Phoenicia

Writing some time in 440 BCE, the ancient Greek historian Herodotus makes reference to the Phoenicians in his retelling of the Hellenistic-Phoenician myths of Io and Europa:

According to the Persians best informed in history, the Phoenicians began the quarrel. These people, who had formerly dwelt on the shores of the Erythraean Sea, having migrated to the Mediterranean 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 ...

— Herodotus, The History, I.1

Herodotus believed that the Phoenicians originated from Bahrain,[24][25] a view shared centuries later by the historian Strabo.[26] This theory was accepted by the 19th-century German classicist Arnold Heeren, who noted that Greek geographers described "two islands, named Tyrus or Tylos, and Aradus, which boasted that they were the mother country of the Phoenicians, and exhibited relics of Phoenician temples."[27] The people of modern Tyre in Lebanon, have particularly long maintained Persian Gulf origins, and the similarity in the words "Tylos" and "Tyre" has been commented upon.[28] The Dilmun civilization thrived in Bahrain during the period 2200–1600 BCE, as shown by excavations of settlements and the Dilmun burial mounds. However, some scholars note that there is little evidence Bahrain was occupied during the time when such migration had supposedly taken place.[29]

Cover of a Phoenician anthropoid sarcophagus of a woman, made of marble, 350–325 BC, from Sidon, now in the Louvre.

The Phoenician's Semitic language, along with evidence of an invasion at the site of Byblos, suggest they emerged from Semitic migrations to the Fertile Crescent between 2300 and 2100 BCE By contrast, some scholars, such as Sabatino Moscati, believe the Phoenicians originated from an admixture of previous non-Semitic inhabitants with the Semitic arrivals. The Canaanite culture that gave rise to the Phoenicians apparently developed in situ from the earlier Ghassulian chalcolithic culture. Ghassulian itself developed from the Circum-Arabian Nomadic Pastoral Complex, which in turn developed from a fusion of their ancestral Natufian and Harifian cultures with Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) farming cultures, practicing the domestication of animals during the 6200 BC climatic crisis, which led to the Neolithic Revolution in the Levant.[30] Byblos is attested as an archaeological site from the Early Bronze Age. The Late Bronze Age state of Ugarit is considered quintessentially Canaanite archaeologically,[31] even though the Ugaritic language does not belong to the Canaanite languages proper.[32][33]

Very little is known of Phoenicia before its mention in the account of the conquest by Tutmoses III of Egypt around 1500 BCE. The Amarna Letters, an Egyptian archive of diplomatic exchanges compiled between 1411 and 1358 BCE, record that the neighboring Amorites and Hittites were capturing Phoenician vassals of Egypt from 1350 to 1300 BCE Some time between 1200 and 1150 BCE, the Late Bronze Age collapse

Sarcophagus of Eshmunazor II, Phoenician king of Sidon (fifth century BCE), bearing notable Egyptian influence.

severely weakened or destroyed most civilizations in the region, including the Egyptians and Hittites.

The Phoenicians, now free from foreign domination and interference, appeared to have weathered the crisis relatively well, emerging as a distinct and organized civilization in 1230 B.C.E., shortly after the approximate transition to the Iron Age.

Throughout most of the Iron Age (c. 1200–500 BCE), the Phoenicians were a prosperous civilization, and the period is sometimes described as a "Phoenician renaissance."[34] They filled the power vacuum left by the Late Bronze Age collapse by becoming the sole mercantile and maritime power in the region, a status they would maintain for the next several centuries.[35]

Byblos and Sidon were the earliest powers, though the relative prominence of Phoenician city states would ebb and flow throughout the millennium. Other major cities were Tyre, Simyra, Arwad, and Berytus (now the capital of Lebanon), all of which appear in the Amarna tablets composed during the mid-second millennium B.C.E. Byblos in particular became the first dominant center from where the Phoenicians dominated the Mediterranean and Red Sea routes. It was here that the first inscription in the Phoenician alphabet was found, on the sarcophagus of King Ahiram (c. 1200 BCE).[36] Phoenicia's independent city-state ports were ideally suited for trade between the Levant area, which was rich in natural resources, and the rest of the ancient world.

Early into the Iron Age, the Phoenicians established ports, warehouses, markets, and settlement all across the Mediterranean and up to the southern Black Sea. Initially led by Tyre, colonies were established on Cyprus, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands, Sicily, and Malta, as well as the agriculturally-rich mainland of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. Though disputed, some scholars believe Carthage, which would later emerge as a major power in the western Mediterranean, was founded during the reign of Pygmalion of Tyre (831–735 BCE).[37] The Phoenician's complex mercantile network supported what Fernand Braudel calls an early example of a "world-economy", described as "an economically autonomous section of the planet able to provide for most of its own needs" due to links and exchanges provided by the Phoenicians.[38]

A unique concentration in Phoenicia of silver hoards dated some time during its high point contains hacksilver (used for currency) that bears lead isotope ratios matching ores in Sardinia and Spain.[39] This metallic evidence indicates the extent of Phoenician trade networks. It also seems to confirm the Biblical attestation of a western Mediterranean port city,Tarshish, supplying King Solomon of Israel with silver via Phoenicia.[40]

Map of Phoenicia.

The first textual account of the Phoenicians during the Iron Age comes from Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser I, who recorded his campaign against the Phoenicians between 1114 and 1076 BCE[35] Seeking access to the Phoenician's high quality cedar wood, he describes exacting tribute from the leading cities at the time, Byblos and Sidon. The next oldest record of the Iron Age Phoenicians comes from an Egyptian priest, Wenamun.[41][Note 1] Dating between 1075 to 1060 BCE, he describes his efforts to procure cedar wood for a religious temple. Contradicting the account of Tiglath-Pileser I, Wenamun describes Byblos and Sidon as impressive and powerful coastal cities, which suggests that the Assyrian siege that ended shortly before his visit was ineffectual.[41] Although they were once vassals of the Egyptians during the Bronze Age, the city states were now able to reject Wenamun's demand for tribute, instead forcing the Egyptians to agree to a commercial arrangement.[41] This indicates the extent to which the Phoenicians had become a more influential and independent people.

The collection of city-states constituting Phoenicia came to be characterized by outsiders, and even the Phoenicians themselves, by one of the dominant states at a given time. For many centuries, Phoenicians and Canaanites alike were alternatively called Sidonians or Tyrians. Throughout much of the 11th century BCE, the biblical books of Joshua, Judges, and Samuel use the term Sidonian to evidently apply to all Phoenicians; by the tenth century BCE, Tyre rose to become the richest and most powerful Phoenician city state, particularly during the reign of Hiram I c. 969–936 BCE. Described in the Jewish Bible as a contemporary of kings David and Solomon of Israel, he is best known for being commissioned to build Solomon's Temple, where the skill and wealth of his city state is noted.[42] Overall, the Old Testament references Phoenician city states—namely Sidon, Tyre, Arvad (Awad) and Byblos—over 100 times, indicating the extent to which Tyrian and Phoenician culture was recognized.[43]

Indeed, the Phoenicians stood out from their contemporaries in that their rise was relatively peaceful. As archaeologist James B. Pritchard notes, "They became the first to provide a link between the culture of the ancient Near East and that of the uncharted world of the West…They went not for conquest as the Babylonians and Assyrians did, but for trade. Profit rather than plunder was their policy."[44] Pritchard observes that even the Israelites, who waged war or were in conflict with virtually every neighboring culture, seemed to regard the Phoenicians as "respected neighbors with whom Israel was able to maintain amicable diplomatic and commercial relations throughout a span of a half millennium ... Yet despite the ideological differences between Israel and her northern neighbors, detente prevailed."[43]

The Nora Stone, found in Sardinia, Italy in the 18th century, is the most ancient Phoenician inscription ever found outside the Phoenician heartland (c. eighth-ninth century BCE). It is indicative of the expansive trade network the Phoenicians established in ancient times. National Archaeological Museum, Cagliari, Italy.

