Phoenicia

Trade and commerce were key activities that began in ancient Rome, Egypt, and Phoenicia along the shores of the sea. These civilizations established thriving maritime economies, with extensive networks of ports and trade routes. They traded goods such as agricultural products, precious metals, textiles, and luxury items, which fueled their economic growth and cultural exchange with other regions.

The Phoenicians played a significant role in the ancient world as skilled traders and seafarers. They established colonies and trading posts throughout the Mediterranean, spreading their culture and facilitating trade between different civilizations. The Phoenicians were also known for their advanced shipbuilding techniques and navigation skills, which allowed them to navigate the seas and establish trade routes that connected different regions. In addition, they were renowned for their production of valuable commodities such as purple dye, glassware, and timber.

In 334 BCE Alexander the Great conquered Baalbek and marched on to subdue the cities of Byblos and Sidon in 332 BCE. At this point Alexander ordered the siege of Tyre and was so determined to take the city that he built a causeway from the ruins of the old city, debris, and felled trees, from the mainland to the island (which, owing to sediment deposits over the centuries is why Tyre is not an island today), and, after seven months, breached the walls and massacred most of the populace.

Phoenician trade items were varied and included products like precious metals, glassware, textiles, ceramics, and wine. They were known for their skill in producing and trading purple dye from the murex shell, which was highly valued by ancient societies. Phoenician trade items were sought after and traded across the Mediterranean, helping to establish their reputation as skilled merchants.

The Phoenician alphabet was the ancestor of many modern alphabets, including the Greek, Latin, and Cyrillic alphabets. As the Phoenician traders interacted with different cultures, their alphabet was adopted and adapted by these cultures. For example, the Greeks modified the Phoenician alphabet to better represent their own language, introducing vowels and adding new letters. Over time, these modified versions of the Phoenician alphabet evolved into distinct writing systems.

Phoenicia grew wealthy through its thriving maritime trade network. The Phoenicians were skilled seafarers and merchants who engaged in long-distance trading of valuable goods such as purple dye, timber, glass, and metals. They established colonies and trading posts across the Mediterranean, which brought them economic prosperity and influence. Additionally, their expertise in shipbuilding and navigation gave them a competitive advantage in the ancient trading world.

Introducung an efficient means of writing alphabetically.

The 'colonies' they established were in fact trading stations. This allowed them to trade extensively in local produce and cross-trade between areas as well as just in their own produce of timber, food and dyes.

The exception was their colony Carthage, which grew in strength to establish its own trading colonies in the western Mediterranean.

1. The were the Ancient inhabitants of Lebanon. The Phoenicians were probably the most commercially astute people of the Ancient World.

2. They developed a purple dye which was a big hit for monarchs around the Mediterranean who needed the colour for their tunics.

3. Carthage in North Africa was a Phoenician colony. It was the same Carthage that battled Rome for supremacy in the Middle East.

4. They had a few kings called Hiram. One of whom helped supply the cedar trees for King Solomon's temple in Jerusalem.

5. Their Main cities were Sidon and Tyre. Both of which still exist in Lebanon today.

6. They developed an early alphabet that influenced the Greeks. Not bad for a people who were more known for their sea trading exploits than anything else.

7. They were not a major power but did set up colonies in Spain, North Africa and Cyprus that enhanced their reach.

Trading posts from which they ran ships to carry good between the centres, from which trade they made a handsome profit.

First, the opted for trade rather than conquest to solve a population crisis; then their inventiveness - astral navigation, seamanship, inventing alphabetic writing.

The alphabet.

Each of the independent city-states had their own laws.

Out of sight of land they used astral navigation. The got as far afield as the Canary Islands and Cornwall.

Phoenician mariners sailed to Mediterranean and southwestern European ports. The Phoenicians were the great merchants of ancient times. They sold rich treasures from many lands. Today merchant ships continue the custom.

The home of the Phenicians in Africa was originally Libya.

Orontes River.

Pirates, shipwreck, adverse weather.

Phoenicia was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal plains of what is now Lebanon. They were the major sea-traders of the Mediterranean, and they went everywhere. When the Phoenicians began using the alphabet as a simple and easy way to keep track of their trades, it was exposed to everyone. Also they show the other countries that ships could travel around the globe trading important commodities. That was not practiced by other culture of the time who just raised stock and traded with those animals.

There job specializations were farmers, farmer workers, church workers, warriors, etc. The Social class was working class, social class, and the middle class.

Those were very different. Cuneiform was hard to learn with many symbols. The Phoenician alphabet had 22 letters so it was easier to master.

This is uncertain - they migrated from the east - the area of Persia, as did other Semitic peoples. Their earlier location is unknown.

They were expert seamen, and took their goods to far off countries and exchanged them for valuable goods to import and onsell, eg sold trade goods from the Eastern Mediterranean and came back with tin from Cornwall in the UK, the textiles they provided to Cornwall got them the tin needed for making bronze which was scarce in the Mediterranean area.

The main concentration was in Asia, in today' Lebanon and southern Syria. They established an important colony in Carthage in today's Tunisia.

A great trading empire