Phoenicia

Ancient Phoenicia corresponds roughly to the territory of modern-day Lebanon. The word “Phoenicia” originally means “purplish-red,” which comes from a purplish-red dye produced in this region from murex snails. Ancient Westerners generally used murex shells to produce the purple dye. The process was complex, wasteful, and required precise timing. Despite the fact that 10,000 snails could only produce 1 gram of pure purple dye—enough to dye just the trim of a single garment—it was a highly coveted color for ancient Westerners.

The region of Phoenicia extended from Suksu in the north to Acre in the south, the Lebanon mountains in the east, and the Mediterranean Sea in the west. The area was inhabited as early as 5000 BCE. Ancient Phoenicia was not a single country but an entire region, with a territory similar to modern-day Lebanon and Syria. According to archaeological evidence, most Phoenician towns were built in coastal areas for fortification and defense, and they were independent city-states, each difficult to conquer. Their Phoenician alphabet is the source of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin alphabets. The city-states were numerous and included Tyre, Sidon, and Ugarit.

From approximately 2800 BCE to 1200 BCE, Phoenicia was primarily under the political control of Egypt. The city of Sidon developed around 2000 BCE, and by 1200 BCE, Tyre had become powerful. The Phoenicians were the most famous navigators and merchants in the ancient world. They sailed their long, narrow ships to every corner of the Mediterranean, dominating the sea. They controlled the trade routes to India, transporting large amounts of ivory, ebony, cotton cloth, and shiny iron. They also exported amber to what is now Germany and Italy and tin to the Mediterranean coast.

Around 800 BCE, Phoenicia began to decline, becoming a vassal state. Its commercial advantage gradually faded as Greek city-states began to grow in power, seizing Phoenician colonies and markets. Around 500 BCE, the Greeks gained the upper hand in the eastern Mediterranean. In 332 BCE, with the fall of Tyre, the name of the Phoenicians disappeared from historical records.

Phoenicia was not a political nation but was composed of independent city-states that shared a common language and culture and competed peacefully with each other. To promote their maritime trade, the Phoenicians established many colonies and commercial outposts along the Mediterranean coast, covering Cyprus, Crete, Sicily, Malta, Sardinia, Corsica, Spain, southern Europe, and North Africa. The Phoenician population was not large, so they were not interested in territorial expansion. The population of their colonies rarely exceeded a thousand people, with only Carthage and some nearby settlements in the western Mediterranean being larger. Phoenician colonies were highly autonomous and typically paid tribute to their mother cities through religious offerings.