During the rule of the priest Ithobaal (887–856 BCE), Tyre expanded its territory as far north as Beirut (incorporating its erstwhile rival Sidon) and into part of Cyprus; this was the closest the Phoenicians ever came to forming a unitary territorial state.[41] Tellingly, Ithobaal declared himself "King of the Sidonians" once his realm reached its greatest territorial extent, a title that would be used by his successors and mentioned in both Greek and Jewish accounts.[41]

The Phoenicians were among the first state-level societies to make extensive use of alphabets. The family of Canaanite languages, spoken by Israelites, Phoenicians, Amorites, Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites, was the first historically attested group of languages to use an alphabet, derived from the Proto-Canaanite script, to record their writings. The Proto-Canaanite script uses around 30 symbols but was not widely used until the rise of new Semitic kingdoms in the 13th and 12th centuries BCE.[45] The Proto-Canaanite script is derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs.[46]

During their high point, specifically around 1050 BCE,[33] the Phoenicians developed a script for writing Phoenician, a Northern Semitic language. The Canaanite-Phoenician alphabet consists of 22 letters, all consonants.[14] It is believed to be one of the ancestors of modern alphabets.[47][48] Through their maritime trade, the Phoenicians spread the use of the alphabet to Anatolia, North Africa, and Europe, where it likely served the purpose of communication and commercial relations.[35] The alphabet was adopted by the Greeks, who developed it to have distinct letters for vowels as well as consonants.[49][50]

The name Phoenician is by convention given to inscriptions beginning around 1050 BCE, because Phoenician, Hebrew, and other Canaanite dialects were largely indistinguishable before that time.[33][13] The so-called Ahiram epitaph, engraved on the sarcophagus of King Ahiram from about 1000 BCE, shows a fully developed Phoenician script.[51][52][53]

The Late Iron Age saw the height of Phoenician shipping, mercantile, and cultural activity, particularly between 750 and 650 BCE, during the early Greek Archaic period.[35] At this stage, Phoenician influence was visible in the "Orientalization" of Greek cultural and artistic conventions from Egyptian and Near Eastern cultures transmitted by the Phoenician. The infusion of various technologies, scientific principles, and ideas from all over the region laid the foundations for the emergence of classical Greece in the fifth century BCE.[35]

The Phoenicians, already well known as peerless seafarers and traders, had now developed into a distinct and sophisticated culture in their own right. They learned to manufacture both common and luxury goods, becoming "renowned in antiquity for clever trinkets mass produced for wholesale consumption."[54] They were proficient in glass-making, engraved and chased metalwork (including bronze, iron, and gold), ivory carving, and woodwork. Among their most sought after goods were fine textiles, typically dyed with the famed Tyrian purple. Homer's Iliad, which was composed during this period, references the quality of Phoenician clothing and metal goods.[35] Phoenicians also became the leading producers of glass in the region, with thousands of flasks, beads, and other glassware being shipped across the Mediterranean.[55] Colonies in Spain appeared to have utilized the potter's wheel,[56] while Carthage, now a nascent city state, utilized serial production to produce large numbers of ships quickly and at moderate cost.[57]

The skill and quality of Phoenician goods was reputable enough that they established "enclaves of craftsmen in communities where native technical skills were less developed", including in Greece.

Two bronze fragments from an Assyrian palace gate depicting the collection of tribute from the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon (859–824 B.C.E.) British Museum.

As a mercantile power concentrated along a narrow coastal strip of land, the Phoenicians lacked the size and population to support a large military. Thus, as neighboring empires began to rise, the Phoenicians increasingly fell under the sway of foreign rulers, who to varying degrees circumscribed their autonomy.[41]

The Assyrian conquest of Phoenicia began with King Shalmaneser III, who rose to power in 858 BCE and began a series of campaigns against neighboring states. The Phoenician city states fell under his rule over a period of three years, being forced to pay heavy tribute in money, goods, and natural resources.[41] However, the Phoenicians were not annexed outright—they remained in a state of vassalage, subordinate to the Assyrians but allowed a certain degree of autonomy. Relative to other conquered peoples in the empire, the Phoenicians were treated relatively well, due both to a history of otherwise amicable relations and to their importance as a source of income and even diplomacy for the expanding Assyrians.[41]

After the death of Shalmaneser III in 824 BCE, the Phoenicians maintained their quasi-independence, as succeeding rulers did not wish to meddle in their internal affairs and deprive their empire of a key source of capital. This changed in 744 BCE. with the ascension of Tiglath-Pileser III, who sought to forcefully incorporate surrounding territories rather than keep them subordinate. By 738 BCE., most of the Levant, including northern Phoenicia, were annexed and fell directly under Assyrian administration; only Tyre and Byblos, the most powerful of the city states, remained as tributary states outside of direct control.

Within years Tyre and Byblos rebelled. Tiglath-Pileser III quickly subdued both cities and imposed heavier tribute. After several years, Tyre rebelled again, this time allying with its erstwhile rival Sidon. After two to three years, Sargon II (722-705 BCE) successfully besieged Tyre in 721 BCE and crushed the alliance. In 701 BCE, his son and successor Sennacherib suppressed further rebellions across the region, reportedly deporting most of Tyre's population to the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. During the seventh century BCE, Sidon rebelled and was completely destroyed by Esarhaddon (681-668 BCE), who enslaved its inhabitants and built a new city on its ruins.

While the Phoenicians endured unprecedented repression and conflict, by the end of the seventh century BCE., the Assyrians had been weakened by successive revolts throughout their empire, which made led to their destruction by the Iranian Median Empire.

The Babylonians, formerly vassals of the Assyrians, took advantage of the empire's collapse and rebelled, quickly establishing the Neo-Babylonian Empire in its place. The decisive battle of Carchemish in northern Syria ended the historic hegemony of the Assyrians and their Egyptian allies over the Near East. While Babylonian rule over Phoenicia was brief, it hastened the precipitous decline that began under the Assyrians. Phoenician cities revolted several times throughout the reigns of the first Babylonian king, Nabopolassar (626–605 BCE), and his son Nebuchadnezzar II (c. 605–c. 562 BCE). The latter's tenure witnessed several regional rebellions, especially in the Levant. After suppressing a revolt in Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar besieged the rebellious Tyre, which resisted for thirteen years from 587 to 574 BCE. The city ultimately capitulated under "favorable terms".[58]

During the Babylonian period, Tyre briefly became "a republic headed by elective magistrates",[59] adopting a system of government consisting of a pair of judges, known as sufetes, who were chosen from the most powerful noble families and served short terms.[60]

Following over three centuries vassalage and domination by their Mesopotamian neighbors, the Phoenician city states had generally managed to remain relatively independent and prosperous.[41] Nevertheless, the conquests of the late Iron Age took their toll and left the Phoenicians politically and economically weakened. Phoenicia did not collapse so much as gradually lose its influence and autonomy in the face of growing foreign powers. Even when conquered, many of the city states continued to flourish, leveraging their role as intermediaries, skilled shipbuilders, and adroit traders for one foreign suzerain or another.[41]

Phoenicians constructing Pontoon Bridges for Xerxes I of Persia during the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 B.C.E.

In 539 BCE, Cyrus the Great, king and founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, had exploited the unraveling Neo-Babylonian Empire and took the capital of Babylon.[61] As Cyrus began consolidating territories across the Near East, the Phoenicians apparently made the pragmatic calculation of "[yielding] themselves to the Persians."[62] Most of the Levant was consolidated with Cyprus into a single satrapy (province), which was made to pay a yearly tribute of 350 talents; by comparison, Egypt and Libya paid 700 talents, continuing the pattern begun with the Assyrians of Phoenicians being treated with a relatively lighter hand by most rulers.[63]

In fact, the area of Phoenicia was later divided into four vassal kingdoms—Sidon, Tyre, Arwad, and Byblos—which were allowed fairly significant autonomy. Unlike in other areas of the empire (including adjacent Jerusalem and Samaria) there is no record of Persian administrators governing the Phoenician city-states. Local Phoenician kings were allowed to remain in power and even given the same rights as Persian satraps (governors), such as passing their office to a son and mining their own coins.[61] The otherwise decentralized nature of Persian administration meant the Phoenicians, though no longer an independent and influential power, could at least continue to conduct their political and mercantile affairs with relative freedom.[64]

Coin of Abdashtart I of Sidon during the Achaemenid period. He is depicted behind the Persian king on the chariot.

Nevertheless, during the Persian era, many Phoenicians left to settle elsewhere in the Mediterranean, particularly father west; many went to Carthage, which by this point was already an established and prosperous empire spanning northwest Africa, Iberia, and parts of Italy. Indeed, the Phoenicians continued to show solidarity to their former colony-turned-empire, with Tyre going so far as to defy King Cambyses II's order to sail against them, which Herodotus claims prevented the Persians from capturing Carthage.[62] The Tyrians and Phoenicians escaped punishment because they had peacefully acceded to Persian rule years earlier and were relied upon for sustaining Persian naval power.[62] Nonetheless, the unreliability of Tyre led to better treatment and privileges for its principal rival, Sidon.[61] The Phoenicians remained a core asset to the Achaemenid Empire, particularly for their prowess in shipbuilding, navigation, and maritime technology and skill—all of which the Persians lacked as a predominately land based power.[61] Archaeologist H. Jacob Katzenstein describes the Persian empire as a "blessing" to the Phoenicians, whose cities flourished due to their strategic and economic importance. He continues:

The Phoenician towns became a strong factor in the development of Persian policy because of their fleets and their great maritime knowledge and experience, on which the Persian navy depended. The Persian king recognized this influential position, and the Persians regarded the Phoenicians more as allies than subjects. Arvad, Sidon, and Tyre were given large tracts of land and allowed to trade both on the Phoenician and Palestinian coast.[61]

Consequently, the Phoenicians appeared to have been consenting members of the Persian imperial project. For example, they willingly furnished the bulk of the Persian fleet during the Greco-Persian Wars of the late fifth century BCE.[65] Herodotus considers them "the best sailors" among Persian forces.[66] Phoenicians under Xerxes I were equally commended for their ingenuity in building the Xerxes Canal and the pontoon bridges that allowed his forces to cross into mainland Greece.[67] Nevertheless, they were reportedly harshly punished by the Persian king following his ultimate defeat at the Battle of Salamis, which he blamed on Phoenician cowardice and incompetence.[68]

In the mid fourth century BCE, King Tennes of Sidon led a failed rebellion against Artaxerxes III, enlisting the help of the Egyptians, who were subsequently drawn into a war with the Persians. A detailed account of the rebellion and subsequent conflict was described by Diodorus Siculus.[69] The resulting destruction of the city led once more to the resurgence of its rival Tyre, which remained the principal Phoenician city for two decades until the arrival of Alexander the Great.

