Phoenicians and the Mediterranean
Who are the Phoenicians?
Ancient Phonicia
Phoenician trade routes
,Introduction
• Impact and Lgeacy of Phoenicians
o The Phoenicians are a clever branch of the human race and exceptional in regard
to the obligations of war and peace, and they made Phoenicia famous. They
devised the alphabet, literary pursuits, and other arts too; they figured out how to
win access to the sea by ship, how to conduct battle with a navy, and how to rule
over other peoples; and they developed the power of sovereignty and the art of
battle. - Pomponius Mela, De Situ Orbis (Description of the World), 1st Century
CE
• Why are the Phoenicians so elusive
o Phoenicians remain on periphery of modern conceptions of the ancient world
▪ History is written by the victors and there is a lack of surviving written
sources
• Phoenician Literature and Archives
o I wish now therefore to come to records written by the Phoenicians concerning
our people; I shall produce testimony from them. There are records among the
Tyrians from many years, written and preserved at state expense very carefully,
concerning events among themselves and transactions between themselves and
others. - Josephus, Against Apion, 1.106-107 (1st century CE)
• Phoenician Language
,Phoenician Inscriptions
• 10, 000 inscriptions in multiple dialects from across the Mediterranean
• Written using a script that developed out of proto-sinatic
• Latest know Phoenician inscription in East dates to 25 BCE (replaced with Greek)
• Phoenician inscriptions (Punic dialect) until 500 CE in West (using Latin script later on)
4th Centaury BCE from Kition, Cyprus British Museum
• This pillar which Arish, chief agent, erected to his father Parz, chief agent, son of
Menahem, chief agent, son of Mashal, chief agent, son of Parsi, chief agent and to his
mother, Shemzebaal, daughter of Baalrem, son of Melekyaton, son of Azar, chief
inspector(?) at their resting place for ever
, • Inscriptions are limited in terms of what happened and when
o The inscriptions are short they usually just give titles, gods and names of people
o Funerary and religion
• Need to turn to the testimony of other people in order to reconstruct history and cultures
o You see them in other ancient words such as the Greeks, Biblical texts, Syrians
and the Egyptians
▪ Provide details about some of their history and characters
▪ But these are from the perspectives of other people
Reconstructing Phoenician History and Culture
Primary Sources
• Written evidence
o Greek and Latin literature
o Hebrew Bible and Greek New Testament
o Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions / annals
o Egyptian literature & inscriptions
o Phoenician (& ‘Punic’) inscriptions
o Other West Semitic language inscriptions (Ugaritic)
• Archaeological evidence
o Primary sources
▪ Jewlry (metal and ivory)
▪ Stone architecture
▪ Shipwrecks
▪ Stone and terracotta sculptures
▪ Coins
▪ Floral/faunal remains
▪ Human remains
▪ Glass vessels and jewellery
▪ Metal, stone and ceramic household objects
• The problem of sources
o Not as much evidence compared to other empires such as the Greeks
o Can't really see they world from their perspective
o Dependent on non-Phoenician sources
• What does Phoenician mean?
o Its actually a Greek word Phoinix
o Surviving use of it found in Homer
o Some people think it comes from the Greek Phoinos which means red and comes
from their famous red cloth - Greek
o Another person says there was a famous King of Tyre called Phonix – Greek
o Some other people think it’s an Egyptian word called fnkhw which means wood-
cutters and the Egyptians do talk of people who are “wood-cutters” - Egyptian
• What did Phoenicians call themselves
