Phoenicians

We explore the Phoenician civilization, and describe its religion and society. In addition, we discuss its characteristics and cultural traits.

Who were the Phoenicians?

The Phoenicians were the ancient inhabitants of the Levant on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, a region then known as Canaan. They were great seafarers who established trade routes across the Mediterranean, the Aegean, and the Black Sea. Between 2800 and 700 BC, the Phoenician cities of Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre alternately came to control regional trade while maintaining political autonomy.

The Phoenicians called themselves Canaanites, in reference to the region they inhabited. Various civilizations with which they traded gave them other names. The ancient Greeks called them phoínikes (meaning red or purple) due to the purple dyes they traded. This word gave rise to the term Punic used by the Romans, and Phoenicia used by modern scholars.

• See also: Byzantine Empire

Characteristics of the Phoenicians

The main characteristics of the Phoenicians were:

• They inhabited the Levant region, north of Palestine, between 2800 and 700 BC.
• They controlled trade in the Mediterranean Sea through major cities such as Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre.
• They established dozens of colonies and trading posts along the Mediterranean coastline, leaving a significant influence on North Africa, southern Spain, and southern Italy.
• While their cities remained independent, they formed commercial and political alliances to defend themselves against other regional powers.
• Their politics and society revolved around commerce, controlled by merchant aristocrats who formed councils of government in each city that limited the power of kings.
• They influenced other cultures in the region through the exchange of goods, services, and ideas between distant territories and diverse populations.
• They developed an alphabetic writing system later adopted by the Greeks and Romans.

Geographic location of the Phoenicians

The Phoenicians settled in the Levant, a territory stretching along the Mediterranean coast between the sea and the Lebanon Mountains, from the mouth of the Orontes River in the north to the Bay of Haifa in the south. This area is encompassed by modern-day Lebanon, Israel, Syria, and Palestine.

Phoenician history

Scholars divide Phoenician history into three major periods:

• 2800–1600 BC. During this period, the most prominent city was Byblos, which maintained commercial relations with the Kingdom of Egypt. Egyptian support proved to be of great importance to influence and prevail over other Phoenician cities. However, Byblos eventually fell under Egyptian rule, losing its commercial prominence in the region.
• 1600–1200 BC. The city of Sidon rose in importance, extending its trade routes across the Mediterranean, Aegean, and Black seas. Toward the end of this period, Greek forces expelled the Phoenicians from the Aegean, and the "sea peoples" began a series of attacks on Sidon.
• 1200–700 BC. Tyre rose as the most prominent city during this era, situated on an island near the Levantine coast. Its merchants expanded the routes established by the Sidonians, reaching the western Mediterranean, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, and even arriving in the British Isles. Along the way, they established trading colonies such as Carthage on the African coast. However, the city's growth and commercial power led to internal disputes, which caused the empires in the region to intervene. This weakened the city’s power, which eventually lost its economic and political autonomy. Toward 700 BC, Tyre fell under Assyrian control.

Phoenician social structure

The Phoenicians had a stratified society organized around commerce. The highest class comprised an aristocracy of prominent families of merchants and slave traders. Below them was a class of middle-tier merchants who managed small-scale trade routes. Sailors and artisans made up the lowest social class.

Phoenician political organization

The Phoenicians never had a centralized government. Instead, they organized themselves in city-states, whose influence in the region varied according to their wealth and political power. These cities were independent, and formed political and commercial alliances to maintain their autonomy against neighboring kingdoms and empires.

Each city was ruled by a king whose authority was believed to have divine origin. However, the king's power was not absolute. While he controlled military and economic affairs, Phoenician government was shared with a council of elders, composed of the heads of aristocratic families.

The Phoenicians did not conquer the territories they reached through their trade routes. Instead, they established their own colonies and trading posts (enclaves dedicated to production). This enabled them to develop a support, production and distribution network for their trade routes.

Phoenician economy

Phoenician economy was primarily maritime, with intense exchange between their cities and with foreign regions. They became a commercial power in the region, earning them the title of the great merchants of antiquity.

Their main commercial activity was slave trade. Slaves were either captured by merchants or purchased at local markets. Phoenicians also traded silk and linen fabrics, oil, wine, resin, perfumes, and all kinds of luxury goods. Their trade routes connected the Nile Delta in Egypt with the Mediterranean Sea, the Aegean Islands, and the cities of Mesopotamia.