Located on the western periphery of the Persian Empire, Phoenicia was one of the first areas to be conquered by Alexander the Great during his military campaigns across western Asia. Alexander's main target in the Persian Levant was Tyre, now its largest and most important city. It capitulated after a roughly seven month siege, during which many of its citizens fled to Carthage.[70] Tyre's refusal to allow Alexander to visit its temple to Melqart, culminating in the killing of his envoys, led to a brutal reprisal: 2,000 of its leading citizens were crucified and a puppet ruler was installed.[71] The rest of Phoenicia easily came under his control, with Sidon, the second most powerful city, surrendering peacefully.[60]

A naval action during Alexander the Great's siege of Tyre (350 B.C.). Drawing by André Castaigne, 1888–89.

Unlike the Phoenicians—and for that matter their former Persian overlords—the Greeks were notably indifferent, if not hostile, to foreign cultures.[70] Alexander's empire had a policy of Hellenization, whereby Greek culture, religion, and sometimes language were spread or imposed across conquered territories. This process was typically implemented through the founding of new cities (most notably Alexandria in Egypt), the settlement of a Greek urban elite, and the alteration of native place names to Greek.[70]

However, the Phoenicians were once again an outlier within an empire: there was evidently no "organised, deliberate effort of Hellenisation in Phoenicia", and with one or two minor exceptions, all Phoenician city states retained their native names, while Greek settlement and administration appears to have been limited.[70] This is despite the fact that adjacent areas had been Hellenized, as had peripheral territories like the Caucasus and Bactria.

Phoenicians continued to maintain cultural and commercial links with their western counterparts after Alexander's conquest. Polybius recounts how the Seleucid king Demetrius I escaped from Rome by boarding a Carthaginian ship in route to deliver goods to Tyre.[72] An inscription in Malta, made between the second and third centuries BCE, was dedicated to Herakles/Melqart in both Phoenician and Greek. Absent any records of daily life under Macedonian rule, to the extent the Phoenicians were subject to some degree of Hellenization, "there was much continuity with their Phoenician past—in language and perhaps in institutions; certainly in their cults; probably in some sort of literary tradition; perhaps in the preservation of archives; and certainly in a continuous historical consciousness."[73] There is even evidence that a Hellenistic-Phoenician culture spread inland to Syria.[74] The adaptation to Macedonian rule was likely aided by the Phoenician's historical ties with the Greeks, with whom they shared some mythologies; the two peoples were even sometimes considered "relatives".[75]

Alexander's empire collapsed soon after his death in 323 BCE, dissolving into several rival kingdoms ruled by his generals, relatives, or friends (diadochi). The Phoenicians came under the control of the largest and most powerful of these successors, the Seleucids. The Phoenician homeland was repeatedly contested by the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt during the forty year Syrian Wars, coming under Ptolemaic rule in the third century BCE.[76] The Seleucids reclaimed the area the following century, holding it until the mid-first century BCE. The Phoenicians were evidently allowed a considerable degree of autonomy.[77]

During the Seleucid Dynastic Wars (157-63 BCE), the Phoenician cities were fought over by the warring factions of the royal family. The empire, which once stretched from the Aegean Sea to Pakistan, was reduced to a rump state comprising portions of the Levant and southeast Anatolia. Little is known of the state of Phoenicia during this time, but the Seleucid Kingdom was severely weakened and existed solely as a useful buffer between the Romans and their eastern rivals. The rise of Rome as a Mediterranean power, after centuries Phoenician decline, led to the first major challenge to Phoenician supremacy over the see in a millennium.

While the Phoenician motherland was enduring a succession of foreign invasions, its settlement of Carthage was flourishing in northwest Africa, eventually becoming the only major continuation of Phoenician civilization and culture. Founded in the ninth century BCE as a colony of Tyre, Carthage became an independent city state around 650 BCE and soon rose to become a major power, exercising political hegemony over other Phoenician settlements throughout the western Mediterranean.

The state of the western Mediterranean prior to the First Punic War in 264 B.C.

Beginning in the fifth century BCE, while Phoenicia was under Babylonian rule, Carthage became the principal commercial center of the western Mediterranean and one of two hegemonic powers in the whole Mediterranean, rivaled only by Rome. Although it developed a distinct identity and culture, sometimes described as Punic (from the Latin poenus and punicus), the Carthaginians still acknowledged their Phoenician heritage and maintained many of the same customs, practices, and religious traditions, albeit with some localized changes; their Punic language was a dialect of Phoenician. Indeed, the term Punic was used by the Romans, and now by modern scholars, to refer to Phoenicians of the western Mediterranean.

Carthage oversaw the mining of iron and precious metals from Iberia, and used its considerable naval power and mercenary armies to protect commercial interests, until Rome finally destroyed it in 146 BC at the end of the Punic Wars.

The Seleucid Kingdom, including Phoenicia, was seized by Tigranes the Great of Armenia in 82 BCE, prompting Roman general Lucullus to intervene and conquer the territory in 62 BCE. In 65 BCE, Pompey finally incorporated the territory as part of the Roman province of Syria. Phoenicia became a separate province around the third century C.E., with the Phoenicians lacking the autonomy and cultural continuity that had been accorded by previous powers.

While the annihilation of Carthage and absorption of the Levant put an end to Phoenician civilization, vestiges of the Phoenicians still remained, particularly their language. In the former motherland, it appeared to have persisted until roughly the ninth century.[78] In the western Mediterranean, Punic culture survived in Sardinia at least 400 years after the Roman conquest, with the language still spoken and written.[70] In the former Carthaginian heartland of Africa, Punic could be written until the second or third centuries (albeit in Roman and Greek script) and remained spoken among commoners at least until the end of the fourth century.[70]

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A study led by Pierre Zalloua claimed that six subclades of Haplogroup J-M172 (J2)—thought to have originated between the Caucasus Mountains, Mesopotamia and the Levant—were of a "Phoenician signature" and present amongst the male populations of the "coastal Lebanese Phoenician Heartland" and wider Levant (the "Phoenician Periphery"), followed by other areas of historic Phoenician settlement, spanning Cyprus through to Morocco.[Note 2] This deliberate sequential sampling was an attempt to develop a methodology to link the documented historical expansion of a population with a particular geographic genetic pattern or patterns. The researchers suggested that the proposed genetic signature stemmed from "a common source of related lineages rooted in Lebanon".[81]

A follow up study by Zalloua in 2013 revealed that none of the religious communities tested in Lebanon carried significantly higher levels of the proposed "Phoenician signature" than the others. This suggested that genetic variation preceded religious variation and divisions and, by the time it became Phoenicia, "Lebanon already had well-differentiated communities with their own genetic peculiarities, but not significant differences, and religions came as layers of paint on top."[82] Another study in 2006 found evidence for the genetic persistence of Phoenicians in the Spanish island of Ibiza.[83]

In 2016, the skeleton of 2,500 year old Carthaginian man was excavated from a Punic tomb in Tunisia, and was found bearing the rare U5b2c1 maternal haplogroup, which appeared between 42,000–58,000 years ago. The lineage of this "Young Man of Byrsa" is believed to represent early gene flow from Iberia to the Maghreb,[84] and is the oldest European lineage discovered in Africa.[85] As the first example of an ancient Phoenician genome, it indicates the extent of Phoenician trade and seafaring, which occurred far earlier than previously believed.[86] Thus far, the genome has not been found in modern Lebanon.[87]

A series of studies of different populations in the Levant have generally concluded that Levantine Semites—such as Lebanese, Mizrahi Jews, Palestinians, and Syrians—are possibly the closest surviving relatives of ancient Phoenicians. One study found that the Lebanese share 93% of their DNA with Bronze Age Sidonians.[88][89][90][91]

Pliny the Elder remarked in the first century CE that the Phoenicians "invented trade". They were indeed the greatest traders of their time and owed much of their prosperity to commercial ties across the Mediterranean and possibly byond. At first, they traded mainly with the Greeks, particularly wood, slaves, glass and powdered Tyrian purple, a violet-purple dye used by the Greek elite to color garments. As the Greeks began trading and colonizing across the Mediterranean—possibly with the help of Phoenician knowledge and technology[92]—the two peoples appeared to have divided the sea among themselves: The Phoenicians settled and dominated the southern and western shores, while the Greeks were active along the northern shores. There was rarely conflict, except mainly in the Sicilian Wars of the sixth century BCE, and they otherwise maintained their respective spheres of influence.

