Sistema de comércio fenício

sistema de comércio fenício
O script fenício é um "tronco" importante na árvore do alfabeto, na medida em que muitos scripts modernos podem ser rastreados através dele. Os textos em árabe, hebraico, latino e gregos são todos descendentes de fenícios.
O fenício é um descendente direto do roteiro Proto-Sinaitic. Como Proto-Sinaitic, fenício é um "alfabeto consonantal", também conhecido como "abjad", e contém apenas letras que representam consoantes. As vogais geralmente são omitidas nesta fase do sistema de escrita.
A principal mudança entre Proto-Sinaitic e Phoenician é gráfica. As formas das letras fenícias tornaram-se mais abstratas e lineares, em comparação com a forma mais "pictográfica" dos sinais Proto-Sinaitic.
A seguir estão as 22 cartas fenícias.
Havia muitos ramos que surgiam de fenícios, como hebraico, grego e aramaico. O próprio fenício permaneceu em uso, na forma de Punico (mais cursivo), até cerca de 200 dC.

sistema de comércio fenício
com agenda e é anti-libanês & amp; anti semita.
Início Sobre Nós Introdução Phoenician International.
Centro de pesquisa (PIRC) Centro virtual para.
Fenícia de Ashes.
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Traduzido por cristãos orientais.
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em 19 de junho de 2004, em Fairfax, Virgínia.
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É amplamente conhecido que os fenícios eram os principais comerciantes do mar dos antigos construtores mediterrâneos e especialistas em navios de mar. Aqueles que conhecem essas pessoas também entendem que fundaram Carthage e outras colônias, além de trazer o primeiro alfabeto e papiro aos gregos. Depois disso, parece haver uma quantidade considerável de confusão. Este estado de coisas incertas é transmitido aos alunos da história através das datas e dados amplamente divergentes sobre os fenícios que estão contidos em textos e referências atuais.
Para dar um passo para resolver esta situação infeliz, o presente trabalho examina em profundidade a origem do império fenício. Ao fazer isso, abordamos quando esse evento ocorreu, o que realmente constituiu seu império, e coloque esta ocorrência no contexto desses tempos e mdash, o que é dizer, os fenícios & rsquo; interações e impactos sobre as outras civilizações antigas do Mediterrâneo.
Para ilustrar claramente o problema abordado aqui, considere a natureza conflitante e vaga dos comentários feitos em textos padrão e referências referentes à data de origem do império fenício. Embora muitas fontes incorporem "hedging & quot; palavras em suas declarações, cada um compromete-se com uma data específica e hellip; deixar o leitor com a impressão definitiva de que eles foram informados sobre a "origem" adequada encontro.
A maioria das fontes analisadas nesta pesquisa apresentou datas no bairro de 1200 & ndash; 1000 BC. Entre estes estão:
"A civilização fenícia floresceu de cerca de 1200 aC. até a captura de Tiro por Alexander the Great em 332 aC. & quot; Do dicionário Hutchinson da história mundial. 2.
& quot; & hellip; Os fenícios se voltaram para o mar e no século XI. tornaram-se os maiores comerciantes, construtores navais, navegadores e colonizadores antes dos gregos. Do Civilization Past & amp; Presente. 3.
A próxima referência atribui o nome Canaan a todas as terras entre a Ásia Menor e o Egito antes de 1200 aC. Em seguida, examina uma região dentro desta área e afirma: "& hellip; Fenícia agora geralmente se refere a esta região na Idade do Ferro (c. 1200 & ndash; 332 aC), mesmo que a cultura tivesse antecedentes anteriores." Isto é da ilustre Enciclopédia de Oxford da Arqueologia no Oriente Próximo. 4.
Em contraste com isso, outras fontes afirmam datas de origem no bairro de 1600 & ndash; 1550 aC.
"Destes Tire, Sidon e Byblos, todas as cidades florescentes na Idade do Bronze Final 1600 & ndash; 1200 B. C., permaneceram importantes durante a maior parte do primeiro milênio B. C." Do bem conhecido Cambridge Ancient History. 5.
& quot; & hellip; História fenícia durante um período de 1200 anos, desde o início da Idade do Bronze Final (c. 1550 aC); quando as cidades fenícias (com exceção de Byblos) surgiram pela primeira vez como entidades urbanas, até o início de o período helenístico em torno de 300 aC & quot; Dos Povos do Passado: fenícios. 6.
Um livro de texto valente indica uma data ainda mais antiga.
"por cerca de 2500 B. C. Os comerciantes fenícios e os navios já dominavam o comércio na bacia mediterrânea. & Quot; De tradições e ampères; Encontros. 7.
Claramente, essas grandes discrepâncias e mdash, não apenas de tempo, mas de compreensão, precisam ser abordadas.
Como historiadores, tenho certeza de que você concordará que temos uma obrigação para aqueles que lêem a história: transmitir-lhes o entendimento mais claro possível. Todos reconhecemos coisas que aconteceram, há centenas e milhares de anos, haverá um certo grau de incerteza sobre elas e o hellip devido a informações incompletas ou os preconceitos naturais dos indivíduos que registram os eventos do tempo, ou mesmo os fatos conflitantes apresentados por diferentes observadores.
No entanto, temos ferramentas poderosas que podem ser levadas a cabo sobre esses problemas, para trazer maior clareza. Nós temos evidências arqueológicas que, devido aos esforços dedicados no campo que ainda estão acontecendo à medida que falamos, estão produzindo novos e valiosos fatos e informações. Temos a capacidade de voltar para textos originais escritos em línguas antigas e hellip, e fazer novas traduções que podem remover interpretações erradas ou imprecisas. Nós também temos a ferramenta de contexto & mdash, muitas vezes usado na resolução de quebra-cabeças e mdash, onde completar as partes de uma imagem em torno da área não clara nos permite avançar para uma solução razoável. Usaremos todas essas ferramentas para resolver a questão de qual retrato da origem dos fenícios é o mais preciso e deve ser devidamente refletido em futuras edições de textos e referências.
Comecemos por considerar evidências arqueológicas para duas das mais antigas cidades fenícias: Byblos e Tire. Se descobriu que essas cidades foram criadas após 1550 aC, então poderíamos eliminar todas as datas anteriores e proceder imediatamente à nossa resposta.
No entanto, ao examinar a evidência arqueológica em Byblos, descobrimos logo um consenso claro de que a cidade foi fundada em aproximadamente. 6000 B. C., como mostrado por Grantand Meyers. 8 Estas fontes também nos revelam que Byblos começou como uma pequena vila de pescadores na margem do Mediterrâneo, num lugar onde as montanhas do Líbano desceram ao mar. Os cedros preciosos do Líbano que cresceram nessas montanhas proporcionaram madeira forte para seus barcos de pesca e bons estoques de troca para troca local para cima e para baixo do litoral. Por 4500 aC. a aldeia se tornou suficientemente bem estabelecida que consistiu em centenas de pequenas casas. 9 Fui ao site Byblos no Líbano e examinei os fundamentos dessas casas e hellip, ainda lá em meio aos restos de cerâmica da ocupação anterior. Além disso, Byblos é identificado como uma das cidades mais antigas habitadas continuamente no mundo. 10 Em outras palavras, a fundação inicial de Byblos está bem estabelecida.
Em Tire, em 1974, uma escavação arqueológica muito minuciosa foi realizada até ao solo. 11 Isso produziu evidências claras de uma data de fundação para esta cidade ocorrendo na primeira parte do terceiro milênio, aC. Isso foi confirmado por Heródoto, muitas vezes chamado de pai da história, que viajou para Tire em torno de 450 aC. Ele nos deu o seguinte relatório em The Histories (2:44). 12.
"Eu queria entender esses assuntos tão claramente quanto pude, então eu também naveguei para Tire na Fenícia, pois ouvi dizer que havia um santuário sagrado para Heracles lá, e descobri que o santuário era muito generoso com um grande quantidade de ofertas de dedicação. Nela havia dois pilares, um de ouro puro, o outro de esmeralda que brilhava intensamente à noite. Falei com os sacerdotes do deus e perguntei-lhes quanto tempo o santuário do deus foi fundado, e descobri que eles também não estavam de acordo com o relato grego, porque segundo eles o santuário do deus foi fundado ao mesmo tempo como Tire, que era há 2.300 anos, eles disseram. & quot;
Quando adicionamos 2.300 anos até a data de Herodotus & rsquo; visita (450 aC) obtemos 2750 aC. Como se verifica, isso cai exatamente na faixa que nos foi dada pelas evidências arqueológicas de Bikai. Portanto, podemos ter um grau de confiança razoavelmente alto neste ponto inicial para a Tire.
O que vimos, então, é uma data de fundação para Byblos de ca. 6000 B. C. e para o pneu de ca. 2750 B. C. Ambos os tempos ocorrem antes de qualquer das datas propostas para a origem do império fenício (2500 & ndash; 1000 BC). Isso significa que devemos investigar mais.
A disparidade nas datas de origem encontradas na maioria das fontes sugere que existe um mal-entendido e, depois de estudar os fenícios durante 28 anos, comecei a suspeitar que a questão se dizia se os fenícios eram uma grande potência terrestre ou um grande poder marítimo. Examinemos mais profundamente esse assunto por um momento, considerando alguns dos outros grandes impérios da antiguidade.
Para começar, precisamos de uma definição razoável de "império". & Quot; O Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged 13 dá como sua primeira e mais utilizada definição: "Um grupo de nações ou povos governados por um soberano ou governo soberano: geralmente um território em maior extensão do que um reino." ;
Também contém uma definição secundária: "Uma empresa poderosa e importante ou exploração de grande escopo que é controlada por uma única pessoa, família ou grupo."
A primeira definição se aplica claramente a nações como a Assíria ea Pérsia, cujos reis governaram muitas terras e povos. 14 De fato, essa vareta de medição parece funcionar bem para avaliar a maioria dos países e nações porque quase sempre são baseadas em terra. Mas o que acontece quando consideramos pessoas baseadas no mar, como os fenícios?
A resposta curta é que obtemos resultados confusos e uma ampla discrepância nas respostas. Isso é amplamente demonstrado pelas citações com as quais iniciamos essa discussão.
Se nos esquecemos por um momento que os fenícios eram pessoas de base marítima amplamente conhecidas como os grandes comerciantes marítimos da antiguidade e fechavam a vista para todas as suas realizações nos mares, com o que restamos?
Despojado de seus maiores atributos, ficamos apenas com um punhado insignificante de terra na costa do Líbano. Esta descrição existiria até que os fenícios começassem a criar colônias de terras ao redor do Mediterrâneo cerca de 1100 aC. Ao adicionarem Gades (agora Cadiz), Malaka (Málaga) e Ibiza na Espanha, adicionaram Lixus e Tingis (Tânger) em Marrocos, Carthage (Tunis) no norte da África, além de colônias em Chipre, Sicília, Sardenha e Córsega e mdash; então, esses indivíduos com um foco terrestre seria movido para concordar que um império fenício já existia. E, na sua opinião, teria surgido entre 1200 e 800 aC.
Essa interpretação é, de fato, exatamente o que vemos na maioria das histórias. No entanto, para os fenícios, que foram o principal poder marítimo daqueles tempos, esta avaliação rapidamente se decompõe. A maioria dos historiadores, como vimos, se sente compelida a acrescentar palavras de cobertura reconhecendo a existência das cidades fenícias no Líbano muito antes de 1200 aC. Outros mudam as datas, estão dispostos a atestar os fenícios & rsquo; poder e influência em tempos anteriores, como 1600 & ndash; 1550 aC. Uma equipe corajosa de pesquisadores dá uma data já em 2500 aC. Qual é a avaliação correta para a origem do império fenício?
