx"
* Malta: Island in the Mediterranean: From Phoenician "Malat" ('refuge')
* Marion: City in West Cyprus: From Phoenician "Aymar"
* Oed Dekri: City in Algeria: From Phoenician: "Idiqra"
* Spain: From Phoenician: "I-Shaphan", meaning "Land of Hyraxes". Later Latinized as "Hispania"
==In the Bible==
Hiram (also spelled Huran) associated with the building of the temple.
{{cquote|2Ch 2:14—The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father [was] a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him...}}
This is the architect of the Temple, [[Hiram Abiff]] of [[Masonic]] lore. They are vastly famous for their purple dye.
Later, reforming prophets railed against the practice of drawing royal wives from among foreigners: [[Elijah]] execrated [[Jezebel (biblical)|Jezebel]], the princess from Tyre who became a consort of King [[Ahab]] and introduced the [[Polytheism|worship of her gods]].
Long after Phoenician culture had flourished, or Phoenicia had existed as any political entity, Hellenized natives of the region where Canaanites still lived were referred to as "Syro-Phoenician", as in the ''[[Gospel of Mark]]'' 7:26: "The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth..."
The word ''[[Bible]]'' itself ultimately derives through Greek from the word [[Byblos]] which means [[Book]], and not from the Hellenised Phoenician city of Byblos (which was called Gebal), before it was named by the Greeks as [[Byblos]]. The Greeks called it Byblos because it was through Gebal that bublos (Bύβλος ["Egyptian papyrus"]) was imported into Greece. Present day Byblos is under the current Arabic name of Jbeil (جبيل Ǧubayl) derived from Gebal.
==See also==
*[[Phoenicianism]]
*[[Punic]]
*[[Carthage]]
*[[Names of the Levant]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
*Aubet, Maria Eugenia, ''The Phoenicians and the West: Politics, Colonies and Trade'', tr. Mary Turton ([http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2003/2003-12-17.html Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2001: review)]
*''The History of Phoenicia'', first published in 1889 by [[George Rawlinson]] is available under [[Project Gutenberg]] at: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=2331 Rawlinson's 19th century text needs updating for modern improvements in historical understanding.
* {{cite book
| last = Todd
| first = Malcolm
| authorlink = Malcolm Todd
| coauthors = Andrew Fleming
| title = The South West to AD 1,000 (Regional history of England series No.:8)
| publisher= Longman
| location = Harlow, Essex
| date= 1987
| id=ISBN 0-582-49274-2 (Paperback), 0-582-49273-4 (hardback)
}}, for a critical examination of the evidence of Phoenician trade with the South West of the U.K
* {{cite book
| last = Markoe
| first = Glenn
| title = Phoenicians
| publisher= University of California Press
| date= 2000
| id=ISBN 0-520-226135 (hardback)
}}, for a critical examination of the evidence of Phoenician trade with the South West of the U.K
* Thiollet, Jean-Pierre, ''Je m'appelle Byblos'', H & D, Paris, 2005. ISBN 2 914 266 04 9
==External links==
*[http://www.museum.upenn.edu/Canaan/Phoenicians.html University of Pennsylvania Museum offers simplified but unbiased information on Canaan and Phoenicians, emphasizing common aspects of culture among Israel and the other kingdoms in Canaan.]
*[http://www.laisladelsur.com/historia/historia.asp Phoenicians in Cadiz bay (Spain)] Punic Phoenician archaeology in Cadiz bay (Spain)
*{{CathEncy|title=Phœnicia|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12041a.htm}}
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