Phoenicia and the Mediterranean Marketplace

While land empires rose and fell along the Tigris, Euphrates and Nile Rovers, on the coast of Lebanon a small population of seafarers were establishing a tenuous but lucrative empire on the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians are known to history and to religious texts such as the Bible. They roamed the seas of the Mediterranean and possibly even the outskirts of the Atlantic. They may have been one of the key cultures that developed and passed on an alphabet, forever distinguishing Western culture and literature from that of the Far East, which would depend on script of an entirely different sort.

Ancient Sea Travel

As far as anyone can tell, men may have taken to the seas as long ago as 45,000 years. The very first time that any device for floating may have been used probably predates that time by a great deal. Thus sea travel has its origins in prehistory and is already well-established by the time anyone begins to speak of it in historical records.

Originating in coastal cities of the Levant such as Tyre and Sidon, Phoenician trade ships would eventually extend the reach of their operations out into the Atlantic. By 1200 BC, they were known to be trading regularly with the Greeks. These latter were traders themselves traders who mostly brought their wares to northern shores while the Phoenicians patrolled the coast of North Africa for opportunities.

The life of such mariners was dangerous and complex. Each ship was managed by men who were at once merchants and pirates. A well-fortified town near the shoreline might present itself as a favorable business partner. A simple village or a damaged ship could also seem easy prey to these armed men. Life was in constant flux between danger and prosperity on the rolling waves.

Lebanon

The land that we now call Lebanon was the heartland of the people whose wombs brought forth the men that filled these ships. Not all Phoenicians went aboard, though. Most stayed behind and provided the bases upon which these early merchants depended. They harvested lumber to build the ships from Lebanon’s famous cedar trees. They also crafted the ingenious products that drew people to the shores whenever a Phoenician ship came to visit. These included dyed cloths, glassware, wine and even special breeds of dogs.

The Return on Their Investments

When Phoenician sailors came back from the high seas, they brought items unusual in the Levant. They retrieved silver from Iberia and tin from the island later to be known as Great Britain. Naturally, they brought gold as well. The cities of the Phoenician coast would adorn many of their sacred objects with this precious metal. They were essentially identical to the people of the Canaanite culture of which the Bible speaks. The decadence born of this wealth would draw the wrath of angry desert tribes such as the Hebrews when they invaded the river valley of the Jordan.

The trade which the Phoenicians managed was a key factor in helping Mediterranean cultures learn more about the outside world. By making travel and communication easier, they helped to unite distant peoples in encounters that were either peaceful or warlike. While they may not have intended to do so, they probably paved the way for future empires, such as Rome, to dominate the Mediterranean so completely that it would become essentially a lake entirely under the control of one power.

Another legacy of Phoenicia, and perhaps the most important, was the alphabet which they used and carried with them as a means of transporting information as well as physical goods. They may not have invented this alphabet but they are certainly responsible for its proliferation. The alphabet in which this historical entry is written is a direct descendant of the Phoenicians’ script.

Subjugation

The Phoenicians did not build an empire with strong frontier fortresses and powerful armies. Instead, theirs was mostly a mobile kingdom that flowed along currents of silver, gold and anything else valuable. Yet their independence endured thousands of years. Perhaps their greatest city, Tyre, would remain virtually impregnable to invaders off the coast of Lebanon until the time of Alexander the Great.  In the 332 BC, that Macedonian king would once again surprise the world by seizing this ancient and wealthy city by force of arms.