Para tomar emprestado a partir da terminologia de navegação, vamos tentar uma nova aderência e chegar à questão de uma direção diferente. O que acontece se considerarmos os fenícios não como uma força terrestre, mas como um poder do mar? Quais condições então se aplicariam? Que critério usamos para avaliar a sua força marítima e para determinar em que ponto seu império comercial marítimo foi criado?
Como apontado por Bentley & amp; Ziegler 15, entre outros, a verdadeira avaliação da história das nações exige que consideremos não só o que acontece nas fronteiras do país, mas também as interações desse país com os outros. Este conceito está ganhando uma grande moeda, e vemos que está sendo empregado em mais textos da história mundial. Este conceito é muito útil no presente caso porque, como os principais comerciantes do mar do antigo Mediterrâneo, os fenícios & rsquo; as interações com outras nações foram a fonte de seu sangue vital e seu poder.
Ao avaliar os fenícios, por isso, vejamos essas interações com algumas das outras grandes nações do Mediterrâneo. Além disso, como buscamos a origem do império fenício e não a totalidade de sua história, restringimos nossa busca para ocorrências precoces de impactos importantes em outras sociedades.
Interações precoces e impactos sobre os gregos e mdash;
Começando com o povo grego do continente e as ilhas do mar Egeu, observamos o fato amplamente documentado de que eles receberam o alfabeto escrito dos fenícios em torno de 900 aC. 16 Enquanto os gregos se levantam para se tornarem grandes viajantes do mar em um momento posterior, os primeiros gregos conheciam os fenícios como uma já antiga e bem estabelecida nação de comerciantes do mar. Os fenícios por essa época adquiriram ou desenvolveram seu alfabeto muitos anos antes, e estavam usando isso em seus negócios e contratos com povos em toda a região do Mediterrâneo. A importância desta descoberta não pode ser superestimada. Tenho certeza de que você está ciente de que, antes do alfabeto, praticamente toda a escrita na região tinha estado em hieróglifos ou cuneiformes, que usava símbolos primeiro para representar palavras completas e depois para representar sílabas. Em vez de ter que aprender centenas ou milhares de símbolos, um escritor agora precisava conhecer apenas as 22 letras do alfabeto. Esta vasta redução levou a arte de escrever nas mãos de alguns escribas em palácios e templos, e colocá-lo nas mãos de qualquer pessoa que quisesse aprender. E os gregos queriam aprender.
Muito para o seu crédito, os gregos não eram participantes passivos nesse processo. Eles levaram o alfabeto fenício de 22 consoantes e adicionaram vogais, tornando o alfabeto mais robusto. Eles então o usaram para escrever as filosofias de Sócrates, as peças teatrais de Eurípedes e muitas outras obras de literatura antiga que são amplamente creditadas com a fundação da civilização ocidental.
Os fenícios contribuíram não só com o alfabeto básico, mas também com o papiro para escrever essas criações. Tão perto era essa identificação na mente grega entre a arte de escrever e os fenícios que eles chamavam de "cidade fenícia", Byblos, "quot; da palavra grega para livro (& # 946; & # 943; & # 946; & # 955; & # 959; & # 962;)).
Este não foi claramente o único impacto desses comerciantes marítimos na sociedade grega. Muito antes do & quot; clássico? Os gregos vieram à existência, os fenícios haviam negociado com os micênicos que surgiram cerca de 1600 aC. no continente e nas ilhas gregas. 17 Essas interações expuseram os micênicos às inovações fenícias em áreas como a construção naval, a maçonaria e o tintura roxo usado em pano colorido, todos os quais eram de grande interesse para os gregos dos últimos dias.
O período de tempo dos primeiros impactos fenícios nos gregos, se incluímos os micênicos, é então da ordem de 1600 a 900 aC. Claramente, mais impactos continuaram a chegar após essas datas, especialmente durante as Guerras Persas, mas nosso foco aqui é sobre os fenícios & rsquo; impactos iniciais em outras sociedades.
Interações precoce com, e impactos sobre, os romanos e mdash;
Em seguida consideramos os romanos, que receberam muitos presentes fenícios indiretamente através dos gregos. Isso inclui o alfabeto escrito, que os romanos se adaptaram ao alfabeto que usamos hoje. Mas os romanos também receberam algo de grande valor e eles receberam um império.
Roma se envolveu em comércio substancial com os fenícios em Carthage, assinando um tratado com eles no final do século VI aC. 18 Cartago naquela época era um grande poder, essencialmente governando todos os fenícios. colônias ocidentais. Estes se estendiam da Espanha e de Marrocos às ilhas da Córsega e da Sardenha na porta da frente de Roma. Antes das Guerras Púnicas, que também poderiam ser chamadas de Guerras fenícias, Roma era um estado relativamente pequeno confinado à península italiana. Após essa guerra de três partes com Carthage, Roma adquiriu todos os fenícios. colônias ocidentais e as transformou em primeiras províncias romanas estrangeiras, dando origem ao Império Romano.
Este foi um dos momentos decisivos da história romana, e claramente teve um enorme impacto em sua sociedade. No entanto, todos esses impactos chegaram entre 550 e 146 B. C. & mdash, muito depois dos impactos gregos. Portanto, este não é o "primeiro impacto maior" em outras sociedades. nós estamos buscando.
Interações precoces e impactos sobre os egípcios e mdash;
O Egito, no entanto, oferece muitas oportunidades para impactos sociais iniciais como resultado do comércio fenício, uma vez que são uma civilização muito mais antiga. O primeiro desses impactos que pude encontrar em registros arqueológicos está no templo de Hierakonpolis no Egito. O arqueólogo Michael Hoffman estava cavando perto do templo conhecido e daquela cidade, que em si era bastante antigo, datando de c. 3100 B. C. & mdash, quando ele encontrou um templo que era ainda mais velho. O aspecto mais notável do templo antigo era que ele tinha um fa & ccedil, feito de quatro grandes pilares de madeira, sendo a madeira identificada como cedro do Líbano. 19 Os pilares de cedro para este templo, datados de c. 3400 B. C., são a primeira prova claramente documentada de um grande comércio entre os egípcios e fenícios.
Que este não foi um incidente isolado torna-se evidente quando observamos também que o & quot; mais novo? O templo em Hierakonpolis foi onde a paleta de Narmer foi encontrada. O rei Narmer é muitas vezes creditado com o Egito unificador e o comércio em grande expansão entre o Egito e outros países. No entanto, nenhum registro escrito nos diz com quem ele trocou & hellip, então, deixe-nos dar uma olhada em algumas evidências arqueológicas adicionais.
Sabemos com retrospectiva que o Egito negociou fortemente com os fenícios durante a maior parte dos próximos 3000 anos. Existe alguma evidência disso no momento da Narmer?
Encontramos dois registros de interesse. Os selos de cerâmica com o nome de Narmer foram encontrados na área ao sul de Tire 20, indicando que alguns dos bens foram nesse sentido.
O segundo achado interessante é em Byblos, onde vemos através de escavações que a cidade passou por um grande estouro de crescimento em torno de 3000 aC. 21 edifícios públicos foram erguidos, estradas construídas e paredes da cidade construídas. As pessoas de Byblos parecem ter entrado em uma boa sorte no momento da Narmer. Esta não é uma prova conclusiva, é claro, mas não podemos encontrar nenhum outro parceiro comercial fenício que não o Egito que floresceu na bacia do Mediterrâneo neste momento.
A evidencia de um comércio forte e contínuo entre o Egito e os fenícios continuou em registros históricos a partir de então, incluindo a documentação de um escrivão sobre a Pedra de Palermo do rei Snefru, trazendo quarenta navios carregados de cedro no c. 2600 B. C.
Todo esse comércio teve um grande impacto na sociedade egípcia? Entre suas muitas outras mercadorias, considere o cedro fornecido pelos fenícios. Foi usado em templos egípcios, palácios, câmaras funerárias e tratamentos de embalsamamento. Se tentarmos imaginar o Egito sem templos, palácios, câmaras funerárias e múmias, praticamente não pode ser feito. Essas coisas estão entre os elementos mais centrais de sua civilização, que nos vieram até nós. Portanto, vemos os fenícios & rsquo; O papel era essencial.
Um escriba colocou isso em palavras na última parte do terceiro milênio, B. C. quando o comércio foi temporariamente interrompido: "Hoje, ninguém navega mais para norte para Byblos. Como obteremos cedro para nossas múmias? & Quot; 22.
Este grande impacto dos fenícios em outra sociedade na região do Mediterrâneo é a primeira ocorrência que buscamos, e antecede seus impactos nos gregos e romanos por muitos anos.
Uma vez que isso aconteceu no terceiro milênio aC, também é anterior à aparência das marinhas grega e romana no Mediterrâneo. Essas sociedades não surgiram até muitos anos depois. Neste momento, vemos que os fenícios estavam conduzindo grandes quantidades de comércio marítimo e parecem ter desfrutado de um domínio irrestrito no mar.
Em que ponto, então, esse comércio foi suficientemente extenso e o impacto tão grande que podemos dizer que os fenícios criaram um poderoso império de comércio marítimo?
Foi em 3400 aC. quando entregaram pilares de cedro para o que pode ter sido o maior templo daquele dia no Egito? Realmente, isso pode ser uma data muito cedo, uma vez que esse comércio pode ter sido apenas ocasional naquela época.
Foi em 3150 aC. quando King Narmer expandiu o comércio e Byblos parece ter sido um dos principais beneficiários desse comércio? Isso poderia ser, mas a evidência encontrada até o momento não é suficientemente conclusiva para suportar isso.
Foi em 2750 aC. quando vemos os fenícios florescer até o ponto de criar uma nova cidade no Tire para ajudar a lidar com o seu crescente comércio? Esta é quase certamente a data apropriada. Beneficia do peso adicional envolvendo uma aquisição territorial e múltiplos reis, que podem ser mais facilmente suportados por pessoas com perspectiva terrestre. Byblos, Tyr e Sidon foram todos governados por reis e, em cada ponto onde a história nos dá uma visão deles, um rei sempre foi reconhecido como supremo, acima dos outros.
Embora a evidência suporte 2750 aC. é muito forte, ainda pode ser melhor assumir uma posição conservadora neste momento, uma vez que estamos lançando novas bases aqui. Nesse sentido, analisamos todos os textos pesquisados ​​e procuramos uma afirmação que reflita com maior precisão o surgimento dos fenícios como protagonista dos assuntos das nações do Mediterrâneo. Ao fazer isso, vemos que a declaração em Traditions & amp; Os encontros mostram verdadeiramente os fatos e evidências em nossa frente:
"por cerca de 2500 B. C. Os comerciantes fenícios e os navios já dominavam o comércio na bacia mediterrânea. & Quot;
Uma vez que esta afirmação é totalmente consistente com as informações que temos em nossas mãos hoje, é recomendado que seja adotado em todas as edições futuras de livros didáticos e referências como a descrição mais precisa disponível para a data de origem do império fenício.
A experiência fenícia.
