Chapter 3 – Section 4 The Phoenicians

The Phoenician People �  Phoenician civilization began along a thin strip of land along

the Mediterranean coast.

�  Fearless sailors who for hundreds of years dominated sea trade

�  Phoenicians society was developed by the earlier Canaanites – lived in now Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria

�  Egypt had a strong influence on Canaan and even ruled them in 1500 B.C.

�  In 1150 B.C., Phoenician society emerged after Egyptian rule

�  Phoenicians city-states were ruled by priest-king. They shared power with leading merchant families and a citizen assembly.

Farming and Manufacturing �  There was very little flat land to farm

�  They manufactured cloth with a rare purple dye from tiny sea snails, made pottery and glass and metal objects

�  Used trees to make wood furniture and other items

Phoenicians Traders �  They had very few natural resources

�  They imported mostly raw materials from other cultures

�  Raw materials were gold, silver, tin, copper, iron, ivory, and precious stones

�  Crafterworkers used the raw materials to make bronze and silver bowls, iron tools and weapons, and gold jewelry

�  They exported these items as well as pine, cedar logs, wine, olive, oil, salt, fish and other goods

Phoenician Trade Routes

Phoenicians and the Sea �  Many people depended on the Phoenicians for their

trade

�  Phoenicians sailed their ships by a sail or by rowers using oars

�  They were experts at navigation, the art of steering a ship from place to place

�  First to use the North Star to help calculate location

Exploring Unknown Waters �  Phoenicians traveled many routes

Ø South and west pasted Egypt

Ø North and west past the Balkan and Italian peninsula

Ø Islands of Sardinia and Sicily

Ø End of the Mediterranean Iberia (today Spain and Portugal

§  Went north in the Atlantic Ocean to Britain

§  Historians believe that Phoenicians were driven to explore in order to find silver and gold for greater wealth

Colonies and City-States �  As Phoenicians traveled they found shelter at many

ports, which served as trading stations

�  Later, areas with fertile land or other resources, Phoenician settlers began to live there.

�  These areas grew into colonies, an area ruled by a distant country

�  When Phoenicia came under attack in 800 B.C., by Assyrians, many Phoenicians went to these colonies

�  A few Phoenician colonies developed into wealthy city states. One was Carthage on North African coast.

Legacy of the Phoenicians �  As Phoenicia did not survive, Greece and Rome absorb

key elements of their culture. This process is known as cultural diffusion

�  Their legacy was the spread of their culture and a new way of writing

�  Phoenician standard for weight and measures was passed to the Greeks

�  The Greeks also adopted their alphabet, a small set of letters or symbols, each of which stands for a single sound

�  The Phoenician alphabet contained 22 symbols representing a consonant sound. Made writing easier

The Alphabet �  750 B.C., the Greeks were using it

�  500 B.C., the Greeks added letter to represent vowels

�  Gave letters names

�  Alphabet comes from first 2 letters in the Greek alphabet – alpha and beta

�  100 B.C. Romans adopted it – Change some, but looks like todays alphabet