Phoenicia
Sign in to savePhoenicians were an ancient Semitic people who inhabited city-states in Canaan along the Levantine coast of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily in present-day Lebanon and parts of coastal Syria. Their maritime civilization expanded and contracted over time, with its cultural core stretching from Arwad to Mount Carmel. Through trade and colonization, the Phoenicians extended their influence across the Mediterranean, from Cyprus to the Iberian Peninsula, leaving behind thousands of inscriptions.
AI overview
Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic people who built a maritime civilization in Canaan along the eastern Mediterranean coast (in what is now Lebanon and Syria), from which they expanded their influence across the Mediterranean through trade and colonization. They matter historically because of their widespread cultural impact, demonstrated by thousands of inscriptions they left behind across regions stretching from Cyprus to the Iberian Peninsula.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Country.conventional_long_name
- Phoenicia
- Country.common_name
- Phoenicia
- Country.life_span
- – 64 BC
- Country.image_map
- Phoenicia map-en.svg
- Country.image_map_caption
- Phoenicia and its major cities
- Country.capital
- None; dominant cities were Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre
- Country.common_languages
- Phoenician
- Country.religion
- Canaanite religion
- Country.demonym
- Phoenicians
- Country.government_type
- City-states ruled by kings, with varying degrees of oligarchy or plutocracy; oligarchic republic in Carthage after
- Country.title_leader
- Major kings of Phoenician cities
- Country.leader1
Article
35 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- History
- Origins
- Emergence during the Late Bronze Age (1479–1200 BC)
- Ascendance and high point (1200–800 BC)
- Foundation of Carthage
- Vassalage under the Assyrians and Babylonians (858–538 BC)
- Persian period (539–332 BC)
- Hellenistic period (332–152 BC)
- Demographics
- Genetic studies
- Economy
- Trade
- Industry
- Tyrian purple
- Mining
- Viticulture
- Shipbuilding
- Important cities and colonies
- Phoenician colonization
- Society and culture
- Politics and government
- Law and administration
- Military
- Language
- Alphabet
- Art
- Women
- Religion
- See also
- References
- Citations
- Sources
- Further reading
- External links
Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic people who inhabited city-states in Canaan along the Levantine coast of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily in present-day Lebanon and parts of coastal Syria. Their maritime civilization expanded and contracted over time, with its cultural core stretching from Arwad to Mount Carmel. Through trade and colonization, the Phoenicians extended their influence across the Mediterranean, from Cyprus to the Iberian Peninsula, leaving behind thousands of inscriptions.
The Phoenicians emerged directly from the Bronze Age Canaanites, and their cultural traditions survived the Late Bronze Age collapse, continuing into the Iron Age with little interruption. They referred to themselves as Canaanites and their land as Canaan, though the territory they occupied was smaller than that of earlier Bronze Age Canaan. The name Phoenicia is a Greek exonym that did not correspond to a unified native identity. Modern scholarship generally views the distinction between Canaanites and Phoenicians after as artificial.