To Egypt, where grapevines would not grow, the eighth century Phoenicians sold wine; the wine trade with Egypt is vividly documented by the shipwrecks located in 1997 in the open sea 50 kilometres (30 mi) west of Ascalon.[93] Pottery kilns at Tyre and Sarepta produced the large terracotta jars used for transporting wine. From Egypt, the Phoenicians bought Nubian gold. Additionally, great cedar logs were traded with lumber-poor Egypt for significant sums. Sometime between 1075 and 1060 BC an Egyptian envoy by the name of Wen-Amon visited Phoenicia and secured seven great cedar logs in exchange for a mixed cargo including "4 crocks and 1 kak-men of gold; 5 silver jugs; 10 garments of royal linen; 10 kherd of good linen from Upper Egypt; 500 rolls of finished papyrus; 500 cows' hides; 500 ropes; 20 bags of lentils and 30 baskets of fish." Those logs were then moved by ship from Phoenicia to Egypt.[94]

Phoenician sarcophagi found in Cádiz, Spain, thought to have been imported from the Phoenician homeland around Sidon.[95] Archaeological Museum of Cádiz.

From elsewhere, they obtained other materials, perhaps the most important being silver from (at least) Sardinia and the Iberian Peninsula. Tin was required which, when smelted with copper from Cyprus, created the durable metal alloy bronze. The archaeologist Glenn Markoe suggests that tin "may have been acquired from Galicia by way of the Atlantic coast or southern Spain; alternatively, it may have come from northern Europe (Cornwall or Brittany) via the Rhone valley and coastal Massalia".[96] Strabo states that there was a highly lucrative Phoenician trade with Britain for tin via the Cassiterides, whose location is unknown but may have been off the northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula.[97] Professor Timothy Champion, discussing Diodorus Siculus's comments on the tin trade, states that "Diodorus never actually says that the Phoenicians sailed to Cornwall. In fact, he says quite the opposite: the production of Cornish tin was in the hands of the natives of Cornwall, and its transport to the Mediterranean was organised by local merchants, by sea and then over land through France, well outside Phoenician control."[98]

The Phoenicians established commercial outposts throughout the Mediterranean, with Tyre leading the way in setting up colonies in Cyprus, Sardinia, Iberia, the Balearic Islands, Sicily, Malta, and North Africa. Colonization eventually passed the difficult Strait of Gibraltar, particularly the Atlantic coast of Iberia, and the Phoenicians may have explored the Canary Islands and the British Isles.[35]

Over the centuries, the most strategically important city state was Carthage, located in present day Tunisia. Ancient Gaelic mythologies attribute a Phoenician/Scythian influx to Ireland by a leader called Fenius Farsa. Some Phoenicians 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; Herodotus described a Phoenician expedition sent down the Red Sea by Egyptian pharaoh Necho II (c. 600 BC) that circumnavigated Africa and returned through the Pillars of Hercules (at the western mouth of the Mediterranean) three years later.

In the second millennium BCE, the Phoenicians had a flourishing trade as far south as the Horn of Africa, particularly with the Somali city-states of Mosylon, Opone, Malao, Sarapion, Mundus and Tabae.

Phoenician bowl with hunting scene (eighth century BCE). The clothing and hairstyle of the figures is Egyptian, while the subject matter of the central scene conforms with the Mesopotamian theme of combat between man and beast. Phoenician artisans frequently adapted the styles of neighboring cultures.

Phoenicia lacked natural resources of appreciable quantity or value, with the exception of its prized cedar wood. Timber was probably the earliest and most lucrative source of wealth, since it was vital for making ships and constructing larger houses and temples. Neither Egypt nor Mesopotamia had adequate sources of wood, and the earliest accounts from both civilizations concern obtaining Phoenician timber. An Assyrian relief dated to 700 BCE, depicts ships transporting what is most likely cedar wood from Lebanon to King Sargon II.[99] In the 11th century, an Egyptian priest recorded his mission to obtain cedar wood from Byblos. In exchange, the city received papyrus, a highly prized writing material invented by the Egyptians, which was then exported to the rest of the Mediterranean, including to the Greeks; hence the city's name byblos, which is Greek for papyrus (the native name was Jbail).[100]

Unable to rely solely on this relatively finite resource, which was difficult to obtain from the mountainous hinterlands, the Phoenicians developed a sophisticated industrial base that manufactured a variety of goods for both common and luxury use.[35] The Phoenicians developed or mastered techniques such as glass-making, engraved and chased metalwork (including bronze, iron, and gold), ivory carving, and woodwork. This is confirmed by accounts from the Israelites, Greeks, and Assyrians that describe Phoenician merchandise consisting of "decorated clothing and textiles, engraved and repoussé metalwork, and carved ivory and woodwork."[101]

Considered early pioneers in mass production, the Phoenicians were able to produce and sell a variety of items in bulk, from pendants to ceramics.[54] Pendants, beads, amulets, and trinkets, made of either multi-colored glass or faience shaped into different forms, have been found in tombs throughout the Mediterranean. Phoenicians became the leading source of glassware in antiquity, shipping thousands of flasks, beads, and other glass objects across the Mediterranean.[55] Excavations of colonies in Spain suggest they also developed or utilized the potter's wheel.[56] Carthage became a major center of shipbuilding, based on the discovery of ship parts bearing Punic script, which suggests the use of serial production to produce large numbers of ships quickly and cost-effectively.[57]

The Phoenician's exposure to a wide variety of cultures allowed them to manufacture goods for specific markets.[102] Charms and amulets have been found in the form of scarabs and other Egyptian symbols and deities. Homer's Iliad suggests Phoenician clothing and metal goods being were highly prized by the Greeks.[35] Specialized goods were designed specifically for wealthier clientele, including ivory reliefs and plaques, carved clam shells, sculpted amber, and finely detailed and painted ostrich eggs. As needed, the Phoenicians could substitute expensive materials with cheaper and more accessible kinds, such as carved bone instead of ivory or colored glass instead of precious stones.

The Book of Ezekiel, written in the late sixth century BCE, details how Phoenician wares were exchanged for a variety of goods, including "wheat, oil, and livestock and precious commodities, such as silver, iron, tin, lead, ivory, and ebony..."[101]

An Etruscan tomb (c. 350 B.C.) depicting a man wearing in an all-purple toga picta.

The most famed and coveted of Phoenician goods were fabrics and textiles dyed with Tyrian purple (named after the major Phoenician city state of Tyre), which formed a major part of Phoenician wealth. The name Phoenicia may have derived from the Greek root word for "purple," indicating the extent to which it was the Phoenician's most sought after trading good. The violet-purple dye derived from the hypobranchial gland of the Murex sea-snail, once profusely available in coastal waters of the eastern Mediterranean Sea but exploited to local extinction. Phoenicians may have discovered the dye as early as 1750 BCE.[103] 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 dye in Mogador, in present-day Morocco.

According to contemporaneous accounts by neighboring civilizations, Tyrian purple was highly prized because of its resistance to weathering and sunlight, which only made it brighter. The Phoenician's exclusive command over the production and trade of the dye, combined with the labor intensive extraction process, made it very expensive. Tyrian purple subsequently became associated with the upper classes and soon became a status symbol in several civilizations, most notably among the Romans. Assyrian records of tribute from the Phoenicians include "garments of brightly colored stuff" that most likely included Tyrian purple.[101] While the designs, ornamentation, and embroidery used in Phoenician textiles were apparently well regarded, the techniques and specific descriptions are unknown.[101]

The Phoenicians most likely learned mining techniques from the Egyptians.[104] Mining operations in the Phoenician homeland were limited, since iron was the only metal of any worth. Rawlinson believed that a major motivation for their initial expeditions was to find sources of mineral wealth.[104] The first large scale mining operations probably occured in Cyprus, which was the Phoenician's earliest and closest overseas territory to have mineral wealth, principally copper. Sardinia may have been colonized almost exclusively for its mineral resources; Phoenician settlements were concentrated in the southern and southwestern parts of the island, which were rich in copper and lead, and their cities were positioned relatively close to these sources. Piles of scorae and copper ingots, which appear to predate the subsequent Roman occupation, suggest the Phoenicians both mined and processed metals on the island.[104] The Iberian Peninsula, which saw significant Phoenician settlement, was known for being the richest source of numerous metals in antiquity, including gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead.[104] The output of these metals during the Phoenicians and Carthaginian occupation strongly implied large scale mining operations.[105] There is documentation that the Carthaginians relied on slave labor for mining, though it is unknown if the Phoenicians as a whole did so.[104]

The Phoenician homeland lacked sufficient arable land to support large scale agriculture. The most notable agricultural product was wine (known as cherem), which the Phoenicians helped propagate across the Mediterranean. The common grape vine may have been domesticated by the Phoenicians or Canaanites, although it most likely arrived from Transcaucasia (modern Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) via Mesopotamia or Black Sea trade routes. Vines grew readily in the coastal Levant, and the wines of Byblos were exported to Egypt as early as the Old Kingdom period (2686–2134 BCE). The wines of Tyre and Sidon were popular in the ancient Mediterranean, as evidenced by the discovery of shipwrecks still full of wine.[106] As the first great traders of wine, the Phoenicians apparently developed techniques to preserve it; to prevent oxidation, vessels were sealed with a layer of olive oil, pinewood, and resin, which may have inspired the Greek taste for retsina.