Bikai, Patricia "The Phoenicians", "quot; Revista de Arqueologia 43: 2 (Long Island City, Nova Iorque, 1990), p. 23. Speake, Jennifer et al (ed.) The Hutchinson Dictionary of World History (Oxford: Helicon Publishing, 1993), p. 461. Wallbank, T. Walter et al Civilization Past & amp; Presente (sexta edição) (Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman & Co., 1987), Volume 1, p. 24. Meyers, Eric (ed.) Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), volume 4, p. 313. Boardman, John et al (ed.) Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), Volume 3, Parte 2, p. 461. Markoe, Glenn Povos do Passado: fenícios (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), p. 11. Bentley, Jerry e Herbert Ziegler Tradições & amp; Encontros (Nova York: McGraw Hill, 2000), p. 51. Grant, Michael The Ancient Mediterranean (Nova Iorque: Meridian, 1988), p. 30. Veja também Meyers, Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, Volume 1, p. 391. Dunand, Maurice Byblos (francês, traduzido para inglês por H. Tabet) (Paris: Librairie Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1973), p. 15. Veja também Grant, The Ancient Mediterranean, p. 30. Meyers, Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, Volume 1, p. 391. Bikai, Patricia The Pottery of Tire. (Warminster, Reino Unido: Aris & Phillips, 1978), pp. 5, 72. Herodotus The Histories (Grego, traduzido para o inglês por Robin Waterfield) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), livro 2, seção 44 Flexner, Stuart (ed.) The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition, Unabridged (New York: Random House, 1987), p. 638. Colby, Frank Outlines of General History (New York: American Book Co., 1899), pp. 39-41, 65-66. Bentley, Traditions & amp; Encounters, p. xxviii. Garraty, John e Peter Gay (eds.) The Columbia History of the World (New York: Harper & amp; Row, 1972), p. 87. Wallbank, Civilization Past & amp; Presente (Sexta Edição), Volume 1, p. 38. Markoe, Povos do Passado: fenícios, p. 66. Davies, Vivian e Renee Friedman Egypt Uncovered (Nova Iorque: Stewart, Tabori e Chang, 1998), pp. 27-28. Redford, Donald (ed.) A enciclopédia de Oxford do antigo Egito (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), Volume 2, p. 495. Dunand, Byblos, pp. 18-21. Moscati, Sabatino (ed.) The Phoenicians (New York: Rizzoli International, 1999), p. 25.
AVISO DE RESPONSABILIDADE: as opiniões expressas neste site não representam necessariamente Fenícia nem refletem necessariamente as dos vários autores, editores e dono deste site. Conseqüentemente, as partes mencionadas ou implícitas não podem ser responsabilizadas por essas opiniões.
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Referências, fontes e bibliografia adicionais (Por favor, não escreva e me solicite referências. Você pode encontrá-las no final do artigo ou na Bibliografia)
O material neste site foi pesquisado, compilado, & amp; Concebido por Salim George Khalaf como dono, autor e editor.
As leis de direitos autorais declaradas e implícitas devem ser observadas em todos os momentos para todos os textos ou gráficos de acordo com a legislação internacional e nacional.
Salim é de Shalim, deus fenício do anoitecer, cujo lugar era Urushalim / Jerusalém.
"A Bequest Unearthed, Phoenicia & quot; & mdash; Enciclopédia Phoeniciana.
Este site está online há mais de 21 anos.
Temos mais de 420.000 palavras.
O equivalente a este site é de cerca de 2.000 páginas impressas.

sistema de comércio fenício
Origem do alfabeto fenício.
Atualizado em 23 de abril de 2017.
Placas de ouro com fenício.
e escrita etrusca.
Você pode imaginar que algo tão simples e básico como o alfabeto tenha sido para sempre. Mas é claro que não. Como você bem sabe, as imagens elaboradas de hieróglifos egípcios e as intrincadas marcas de canas-de-cola em argila da cuneiforme mesopotâmica eram a forma como as pessoas se comunicavam por escrito. Gradualmente, estes foram simplificados em símbolos de sílaba em vez de símbolos de palavras, mas ainda eram bastante assustadores e apenas alguns estudiosos já aprenderam a escrever.
Muitas vezes nos dizem que os fenícios inventaram o alfabeto, apesar de alguns debaterem isso. Independentemente de quem colocou a caneta no papiro para criá-lo, o contributo fenício não era o mais importante e crítico. Eles eram os principais comerciantes marítimos do Mediterrâneo, e eles foram para todos os lugares.
Todos os países que tinham uma praia parece ter trocado com eles. Quando os fenícios começaram a usar o alfabeto como uma maneira simples e fácil de acompanhar seus negócios, foi exposto a todos. E como o dinheiro e a riqueza estavam envolvidos, as pessoas estavam altamente motivadas para aprender o sistema e certificar-se de que estava sendo escrita com precisão. Este novo método mostrou-se muito melhor do que os métodos anteriores, que em breve estava sendo usado por muitas pessoas e muitos idiomas. Foi dado tanto impulso que não poderia ser interrompido.
As primeiras invenções às vezes são um pouco difíceis e precisam fazer com que os insetos sejam funcionados, e assim foi com este novo alfabeto que os fenícios fizeram popular. Consistia de 22 consoantes. . . mas sem vogais. O leitor assumiu que ele falava a língua, então eles saberiam o som que deveria colocar entre as consoantes. Claro, olhando para trás suas inscrições alguns milhares de anos depois, não é tão óbvio. Esse é um dos motivos pelos quais você verá diferentes grafia para a mesma palavra ou nome. Os tradutores antigos e modernos acabaram de fazer o melhor que puderam.
Alfabeto fenício - observe suas leituras de escrita.
da direita para a esquerda, e que alguns símbolos foram.
depois reutilizado e transformado em vogais.
[© Sanford Holst, usado aqui com permissão]
Clique para ampliar.
Os gregos adotaram esse alfabeto fenício e adicionaram vogais a ele. A combinação refinada funcionou muito bem. Permitiu que a filosofia de Sócrates e as peças teatrais de Eurípides - entre muitas outras ótimas obras da literatura - sejam transmitidas até nós.
Na Escultura Incirli, escrita grega.
(incisões profundas) foi cortada no.
texto fenício anterior.
Os etruscos na Itália estavam familiarizados com o alfabeto fenício, como mostrado nas placas de ouro Pyrgi na parte superior e inferior desta página. O prato a esquerda foi escrito em fenício, e o outro em etrusco. Depois que os etruscos adotaram e modificaram o alfabeto grego, passaram para Roma. Os romanos fizeram seus próprios refinamentos, e isso levou ao alfabeto que usamos hoje.
Uma explicação bastante clara de como - e por que - o alfabeto e a escrita precoce surgiram é descrito no livro Phoenician Secrets. Nesta narrativa bem pesquisada e intrigante, os fenícios misteriosos e o antigo Mediterrâneo são experientes com detalhes ricos.
O alfabeto não surgiu no vácuo. Fazia parte de um fenômeno social mais amplo que se espalhava pelo antigo Mediterrâneo, e alcançou um dos seus pináculos na Grécia clássica. Para apreciar plenamente as origens e os impactos dos primeiros alfabetos, é necessário ver o fluxo de pessoas e descobertas de um lado para o outro no Mediterrâneo naqueles dias. Secretos fenícios é um dos poucos livros para capturar completamente os muitos tópicos sociais que foram tecidos nesta criação humana essencial.
& quot; Sanford Holst criou uma narrativa fascinante, acessível e intrigante dos fenícios. Explica como o sucesso do comércio e as invenções necessárias, inclusive o alfabeto, se desenvolveram nas civilizações do Mediterrâneo.
& quot; O livro de Sanford Holst deve ser um "deve ler!" para todos aqueles que querem aprender a ciência e a arte de como um sistema social não só sobrevive mas prospera em um ambiente de grande turbulência política, militar, cultural, religiosa e econômica .... & quot;
Este livro de bolso é.
Alfabetos em uso.
Os seguintes comprimidos mostram como o alfabeto fenício e o alfabeto etrusco foram usados ​​na prática atual. Essas inscrições datam de aproximadamente 500 aC. Eles foram encontrados em um templo perto do antigo Caere na Itália, e descrevem uma dedicação feita à deusa fenícia.

sistema de comércio fenício
with agenda and is anti-Lebanese & anti-Semitic.
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Phoenician Trade and Ships.
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Phoenician Enterprising.
Trade, Commerce and Crafts.
The Phoenicians, appeared on the scene with an established maritime tradition, and the technology to build ships with a keeled hull. This allowed them to sail the open seas, and as a result, the Phoenicians developed a flourishing sea trade.
In addition to these exports and imports, the Phoenicians also conducted an important transit trade, especially in the manufactured goods of Egypt and Babylonia (Herodotus, i, 1). From the lands of the Euphrates and Tigris regular trade routes led to the Mediterranean. In Egypt the Phoenician merchants soon gained a foothold; they alone were able to maintain a profitable trade in the anarchic times of the 22nd and 23rd dynasties (c. 945-c. 730 BC). Though there were never any regular colonies of Phoenicians in Egypt, the Tyrians had a quarter of their own in Memphis (Herodotus, ii, 112). The Arabian caravan trade in perfume, spices, and incense passed through Phoenician hands on its way to Greece and the West (Herodotus, iii, 107).
The role that tradition especially assigns to the Phoenicians as the merchants of the Levant was first developed on a considerable scale at the time of the Egyptian 18th dynasty. The position of Phoenicia, at a junction of both land and sea routes, under the protection of Egypt, favoured this development, and the discovery of the alphabet and its use and adaptation for commercial purposes assisted the rise of a mercantile society. A fresco in an Egyptian tomb of the 18th dynasty depicted seven Phoenician merchant ships that had just put in at an Egyptian port to sell their goods, including the distinctive Canaanite wine jars in which wine, a drink foreign to the Egyptians, was imported. The Story of Wen-Amon recounts the tale of a Phoenician merchant, Werket-el of Tanis in the Nile Delta, who was the owner of "50 ships" that sailed between Tanis and Sidon. The Sidonians are also famous in the poems of Homer as craftsmen, traders, pirates, and slave dealers. The prophet Ezekiel (chapters 27 and 28), in a famous denunciation of the city of Tyre, catalogs the vast extent of its commerce, covering most of the then-known world.
Phoenician Ship, Byblos, Phoenicia Maritima.
by the Lebanese master artist Joseph Matar (Visit his site, a must see)
Note: To see a closeup of the front of the ship, please click the head of the hippocampus (sea horse) on the image above. (return to main page)
The exports of Phoenicia as a whole included particularly cedar and pine wood, fine linen from Tyre, Byblos, and Berytos, cloths dyed with the famous Tyrian purple (made from the snail Murex), embroideries from Sidon, metalwork and glass, glazed faience, wine, salt, and dried fish. They received in return raw materials, such as papyrus , ivory, ebony, silk, amber, ostrich eggs, spices, incense, horses, gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, jewels, and precious stones. The name Byblos is Greek; papyrus received its early Greek name (byblos, byblinos) from its being exported to the Aegean through Byblos. Hence the English word Bible is derived from byblos as "the (papyrus) book."
Transit Trade.
In addition to these exports and imports, the Phoenicians also conducted an important transit trade, especially in the manufactured goods of Egypt and Babylonia (Herodotus, i, 1). From the lands of the Euphrates and Tigris regular trade routes led to the Mediterranean. In Egypt the Phoenician merchants soon gained a foothold; they alone were able to maintain a profitable trade in the anarchic times of the 22nd and 23rd dynasties (c. 945-c. 730 BC). Though there were never any regular colonies of Phoenicians in Egypt, the Tyrians had a quarter of their own in Memphis (Herodotus, ii, 112). The Arabian caravan trade in perfume, spices, and incense passed through Phoenician hands on its way to Greece and the West (Herodotus, iii, 107).