In addition, they engaged in shipbuilding, using cedar wood from the forests of Lebanon. They established dozens of trading posts for gold, silver and bronze metalwork, as well as for the production of ceramics decorated with a purple dye extracted from the murex mollusk.

Phoenician religion

The Phoenicians were polytheistic, worshipping various gods. While each city had its own pantheon, all practiced the cult of Baal and Astarte, the divine couple representing the sun and the moon.

Some of the main gods in Phoenician mythology were:

• Astarte. The main goddess of the cities of Sidon and Byblos (though also present in other Phoenician cities), she represented fertility. She was also worshiped as the goddess of hunting and war, and was the patroness of seafarers. She became identified with the Greek Aphrodite and the Egyptian Isis, and was depicted as a lion holding a lotus flower and a serpent, often with exposed breasts or nursing.
• Eshmun. Worshiped in Sidon and Cyprus, Eshmun was assimilated to Apollo and Aesculapius in Greco-Roman traditions. He was a healing god, honored with games similar to the Greek Olympics, where winners were rewarded with purple fabric.
• Baal. A solar deity worshiped in Asia Minor and areas under their influence including the Phoenicians. He was the god of rain and war and one of the main gods in the Phoenician pantheon.
• Chusor. The god of armorers, blacksmiths, and fishermen, he is thought to have been the first seafarer of humanity. He purportedly built the first temple to Baal, and was also credited with having invented fishing, navigation, and metalworking.
• Hadad. The Phoenician god of air, storms, lightning, rain, and wind. Phoenicians believed it was his voice that echoed during storms.
• Melqart. The city god of Tyre, Melqart was Baal’s Phoenician counterpart. Originally the god of agriculture and spring, he was worshipped through sacrifice rituals. Melqart also eventually came to be a sea god, in a clear example of religious syncretism. His name means "King of the City", and was the patron of navigation and colonization.
• Dagon. Possibly a fusion of three deities (Ben Dagon from Ugarit, Dagan from Sumeria, and Dagon from Phoenicia). He was a sea god portrayed as half-man, half-fish. Other interpretations link him to agricultural terms ("spike" in Hebrew), and he was a patron deity of the Philistines.
• Moloch. The supreme god and protector of Carthage, it was a bull deity similar to the Minotaur. Worship of Moloch involved the annual sacrifice of four youths placed in a structure that was set aflame.

Phoenician culture

The main cultural traits of the Phoenicians were:

• Art and architecture. For centuries, the Phoenicians incorporated the Egyptian and Assyrian styles into their artistic and architectural designs. Artistic production served commercial purposes, with ceramics and crafts adopting the shapes and designs of the regions they traded with.
• Writing. The Phoenicians developed an alphabetic writing system consisting of 22 phonetic symbols. These symbols represented vowels and consonants, which were combined to form words. The system was easy to learn and use, making it ideal for commercial purposes. It spread through Phoenician trade routes and settlements and was eventually adopted by other cultures, such as the Greeks and Romans, forming the basis of their writing systems.
• Maritime exploration. Throughout their history, the Phoenicians expanded their trade routes to more and more distant maritime areas. The establishment of colonies was key to ensure ports and storage for goods. They navigated the Mediterranean from March to October, using two distinct routes: the southern route along the African coast and the northern route between the Aegean Islands.
• Economic exchange. The Phoenicians had various trade methods: they negotiated directly from their ships at the ports they arrived at, they landed on beaches to trade with locals, or they unloaded goods onshore and waited for locals to make an offer.
• Cultural exchange. Through their commercial relations, the Phoenicians became cultural intermediaries between different regions. Their constant interactions facilitated the spread and development of diverse cultural traditions.

Explore next:

• Sumerians
• Persian Empire
• Babylonian civilization

References

• Liverani, M. (1995). Los fenicios. El antiguo Oriente. Historia, sociedad y economía. Editorial Crítica.
• Blanco Frejeiro, A., González, C. y Schubart, H. (1985). Los fenicios. Cuadernos De Historia 16 (Vol. 1).
• Wagner, C. G. (1989). Fenicios, Historia del mundo antiguo. Oriente. (Vol. 9). Ediciones AKAL
• “Pueblos fenicios” in Mundo Antiguo.net.
• “Los fenicios, origen y evolución, sociedad, economía, religión” in Historia y Biografías.
• “Fenicios” (video) in Educatina.
• “Did the Phoenicians ever exist?” in Haaretz.