Wine played an important part in Phoenician religion, and the Greek god Dionysus (and by extension the Roman god Bacchus) may have originated in the wine rituals of Canaan. The great temple at Baalbek has many depictions of vines and wine drinking,[107][108] which could have influenced Jewish Passover Seder and the Christian Eucharist. Wine also featured heavily in Ugaritic poetry, such as the Rapiuma:

Day long they pour the wine, ... must-wine, fit for rulers. Wine, sweet and abundant, Select wine... The choice wine of Lebanon, Most nurtured by El ...[109]

The Phoenicians may also have taught winemaking to some of their trading partners. The ancient Iberians began producing wine from local grape varieties following their encounter with the Phoenicians. Iberian cultivars subsequently formed the basis of most western European wine.[110]

Carthage, which had more abundant and fertile land than other Phoenician settlements, practiced highly advanced and productive agriculture. The Carthaginians appeared to have made good use of their land, inventing hand-driven rotary mills in the sixth century BCE and horse mills in the fourth century BCE, while also adopting or improving upon iron ploughs, irrigation, crop rotation, and threshing machines. Carthage was subsequently an agricultural powerhouse of the Mediterranean, exporting olives, nuts, honey, wheat, and various fruits and vegetables, especially figs, pears, pomegranates, grates, and dates. Livestock were also raised, particularly mules, oxen, goats, and horses. Circumstantial evidence suggests Carthage also developed viticulture and wine production before the fourth century BCE, with raisin wine (passum) being especially popular, even among the otherwise hostile Romans.

Carthage produced one of history's earliest agronmists, known only as Mago of Carthage. Considered the "Father of Farming" by the Greeks and Romans, he produced a 28-book treatise on a wide variety of agricultural topics, ranging from beekeeping to how to determine the heath of cattle. His work was so well regarded that when Rome conquered and destroyed Carthage in 146 BCE, the Roman Senate decreed that his famous treatise on agriculture be translated into Latin. Unfortunately, Mago's original work is lost, and only fragments remain of its translations.

As a predominately maritime people, the Phoenicians were among the earliest and most influential pioneers in shipbuilding and design. Naval historian Richard Woodman described them as "the first true seafarers, founding the art of pilotage, cabotage, and navigation" and the inventors of "the first true ship, built of planks, capable of carrying a deadweight cargo and being sailed and steered."[111]

Phoenician ship carved on the face of a sarcophagus (second century A.D.)

As early as 1200 BCE, the Phoenicians were building large merchant ships. During the Bronze Age, they developed the keel, the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a ship, which was a significant advancement over the more common dugout vessels, which were limited in size, durability, maneuverability. Pegged mortise-and-tenon joints were developed to make Phoenician ships sturdier, and proved effective enough to serve as a standard template across the Mediterranean until late into the Roman Empire.

Other key ship components, such as the brailed rig sail, which allowed for greater maneuverability, and the crow's nest, which provided a vital lookout point, most likely originated in the Levant. Around 700 BCE, the Phoenicians were possibly the first to introduce the bireme, a large galley that had two tiers of oars staggered on either side of the vessel, which allowed for significantly greater propulsion.[112] An Assyrian account describes Phoenicians quickly evading capture with these ships.[113] The Carthaginians, who descended from the Phoenicians, had become a major power in the western Mediterranean largely because of their ability to quickly mass produce ships; parts were labeled with the Punic alphabet, indicating an industrial method of serial production.[114]

Assyrian warship, probably built by Phoenicians, with two rows of oars, in a relief from Nineveh (c. 700 B.C.)

In addition to ships, the Phoenicians developed or contributed several other maritime inventions. The amphora, a type of container used for both dry and liquid gods, was an ancient Phoenician invention that became a standardized measurement of volume for close to two thousand years. The remnants of self-cleaning artificial harbors have been discovered in Sidon, Tyre, Atlit, and Acre.[115] The Phoenicians relied on celestial navigation, and most likely discovered Polaris (the North Star), which enabled nighttime sailing and shorter open-sea routes; the Greeks subsequently called Polaris the "Phoenician Star." The wind rose, a precursor to the compass rose, was apparently of Phoenician, or at least Levantine, origin. The first example of admiralty law also appears in the Levant.[116] The Phoenicians continued to contribute to cartography into the Iron Age.[117] The Greeks had two names for Phoenician ships: Galloi (tubs) and hippoi (horses). The names are readily explained by depictions of Phoenician ships in the palaces of Assyrian kings from the seventh and eighth centuries BCE, which were tub shaped (galloi) and had horse heads on both ends. (hippoi). It is possible that the hippoi come from Phoenician connections with the Greek god Poseidon, equated with the Semitic-Levantine god Yam. In Oeconomicus, Greek historian and philosopher Xenophon, through the Greek character Ischomachus, describes in great detail the sophistication and craftsmanship of Phoenician ships:

I think that the best and most perfect arrangement of things that I ever saw was when I went to look at the great Phoenician sailing-vessel; for I saw the largest amount of naval tackling separately disposed in the smallest stowage possible. For a ship, as you well know, is brought to anchor, and again got under way, by a vast number of wooden implements and of ropes and sails the sea by means of a quantity of rigging, and is armed with a number of contrivances against hostile vessels, and carries about with it a large supply of weapons for the crew, and, besides, has all the utensils that a man keeps in his dwelling-house, for each of the messes. In addition, it is laden with a quantity of merchandise which the owner carries with him for his own profit. Now all the things which I have mentioned lay in a space not much bigger than a room which would conveniently hold ten beds. And I remarked that they severally lay in a way that they did not obstruct one another, and did not require anyone to search for them; and yet they were neither placed at random, nor entangled one with another, so as to consume time when they were suddenly wanted for use. Also, I found the captain's assistant, who is called 'the look-out man,' so well acquainted with the position of all the articles, and with the number of them, that even when at a distance he could tell where everything lay, and how many there were of each sort, just as anyone who has learnt to read can tell the number of letters in the name of Socrates and the proper place for each of them. Moreover, I saw this man, in his leisure moments, examining and testing everything that a vessel needs when at sea; so, as I was surprised, I asked him what he was about, whereupon he replied--'Stranger, I am looking to see, in case anything should happen, how everything is arranged in the ship, and whether anything is wanting, or is inconveniently situated; for when a storm arises at sea, it is not possible either to look for what is wanting, or to put to right what is arranged awkwardly.[118]

In 2014, a Phoenician trading ship was found near Gozo island in Malta. Dated 700 BC, it is one of the oldest wrecks in the Mediterranean and the oldest in the central Mediterranean.[119] The vessel was about 50 feet long and contained 50 amphorae full of wine and oil.[120]

The Tel Balawat gates (ninth century BCE), located at an Assyrian palace near Nimrud, portrays what are likely Phoenician ships coming to honor Shalmaneser III.[121][122]

Tomb of King Hiram I of Tyre, located in the village of Hanawai (Hanawiya or Hanawey) in southern Lebanon.

Despite a shared language, culture, and religion, the Phoenicians never constituted a single, cohesive political unit, and it is unknown whether they viewed themselves as a nation in the modern sense. The Phoenicians organized into city states that were fiercely independent in both domestic and foreign affairs. Formal alliances between city states were rare, and cooperation was generally informal, loosely aligned, and ad hoc. Unlike their Greek counterparts, warfare between Phoenician city states was rarer still, although rivalries did exist and coercion was sometimes employed. The relative power and influence of city states varied over time. Sidon was dominant between the 12th and 11th centuries BCE, and exercised some influence over its neighbors, but by the tenth century BCE, Tyre rose to become the most powerful city.

Phoenician society was highly stratified and predominantly monarchical, at least in its earlier stages. Hereditary kings usually governed with absolute power and had responsibilities over civic, commercial, and religious affairs. They often relied upon senior officials from the noble and merchant classes. The priesthood was a distinct class, though usually of royal lineage or from leading merchant families. The king was considered a representative of the gods and carried many obligations and duties with respect to religious processions and rituals. Priests were thus highly influential and often became intertwined with the royal family.

Unlike their Greek and Egyptian counterparts, Phoenician kings did not commemorate their reign through sculptures or monuments. Their wealth, power, and accomplishments were usually conveyed through ornate sarcophaguses, like that of Ahiram of Byblos. The Phoenicians kept fairly meticulous records of their rulers in the form of tomb inscriptions, which are among the few primary sources still available. Historians have been able to determine a clear line of succession over centuries for some city-states, notably Byblos and Tyre.

Not all Phoenician city states were absolute monarchies, and their political systems appeared to have changed and evolved with time and circumstances. British classicist Simon Hornblower notes that the Phoenicians "had something comparable to the self-regulating city-state or polis (and) the Greek political arrangements we most admire."[133] As early as the 14th century BCE, Egyptian envoys reported that Phoenician assemblies "might act on their own behalf"; when the city state of Irqata declared its allegiance to the pharaoh, it did so as "Irqata and its elders", without reference to a king.[134] Similarly, the pharaoh is addressed by "the citizens of Tunip," the "people from Gubla (Byblos)," and "the men of Arwad."[134] An 11th century Egyptian report found that while the king of Byblos managed trade and religious life, state affairs were handled with advice by an "assembly".