Navigation and Seafaring.
For the establishment of commercial supremacy, an essential constituent was the Phoenician skill in navigation and seafaring. The Phoenicians are credited with the discovery and use of Polaris ( the Pole Star) . Fearless and patient navigators, they ventured into regions where no one else dared to go, and always, with an eye to their monopoly, they carefully guarded the secrets of their trade routes and discoveries and their knowledge of winds and currents. Pharaoh Necho II (610-595 BC) organized the Phoenician circumnavigation of Africa (Herodotus, iv, 42). Hanno, a Carthaginian, led another in the mid-5th century. The Carthaginians seem to have reached the island of Corvo in the Azores; and Britain. Some archeologists suggest that the Phoenicians may have reached America before the Vikings and/or Columbus? The hypothesis is based on inscriptions found in the Americas (including Brazil) and seemed to represent a Phoenician script. However, others find the hypothesis unfounded.
Ships, Navigation and Commerce, Extended Discussion.
Earliest navigation by means of rafts and canoes.
The first attempts of the Phoenicians to navigate the sea which washed their coast were probably as clumsy and rude as those of other primitive nations. They are said to have voyaged from island to island by means of rafts. 1 When they reached the shores of the Mediterranean, it can scarcely have been long ere they constructed boats for fishing and coasting purposes, though no doubt such boats were of a very rude construction. Probably, like other races, they began with canoes, roughly hewn out of the trunk of a tree. The torrents which descended from Lebanon would from time to time bring down the stems of fallen trees in their flood-time; and these, floating on the Mediterranean waters, would suggest the idea of navigation. They would, at first, be hollowed out with hatchets and adzes, or else with fire; and, later on, the canoes thus produced would form the models for the earliest efforts in shipbuilding. The great length, however, would soon be found unnecessary, and the canoe would give place to the boat, in the ordinary acceptation of the term. There are models of boats among the Phoenician remains which have a very archaic character, 2 and may give us some idea of the vessels in which the Phoenicians of the remoter times braved the perils of the deep. They have a keel, not ill shaped, a rounded hull, bulwarks, a beak, and a high seat for the steersman. The oars, apparently, must have been passed through interstices in the bulwark.
Click on image of ship to view a cross-section.
Model of a very primitive boat.
From this rude shape the transition was not very difficult to the bark represented in the sculptures of Sargon, 3 which is probably a Phoenician one. Here four rowers, standing to their oars, impel a vessel having for prow the head of a horse and for stern the tail of a fish, both of them rising high above the water. The oars are curved, like golf or hockey-sticks, and are worked from the gunwale of the bark, though there is no indication of rowlocks. The vessel is without a rudder; but it has a mast, supported by two ropes which are fastened to the head and stern. The mast has neither sail nor yard attached to it, but is crowned by what is called a "crow's nest"--a bell-shaped receptacle, from which a slinger or archer might discharge missiles against an enemy. 4.
Phoenician vessel of the time of Sargon.
A vessel of considerably greater size than this, but of the same class --impelled, that is, by one bank of oars only--is indicated by certain coins, which have been regarded by some critics as Phoenician, by others as belonging to Cilicia. 5 These have a low bow, but an elevated stern; the prow exhibits a beak, while the stern shows signs of a steering apparatus; the number of the oars on each side is fifteen or twenty. The Greeks called these vessels triaconters or penteconters. They are represented without any mast on the coins, and thus seem to have been merely row-boats of a superior character.
About the time of Sennacherib (B. C. 700), or a little earlier, some great advances seem to have been made by the Phoenician shipbuilders. In the first place, they introduced the practice of placing the rowers on two different levels, one above the other; and thus, for a vessel of the same length, doubling the number of the rowers. Ships of this kind, which the Greeks called "biremes," are represented in Sennacherib's sculptures as employed by the inhabitants of a Phoenician city, who fly in them at the moment when their town is captured, and so escape their enemy. 6 The ships are of two kinds. Both kinds have a double tier of rowers, and both are guided by two steering oars thrust out from the stern; but while the one is still without mast or sail, and is rounded off in exactly the same way both at stem and stern, the other has a mast, placed about midship, a yard hung across it, and a sail close reefed to the yard, while the bow is armed with a long projecting beak, like a ploughshare, which must have been capable of doing terrible damage to a hostile vessel. The rowers, in both classes of ships, are represented as only eight or ten upon a side; but this may have arisen from artistic necessity, since a greater number of figures could not have been introduced without confusion. It is thought that in the beaked vessel we have a representation of the Phoenician war-galley; in the vessel without a beak, one of the Phoenician transport. 7.
Click on image of ship to view a cross-section.
Phoenician pleasure vessels and merchant ships.
A painting on a vase found in Cyprus exhibits what would seem to have been a pleasure-vessel. 8 It is unbeaked, and without any sign of oars, except two paddles for steering with. About midship is a short mast, crossed by a long spar or yard, which carries a sail, closely reefed along its entire length. The yard and sail are managed by means of four ropes, which are, however, somewhat conventionally depicted. Both the head and stern of the vessel rise to a considerable height above the water, and the stern is curved, very much as in the war - galleys. It perhaps terminated in the head of a bird.
According to the Greek writers, Phoenician vessels were mainly of two kinds, merchant ships and war-vessels. 9 The merchant ships were of a broad, round make, what our sailors would call "tubs," resembling probably the Dutch fishing-boats of a century ago. They were impelled both by oars and sails, but depended mainly on the latter. Each of them had a single mast of moderate height, to which a single sail was attached; 10 this was what in modern times is called a "square sail," a form which is only well suited for sailing with when the wind is directly astern. It was apparently attached to the yard, and had to be hoisted together with the yard, along which it could be closely reefed, or from which it could be loosely shaken out. It was managed, no doubt, by ropes attached to the two lower corners, which must have been held in the hands of sailors, as it would have been most dangerous to belay them. As long as the wind served, the merchant captain used his sail; when it died away, or became adverse, he dropped yard and sail on to his deck, and made use of his oars.
Merchant ships had, commonly, small boats attached to them, which afforded a chance of safety if the ship foundered, and were useful when cargoes had to be landed on a shelving shore. 11 We have no means of knowing whether these boats were hoisted up on deck until they were wanted, or attached to the ships by ropes and towed after them; but the latter arrangement is the more probable.
Click on image of ship to view a cross-section.
Superiority of the Phoenician war-galleys.
The war-galleys of the Phoenicians in the early times were probably of the class which the Greeks called triaconters or penteconters, and which are represented upon the coins. They were long open rowboats, in which the rowers sat, all of them, upon a level, the number of rowers on either side being generally either fifteen or twenty-five. Each galley was armed at its head with a sharp metal spike, or beak, which was its chief weapon of offence, vessels of this class seeking commonly to run down their enemy. After a time these vessels were superseded by biremes, which were decked, had masts and sails, and were impelled by rowers sitting at two different elevations, as already explained. Biremes were ere long superseded by triremes, or vessels with three banks of oars, which are said to have been invented at Corinth, 12 but which came into use among the Phoenicians before the end of the sixth century B. C. 13 In the third century B. C. the Carthaginians employed in war quadriremes, and even quinqueremes; but there is no evidence of the employment of either class of vessel by the Phoenicians of Phoenicia Proper.
The superiority of the Phoenician ships to others is generally allowed, and was clearly shown when Xerxes collected his fleet of twelve hundred and seven triremes against Greece. The fleet included contingents from Phoenicia, Cyprus, Egypt, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia, Caria, Ionia, Æolis, and the Greek settlements about the Propontis. 14 When it reached the Hellespont, the great king, anxious to test the quality of his ships and sailors, made proclamation for a grand sailing match, in which all who liked might contend. Each contingent probably--at any rate, all that prided themselves on their nautical skill--selected its best vessel, and entered it for the coming race; the king himself, and his grandees and officers, and all the army, stood or sat along the shore to see: the race took place, and was won by the Phoenicians of Sidon. 15 Having thus tested the nautical skill of the various nations under his sway, the great king, when he ventured his person upon the dangerous element, was careful to embark in a Sidonian galley. 16.
Click on image of ship to view a cross-section.
Excellence of the arrangements.
A remarkable testimony to the excellence of the Phoenician ships with respect to internal arrangements is borne by Xenophon, who puts the following words into the mouth of Ischomachus, a Greek: 17 "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.'"
Phoenician ships seem to have been placed under the protection of the Cabeiri, and to have had images of them at their stem or stern or both. 18 These images were not exactly "figure-heads," as they are sometimes called. They were small, apparently, and inconspicuous, being little dwarf figures, regarded as amulets that would preserve the vessel in safety. We do not see them on any representations of Phoenician ships, and it is possible that they may have been no larger than the bronze or glazed earthenware images of Phthah that are so common in Egypt. The Phoenicians called them /pittuchim/, "sculptures," 19 whence the Greek and the French /fétiche/.
Early navigation cautious, increasing boldness.
The navigation of the Phoenicians, in early times, was no doubt cautious and timid. So far from venturing out of sight of land, they usually hugged the coast, ready at any moment, if the sea or sky threatened, to change their course and steer directly for the shore. On a shelving coast they were not at all afraid to run their ships aground, since, like the Greek vessels, they could be easily pulled up out of reach of the waves, and again pulled down and launched, when the storm was over and the sea calm once more. At first they sailed, we may be sure, only in the daytime, casting anchor at nightfall, or else dragging their ships up upon the beach, and so awaiting the dawn. But after a time they grew more bold. The sea became familiar to them, the positions of coasts and islands relatively one to another better known, the character of the seasons, the signs of unsettled or settled weather, the conduct to pursue in an emergency, better apprehended. They soon began to shape the course of their vessels from headland to headland, instead of always creeping along the shore, and it was not perhaps very long before they would venture out of sight of land, if their knowledge of the weather satisfied them that the wind might be trusted to continue steady, and if they were well assured of the direction of the land that they wished to make. They took courage, moreover, to sail in the night, no less than in the daytime, when the weather was clear, guiding themselves by the stars, and particularly by the Polar star, 20 which they discovered to be the star most nearly marking the true north. A passage of Strabo 21 seems to show that--in the later times at any rate--they had a method of calculating the rate of a ship's sailing, though what the method was is wholly unknown to us. It is probable that they early constructed charts and maps, which however they would keep secret through jealousy of their commercial rivals.
Furthest ventures.
The Phoenicians for some centuries confined their navigation within the limits of the Mediterranean, the Propontis, and the Euxine, land - locked seas, which are tideless and far less rough than the open ocean. But before the time of Solomon they had passed the Pillars of Hercules, and affronted the dangers of the Atlantic. 22 Their frail and small vessels, scarcely bigger than modern fishing-smacks, proceeded southwards along the West African coast, as far as the tract watered by the Gambia and Senegal, while northwards they coasted along Spain, braved the heavy seas of the Bay of Biscay, and passing Cape Finisterre, ventured across the mouth of the English Channel to the Cassiterides. Similarly, from the West African shore, they boldly steered for the Fortunate Islands (the Canaries), visible from certain elevated points of the coast, though at 170 miles distance. Whether they proceeded further, in the south to the Azores, Madeira, and the Cape de Verde Islands, in the north to the coast of Holland, and across the German Ocean to the Baltic, we regard as uncertain. It is possible that from time to time some of the more adventurous of their traders may have reached thus far; but their regular, settled, and established navigation did not, we believe, extend beyond the Scilly Islands and coast of Cornwall to the north-west, and to the south-west Cape Non and the Canaries. Some theories suggest that the Phoenicians reached the Americas (including Brazil).
