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The Phoenicians are often thought to be a somewhat mysterious people, long held to be a lost civilization due to the lack of Phoenician written sources. This ancient Semitic people who dwelt on the Levantine shores of the Mediterranean Sea in the second and first millennium BC have only recently become better known to historians and the wider public.
The Phoenicians are primarily placed in the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.
Bronze Age (circa 3000–1200 BCE): The Phoenicians first became prominent during the late Bronze Age. They were part of the ancient Canaanite culture.
Iron Age (circa 1200–539 BCE): The Phoenician civilization reached its height during the early to mid-Iron Age. Their famous cities like Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos thrived during this period, and they established trade networks across the Mediterranean.
Usually noted for their theocratic state—a state with a primarily maritime empire—the Phoenicians built an expansive and complex trading network that stretched the length of the Mediterranean Sea. Not only did they facilitate exchange across the region, but they also became fantastically wealthy in the process.
However, there is far more to the Phoenicians than their mercantile ability. Phoenician craftsmen produced outstanding works, including exemplary glass products and the prestigious dye known as Tyrian purple, worn by elites throughout the ancient world. Their trade empire arguably laid the foundations for classical exchange across the Mediterranean and Near East, which would form the basis of the classical Western civilization most readily associated with ancient Greece and Rome.
Perhaps most impressive of all is the Phoenician alphabet—the oldest known consonantal alphabet in the world. It is from this alphabet that some of the most widely used alphabets in the world derive. The Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic alphabets all owe their existence to the Phoenicians, as their convenient and easily adapted alphabet was spread around the Mediterranean through their trading empire.
There is so much more to the Phoenicians than you might think. Despite the relative lack of sources, their influence was enormous, their rise to power rapid and impressive, and the echoes of Phoenician civilization can even be seen today. Hopefully, you will get some sense of this in today’s video as we try to answer the question: Who were the Phoenicians?
Origins
The Phoenicians were Canaanites—the name given to a collection of Semitic-speaking civilizations clustered on the Mediterranean shores of the southern Levant during the second millennium BC. Of course, the word “Canaan” is frequently used in the Bible to denote the promised land. In ethnic terms, it is a catch-all to refer to the various peoples, both sedentary and semi-nomadic, who inhabited the southern Levant during this period.
The Phoenicians were most likely the successors of the Bronze Age Canaanites who dwelt in what is now southern Lebanon. However, some historians believe that the Phoenicians may have immigrated to their lands in the Levant. Herodotus, writing in the 4th century BC, asserted that the Phoenicians originated from the region of the Arabian Sea in the early third millennium BC. Strabo, the Greek geographer writing in the 1st century BC, echoed Herodotus’ view.
Genetic analysis offers further insight, but it is not conclusive. A 2017 study found that modern-day Lebanese populations derive the majority of their ancestry from Canaanite populations, suggesting a high degree of genetic continuity, while a 2021 study found significant similarities between the genetic history of ancient Levantines and the modern inhabitants of Arabia.
Most scholars tend to the view that the Phoenicians were the result of millennia of population continuity in the Levant. Phoenician culture most likely developed from the Ghassulian culture—a people typified by small settlements of agricultural peoples who migrated into the southern Levant from further north.
History
It is during the 15th century BC that the Phoenicians first truly enter the historical record. During the reign of the conquering Pharaoh Thutmose III, the Phoenician cities of the Levant were brought under Egyptian control, along with all of Syria. The Phoenician cities, the most important of which were Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, and Byblos, came under Egyptian rule but were largely autonomous.
Phoenician cities grew wealthy from their constant trade with Egypt. By 1200 BC, the Phoenicians had developed sophisticated shipbuilding techniques, producing large merchant vessels with robust mortise-and-tenon joints. They also used brailed sails, which increased the speed and efficiency of their ships. This naval prowess facilitated their rise as a mercantile power across the Mediterranean.
The Phoenician trading empire emerged in the 12th century BC after the collapse of the Late Bronze Age, a period of political and social upheaval that saw the fall of major Mediterranean and Near Eastern powers. With these empires weakening, the Phoenicians expanded their influence across the Mediterranean.
Society and Culture
Phoenician society was organized around city-states, autonomous urban centers that controlled their surrounding territories. These city-states were monarchical, particularly in the second millennium BC, with kings wielding significant power. Over time, councils and assemblies developed, leading some to consider Phoenician city-states as proto-democratic in nature.
The Phoenician economy was centered on trade. Their trade networks stretched across the Mediterranean, and they are often credited with facilitating cultural and economic exchange between Asia and Europe. The Phoenicians exported timber, glass, textiles, and, most famously, Tyrian purple—a luxury dye obtained from sea snails.
Religion
Phoenician religion was polytheistic and varied by city-state, with each city having its own chief deity and accompanying pantheon. Melqart was the chief god of Tyre, while Baal reigned supreme in Sidon. The Phoenicians practiced ritual sacrifices and offerings, but there is debate over whether they engaged in human sacrifice.
Art
Phoenician art was influenced by neighboring cultures, including Egyptian, Assyrian, and Northern Syrian styles. Their artisans were known for creating small-scale ornamental pieces, particularly in ivory, metal, and glass. Phoenician glassmaking was highly prized, and their purple dye was the pinnacle of their textile production.
Decline and Fall
The decline of the Phoenicians began in the 9th century BC when the Assyrian Empire forced them into vassalage. The Phoenician cities continued to pay tribute to the Assyrians and, later, the Babylonians, but their autonomy gradually diminished. By the 6th century BC, Persian rule took over, and Phoenicia became a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire.
Phoenician independence ended completely in the 4th century BC when Alexander the Great besieged and destroyed Tyre. Despite a brief resurgence of Phoenician influence in the west through Carthage, the Phoenician city-states in the Levant were absorbed into the Roman Empire by the 1st century BC.