In the sixth century BCE, during the period of Babylonian rule, Tyre briefly adopted a system of government consisting of a pair of judges, known as sufetes, who were chosen from the most powerful noble families and served short terms.[60] One scholar characterized Tyre during this period as "a republic headed by elective magistrates".[59]

Depiction of Phoenician sailors and merchants (19th century). The importance of trade to the Phoenician economy evidently led to a gradual sharing of power between the king and assemblies of merchant families.

By the seventh century BCE, many city states had circumscribed the power of their kings, who now shared some degree of power with the merchant families and sailors who were key to the state's prosperity. Kings increasingly required the support of different stakeholders, and there is evidence that the councils and assemblies that had previously played an advisory role had accumulated some power over the state. The Greek historian Arrian reported that senior officials were sometimes called upon to govern when the king was predisposed, and accounts from other outsiders claimed that councils were the true rulers, such that they could impose their decisions on the king during emergencies. In effect, many Phoenician city states appeared to be plutocracies ruled by the wealthiest families.[135]

In the fourth century BCE, when the armies of Alexander the Great approached Tyre, they were met not by its king but by "representatives" of the "commonwealth" or the "community." In a diplomatic exchange, it was "the people" of Tyre who passed a decree in response. Similarly, historians at the time describe the "inhabitants" or "the people" of Sidon making peace with Alexander, with the king surrendering after being "prompted by his citizens; wishes rather than his own."[60] When the Macedonians sought to appoint a new king over Sidon, the citizens nominated their own candidate.[60]

According to Stephen Stockwell, it is clear that while the Phoenicians initially had strong monarchies, from the 15th to the fourth century BCE, their "leaders were advised by councils or assemblies which gradually took greater power" and led to weaker kings being the norm. Stockwell concludes that "the active role that the assembly took on the few occasions we see it in operation suggests that the Phoenicians had something more than an autocracy or even oligarchy and that it earns categorization as a proto-democracy, at least, if not full recognition as a democracy."[136]

In light of these accounts, some scholars have argued that the Phoenicians had at least experimented with semi-democratic forms of government, and possibly even influenced the development of democracy in Athens.[137]

Carthaginian republic

Far more is known about the government of Carthage than of any other Phoenician city state, perhaps owing to its proximity to Rome and its prominence as an empire (since most information comes from Greco-Roman accounts). Established by settlers from Tyre in the early ninth century BCE, Carthage became a powerful, independent city state around 650 BCE. Like its founder, it appeared to have been ruled by two sufetes.[138][Note 3] In the late fifth century BCE, Carthage developed into a sophisticated oligarchic republic, characterized by a system of checks and balances and a degree of representation and public accountability.[139]

There was a supreme council of aristocratic families, akin to a Roman "Senate" or a Spartan gerousia (council of elders), which had a wide range of powers, including over the treasury and foreign affairs.[140] The office of suffete was now more similar to a modern day executive presidency; while still drawn from the wealthiest and most powerful families, each would now be elected, either by the supreme council or a popular assembly.[141][142][Note 4] The suffetes no longer had absolute power but ruled through collegiality, similar to Roman consuls. They exercised judicial and executive authority, while military affairs were left to generals they appointed. A number of junior officials and special commissioners oversaw various aspects of governance, such as public works, tax collection, and the administration of the state treasury.[141][143]

There was a judicial body known as the Tribunal of the Hundred and Four, which Aristotle compared to the ephors of Sparta. They acted as a kind of higher constitutional court and oversaw the actions of generals and other officials.[138] Panels of special commissioners, called pentarchies, were appointed from the Tribunal to handle various state affairs.[141]

The firm control of the oligarchs was balanced by democratic elements, including elected legislators, trade unions, and popular assemblies.[144] According to Aristotle, if the Suffets and the supreme council failed to reach a unanimous decision on a matter of state, the Carthaginian popular assembly had the decisive vote. Even Greek states with similar constitutions, such as Sparta and Crete, did not have that level of popular representation. Polybius seems to confirm this, claiming that during the Punic Wars, the Carthaginian public held more sway over the government than the people of Rome held over theirs.[145]

Eratosthenes, head of the Library of Alexandria, noted that the Greeks had been wrong to describe all non-Greeks as barbarians, since the Carthaginians as well as the Romans had constitutions. Aristotle also knew and discussed the constitution of Carthage, drawing many similarities with that of Sparta.[146] Several historians have claimed that the Spartans may have been inspired by the Carthaginians.[147]

After the king and council, the two most important political positions in virtually every Phoenician city state were that of governor and commander of the army. Details regarding the duties of these offices are sparse, but it is known that the governor was responsible for collecting taxes, implementing decrees, supervising judges, and ensuring the administration of law and justice.[41] As warfare was rare among the mostly mercantile Phoenicians, the commander of the army was generally responsible for ensuring the defense and security of the city-state and its hinterlands.

Stela from Tyre with Phoenician inscriptions (c. fourth century BCE). National Museum of Beirut.

The Phoenicians had a system of courts and judges that resolved disputes and punished crimes based on a semi-codified body of law and traditional. Laws were implemented by the state and were the responsibility of the ruler and certain designated officials. Like other Levantine societies, laws were harsh and biased, reflecting the social stratification of society. The murder of a commoner was treated as less serious than of a nobleman, and the upper classes had the most rights; the wealthy often escaped punishment by paying a fine. Free men of any class could represent themselves in court and had more rights than women and children, while slaves had no rights at all. Men could often deflect punishment to their wives, children, or slaves, even having them serve his sentence in his place. Lawyers eventually emerged as a profession for those who could not plead their own case.

As in neighboring societies at the time, penalties for crimes were often severe, usually reflecting the principle of reciprocity; for example, the killing of a slave would be punished by having the offender's slave killed. Imprisonment was rare, with fines, exile, punishment, and execution were main remedies.

As with most aspects of Phoenician civilization, there are few records of their military or approach to warfare. Compared to most of their neighbors, the Phoenicians generally had little interest in conquest and were a relatively peaceful people.[148] The wealth and prosperity of all their city states rested on foreign trade, which required good relations and a certain degree of mutual trust. They also lacked the territory and agricultural base to support a population large enough for anything other than city defense; each city had an army commander in charge of a defensive garrison, but the specifics of the role, or of city defense, are unknown.

More is known about the military of Carthage, though it is uncertain whether the Carthaginian military was reflective of general Phoenician practice, since they were the only Phoenician polity to establish a sprawling, multi-ethnic empire.[149] Carthage's military traditions generally reflected Phoenician roots combined with native North African and Greek influences. Like other Phoenicians, the Carthaginians were largely a maritime and trading power, and did not maintain a large, permanent, standing army. Polybius wrote that they were naturally "superior at sea both in efficiency and equipment, because seamanship has long been their national craft" and they were "more exercised in maritime affairs than any other people"[150] By contrast, he claims the Carthaginian infantry was "neglected" and its cavalry given "slight attention".[150]

At its peak, Carthage's navy comprised 300 to 350 warships. In the First Punic War, the Romans, who previously lacked experience in naval warfare, persevered partly by reverse-engineering captured Carthaginian ships. In the Third Punic War, Polybius describes a tactical innovation of the Carthaginians, who now faced a larger Roman force: They augmented their few triremes with small vessels that carried hooks (to attack the oars) and fire (to attack the hulls). This allowed them to resist far longer despite being outnumbered.

As far as land warfare, Livy claims that Carthage had at least 40,000 professional soldiers prior to the Third Punic War. Otherwise, it relied heavily on a multinational force of foreign mercenaries and subjects, including ethnic Libyans and Numidians from its surrounding territory, and Celts, Balearics, Iberians from its overseas territories. Its cavalry force was formidable, composed of light Numidian cavalry and mounted North African elephants. Slingers, armed with straps of cloth to toss small stones at high speeds, were also fielded.

Unlike its army, the Carthaginian navy was drawn mostly from Phoenician citizenry. Perhaps reflecting historic Phoenician affinity for the sea, the navy was considered a stable and prestigious profession that offered financial security. This helped to contribute to the city's political stability, as poor and unemployed citizens could find an outlet for upward mobility. The reputation and quality of the Carthaginian navy, conceded even by their Roman rivals, implies that their sailors were well trained even during peacetime.

The Phoenician language is classified in the Canaanite subgroup of Northwest Semitic. Its later descendant in northwest Africa is termed Punic, which evolved in Phoenician colonies around the western Mediterranean, beginning in the ninth century BCE. Punic Phoenician was still spoken in the fifth century CE; St. Augustine, who grew up in Northwest Africa, was familiar with the language.

Sarcophagus of Ahiram, which bears the oldest inscription of the Phoenician alphabet. National Museum of Beirut

The Phoenician alphabet was one of the first (consonantal) alphabets with a strict and consistent form. It is assumed that it adopted its simplified linear characters from an as-yet unattested early pictorial Semitic alphabet developed some centuries earlier in the southern Levant.[151][152] It is likely that the precursor to the Phoenician alphabet was of Egyptian origin, since Middle Bronze Age alphabets from the southern Levant resemble Egyptian hieroglyphs or an early alphabetic writing system found at Wadi-el-Hol in central Egypt.[153][154] In addition to being preceded by proto-Canaanite, the Phoenician alphabet was also preceded by an alphabetic script of Mesopotamian origin called Ugaritic. The development of the Phoenician alphabet from the Proto-Canaanite coincided with the arrival the Iron Age in the 11th century BCE.[155] This alphabet has been termed an abjad — that is, a script that contains no vowels — from the first four letters aleph, beth, gimel, and daleth.