Extent of the Phoenician land commerce.
The commerce of the Phoenicians was carried on, to a large extent, by land, though principally by sea. It appears from the famous chapter of Ezekiel 23 which describes the riches and greatness of Tyre in the sixth century B. C., that almost the whole of Western Asia was penetrated by the Phoenician caravans, and laid under contribution to increase the wealth of the Phoenician traders.
Witness of Ezekiel.
"Thou, son of man, (we read) take up a lamentation for Tyre, and say unto her, O thou that dwellest at the entry of the sea, Which art the merchant of the peoples unto many isles, Thus saith the Lord God, Thou, O Tyre, hast said, I am perfect in beauty. Thy borders are in the heart of the sea; Thy builders have perfected thy beauty. They have made all thy planks of fir-trees from Senir; They have taken cedars from Lebanon to make a mast for thee Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; They have made thy benches of ivory, Inlaid in box-wood, from the isles of Kittim. Of fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was thy sail, That it might be to thee for an ensign; Blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was thy awning. The inhabitants of Zidon and of Arvad were thy rowers; Thy wise men, O Tyre, were in thee--they were thy pilots. The ancients of Gebal, and their wise men, were thy calkers; All the ships of the sea, with their mariners, were in thee, That they might occupy thy merchandise. Persia, and Lud, and Phut were in thine army, thy men of war; They hanged the shield and helmet in thee; They set forth thy comeliness. The men of Arvad, with thine army, were upon thy walls round about; And the Gammadim were in thy towers; They hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; They have brought to perfection thy beauty. Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; With silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for thy wares. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy traffickers; They traded the persons of men, and vessels of brass, for thy merchandise. They of the house of Togarmah traded for thy wares, With horses, and with chargers, and with mules. The men of Dedan were thy traffickers; many isles were the mart of thy hands; They brought thee in exchange horns of ivory, and ebony. Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of thy handiworks; They traded for thy wares with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, And with fine linen, and coral, and rubies. Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy traffickers; They traded for thy merchandise wheat of Minnith, And Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. Damascus was thy merchant for the multitude of thy handiworks; By reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; With the wine of Helbon, and white wool. Dedan and Javan traded with yarn for thy wares; Bright iron, and cassia, and calamus were among thy merchandise. Dedan was thy trafficker in precious cloths for riding; Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they were the merchants of thy hand, In lambs, and rams, and goats, in these were they thy merchants. The traffickers of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy traffickers; They traded for thy wares with chief of all spices, And with all manner of precious stones, and gold. Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the traffickers of Sheba, Asshur and Chilmad, were thy traffickers: They were thy traffickers in choice wares, In wrappings of blue and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, Bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise. The ships of Tarshish were thy caravans for they merchandise; And thou wast replenished, and made very glorious, in the heart of the sea. Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters; The east wind hath broken thee in the heart of the sea. Thy reaches, and thy wares, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, Thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, With all the men of war, that are in thee, Shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of thy ruin. At the sound of thy pilot's cry the suburb's shall shake; And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, They shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land, And shall cause their voice to be heard over thee, and shall cry bitterly, And shall cast up dust upon their heads, and wallow in the ashes; And they shall make themselves bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, And they shall weep for thee in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning. And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, And lament over thee saying, Who is there like Tyre, Like her that is brought to silence in the midst of the sea? When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many peoples; Thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with thy merchandise and thy riches. In the time that thou was broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, Thy merchandise, and all thy company, did fall in the midst of thee, And the inhabitants of the isles are astonished at thee, And their kings are sore afraid, they are troubled in their countenance, The merchants that are among the peoples, hiss at thee; Thou art become a terror; and thou shalt never be any more."
Wares imported, caravans.
Translating this glorious burst of poetry into prose, we find the following countries mentioned as carrying on an active trade with the Phoenician metropolis:--Northern Syria, Syria of Damascus, Judah and the land of Israel, Egypt, Arabia, Babylonia, Assyria, Upper Mesopotamia, 24 Armenia, 25 Central Asia Minor, Ionia, Cyprus, Hellas or Greece, 26 and Spain. 27 Northern Syria furnishes the Phoenician merchants with /butz/, which is translated "fine linen," but is perhaps rather cotton, 28 the "tree-wool" of Herodotus; it also supplies embroidery, and certain precious stones, which our translators have considered to be coral, emeralds, and rubies. Syria of Damascus gives the "wine of Helbon"--that exquisite liquor which was the only sort that the Persian kings would condescend to drink 29 --and "white wool," the dainty fleeces of the sheep and lambs that fed on the upland pastures of Hermon and Antilibanus. Judah and the land of Israel supply corn of superior quality, called "corn of Minnith"-- corn, i. e. produced in the rich Ammonite country 30 --together with /pannag/, an unknown substance, and honey, and balm, and oil. Egypt sends fine linen, one of her best known products 31 --sometimes, no doubt, plain, but often embroidered with bright patterns, and employed as such embroidered fabrics were also in Egypt, 32 for the sails of pleasure-boats. Arabia provides her spices, cassia, and calamus (or aromatic reed), and, beyond all doubt, frankincense, 33 and perhaps cinnamon and ladanum. 34 She also supplies wool and goat's hair, and cloths for chariots, and gold, and wrought iron, and precious stones, and ivory, and ebony, of which the last two cannot have been productions of her own, but must have been imported from India or Abyssinia. 35 Babylonia and Assyria furnish "wrappings of blue, embroidered work, and chests of rich apparel." 36 Upper Mesopotamia partakes in this traffic. 37 Armenia gives horses and mules. Central Asia Minor (Tubal and Meshech) supplies slaves and vessels of brass, and the Greeks of Ionia do the like. Cyprus furnishes ivory, which she must first have imported from abroad. 38 Greece Proper sends her shell-fish, to enable the Phoenician cities to increase their manufacture of the purple dye. 39 Finally, Spain yields silver, iron, tin, and lead--the most useful of the metals--all of which she is known to have produced in abundance. 40.
Description of the land trade.
With the exception of Egypt, Ionia, Cyprus, Hellas, and Spain, the Phoenician intercourse with these places must have been carried on wholly by land. Even with Egypt, wherewith the communication by sea was so facile, there seems to have been also from a very early date a land commerce. The land commerce was in every case carried on by caravans. Western Asia has never yet been in so peaceful and orderly condition as to dispense prudent traders from the necessity of joining together in large bodies, well provisioned and well armed, when they are about to move valuable goods any considerable distance. There have always been robber-tribes in the mountain tracts, and thievish Arabs upon the plains, ready to pounce on the insufficiently protected traveller, and to despoil him of all his belongings. Hence the necessity of the caravan traffic. As early as the time of Joseph-- probably about B. C. 1600--we find a /company/ of the Midianites on their way from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 41 Elsewhere we hear of the "travelling /companies/ of the Dedanim," 42 of the men of Sheba bringing their gold and frankincense; 43 of a multitude of camels coming up to Palestine with wood from Kedar and Nebaioth. 44 Heerenis entirely justified in his conclusion that the land trade of the Phoenicians was conducted by "large companies or caravans, since it could only have been carried on in this way." 45.
The nearest neighbours of the Phoenicians on the land side were the Jews and Israelites, the Syrians of Damascus, and the people of Northern Syria, or the Orontes valley and the tract east of it. From the Jews and Israelites the Phoenicians seem to have derived at all times almost the whole of the grain which they were forced to import for their sustenance. In the time of David and Solomon it was chiefly for wheat and barley that they exchanged the commodities which they exported, 46 in that of Ezekiel it was primarily for "wheat of Minnith;" 47 and a similar trade is noted on the return of the Jews from the captivity, 48 and in the first century of our era. 49 But besides grain they also imported from Palestine at some periods wine, oil, honey, balm, and oak timber. 50 Western Palestine was notoriously a land not only of corn, but also of wine, of olive oil, and of honey, and could readily impart of its superfluity to its neighbour in time of need. The oaks of Bashan are very abundant, and seem to have been preferred by the Phoenicians to their own oaks as the material of oars. 51 Balm, or basalm, was a product of the land of Gilead, 52 and also of the lower Jordan valley, where it was of superior quality. 53.
From the Damascene Syrians we are told that Phoenicia imported "wine of Helbon" and "white wool." 54 The "wine of Helbon" is reasonably identified with that which is said to have been the favourite beverage of the Persian kings. 55 It was perhaps grown in the neighbourhood of Aleppo. 56 The "white wool" may have been furnished by the sheep that cropped the slopes of the Antilibanus, or by those fed on the fine grass which clothes most of the plain at its base. The fleece of these last is, according to Heeren, 57 "the finest known, being improved by the heat of the climate, the continual exposure to the open air, and the care commonly bestowed upon the flocks." From the Syrian wool, mixed perhaps with some other material, seems to have been woven the fabric known, from the city where it was commonly made, 58 as "damask."
According to the existing text of Ezekiel, 59 Syria Proper "occupied in the fairs" of Phoenicia with cotton, with embroidered robes, with purple, and with precious stones. The valley of the Orontes is suitable for the cultivation of cotton; and embroidered robes would naturally be produced in the seat of an old civilisation, which Syria certainly was. Purple seems somewhat out of place in the enumeration; but the Syrians may have gathered the /murex/ on their seaboard between Mt. Casius and the Gulf of Issus, and have sold what they collected in the Phoenician market. The precious stones which Ezekiel assigns to them are difficult of identification, but may have been furnished by Casius, Bargylus, or Amanus. These mountains, or at any rate Casius and Amanus, are of igneous origin, and, if carefully explored, would certainly yield gems to the investigator. At the same time it must be acknowledged that Syria had not, in antiquity, the name of a gem-producing country; and, so far, the reading of "Edom" for "Aram," which is preferred by many, 60 may seem to be the more probable.
The commerce of the Phoenicians with Egypt was ancient, and very extensive. "The wares of Egypt" are mentioned by Herodotus as a portion of the merchandise which they brought to Greece before the time of the Trojan War. 61 The Tyrians had a quarter in the city of Memphis assigned to them, 62 probably from an early date. According to Ezekiel, the principal commodity which Egypt furnished to Phoenicia was "fine linen" 63 --especially the linen sails embroidered with gay patterns, which the Egyptian nobles affected for their pleasure-boats. They probably also imported from Egypt natron for their glass-works, papyrus for their documents, earthenware of various kinds for exportation, scarabs and other seals, statuettes and figures of gods, amulets, and in the later times sarcophagi. 64 Their exports to Egypt consisted of wine on a large scale, 65 tin almost certainly, and probably their peculiar purple fabrics, and other manufactured articles.
The Phoenician trade with Arabia was of especial importance, since not only did the great peninsula itself produce many of the most valuable articles of commerce, but it was also mainly, if not solely, through Arabia that the Indian market was thrown open to the Phoenician traders, and the precious commodities obtained for which Hindustan has always been famous. Arabia is /par excellence/ the land of spices, and was the main source from which the ancient world in general, and Phoenicia in particular, obtained frankincense, cinnamon, cassia, myrrh, calamus or sweet-cane, and ladanum. 66 It has been doubted whether these commodities were, all of them, the actual produce of the country in ancient times, and Herodotus has been in some degree discredited, but perhaps without sufficient reason. He is supported to a considerable extent by Theophrastus, the disciple of Aristotle, who says: 67 "Frankincense, myrrh, and cassia grow in the Arabian districts of Saba and Hadramaut; frankincense and myrrh on the sides or at the foot of mountains, and in the neighbouring islands. The trees which produce them grow sometimes wild, though occasionally they are cultivated; and the frankincense-tree grows sometimes taller than the tree producing the myrrh." Modern authorities declare the frankincense-tree (/Boswellia thurifera/) to be still a native of Hadramaut; 68 and there is no doubt that the myrrh-tree (/Balsamodendron myrrha/) also grows there. If cinnamon and cassia, as the terms are now understood, do not at present grow in Arabia, or nearer to Phoenicia than Hindustan, it may be that they have died out in the former country, or our modern use of the terms may differ from the ancient one. On the other hand, it is no doubt possible that the Phoenicians imagined all the spices which they obtained from Arabia to be the indigenous growth of the country, when in fact some of them were importations.
