The Phoenicians - Traders of Antiquity
The island city of Tyre and the coastal city of Sidon were the most powerful cities of Phoenicia. They also owned important religious cities such as Byblos and Baalbek. Phoenician city-states began to be established around 3200 BC and took their final form along the coastline around 2750 BC. Since 1500-332 BC, Phoenicia developed considerably in sea trade and manufacturing center; shipbuilding, glass making, paint making; they reached an impressive level in the production of luxury and public goods.
Purple Folk
The purple dye produced and used in Tire for the Mesopotamian royal family's clothes gave Phoenicia the name we know today (from the Greek Phoinekes used for the people of Tyre), and also by the Phoenicians, the Greeks to call it the "Purple Folk" (the Greek historian Herodotus). discourse); The reason is that the color remains like a stain on the skin of the workers. Herodotus pointed to Phoenicia as the birthplace of the alphabet. He attributed the arrival of the alphabet to the Greeks to the Phoenician Cadmus (before the 8th century BC), and stated that the Greeks did not have an alphabet before Cadmus. The Phoenician alphabet, on the other hand, is the ancestor of the alphabet used by most of today's western civilizations, and the alphabet that began to be used in Byblos also gave its name to the Bible (from the Greek "Ta Biblia" meaning "books"). Byblos was a major exporter of papyrus ('bublos' in Greek), the paper used for writing in Ancient Egypt and the Greeks. In addition, many ancient Greek gods were taken from the Phoenicians; Some stories about the Phoenician gods Baal and Yamm and the Greek gods Zeus and Poseidon are thought to have indisputable similarities. On the other hand, it is notable that the war between God and Satan, associated with the last part of the New Testament, is a later version of the war between the Phoenician Baal and Yamm, in which the same myths are used in both cases.
The relationship between the Phoenician city-states flourished with maritime trade between 1522 and 322 BC, when it was conquered by Alexander the Great, and after his death, the region witnessed warfare between those who wanted to replace Alexander. Artifacts in the region have been found in cities as far away as England and in nearby cities such as Egypt, and it is a fact that the value of the luxury goods traded by the Phoenicians is also very valuable for the peoples they trade with.
The Phoenicians were primarily known as the ancient world's best shipbuilders and sailors who could navigate the turbulent waters of the Mediterranean. Shipbuilding was perfected at Byblos, and it was here that the inclined ships (Trireme) were built for the first time.But Phoenician sailors were also known to sail to the shores of England and Mesopotamia.
Phoenicia was spared the military invasions that other parts of the Near East suffered because their goods were so valuable. Mostly, the great military powers of the period preferred to leave the Phoenicians alone with trade. But this did not prevent them from looking at the Phoenicians with envy. The Phoenicians are referred to as "princes of the sea" in the passage of Ezekiel, where the Bible says that the prophet predicted the destruction of Tire and would be happy about it.
The purple color became the standard adornment of royalty from Mesopotamia to Egypt and then to the Roman Empire. The reason for all this success was the competition between the city-states of the region, the skill of the seafarers in transportation, and the high art that the artisans used in making products. This rivalry was rising between these two great Phoenician cities, especially between Sidon and Sur, increasingly controversial. Since these two cities traded together with Byblos merchants, they also carried the cultural heritage and social norms of these nations between each other. Due to their role in cultural transmission, the Phoenicians are called "Merchants of the Ancient World" by many scholars and historians.
In 334 BC, Alexander the Great first captured Baalbek (renamed Heliopolis). Later, Alexander marched to conquer the cities of Sidon and Byblos in 332 BC. After the fall of the Tire, other city-states followed, besieged by Alexander, until the Phoenician Empire collapsed and the region Hellenized. By AD 64, Rome annexed the area, from AD 15 the area was colonized. The Temple of Jupiter Baal, the most famous religious building and pilgrimage site of the region, was well preserved. Its remains still stand today. Phoenician's greatest legacy is undoubtedly the alphabet, but their contribution to the arts and popularization of ancient culture has been equally impressive.