The oldest known representation of the Phoenician alphabet is inscribed on the sarcophagus of King Ahiram of Byblos, dating to the 11th century BCE at the latest. Phoenician inscriptions are found in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Cyprus and other locations, as late as the early centuries of the Christian Era. The Phoenicians are credited with spreading the Phoenician alphabet throughout the Mediterranean world.[156] Phoenician traders disseminated this writing system along Aegean trade routes, to Crete and Greece. The Greeks adopted the majority of these letters but changed some of them to vowels which were significant in their language, giving rise to the first true alphabet.

Phoenician art was largely centered on ornamental objects, particularly jewelry, pottery, glassware, and reliefs.[157] Large sculptures were rare, although figurines were more common, and while typically crude, depicted individualized features. Phoenician art generally lacked unique characteristics that might distinguish it from its contemporaries; it was highly influenced by the many cultures the Phoenicians traded and interacted with, primarily Egypt, Greece and Assyria. These influences were sometimes reflected in specific categories of art; Greek inspiration was particularly pronounced in pottery, while Egyptian styles were most reflected in ivory work.[157] 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.[158] An 1879 article from The New York Times described Phoenician approach to art as follows:

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 Tyrian Melkarth, and then the Herakles of Hellas.

The Byblos figurines, Phoenician statuettes from Byblos (19-18th century BCE). National Museum of Beirut.

Over time, Egyptian artistic influence became especially prominent, often reflecting the evolving political and economic relations between the two civilization.[159] For example, the famed Ahiram sarcophagus shows little influence from the concurrent 20th and 21st dynasties of Egypt—instead bearing artistic conventions from northern Syria[160]—while subsequent art had Egyptian motifs that reflected the resumption of Phoenician ties with the 22nd Dynasty of Egypt.[161]

Phoenician art also differed from its contemporaries in its continuance of Bronze Age conventions well into the Iron Age, such as terracotta masks.[162] Based on contemporary accounts, Phoenician artisans were known for their skill with wood, ivory, bronze, and textiles.[159] In the Old Testament, a craftsman from Tyre was commissioned to build and decorate the legendary Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, which "presupposes a well-developed and highly respected craft industry in Phoenicia by the mid-tenth century BC".[160][163] The Iliad mentions the embroidered robes of Priam’s wife, Hecabe, as "the work of Sidonian women"[164] and describes a mixing bowl of chased silver as "a masterpiece of Sidonian craftsmanship."[165] The Assyrians appeared to have valued Phoenician ivory work in particular, collecting vast quantities in their palaces.[166]

The Phoenician artistic tradition appears to have been indelibly tied to its people's commercial interests.[101] The second century historian Philo of Byblos noted that the Phoenician god of craftsmanship, Chousor, was also the inventor of the raft and the first sailor. There are Greek accounts describing the arrival of Phoenician traders bearing "trinkets and baubles."[101] The Phoenicians appeared to have used their knowledge of foreign artistic styles to craft goods that would specifically appeal to certain trading partners, distinguishing not only different cultures but even socioeconomic classes.[101] This is also evidenced in the broad distribution of Phoenician goods, which have been found as west as Spain and Morocco, as north as Russia and as east as Iraq. In fact, much of what is known about Phoenician art is based from excavations outside of Phoenicia proper.

Female figurines from Tyre. (c.1000-550 B.C.) National Museum of Beirut.

As was common in antiquity, Phoenician women had few rights and were considered the property of their fathers or husbands. Nonetheless, compared to their counterparts in most of the Mediterranean and western Asia, they appeared to have enjoyed some freedoms.[167] They took part in public events and religious processions; depictions of banquets show them casually sitting or reclining with men, dancing, and playing music. Ceremonies to Baal, the god of fertility, included drunken revelry and promiscuity, which would by taboo in more gender stratified societies.[168] In most contexts, however, women were expected to dress and behave more modestly than men; female figures are almost always portrayed as draped from head to feet, with the arms sometimes covered as well.

Women could engage in trade and other business activities, often working as laborers, construction workers, farmers, weavers, and even minors. However, they could never be in a formal position of authority over men. As in most civilizations at the time, the woman's primary role was to raise children and manage the household.

Although they rarely had political power, women took part in community affairs and had some voice in the popular assembles that began to emerge in some city states.[169] At least one woman, Unmiashtart, is recorded to have ruled Sidon in the fifth century BCE.[41] The two most famous Phoenician women are political figures: Jezebel, portrayed in the Bible as the assertive princess of Sidon, and Dido, the semi-legendary founder and first queen of Carthage.

Cadmus fighting the dragon. Side A of a black-figured amphora from Eubœa (c. 560 – 550 BC.)Louvre.

Phoenician culture had a major effect on the cultures of the Mediterranean basin in the early Iron Age, and had been affected by them in turn. In the Phoenician religion, the tripartite division between Baal, Mot and Yam seems to have influenced the Greek division between Zeus, Hades and Poseidon.[241] Various Mediterranean ports during the classical period hosted Phoenician temples sacred to Melkart, which were recognized as sacred to the Greek Herakles. 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 merchants, who re-established long distance trade between Egypt and Mesopotamia in the 10th century BCE. The Phoenicians served as intermediaries between the disparate civilizations that spanned the Mediterranean and Near East, facilitating the exchange of not only goods, but knowledge, art, and religious traditions. Their expansive, centuries-long network across the Mediterranean is credited with laying the foundations of an economically and culturally cohesive Mediterranean, which would be continued by the Greeks and especially the Romans.[242]

As the first known explorers of the Mediterranean, countries and cities around the Mediterranean region that derive their names from the Phoenician language.

• Altiburus, Algeria (southwest of Carthage) From Phoenician: Iltabrush
• Bosa, Sardinia: From Phoenician Bis'en
• Cádiz, Spain: From Phoenician Gadir
• Dhali (Idalion), Cyprus: From Phoenician Idyal
• Erice, Sicily: From Phoenician Eryx
• Malta: From Phoenician Malat ("refuge")
• Marion,Cyprus: From Phoenician Aymar
• Oued Dekri, Algeria: From Phoenician: Idiqra
• Spain: From Phoenician: I-Shaphan, meaning "Land of Hyraxes". Later Latinized as Hispania
• Carthage, Tunisia: From Phoenician Qart Hadašt meaning "New City"
• Cartagena, Spain ((Greek: Νέα Καρχηδόνα; Latin: Carthago Nova; Spanish: Cartagena)): A colony of Carthage, which also gave rise to Cartagena, Colombia

The oldest record of the Phoenicians comes from Egyptian sources. Though initially vassals of Egypt during the Bronze Age, in the centuries following the Late Bronze Age collapse, the Phoenicians usually maintained relatively amicable relations with the Egyptians, though this varied by dynasty. This is best illustrated by the existence of a Phoenician settlement and temple in the capital city of Memphis, which included a temple, as the Egyptians were generally intolerant of foreigners.[243] The Phoenicians were also heavily influenced by Egyptian culture, particularly with respect to artistic conventions and motifs.[35]

Phoenicia's ties with the Greece appeared to have began with the Minoan civilization on Crete (1950-1450 BCE), which together with the Mycenaean civilization (1600–1100 BCE) is considered the progenitor of classical Greece. Fernand Braudel identified Minoan Crete as a bridge between East and West, isolated from the "[barbaric] Aegean world" and thus forced to "[look] towards Cyprus, Ugarit, and Byblos."[244] Archaeological research suggests that the Minoans gradually imported Near Eastern goods, artistic styles, and customs through the Phoenicians, who by the third millennium BCE had become major sea traders and the principal bearers of Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and other Eastern cultures.

Between the 20th and 15th centuries BCE, the Phoenicians traded with the Minoans until the latter's collapse.[245] At the turn of the 13th century BCE, towards the end of the Bronze Age, there was trade between the Canaanites (early Phoenicians), Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece. The Ulu Bulurun shipwreck discovered off the coast of Turkey contained Canaanite storage pottery along with pottery from Cyprus and Greece. There were also Greek accounts of Phoenician traders arriving to port with "trinkets and baubles."[101] The Greeks regarded the Phoenicians as skilled metal workers, and in the eighth century BCE sent envoys to the Levant for metal goods.[246]

Bowl with mythological scenes, a sphinx frieze and the representation of a king vanquishing his enemies; Electrum, Cypro-Archaic I, 8th–7th centuries BC, from Idalion, Cyprus.