Next to her spices, Arabia was famous for the production of a superior quality of wool. The Phoenicians imported this wool largely. The flocks of Kedar are especially noted, 69 and are said to have included both sheep and goats. 70 It was perhaps a native woollen manufacture, in which Dedan traded with Tyre, and which Ezekiel notices as a trade in "cloths for chariots." 71 Goat's hair was largely employed in the production of coverings for tents. 72 Arabia also furnished Phoenicia with gold, with precious stones, with ivory, ebony, and wrought iron. 73 The wrought iron was probably from Yemen, which was celebrated for its manufacture of sword blades. The gold may have been native, for there is much reason to believe that anciently the Arabian mountain ranges yielded gold as freely as the Ethiopian, 74 with which they form one system; or it may have been imported from Hindustan, with which Arabia had certainly, in ancient times, constant communication. Ivory and ebony must, beyond a doubt, have been Arabian importations. There are two countries from which they may have been derived, India and Abyssinia. It is likely that the commercial Arabs of the south-east coast had dealings with both. 75.
Of Phoenician imports into Arabia we have no account; but we may conjecture that they consisted principally of manufactured goods, cotton and linen fabrics, pottery, implements and utensils in metal, beads, and other ornaments for the person, and the like. The nomadic Arabs, leading a simple life, required but little beyond what their own country produced; there was, however, a town population 76 in the more southern parts of the peninsula, to which the elegancies and luxuries of life, commonly exported by Phoenicia, would have been welcome.
The Phoenician trade with Babylonia and Assyria was carried on probably by caravans, which traversed the Syrian desert by way of Tadmor or Palmyra, and struck the Euphrates about Circesium. Here the route divided, passing to Babylon southwards along the course of the great river, and to Nineveh eastwards by way of the Khabour and the Sinjar mountain-range. Both countries seem to have supplied the Phoenicians with fabrics of extraordinary value, rich in a peculiar embroidery, and deemed so precious that they were packed in chests of cedar-wood, which the Phoenician merchants must have brought with them from Lebanon. 77 The wares furnished by Assyria were in some cases exported to Greece, 78 while no doubt in others they were intended for home consumption. They included cylinders in rock crystal, jasper, hematite, steatite, and other materials, which may sometimes have found purchasers in Phoenicia Proper, but appear to have been specially affected by the Phoenician colonists in Cyprus. 79 On her part Phoenicia must have imported into Assyria and Babylonia the tin which was a necessary element in their bronze; and they seem also to have found a market in Assyria for their own most valuable and artistic bronzes, the exquisite embossed pateræ which are among the most precious of the treasures brought by Sir Austen Layard from Nineveh. 80.
The nature of the Phoenician trade with Upper Mesopotamia is unknown to us; and it is not impossible that their merchants visited Haran, 81 rather because it lay on the route which they had to follow in order to reach Armenia than because it possessed in itself any special attraction for them. Gall-nuts and manna are almost the only products for which the region is celebrated; and of these Phoenicia herself produced the one, while she probably did not need the other. But the natural route to Armenia was by way of the Cœlesyrian valley, Aleppo and Carchemish, to Haran, and thence by Amida or Diarbekr to Van, which was the capital of Armenia in the early times.
Armenia supplied the Phoenicians with "horses of common and of noble breeds," 82 and also with mules. 83 Strabo says that it was a country exceedingly well adapted for the breeding of the horse, 84 and even notes the two qualities of the animal that it produced, one of which he calls "Nisæan," though the true "Nisæan plain" was in Media. So large was the number of colts bred each year, and so highly were they valued, that, under the Persian monarchy the Great King exacted from the province, as a regular item of its tribute, no fewer than twenty thousand of them annually. 85 Armenian mules seem not to be mentioned by any writer besides Ezekiel; but mules were esteemed throughout the East in antiquity, 86 and no country would have been more likely to breed them than the mountain tract of Armenia, the Switzerland of Western Asia, where such surefooted animals would be especially needed.
Armenia adjoined the country of the Moschi and Tibareni--the Meshech and Tubal of the Bible. These tribes, between the ninth and the seventh centuries B. C., inhabited the central regions of Asia Minor and the country known later as Cappadocia. They traded with Tyre in the "persons of men" and in "vessels of brass" or copper. 87 Copper is found abundantly in the mountain ranges of these parts, and Xenophon remarks on the prevalence of metal vessels in the portion of the region which he passed through--the country of the Carduchians. 88 The traffic in slaves was one in which the Phoenicians engaged from very early times. They were not above kidnapping men, women, and children in one country and selling them into another; 89 besides which they seem to have frequented regularly the principal slave marts of the time. They bought such Jews as were taken captive and sold into slavery by the neighbouring nations, 90 and they looked to the Moschi and Tibareni for a constant supply of the commodity from the Black Sea region. 91 The Caucasian tribes have always been in the habit of furnishing slave-girls to the harems of the East, and the Thracians, who were not confined to Europe, but occupied a great part of Asia Minor, regularly trafficked in their children. 92.
Such was the extent of the Phoenician land trade, as indicated by the prophet Ezekiel, and such were, so far as is at present known, the commodities interchanged in the course of it. It is quite possible-- nay, probable--that the trade extended much further, and certain that it must have included many other articles of commerce besides those which we have mentioned. The sources of our information on the subject are so few and scanty, and the notices from which we derive our knowledge for the most part so casual, that we may be sure what is preserved is but a most imperfect record of what was--fragments of wreck recovered from the sea of oblivion. It may have been a Phoenician caravan route which Herodotus describes as traversed on one occasion by the Nasamonians, 93 which began in North Africa and terminated with the Niger and the city of Timbuctoo; and another, at which he hints as lying between the coast of the Lotus-eaters and Fezzan. 94 Phoenician traders may have accompanied and stimulated the slave hunts of the Garamantians, 95 as Arab traders do those of the Central African nations at the present day. Again, it is quite possible that the Phoenicians of Memphis designed and organised the caravans which, proceeding from Egyptian Thebes, traversed Africa from east to west along the line of the "Salt Hills," by way of Ammon, Augila, Fezzan, and the Tuarik country to Mount Atlas. 96 We can scarcely imagine the Egyptians showing so much enterprise. But these lines of traffic can be ascribed to the Phoenicians only by conjecture, history being silent on the subject.
Sea trade of Phoenicia.
1. With her own colonies.
The sea trade of the Phoenicians was still more extensive than their land traffic. It is divisible into two branches, their trade with their own colonists, and that with the natives of the various countries to which they penetrated in their voyages. The colonies sent out from Phoenicia were, except in the single instance of Carthage, trading settlements, planted where some commodity or commodities desired by the mother-country abounded, and were intended to secure to the mother-country the monopoly of such commodity or commodities. For instance, Cyprus was colonised for the sake of its copper mines and its timber; Cilicia and Lycia for their timber only; Thasos for its gold mines; Salamis and Cythera for the purple trade; Sardinia and Spain for their numerous metals; North Africa for its fertility and for the trade with the interior. Phoenicia expected to derive, primarily, from each colony the commodity or commodities which had caused the selection of the site. In return she supplied the colonists with her own manufactured articles; with fabrics in linen, wool, cotton, and perhaps to some extent in silk; with every variety of pottery, from dishes and jugs of the plainest and most simple kind to the most costly and elaborate vases and amphoræ; with metal utensils and arms, with gold and silver ornaments, with embossed shields and pateræ, with faïnce and glass, and also with any foreign products or manufactures that they desired and that the countries within the range of her influence could furnish. Phoenicia must have imported into Cyprus, to suit a peculiar Cyprian taste, the Egyptian statuettes, scarabs, and rings, 97 and the Assyrian and Babylonian cylinders, which have been found there. The tin which she brought from the Cassiterides she distributed generally, for she did not discourage her colonists from manufacturing for themselves to some extent. There was probably no colony which did not make its own bronze vessels of the commoner sort and its own coarser pottery.
2. With foreigners, Mediterranean and Black Sea trade.
In her trade with the nations who peopled the coasts of the Mediterranean, the Propontis, and the Black Sea, Phoenicia aimed primarily at disposing to advantage of her own commodities, secondarily at making a profit in commodities which she had obtained from other countries, and thirdly on obtaining commodities which she might dispose of to advantage elsewhere. Where the nations were uncivilised, or in a low condition of civilisation, she looked to making a large profit by furnishing them at a cheap rate with all the simplest conveniences of life, with their pottery, their implements and utensils, their clothes, their arms, the ornaments of their persons and of their houses. Underselling the native producers, she soon obtained a monopoly of this kind of trade, drove the native products out of the market, and imposed her own instead, much as the manufacturers of Manchester, Birmingham, and the Potteries impose their calicoes, their cutlery, and their earthenware on the savages of Africa and Polynesia. Where culture was more advanced, as in Greece and parts of Italy, 98 she looked to introduce, and no doubt succeeded in introducing, the best of her own productions, fabrics of crimson, violet, and purple, painted vases, embossed pateræ, necklaces, bracelets, rings--"cunning work" of all manner of kinds 99 --mirrors, glass vessels, and smelling-bottles. At the same time she also disposed at a profit of many of the wares that she had imported from foreign countries, which were advanced in certain branches of art, as Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, possibly India. The muslins and ivory of Hindustan, the shawls of Kashmir, the carpets of Babylon, the spices of Araby the Blest, the pearls of the Persian Gulf, the faïence and the papyrus of Egypt, would be readily taken by the more civilised of the Western nations, who would be prepared to pay a high price for them. They would pay for them partly, no doubt, in silver and gold, but to some extent also in their own manufactured commodities, Attica in her ceramic products, Corinth in her "brass," Etruria in her candelabra and engraved mirrors, 100 Argos in her highly elaborated ornaments. 101 Or, in some cases, they might make return out of the store wherewith nature had provided them, Eubœa rendering her copper, the Peloponnese her "purple," Crete her timber, the Cyrenaica its silphium.
North Atlantic trade.
Outside the Pillars of Hercules the Phoenicians had only savage nations to deal with, and with these they seem to have traded mainly for the purpose of obtaining certain natural products, either peculiarly valuable or scarcely procurable elsewhere. Their trade with the Scilly Islands and the coast of Cornwall was especially for the procuring of tin. Of all the metals, tin is found in the fewest places, and though Spain seems to have yielded some anciently, 102 yet it can only have been in small quantities, while there was an enormous demand for tin in all parts of the old world, since bronze was the material almost universally employed for arms, tools, implements, and utensils of all kinds, while tin is the most important, though not the largest, element in bronze. From the time that the Phoenicians discovered the Scilly Islands--the "Tin Islands" (Cassiterides), as they called them --it is probable that the tin of the civilised world was almost wholly derived from this quarter. Eastern Asia, no doubt, had always its own mines, and may have exported tin to some extent, in the remoter times, supplying perhaps the needs of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. But, after the rich stores of the metal which our own islands possess were laid open, and the Phoenicians with their extensive commercial dealings, both in the West and in the East, became interested in diffusing it, British tin probably drove all other out of use, and obtained the monopoly of the markets wherever Phoenician influence prevailed. Hence the trade with the Cassiterides was constant, and so highly prized that a Phoenician captain, finding his ship followed by a Roman vessel, preferred running it upon the rocks to letting a rival nation learn the secret of how the tin-producing coast might be approached in safety. 103 With the tin it was usual for the merchants to combine a certain amount of lead and a certain quantity of skins or hides; while they gave in exchange pottery, salt, and articles in bronze, such as arms, implements, and utensils for cooking and for the table. 104.
