Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

Phoenicia

Phoenicia lay on the coast of the eastern

Mediterranean, roughly where Lebanon

is today. The Phoenicians spread

throughout the Mediterranean, to

carthage, Rhodes, cyprus, Sicily,

Malta, Sardinia, Gades (cadiz),

and Tingis (Tangier).

403

Phoenicians traded in a vast

array of goods from the

Mediterranean, including

metals, farm animals, wheat,

cloth, jewelry, and gemstones.

Sculptures show that

Phoenician men wore

distinctive conical hats.

DyeinG

The Phoenicians were the only people who knew how

to produce a vivid purple dye from murex shells. The

dye was considered to be exceptionally

beautiful, but it was also very

expensive. only high

government officials,

for example, could

wear purple-dyed

cloth in the

Roman empire.

a T iny GRoUP of ciTieS perched along

the coast of the Mediterranean produced

the most famous sailors and traders

of the ancient world. These seafaring

people were called the Phoenicians.

The cities of Phoenicia were linked

by the sea, and they traded in many

goods, including purple dyes, glass, and ivory. from 1200

to 350 bce, the Phoenicians controlled trade throughout

the Mediterranean. They spread their trading links to many

points around the coast. Their most famous trading post was

carthage on the north coast of africa. During its history,

Phoenicia was conquered by several foreign empires, including

the assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. These foreign rulers

usually allowed the Phoenicians to continue trading. But in

332 bce, alexander the Great conquered Phoenicia, and

Greek people came to live there. The Greeks brought

their own culture with them, and the

Phoenician culture faded away.

ByBLoS

The Phoenician port of

Byblos was famous for its

trade in papyrus—a kind

of paper made in egypt by

pressing together strands of

papyrus reeds. The Greeks

called papyrus biblos after the

port of Byblos. a number of

our words concerned with books,

such as Bible, and bibliography

(a list of books), come from biblos.

The papyrus

reed grows in

the warm, damp

conditions of the

Nile River in Egypt.

When arriving at

a new place to trade,

the Phoenicians

would lay their goods

out on the beach

and let the local

people come and

look at what they

had brought.

Black Sea

Mediterranean

Sea

Phoenician GLaSSwaRe

ancient egyptians made

glass many years before the

Phoenicians did, but egyptian

glass was cloudy, while Phoenician

glass was clear.The Phoenicians

were able to make clear glass because their

sand contained large amounts of quartz.

Malta

Sardinia Sicily

Rhodes

Cyprus

• •Sidon

Gades

Tingis Carthage

Phoenicians

Phoenician glassware,

such as this glass jar, was

a luxury in the ancient world.

Phoenician ShiPS

The Phoenicians’ ships

were famous all over the

Mediterranean, and were

the main reason for the

Phoenicians’ success as

traders. The ships had

oarsmen, sails, and heavy

keels, which enabled them

to sail in any direction.

Find out more

alexander

the great

alphabets

assyrians

Babylonians

Greece, ancient

Persians, Ancient

Sumerians

Phoenicians made

purple dye from the

liquid produced by

crushing murex

seashells.

Byblos

Tyre

US_403_Phoenicians.indd 403 22/01/16 4:45 pm