The height of Phoenician trade was roughly between the seventh and eighth centuries BCE. There is a dispersal of imports (ceramic, stone, and faience) from the Levant that traces a Phoenician commercial channel to the Greek mainland via the central Aegean.[246] Athens shows little evidence of this trade with few eastern imports, but other Greek coastal cities are rich with eastern imports that evidence this trade.[247]

Al Mina, located in Syria, is emblematic of the trade that took place between the Greeks and the Phoenicians.[248] It is theorized that by the eighth century BCE, Euboean traders established a commercial enterprise with the Levantine coast, using Al Mina as a base for this enterprise; however, the veracity of these claims remains disputed.[247] The Phoenicians even got their name from the Greeks due to their trade: Their most famous trading product was purple dye, the Greek word for which is phoenos.[249]

The Phoenician phonetic alphabet was adopted and modified by the Greeks probably in the 8th century BC (around the time of the hippoi depictions). This most likely did not come from a single instance but from a culmination of commercial exchange.[249] This suggests a prior a relationship between the Greeks and the Phoenicians. Though there is no evidence to support the suggestion, it is probable that during this period there was also a passing of religious ideas.[250] The legendary Phoenician hero Cadmus is credited with bringing the alphabet to Greece, but it is more plausible that it was brought by Phoenician emigrants to Crete,[251] whence it gradually diffused northwards.

Several prominent figures in Greek myths and legends are Phoenician. In both Phoenician and Greek mythologies, Cadmus is a Phoenician prince, the son of king Agenor of Tyre. Herodotus credits Cadmus for bringing the Phoenician alphabet to Greece[252] approximately sixteen hundred years before Herodotus' time, or around 2000 BCE,[253] as he attested:

These Phoenicians who came with Cadmus and of whom the Gephyraeans were a part brought with them to Hellas, among many other kinds of learning, the alphabet, which had been unknown before this, I think, to the Greeks. As time went on the sound and the form of the letters were changed.

— Herodotus, The Histories, V.58

In addition to introducing the Greeks to the alphabet, Cadmus was the first of the Greek heroes—and along with Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero before the days of Heracles—as well as the legendary founder of Thebes, one of the most powerful and influential classical Greek city-states. Heracles was inspired by the Phoenician god Melqart, sometimes called the Tyrian Heracles,[254] who was equally revered by both peoples. An inscription in Malta, made by Tyrians between the second and third centuries BCE, was dedicated to Herakles/Melqart in both Phoenician and Greek.

Stela from Amrit with Melqart on his lion (c. 550 BCE). The patron god of Tyre, and a major deity in the Phoenician and Punic religions, he was typically identified by the Greeks as Heracles and was even called the "Tyrian Heracles""

Another prominent Phoenician is Europa, one of the most famous consorts of Zeus and the mother of King Minos of Crete, sometimes described as the sister of Cadmus. They have several other siblings that played prominent roles in Greek mythology, and in some incarnations are related to Poseidon. The integration of Phoenician figures into Greek mythology, often in a heroic or privileged position, suggests some degree of Greek affinity towards Phoenicians.

Due to the number of deities similar to the "Lord of the Sea" in classical mythology, there have been many difficulties attributing one specific name to the sea deity or the "Poseidon–Neptune" figure of Phoenician religion. While such a figure is attested by authorities and inscriptions as being revered by merchants and sailors, a singular name has yet to be found.[255] However, there are names for sea gods from individual city states. Yamm is the god of the sea of Ugarit, an ancient city state north to Phoenicia. Some scholars have identified Yamm with Poseidon, although he has also been identified with Pontus.[256] Yamm is in cosmic conflict with Baal, the storm god of Ugaritic myth who is often associated with Zeus. While Yamm is nominally the god of the sea, he truly represents vast chaos,[257] in direct opposition to the order represented by Baal. In Ugaritic myth, Baal overcomes Yamm's power, in some versions killing him, while in others, the goddess Athtart intervenes to save Yamm but advise that he remain in his own province for being defeated. Yamm is the brother of the god of death, Mot, whose Greek equivalent, Hades, is the brother of Poseidon.[258]

The Greeks had varying dispositions to the Phoenicians, generally expressing an ambivalence for their merchantlistic culture. In his Republic, Greek philosopher Plato contends that the love of money is a tendency of the soul found amongst Phoenicians and Egyptians, which distinguishes them from the Greeks who tend towards the love of knowledge.[259] In his Laws, he asserts that this love of money has led the Phoenicians and Egyptians to develop skills in cunning and trickery (πανουργία) rather than wisdom (σοφία).[260]

Such a view is expressed in Homer's Odyssey, where the Phoenicians are described as skilled sailors and artisans, but also "greedy knaves".[261] By contrast, the Iliad conveys apparent Greek affinity for Phoenician craftsmanship. Hecuba, in seeking her best gown as a sacrifice to the goddess Athena, chooses one embroidered by "Sidonian" women; Achilles offers the fastest man in a race a Sidonian bowl as a prize.[136] Xenophon speaks favorably about the sophistication and orderliness of Phoenician ships, while Aristotle regards Carthage as a model for a merit based society: "Carthage, as is clear, supplied the principal criterion by which to measure success."[262]

In his Histories, Herodotus gives the Persian and Greek accounts of a series of kidnappings that led to the Trojan War. While docked at a trading port in Argos, the Phoenicians kidnapped a group of Greek women including King Idacus's daughter, Io. The Greeks then retaliated by kidnapping Europa, a Phoenician, and later Medea. The Greeks refused to compensate the Phoenicians for the additional abduction, a fact which Paris used a generation later to justify the abduction of Helen from Argos. The Greeks then retaliated by waging war against Troy. After Troy's fall, the Persians considered the Greeks to be their enemy.[263]

Notwithstanding these mixed views, centuries of otherwise amicable cultural and commercial ties between the Phoenicians and Greeks—with commonalities such as a maritime tradition, self governing city states, and mythological figures—meant the two peoples were sometimes regarded as "relatives".[264]

Despite being notoriously belligerent towards their neighbors, the Israelites apparently took exception to the Phoenicians, especially those of Tyre. King Hiram of Tyre is credited with helping build Solomon's Temple, providing materials and skilled craftsmen; in exchange, Solomon paid tribute and even ceded some territory.[265] As Rawlinson notes, good relations the Jewish Bible describes many more examples of cordial if not warm relations between the peoples:

Hiram’s friendly dealings with David and Solomon are well known; but the continued alliance between the Phoenicians and the Israelites has attracted less attention. Solomon took wives from Phoenicia; Ahab married the daughter of Ithobalus, king of Sidon; Phoenicia furnished timber for the second Temple; Isaiah wound up his prophecy against Tyre with a consolation; our Lord found faith in the Syro-Phoenician woman; in the days of Herod Agrippa, Tyre and Sidon still desired peace with Judæa, "because their country was nourished by the king’s country."

Such amiable relations were also remarkable given that the Phoenicians were pagan and the Israelites were staunch monotheists.

Hiram I, King of Tyre, shows the plans for the First Temple of the Israelites to King Solomon. The Phoenicians are referenced over 100 times in the Hebrew Bible (J.J. Scheuchzer).

Hiram (also spelled Huran), the king of Tyre, is associated with the building of Solomon's temple. 1 Kings 5:1 says: "Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the place of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David." 2 Chronicles 2:14 says: "The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father [was] a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold, silver, brass, iron, stone, timber, royal purple (from the Murex), blue, and in crimson, and fine linens; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him ..."

In Masonic lore, Hiram Abiff is the architect of Solomon's temple and a central figure Masonic rituals and mythology.

Later, reforming prophets railed against the practice of drawing royal wives from among foreigners: Elijah execrated Jezebel, the princess from Tyre in South Lebanon who became a consort of King Ahab and introduced the worship of her god Baal.

Long after Phoenician culture flourished, or Phoenicia existed as a political entity, Hellenized natives of the region where Canaanites still lived were referred to as "Syro-Phoenicians", as in the Gospel of Mark: "The woman was a Greek, a Syro-phoenician by birth".[266]

The word Bible itself derives from Greek biblion, which means "book" and either derives from, or is the (perhaps ultimately Egyptian) origin of Byblos, the Greek name of the Phoenician city Gebal.[267]

Tarshish (Hebrew: תַּרְשִׁישׁ‎) occurs in the Hebrew Bible with several uncertain meanings, though the most common interpretation is that it was a place, probably a city or country, that is far from the Land of Israel by sea where trade occurs with Israel and Phoenicia. It is where the Phoenicians reportedly obtained different metals, particularly silver, during the reign of Solomon. The Septuagint, the Vulgate and the Targum of Jonathan render Tarshish as Carthage, but other biblical commentators read it as Tartessos, perhaps in Iberia.[268][269] The discovery of the Nora Stone and Nora Fragment on Sardinia suggests this might be the loation, as the former mentions Tarshish in its Phoenician inscription. The 2003 discovery of the Cisjordan Corpus in the Levant, the largest collection of hacksilver in the contemporary Mediterranean, lends further support to this theory. Dated between 1200 and 800 BCE,[270] the objects in these Phoenician hoards display lead isotope ratios that match ores in Sardinia and Spain.[40] This metallic evidence agrees with the biblical account of Tarshish supplying Solomon with silver via Phoenicia. Assyrian records indicate Tarshish was an island, while a poetic construction of Psalm 72 points to its identity as a large island in the west, likely the island of Sardinia.[40]