If the Phoenicians visited, as some maintain that they did, 105 the coasts of the Baltic, it must have been for the purpose of obtaining amber. Amber is thrown up largely by the waters of that land-locked sea, and at present especially abounds on the shore in the vicinity of Dantzic. It is very scarce elsewhere. The Phoenicians seem to have made use of amber in their necklaces from a very early date; 106 and, though they might no doubt have obtained it by land-carriage across Europe to the head of the Adriatic, yet their enterprise and their commercial spirit were such as would not improbably have led them to seek to open a direct communication with the amber-producing region, so soon as they knew where it was situated. The dangers of the German Ocean are certainly not greater than those of the Atlantic; and if the Phoenicians had sufficient skill in navigation to reach Britain and the Fortunate Islands, they could have found no very serious difficulty in penetrating to the Baltic. On the other hand, there is no direct evidence of their having penetrated so far, and perhaps the Adriatic trade may have supplied them with as much amber as they needed.
Trade with the West Coast of Africa and the Canaries.
The trade of the Phoenicians with the west coast of Africa had for its principal objects the procuring of ivory, of elephant, lion, leopard, and deer-skins, and probably of gold. Scylax relates that there was an established trade in his day (about B. C. 350) between Phoenicia and an island which he calls Cerne, probably Arguin, off the West African coast. "The merchants," he says, 107 "who are Phoenicians, when they have arrived at Cerne, anchor their vessels there, and after having pitched their tents upon the shore, proceed to unload their cargo, and to convey it in smaller boats to the mainland. The dealers with whom they trade are Ethiopians; and these dealers sell to the Phoenicians skins of deer, lions, panthers, and domestic animals--elephants' skins also, and their teeth. The Ethiopians wear embroidered garments, and use ivory cups as drinking vessels; their women adorn themselves with ivory bracelets; and their horses also are adorned with ivory. The Phoenicians convey to them ointment, elaborate vessels from Egypt, castrated swine(?), and Attic pottery and cups. These last they commonly purchase in Athens at the Feast of Cups. These Ethiopians are eaters of flesh and drinkers of milk; they make also much wine from the vine; and the Phoenicians, too, supply some wine to them. They have a considerable city, to which the Phoenicians sail up." The river on which the city stood was probably the Senegal.
It will be observed that Scylax says nothing in this passage of any traffic for gold. We can scarcely suppose, however, that the Phoenicians, if they penetrated so far south as this, could remain ignorant of the fact that West Africa was a gold-producing country, much less that, being aware of the fact, they would fail to utilise it. Probably they were the first to establish that "dumb commerce" which was afterwards carried on with so much advantage to themselves by the Carthaginians, and whereof Herodotus gives so graphic an account. "There is a country," he says, 108 "in Libya, and a nation, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, which the Carthaginians are wont to visit, where they no sooner arrive than forthwith they unlade their wares, and having disposed them after an orderly fashion along the beach, there leave them, and returning aboard their ships, raise a great smoke. The natives, when they see the sample, come down to the shore, and laying out to view so much gold as they think the wares are worth, withdraw to a distance. The Carthaginians upon this come ashore again and look. If they think the gold to be enough, they take it and go their way; but if it does not seem to them sufficient, they go aboard ship once more, and wait patiently. Then the others approach and add to their gold, till the Carthaginians are satisfied. Neither party deals unfairly by the other: for they themselves never touch the gold till it comes up to the worth of their goods, nor do the natives ever carry off the goods until the gold has been taken away."
The nature of the Phoenician trade with the Canaries, or Fortunate Islands, is not stated by any ancient author, and can only be conjectured. It would scarcely have been worth the Phoenicians' while to convey timber to Syria from such a distance, or we might imagine the virgin forests of the islands attracting them. 109 The large breed of dogs from which the Canaries derived their later name 110 may perhaps have constituted an article of export even in Phoenician times, as we know they did later, when we hear of their being conveyed to King Juba; 111 but there is an entire lack of evidence on the subject. Perhaps the Phoenicians frequented the islands less for the sake of commerce than for that of watering and refitting the ships engaged in the African trade, since the natives were less formidable than those who inhabited the mainland. 112.
Trade in the Red Sea a nd Indian Ocean.
There was one further direction in which the Phoenicians pushed their maritime trade, not perhaps continuously, but at intervals, when their political relations were such as to give them access to the sea which washed Asia on the south and on the southeast. The nearest points at which they could embark for the purpose of exploring or utilising the great tract of ocean in this quarter were the inner recesses of deep gulfs. It has been thought by some 113 that there were times in their history when the Phoenicians had the free use of both these gulfs, and could make it a point of their eastern explorations and trading voyages either a port on one of the two arms into which the Red Sea divides towards the north, or a harbour on the Persian Gulf near its north - western extremity. But the latter supposition rests upon grounds which are exceedingly unsafe and uncertain. That the Phoenicians migrated at some remote period to the Mediterranean may be allowed to be highly probable; they still maintained a connection with their early trading posts that may have gone all the way to the Far East. The Babylonians, through whose country the connection must have been kept up, were themselves traders, and would naturally keep the Arabian and Indian traffic in their own hands; nor can we imagine them as brooking the establishment of a rival upon their shores. And the evidence entirely fails to show that the Phoenicians ever launched a vessel in the Persian Gulf, or had any connection with the nations inhabiting its shores, beyond that maintained by the caravans which trafficked by land between the Phoenician cities and the men of Dedan and Babylon. 114.
It was otherwise with the more western gulf. There, certainly, from time to time, the Phoenicians launched their fleets, and carried on a commerce which was scarcely less lucrative because they had to allow the nations whose ports they used a participation in its profits. It is not impossible that, occasionally, the Egyptians allowed them to build ships in some one or more of their Red Sea ports, and to make such port or ports the head-quarters of a trade which may have proceeded beyond the Straits of Babelmandeb and possibly have reached Zanzibar and Ceylon. At any rate, we know that, in the time of Solomon, two harbours upon the Red Sea were open to them--viz. Eloth and Ezion-Geber--both places situated in the inner recess of the Elanitic Gulf, or Gulf of Akaba, the more eastern of the two arms into which the Red Sea divides. David's conquest of Edom had put these ports into the possession of the Israelites, and the friendship between Hiram and Solomon had given the Phoenicians free access to them. It was the ambition of Solomon to make the Israelites a nautical people, and to participate in the advantages which he perceived to have accrued to Phoenicia from her commercial enterprise. Besides sharing with the Phoenicians in the trade of the Mediterranean, 115 he constructed with their help a fleet at Ezion-Geber upon the Red Sea, 116 and the two allies conjointly made voyages to the region, or country, called Ophir, for the purpose of procuring precious stones, gold, and almug-wood. 117 Ophir is, properly speaking, a portion of Arabia, 118 and Arabia was famous for its production of gold, 119 and also for its precious stones. 120 Whether it likewise produced almug-trees is doubtful; 121 and it is quite possible that the joint fleet went further than Ophir proper, and obtained the "almug-wood" from the east coast of Africa, or from India. The Somauli country might have been as easily reached as South-eastern Arabia, and if India is considerably more remote, yet there was nothing to prevent the Phoenicians from finding their way to it. 122 We have, however, no direct evidence that their commerce in the Indian Ocean ever took them further than the Arabian coast.
The illustrations of Phoenician ships were provided by kind courtesy of Cedarland, the History of Lebanon (the section on Phoenician history is here). The sea battle on the top of the page is an illustration of the battle of Salamis.
2 Perrot et Chipiez, /Hist. de l'Art/, iii. 517, No. 352.
3 Layard, /Nineveh and its Remains/, ii. 383.
4 Compare the practice of the Egyptians (Rosellini, /Monumenti Storici/, pl. cxxxi.)
5 See Mionnet, /DÈscript. de MÈdailles/, vol. vii. pl. lxi. fig. 1; Gesenius, /Ling. ScripturÊque Phún. Monumenta/, pl. 36, fig. G; Layard, /Nineveh and its Remains/, ii. 378.
6 Layard, /Monuments of Nineveh/, first series, pl. 71; /Nineveh and its Remains/, l. s.c.
7 So Perrot et Chipiez, /Hist. de l'Art/, iii. 34.
8 See Di Cesnola, /Cyprus/, pl. xlv.
9 Herod. iii. 136.
10 In later times there must have been more sails than one, since Xenophon describes a Phúnician merchant ship as sailing by means of a quantity of rigging, which implies /several/ sails (Xen. /åconom./ ß 8).
11 Scylax. /Periplus/, ß 112.
14 See Herod. vii. 89-94.
16 Ibid. vii. 100.
17 Xen. /åconom./ ß 8, pp. 11-16 (Ed. Schneider).
18 Herodotus (iii. 37) says they were at the prow of the ship; but Suidas (ad voc.) and Hesychius (ad voc.) place them at the stern. Perhaps there was no fixed rule.
19 The of the Greeks probably representes the Hebrew , which is from , "insculpere," and is applied in Scripture to "carved work" of any kind. (See 1 Kings vi. 29; Ps. lxxiv. 6; &c.) Some, however, derive the word from the Egyptian name Phthah, or Ptah. (See Kenrick, /Phúnicia/, p. 235.)
20 Manilius, i. 304-308.
21 Strab. /Geograph./ xv.
22 Tarshish (Tartessus) was on the Atlantic coast, outside the Straits.
24 Signified by one of its chief cities, Haran (now Harran).
25 Signified by "the house of Togarmarh" (verse 14).
26 Ionia, Cyprus, and Hellas are the Greek correspondents of Javan, Chittim, and Elishah, Chittim representing Citium, the capital of Cyprus.
27 Spain is intended by "Tarshish" (verse 12) == Tartessus, which was a name given by the Phúnicians to the tract upon the lower BÊtis (Guadalquivir).
28 See the /Speaker's Commentary/, ad loc.
30 Minnith appears as an Ammonite city in the history of Jephthah (Judg. xi. 33).
31 Herod. ii. 37, 182; iii. 47.
32 See Rawlinson's /Herodotus/, ii. 157; /History of Ancient Egypt/, i. 509; Rosellini, /Mon. Civili/, pls. 107-109.
33 See Herod. iii. 107; /History of Ancient Egypt/, ii. 222-224.
34 That these were Arabian products appears from Herod. iii. 111, 112. They may be included in the "chief of all spices," which Tyre obtained from the merchants of Sheba and Raamah (Ezek. xxvii. 22).
35 Arabia has no ebony trees, and can never have produced elephants.
36 See Ezek. xxvii. 23, 24. Canneh and Chilmad were probably Babylonian towns.
37 Upper Mesopotamia is indicated by one of its chief cities, Haran (Ezek. xxvii. 23).
38 Ezek. xxvii. 6. Many objects in ivory have been found in Cyprus.
39 Ibid. verse 7. The /Murex brandaris/ is still abundant on the coast of Attica, and off the island of Salamis (Perrot et Chipiez, /Hist. de l'Art/, iii. 881).
