PHOENICIAN EMPIRE(1500-300 BC)

GEOGRAPHICAL

•ANCIENT DESIGNATION OF A NARROW STRIP OF TERRITORY ON THE EASTERN COAST OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA

• THEY’RE CHIEF CITY WERE TYRE-- THE CENTER OF THE PURPLE-DYE INDUSTRY AND SIDON-- THE CENTER OF THE GLASS INDUSTRY

•GREEKS CALLED "PHOENICIANS" BECAUSE

OF THE PURPLE (PHOINIKIES) DYE

THEY SOLD.

•PRESENT DAY LEBANON WITH ADJOINING PARTS OF MODERN SYRIA, TURKEY,

AND ISRAEL.

GEOLOGICAL

MINERALS•SANDSTONE OVERLIES IN PLACES

•90% PURE IRON ORE ARE PRODUCED

•56% OF METAL•COAL HAS BEEN FOUND IN

HILLS BUT NOT IN GOOD QUALITY.

•LIMESTONE AND SILICEOUS

•PORPHYRY AND GREENSTONE ARE ALSO OBTAINABLE.

• CRYSTALS OF QUARTS AND CHALCEDONY.

HISTORICAL

•PHOENICIANS WERE EARTH’S FIRST KNOWN SAILORMEN AND EXPLORERS WITH THEM AWOKE THE SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE.

•CONSIDERED THEMSELVES A SINGLE NATION, PHOENICIA WAS NOT A UNIFIED STATE BUT A GROUP OF CITY-KINGDOMS, ONE OF WHICH USUALLY DOMINATED THE OTHERS. THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THESE CITIES WERE SIMYRA, ZAREPHATH (SARAFAND), BYBLOS, JUBEIL, ARWAD (ROUAD), ACCO (‘AKKO), SIDON (ŞAYDĀ), TRIPOLIS (TRIPOLI), TYRE (SUR), AND BERYTUS (BEIRUT).

•THE SEA BECAME HOME TO THEM.

•SEA-FARMING PEOPLE WHO TRADED

THROUGHOUT THE MEDITERANEAN.

•THEY DEVELOPED ALPHABET AND ADAPTED BY THE LATER CIVILIZATION.•PHOENICIANS WERE AMONG THE MOST INTERESTING PEOPLE IN HISTORY.• WERE MAINLY KNOWN FOR PRODUCING GLASS BOTTLES AND JARS, ESPECIALLY PERFUME.

• EARLY IN THEIR HISTORY, THEY DEVELOPED UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE

SUMERIAN AND AKKADIAN CULTURES OF NEARBY

BABYLON.

• ABOUT 1800 BC EGYPT, WHICH WAS THEN BEGINNING TO ACQUIRE AN EMPIRE IN THE MIDDLE EAST, INVADED AND TOOK CONTROL OF PHOENICIA.

• BEGINNING ABOUT 1400 BC RAIDS OF EGYPTIAN TERRITORY BY THE HITTITES WEAKENED THE EGYPTIAN EMPIRE, GIVING THE PHOENICIAN CITIES AN OPPORTUNITY TO REVOLT. BY ABOUT 1200 BC THE PHOENICIANS WERE INDEPENDENT OF EGYPT.

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL

•TRADE AND MERCHANT EMPIRE• THEY SOLD RICH TREASURES FROM MANY LANDS.•WITH SELF-RULE, THE PHOENICIANS BECAME THE MOST NOTABLE TRADERS AND SAILORS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD.

•EACH CITY HAD ITS SPECIAL DEITY, USUALLY KNOWN AS ITS BAAL, OR LORD, AND IN ALL CITIES THE TEMPLE WAS THE CENTER OF CIVIL AND SOCIAL LIFE. THE MOST IMPORTANT PHOENICIAN DEITY WAS ASTARTE.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO CIVILIZATION

•FROM TINY SEA SNAIL CALLED MURIX SNAIL THEY PRODUCED A WIDELY ADMIRED PURPLE DYE CALLED ‘’TYRAN PURPLE’’ BECAME TRADEMARK AND BECAME THE FAVORITE COLOR OF ROYALTY.

PURPLE DYE AND MURIX SNAIL

-ONLY THE RICH COULD AFFORD TO BUY DYED FABRIC.•BORN IN THE PURPLE MEANS

‘’BORN RICH’’.•ALSO USED PAPYRUS FROM

EGYPT TO MAKE SCROLLS OR ROLL PAPER FOR BOOKS.

•THE WORD BIBLE AND BIBLIOGRAPHY CAME FROM THEIR CITY BYBLOS.•THE ALPHABET –PHONETIC ALPHABET BASE ON DISTINCT SOUNDS, CONSISTING 22 LETTERS AND DID NOT HAVE VOWELS.

PHOENICIAN ALPHABET

•PHOENICIANS WERE THE ANCESTOR OF OUR MODERN ALPHABET.•GREEK ADOPTED THE ALPHABET WHICH INFLUENCED THE LATIN ALPHABET WHICH WE USED TODAY.

•THE SHIPBUILDERS

•THEIR INDUSTRIES, PARTICULARLY THE MANUFACTURE OF TEXTILES AND DYES, METALWORKING,

AND GLASSMAKING.

RELIGION•PHOENICIAN PAGANISM WHO’S INSPIRED BY THE

POWERS OF NATURE. MANY THE GODS THEY

WORSHIPED.

GODS AND GODDESSES•ADONI(S) – HANDSOME YOUNG GOD.•ANATH- GODDESS OF LOVE AND WAR, THE MAIDEN.•ASHERAH OR BAALAT GUBI- GODDESS OF BYBLOS.

•ASTARTE- QUEEN OF HEAVEN•BAAL- RULER OF THE UNIVERSE.•BAAL-HAMMON – GOD OF FERTILITY AND RENEWER OF ALL ENERGIES.

•ESHMUN – GOD OF HEALING•KATHIRAT- GODDESSES OF MARRIAGE•KOTHAR- GOD OF CRAFTSMANSHIP

•MELGART- KING OF UNDERWORLD•MOT -GOD OF DEATH•SHAHAR- GOD OF DAWN•YAMM- GOD OF THE SEA•YARIKH- MOON GOD.

ART AND ARCHITECTURE•PHOENICIAN REGION DEVELOPED AS MAJOR TRADE CENTER OF THE ANCIENT WORLD.

•THEIR ARCHITECTURE BEGAN WITH THE FASHIONING OF NATIVE ROCK.

•REFLECTS THE INFLUENCE OF EGYPT, SYRIA AND GREECE.

•MASSIVE TEMPLES EX. BAALBEK' KNOWN IN ANCIENT TIMES AS CITY OF THE SUN

Temple of phoenician

 Byblos

ANTIQUITIES ORIENTALPHOENICIAN ARCHITECTURE THE TEMPLE OF THE

OBELISKS AT BYBLOS

•MANY OF THE PHOENICIAN ARTS WERE SMALL BECAUSE THEY CARED

ABOUT AN OBJECTS APPEARANCE THE MOST.

•PHOENICIAN TOMBS- WERE USUALLY UNDERGROUND, SIMPLE EXCAVATIONS

IN STONE MADE AT THE BOTTOM OF

THE HILL, ALLOWED EASY ACCESS.

•THE ARC OF TYRE- ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CITIES IN PHOENECIA.

TRADE INDUSTRY BUILDINGS

TRADING POST