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Phoenicia

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Map of Phoenicia.

Phoenicia (Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍, Kana'an; Greek: Φοινίκη, Phoiníkē; Latin: Phœnicia) was an ancient civilization located in the north of ancient Canaan in the region of today's coastal Lebanon.

Contents

The Phoenicians

Origins

That ancient historian, Herodotus, claims that the Phoenicians arrived from the Persian Gulf region, in the vicinity of the original Red Sea.[1] He claims that they had their own tradition of this origin.[2] In ancient times the Red Sea as we know it was not called by that name. The original Red Sea according to Rohl and others is the Persian or Arabian Gulf[3] and this would also indicate that they originated in Babylon and were close allies of the Cushites. Driver states that the "Canaanites came from the Red Sea coast and were really related to the Cushites."[4]

“ Thus the Phoenicians of the eastern Mediterranean believed that they originated from the sacred paradise isle of Sumerian legend.[5] ”
They called themselves Kna' or Kinahni (Hebrew: Kena'an) after their forefather, Canaan, and did not form a single unified state. Rather, they founded independent, and often-times, competing city-kingdoms and instead of speaking of themselves collectively as Phoenicians, they would call themselves after their particular city they lived in: viz. Sidonians, Byblians, or Tyrians. Some of these cities still exist: Beirut (Berytus), Byblos (Gebal), Saida (Sidon or Zidon), Sur (Tyre).[6] Not all Canaanites however were known as Phoenicians.[7]

The name "Phoenician" derives from the Greek Φοινίκη (Phoinike) which means "purple dye" or "red-purple"[8] and was attributed to the olive-complexioned peoples dwelling in the narrow stretch of Lebanese-Syrian coastline on the Mediterranean. Interestingly, Erithrus who was king of Spain in the fourteenth century BC, was probably Phoenician and his name means "red".

One branch in Tyre, c. 830 BC, had an internal problem which led to some breaking away and forming Carthage on the North African coast (modern Tunisia) where they called themselves Puoni or Phoenicians. The famous St. Augustine of Hippo, in North Africa stated that the inhabitants of Carthage called themselves Canaanites even in the 5th century AD.[9]

In pursuit of tin, silver, and copper, they journeyed to Cyprus, Sicily, Sardinia, the coasts of Spain, and even as far as the British Isles. As such, they formed chains of trading posts at many of these sites, throughout the Mediterranean, enabling their ships to take on very long journeys to strange lands.

Language

Though Hamitic in origin, the Phoenicians spoke a Semitic language. In addition to their many inscriptions, the Phoenicians, contrary to some reports, wrote many books, which have not survived. Evangelical Preparation by Eusebius of Caesarea quotes extensively from Philo of Byblos and Sanchuniathon. Furthermore, the Phoenician Punic colonies of North Africa continued to be a source of knowledge about the Phoenicians. St. Augustine knew at least a smattering of Punic and occasionally uses it to explain cognate words found in Hebrew.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Douglas, J (Ed) (et al) (1972) New Bible Dictionary. Inter-Varsity Press, London, p. 992. Donald Harden's The Phoenicians agrees (p. 21).
  2. ↑ Herodotus, Histories 1.i; 7.xxxxxxxxix. See Baldwin, J.D, (1869) Pre-Historic Nations. Harper & Brothers, New York, pp. 130-31
  3. ↑ Rohl, D (1998) Legend. The Genesis of Civilisation. Random House, London, p. 253
  4. ↑ Driver, S.R. (Ed.). (1910). The International Critical Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 193
  5. ↑ Rohl, D (1998) Legend. The Genesis of Civilisation. Random House, London, p. 253
  6. ↑ Stump (1982) "Lebanon's Future". See also Genesis 10:15-18
  7. ↑ Douglas, J (Ed) (et al) (1972) New Bible Dictionary. Inter-Varsity Press, London, p. 183. Sanchuniathon transmitted the Phoenician traditions that they descended from Kna'. Fortunately, Philo of Byblos has also preserved these traditions so that we, today, may know their true origin.
  8. ↑ Douglas, J (Ed) (et al) (1972) New Bible Dictionary. Inter-Varsity Press, London, p. 994
  9. ↑ Aubet, M (1987) The Phoenicians and the West. New York: Cambridge University Press, p. 10

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