Fortified cities
In time, between 2900 Bc and 1500 BC, the Phoenicians built
a chain of ports with natural harbours along the 200-mile coastline that they
occupied. Their chief ports, Aradus (Ruad), Byblos, Berytus (Beirut), Sidon and
Tyre, were fortified cities either built on islands or backed by headlands that
gave defence from land attack. Each city was an independent state ruled by a merchant-king
rather than the warrior kings of neighbouring societies. Although the cities
occasionally united to form a single Phoenician state these unions never lasted
long. But the cities co-operated with each other and never fought among themselves.
In addition to shipping and selling cedar wood, the
Phoenicians became highly skilled at working it. The Old Testament tells
several stories of trading between the Phoenicians and Israelite kings. About
950 BC,Phoenicians provided the timber to build the palace of King Solomon and
the famous temple in Jerusalem. Hiram, king of Tyre, provided skilled
shipbuilders to construct a fleet for Solomon, and entered into a trading
alliance with him. According to the Old Testament the combined fleets of the
two kings visited the land of the Queen of Sheba and brought back gold, silver,
ivory, spices, precious stones, monkeys and peacocks.
Worship of such gods as the ball the goddess of fertility, But the urge to sacrifice came from a deeply held belief that without it the city of Carthage would fall. |
The Phoenicians added to their reputation as navigators and
traders by turning their cities into great manufacturing centers. They learned
the techniques of neighbouring peoples, particularly the Egyptians, and adapted
them for their own purpose. With great acumen, the Phoenicians imported from
Europe and Africa materials such as ivory, gold, silver and silk, and worked
them into furniture, jewellery, cloth and other saleable items for export to
other Mediterranean countries. They also exported glassware, and cotton and
linen cloth.
Sidon and Tyre were the main centers of the dyeing industry
for which the Phoenicians were famous. Only they knew the secrets of how to
produce the purple-red dye used for the robes of kings and nobles in many
countries. They took the secretion from a particular sea shell called murex, and
from it obtained purple-toned dyes of varying shades. Because the murex
secreted its dye only when dead and decaying, the smell of Phoenician cities
was often far from pleasant.
In 1920, archaeologists discovered thousands of earthen vessels buried in Carthage. All contain the ashes of burnt children. The Romans were horrified by the cruelty of Carthaginian religion. |
Papyrus for books and documents was produced at Byblos, and
from the name of this city, the Greeks derived the word biblion (book), from
which came our words bible and bibliography. Besides adopting and improving
other peoples’ techniques, the Phoenicians were great communicators of
information. As merchants and traders they kept accounts and records, and
developed an alphabet of 22 consonants. This alphabet was developed between
1600 BC and 1100 BC; some of its symbols derived from Egyptian hieroglyphics.
The Greek and Roman alphabets developed from the Phoenician system.
The Phoenicians had two main kinds of ships: ‘round’ ships
for trading and long’ ships for war. An Assyrian wall relief from Nineveh which
tells the story of the flight from Tyre of Luli, king of Sidon and Tyre, in 701
BC, shows both kinds of vessels. The long ship had a vertical prow and the keel
of the ship extended forward below the prow to form a protruding point for
ramming enemy vessels. The stern was curved. The long ship had two banks of
oars, and soldiers shields lined the side of the ship, near the deck. The ship
had a central mast from which sail could be hoisted to supplement the energies
of the oarsmen. The smaller, round ships, used for trading, had rounded prows
and sterns. They had two banks of oars, but no sails. Up to about a dozen men
are shown in each ship. Later, the Phoentcians built triremes (galleys with
three banks of oars). The sailors and ships of Phoenicia commanded great
prestige for hundreds of years, and countries at war eagerly sought their aid.
Phoenician ships acting as mercenaries helped the Persians in their war against
Greece (499-479 BC). In the combined fleets of Persia and its allies (according
to the Greek historian Herodotus) the king of Sidon ranked second in status to
Xerxes, king of Persia.
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