Beginning in BCE with the siege of Tyre, Alexander the Great took the Phoenician city-states in the Eastern Mediterranean one by one, ending their on-again, off-again independence. Vintage engraving of Roman soldiers ploughing salt into the ruined site of Carthage The Carthaginians, however, remained independent for nearly more years.
Having successfully held off Greek expansion past Sicily for many centuries, they eventually met their match in the more populous and better-organized Romans.
At the end of the Punic Wars the three intermittent conflicts between Carthage and Rome lasting over a century , the people of Carthage were either slaughtered or carried off as slaves and their city was razed BCE.
The Roman army sewed the ground with salt and plowed it into the earth so that nothing could ever grow in Carthage ever again. Ironically, the Romans started a colony on the site of Carthage a mere twenty-four years later naming it Colonia Junonia after the Roman goddess Juno. The Latin word colonia usually denotes a settlement or outpost built on the ruins of a defeated citadel. Marble sarcophagi, Museum of Cadiz, c. It was founded by Phoenician traders from… Read more These life-size sarcophagi, carved from white marble, date from the 5th century BCE and show a distinct Greek influence in their style.
The pomegranate, featured prominently in the tale of Demeter, was the fruit of the Underworld in Greek mythology. The female figure holds an alabastron —a container used for perfumed oils. Perfume bottles like this have been frequently unearthed in Greek graveyards. Phoenicians were revered as great mariners by their contemporaries. They are believed to have been the first Mediterranean culture to reach Britain. Phoenician alphabet The most important Phoenician contribution to Western civilization was their writing system that evolved from a North Semitic proto-alphabet.
In the Phoenician alphabet also called the Proto-Canaanite alphabet each letter represented a consonant. This cut down significantly the number of symbols required to make words. When written, the vowels were implied. Later advances by the Greeks added symbols for vowel sounds, creating the first complete alphabet.
From port to port, they spread this alphabet across the Mediterranean. When further refined and propagated by the Greeks and Romans, it became the alphabet used today by most Western cultures. Insiders unlock access to exclusive news, updates, and opportunities to provide feedback about future releases. Here are some of the perks:. Note: You need an Xbox Live account. Learn more. Sign In Sign in to interact with our site and view additional content. No problem, just create one for free below!
Create my free Microsoft account Create account. Phoenician Civilization. Contents Top. The Phoenicians decided to sail very close to shallow water and strand themselves on a reef —so that when the Greek followed, they would also be stranded.
This way, the Greeks could not find out where the Phoenicians got their tin. In recent years, archaeologists have tried to fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge about the Phoenicians.
Underwater archaeology plays a particularly important role in learning about this maritime culture. She specializes in nautical archaeology , the study of ancient ship construction. Her work often involves the excavation of shipwrecks in areas where the Phoenicians traveled. The oldest shipwreck she has studied is a Byzantine site found in Dor Lagoon on the coast of Israel. It dates back to around CE.
The oldest identified Phoenician ships—two merchant vessels found near the coastal Israeli city of Ashkelon—date to BCE. Despite ancient finds like these, Cvikel says underwater archaeological evidence of the Phoenicians is sparse. Cvikel and her colleagues have to be very cautious with the ancient ship remains and artifacts they discover. Prag says the survival rate of wood in ancient Mediterranean wrecks is poor because of teredo navalis — shipworm —a type of clam that bores into waterlogged wood.
But researchers like Cvikel have a number of techniques to make sense of the delicate , rare archaeological evidence they collect. We use laboratory analysis to identify the tree species. This can give you clues to where the wood for the construction of the ship came from.
We also analyze any other organic finds, like the food remains that are there—are they olive pits that grow in Syria or olive pits that grow in Egypt? Given the limited amount of evidence at hand, archaeologists and historians have done an impressive job of assembling the puzzle of Phoenician history and identity.
Prag points to archaeological surveys of Phoenician settlements in modern-day Spain and Tunisia that suggest the Phoenicians may have had more of an influence on regional agricultural practice s than previously thought. In terms of understanding how they arose as one of the first truly maritime cultures, Cvikel thinks the archaeological evidence will speak for itself as more Phoenician shipwrecks are found.
Before the Greeks and Romans, the Phoenicians ruled the Mediterranean. Phoenicians in the Americas? Phoenician artisans were skilled in wood, ivory, and metalworking, as well as textile production. In the Old Testament 2 Chronicles , the master craftsman Hiram of Tyre was commissioned to build and embellish the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. Phoenician art is in fact an amalgam of many different cultural elements—Aegean, northern Syrian, Cypriot , Assyrian , and Egyptian.
The Egyptian influence is often especially prominent in the art but was constantly evolving as the political and economic relations between Egypt and the Phoenician cities fluctuated. Perhaps the most significant contribution of the Phoenicians was an alphabetic writing system that became the root of the Western alphabets when the Greeks adopted it. Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. Sasson, pp. New York: Scribner, Visiting The Met?
They had an extremly developt civilization ,they were the base of the greek, roman Most Phoenicians were poor and thus led a pastoral life leading sheep and goats around the side of a hill for meager wages.
Richer Phoenicians were actively engaged in trade and commerce. Imagine something similar to a farmer's market. Numerous important Ancient Civilizations developed in the Middle East. Probably not. Among all the Ancient Civilizations you have treated in this course, which of the Ancient Civilizations do yo like most, Why. Hannibal Barca. Phoenician Blinds. Geography refers to the layout physically of the land in an area. The geography of ancient China was similar to most other geography, including the river valley civilizations, in that it dealt with the changing of the seasons, river travel, mountains, valleys, and desert areas.
For most of their early history the Phoenicians were independent. Then they came under the Seleucid Empire, a Greek state and then the Romans. Log in. Ancient History. History of the Middle East. Ancient Religions. Study now. See Answer. Best Answer. I would say Babylonian. Study guides.
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