40 Strab. iii. 2, ß 8-12; Diod. Sic. v. 36; Plin. /H. N./ iii. 3.
41 See Gen. xxxvii. 28.
42 Isaiah xxi. 13.
44 Ibid. verses 6, 7.
45 Heeren, /Asiatic Nations/, ii. 93, 100, 101.
46 1 Kings v. 11; 2 Chr. ii. 10.
47 Ezek. xxvii. 17.
50 2 Chron. l. s.c.; Ezra l. s.c.; Ezek. xxvii. 6, 17.
52 Gen. xxxvii. 28.
53 Strab. xvi. 2, ß 41.
54 Ezek. xxvii. 18.
56 So Heeren (/As. Nat./ ii. 118). But there is a Helbon a little to the north of Damascus, which is more probably intended.
58 See Amos, iii. 12, where some translate "the children of Israel that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and upon a damask couch."
59 Ezek. xxvii. 16.
60 The Hebrew terms for Syria and Edom are constantly confounded by the copyists, and we must generally look to the context to determine which is the true reading.
64 Egyptian pottery, scarabs, seals, figures of gods, and amulets, are common on most Phúnician sites. The Sidonian sarcophagi, including that of Esmunazar, are of an Egyptian stone.
65 Herod. iii. 5, 6.
66 Ibid. iii. 107; Strab. xvi. 4, ß 19; Diod. Sic. ii. 49.
67 Theophrast. /Hist. Plant./ ix. 4.
68 Wilkinson, in the author's /Herodotus/, iii. 497, note 6; Heeren, /As. Nat./ ii. 95.
69 Is. lx. 7; Dela. xlix. 29.
70 Ezek. xxvii. 21.
71 Ezek. xxvii. 20.
72 Ex. xxvi. 7; xxxvi. 14.
73 Ezek. xxvii. 15, 19-22.
74 See Heeren, /Asiatic Nations/, ii. 96.
75 Ibid. pp. 99, 100.
76 Gerrha, Sanaa, and Mariaba were flourishing towns in Strabo's time, and probably during several centuries earlier.
77 Ezek. xxvii. 23, 24.
79 See Di Cesnola, /Cyprus/, pls. xxxi.-xxxiii.; A. Di Cesnola, /Salaminia/, ch. xii.; Perrot et Chipiez, /Hist. de l'Art/, iii. 636-639.
80 Layard, /Monuments of Nineveh/, 2nd series, pls. 57-67; /Nineveh and Babylon/, pp. 183-187.
81 Ezek. xxvii. 23.
82 So Heeren translates (/As. Nat./ ii. 123).
83 Ezek. xxvii. 14.
86 1 Kings i. 33; Esth. viii. 10, 14.
87 Ezek. xxvii. 13.
89 Hom. /Od./ xv. 415-484; Herod. Eu. 1.
91 Ezek. xxvii. 13.
96 Ibid. iv. 181-184. Compare Heeren, /African Nations/, ii. pp. 202-235.
97 No doubt some of these may have been imparted by the Cyprians themselves, and others introduced by the Egyptians when they held Cyprus; but they are too numerous to be accounted for sufficiently unless by a continuous Phúnician importation.
98 Especially Etruria, which was advanced in civilisation and the arts, while Rome was barely emerging from barbarism.
99 2 Chron. ii. 14.
100 Dennis, /Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria/, ii. 204, 514; Gerhard, /Etruskische Spiegel/, passim.
101 Schliemann, /MycenÊ/, Pls. 357-519.
102 Ezek. xxvii. 12; Plin. /H. N./ xxxiv. 16; &c.
103 Strabo, iii. 5, ß 11.
104 Ibid. In Roman times the pigs of tin were brought to the Isle of Wight by the natives, thence transported across the Channel, and conveyed through Gaul to the mouth of the RhÙne (Diod. Sic. v. 22).
105 Heeren, /Asiatic Nations/, ii. 80.
106 Hom. /Od./ xv. 460. Some doubt, however, if amber is here intended.
107 Scylax, /Periplus/, ß 112.
108 Herod. iv. 196.
109 These forests (spoken of by Diodorus, v. 19) have now to a great extent been cleared away, though some patches still remain, especially in the more western islands of the group. The most remarkable of the trees is the /Pinus canariensis/.
110 Pliny, /H. N./ vi. 32, sub fin.
111 Pliny, l. s.c. The breed is now extinct.
112 The savagery of the ancient inhabitants of the mainland is strongly marked in the narrative of Hanno (/Periplus/, passim).
113 As Heeren (/As. Nat./ ii. 71, 75, 239).
114 Ezek. xxvii. 15, 20, 23.
115 See 1 Kings x. 22; 2 Chr. ix. 21.
116 1 Kings ix. 26, 27.
117 Ibid. x. 11; 2 Chr. ix. 10.
118 Gen. x. 29. Compare Twistleton, in Dr. Smith's /Dictionary of the Bible/, vol. ii. ad voc. OPHIR.
119 Ps. lxxii. 15; Ezek. xxvii. 22; Strab. xvi. 4, ß 18; Diod. Sic. ii. 50.
120 Ezel. l. s.c.; Strab. xvi. 4, ß 20.
121 There are no sufficient data for determining what tree is intended by the almug or algum tree. The theory which identifies it with the "sandal-wood" of India has respectable authority in its favour, but cannot rise beyond the rank of a conjecture.
122 If Scylax of Cadyanda could sail, in the reign of Darius Hystaspis, from the mouth of the Indus to the Gulf of Suez (Herod. iv. 44), there could have been no great difficulty in the Phúnicians accomplishing the same voyage in the opposite direction some centuries earlier.
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4f. Phoenicians: Sailing Away.
The Phoenicians used cuneiform but later developed their own alphabet.
This famous sequence of letters known to much of the world dates back to the 16th century B. C.E.
A fairly small group of traders and merchants known as the Phoenicians created the foundation for the modern English alphabet and other alphabets. They organized a system of 22 consonants into what became the alphabet used not only by English speakers, but by speakers of many of the world's languages.
The Phoenicians lived along the Mediterranean coast in what is now Lebanon. They inhabited a number of different city-states, the most famous of which were Tyre, Byblos, and Sidon. These Phoenician places were often in conflict with each other for domination of the region. Because of this lack of cooperation, the Phoenicians were conquered and forced to pay tribute to the virtually every empire in the region, including the Egyptians, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks.
Alphabet Soup.
When the Phoenicians created their new alphabet, they worked from symbols that were already in use among the Semitic-speaking peoples of Canaan and Mesopotamia. As early as 3000 B. C.E., the Sumerians and the Egyptians had already invented writing systems based on symbols. These early scripts were primarily used by merchants and traders to record contracts, receipts, and lists of goods.
The merchants and traders of Phoenicia wanted something that would not be too difficult to learn and would be quick and easy to use. Unfortunately, both the Egyptian and Sumerian writing systems did not meet these criteria very well. They used hundreds of different complex symbols to represent ideas (ideograms) and syllabic sounds (phonograms).
The Phoenicians realized that most words were made up of only a small number of simple sounds. They found that these sounds could be represented in only 22 symbols and their various combinations. In their newly created alphabet, the Phoenicians used symbols or letters only for consonants, although their spoken language did contain vowel sounds. The modern Hebrew and Arabic alphabets, which were directly influenced by the Phoenician one, still do not contain symbols for vowels.
From Ugaret to Malaga to Hadrumet, the trade-savvy Phoenicians influenced nearly every town along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
The Phoenicians spread their alphabet through their vast trading network that stretched throughout the entire Mediterranean region. The Greeks adopted it and by the 8th century B. C.E. had added vowels. Later, the Romans also used a version of this same alphabet that is virtually identical to the one used today in the English-speaking world.
Trading on the High Seas.
The Phoenicians were the greatest traders in the ancient world for the period between 1000 B. C.E. and 600 B. C.E. These were highly skilled shipbuilders and sailors built strong and fast sailing vessels to carry their goods. They learned how to navigate and how to use the North Star to sail at night. It is possible that they even sailed as far as Britain and around the southern tip of Africa.
To fight off pirates who often harassed trading ships, the Phoenicians designed special warships to accompany their trading fleets. Oarsmen would propel a sharp ramming device at the front of the boat into an enemy's vessel, putting a hole into it that would cause it to sink.
To expand in trading, the Phoenicians also built outposts that later became great cities in their own right. The most famous of these outposts was Carthage (located in modern-day Tunisia). Carthage eventually became wealthy and powerful enough to challenge the Roman Republic.
Phoenician merchants acted as middlemen for their neighbors. They transported linen and papyrus from Egypt, copper from Cyprus, embroidered cloth from Mesopotamia, spices from Arabia, and ivory, gold, and slaves from Africa to destinations throughout the Mediterranean.
Given their location on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, it was natural for the Phoenicians to take to water. They are known as superlative ship builders of the ancient world.
The Phoenicians also had valuable resources and highly skilled artisans. From a small shellfish called the murex they produced a brilliant purple dye. This dye was applied to woolen garments, which were highly prized not only for their beauty, but also for their high cost. It took 60,000 murex to produce one pound of dye. The dye became known as royal purple and was worn by Roman emperors.
Skilled artists also produced beautiful glass, pottery, textiles, woodwork, and metalwork, that were desired by people all over the ancient world. King Solomon of Israel even used Phoenician artisans and resources to build the great Hebrew Temple to Yahweh.
By 572 B. C.E., the Phoenicians fell under the harsh rule of the Assyrians. They continued to trade, but encountered tough competition from Greece over trade routes. As the 4th century B. C.E. approached, the Phoenicians' two most important cities, Sidon and Tyre, were destroyed by the Persians and Alexander the Great. Many Phoenicians left the Mediterranean coast for their trading colonies, and Phoenicia people and ideas were soon assimilated into other cultures.
All things Phoenician can be found here. Use the base menu (it'll pop up as a separate window) to explore topics of interest — ancient dentistry to tales of Phoenician voyages and everything in between. And we do mean everything .
Shipwrecked treasure. Movie rights. Scuba-toting archaeologists. Ancient amphoras (brightly colored earthen jars used to carry wine, olive oil, honey and more) buried on the bottom of the Mediterranean. Underwater robots. Proof of the Phoenicians sailing prowess. If you've ever dreamed of buried treasure, you have to read this.
The first thing you'll notice about this site is the strange square thingy that follows your cursor around the screen. Apparently it's a nod of recognition to the ancient Phoenicians for developing an alphabet, but it is a little overbearing on such a short page of Phoenician history. There are some nice maps of Phoenicia to see via links at the bottom of the page.
This site characterizes Phoenicia as a reluctant empire; it claims the Phoenicians would have been happy developing their manufacturing and trade routes, and adventuring on the seas, but they were forced to take up political positions for or against their neighbors. All in all, lots of info and some nice pics at this Great Outdoor Recreation Page (GORP). Incidentally, GORP is the name of a hiker's snack (Good Old Raisins and Peanuts) — how appropriate since the author of the page is a biker and adventurer.
The Phoenicians sailed to the end of the world, which at the time was Spain. Along the way, they founded Carthage in North Africa and mined the immense mineral resources of southern Spain. Sometimes Phoenician ships were so heavily laden with precious metals that they had to make anchors from silver. This website dedicated to discussing the Spanish heritage explores the influences of the Phoenician people, such as Spanish temples built for Phoenician gods, as well as the origin of olive oil in Spain.
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