The Phoenician Culture was of the Semitic race, possibly from the shores of the Persian Gulf. The ethnic name that the inhabitants of the Phoenician Culture gave themselves was "kenaʿani", "Canaanites" or "bin kenaʿan", "children of Canaan, this name coincides with the inhabitants of Canaan cited in the Bible.
1. The geographical environment of the Phoenician culture
The Phoenician Culture developed in Asia Minor, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and west of Syria. Its territory currently belongs to Lebanon. They were great sailors and merchants. They created and propagated their alphabet, from which almost all the alphabets of the Old World were derived.
1.1 Situation
The territory of Phoenicia was located to the west of Syria. It comprised a narrow strip of territory, approximately 40 to 50 km wide by 200 km long, whose limits were:to the north , with Syria (Gulf of Alexandria); by the south , with Palestine (Mount Carmel); to the east, with the mountains of Lebanon; and to the west , with the Mediterranean Sea.
1.2 Description
The territory is steep and cut by small gulfs, without the possibility of developing agriculture. However, the palm tree grew in abundance , originating the name of Phoenicia , which means:Palm Tree Country .
Their rugged territory, as well as the isolation of their peoples, by the foothills of Lebanon, pushed them to the Mediterranean Sea becoming great sailors, efficient merchants and good colonizers .
On the coast and some islets, they established many safe and important ports, such as Byblos, Sidon, Tire and Arad . On the other hand, their forests of cedars and cypresses provided wood for construction of their ships, with which they sailed the seas.
2. Historical evolution of the Phoenician culture:periods
The Phoenicians were of the Semitic race , possibly from the coast of the Persian Gulf .
Around the year 3,000 B.C. Byblos already existed , as the most important city of Phoenicia, which maintained commercial relations with Egypt, exchanging the cedars of Lebanon with the papyri of that country.
In its historical evolution we can find three well-defined periods:the period of Sidon , the period of Shoot and the period of Carthage .
2.1 Sidon Period (15th – 13th century BC)
In this period, the city of Sidon stood out as a center of naval and commercial importance. . His ships sailed in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean Sea. They filled their warehouses with merchandise from Cyprus, Rhodes, Asia Minor, Greece, the Aegean Islands and the Black Sea coast .
The Sidonians they did not form colonies, but they did establish concessions in civilized countries and factories in the barbarian towns, where they obtained slaves, skins and metals, in exchange for the products of their industry.
This period came to an end when the Philistines they plundered and destroyed the city of Sidon (12th century BC)
2.2 Period of Tire (12th – 7th century BC)
This is the name given to the hegemony that the city of Tire had in commercial activity. This people inherited the adventurous and commercial spirit of the Sidonians. It extended its maritime hegemony towards the western basin of the Mediterranean, including southern Italy, the Islands of Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the southern coast of Spain and North Africa, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar; I reach the coasts of England to the north, the Canary Islands to the south and the Azores Islands to the west.
The Tyrians were not content with trade relations; They also settled in some strategic places, founding cities and colonies .
The Assyrians, Chaldeans and Persians subjugated the Tyrians, which gave rise to other trading towns such as Carthage and Greece
2.3 Period of Carthage (9th – 2nd century BC)
Thanks to the decline of Tyre, Carthage became one of the most important and prosperous cities in the Mediterranean . Its origin is found in a small Phoenician colony located in North Africa. Its commercial dominion extended from Sicily to the Spanish coasts.
Their great rivals were the Greeks and later the Romans, who destroyed the city of Carthage in 146 BC. during the Punic Wars
3. Political organization of the Phoenician culture
As trading and industrial peoples, they generated a class of rich, who were the rulers, and therefore formed an oligarchic government . Some cities were governed by a king or by magistrates called sufetes , but controlled by the despotic nobility, who manipulated the king.
3.1 City-States
The eastern Phoenician cities were politically independent of each other. The territory over which each one of them exercised their dominion was surprisingly small, with an extension of land sufficient to feed all its inhabitants with its harvest.
Although the larger cities like Tire and Sidon must have had a certain hegemony over the others, however. there was never a Phoenician confederation. This makes the success of the Phoenician trade even more surprising, which in economics became a true world power.
Even Carthage itself was not a strictly imperialist power. He sought a commercial domain, he imposed himself by arms, but he never sought his possessions with an eagerness to impose his power in the sense of political dominance.
Carthage originally had only a small territory, but by the 5th century, it had spread over a wide area of northwestern Tunisia. Even so, Carthage itself was no more than a City-State and was never a nation, the territories it dominated were only used for its service when necessary. Thus, in its extensive territories in Africa, only a few inhabitants of the area were Phoenicians, the rest must have been Berbers and black slaves. In Hispania, there are no exact news about his domain.
The Carthaginians (at least before the Barca) must have limited themselves to collecting taxes, exploiting the land economically (mainly trade and mines) and demanding contributions by levying for the army in case of need, the same, surely, as in the territory African. Already at the time of the Barca, they perhaps wanted to constitute a Hellenistic-type monarchy in Hispania and Animal himself married Imilce, a princess originally from Cástulo (Jaén).
3.2 Monarchy
In Egyptian, Ugaritic, Assyrian, and even later documentation, there are always clear references to the Phoenician kings. These monarchies were, in principle, hereditary, although this did not always happen in practice. Dynastic lists can be established, but they are not complete and only for the big cities like Sidon, Tyre, Arados and Byblos.
3.3 Oligarchy
Later, the form of government became an oligarchy. The Councils of Elders, made up of wealthy merchants under Persian rule and perhaps before, were at first advisors to the monarchs and later came to have total power.
In Tyre, magistracies arose that were in charge of executive functions. The same thing happened in Carthage, probably in the 5th century BC.
Constitutional power was in the hands of two magistrates, perhaps elected annually and called judges or suffetes. There was a Senate of 300 members for life, there was also a Council of 104 members who formed a board or court of public inspection. Before her, the generals and officials had to account for their performance in office.
Finally, a People's Assembly functioned, whose relationship with the rest of the institutions is not very clear.
This government is reminiscent of the democratic government of Athens and later the republican government of Rome.
Election to the magistracies and entry into the Senate seems to have been based on wealth rather than hereditary reasons, at least in the fifth century BC. C. The wealthy mercantile class was the one that dominated the power of the State.
4. Colonization of the Phoenician culture
The Phoenicians stood out for their work of colonization in places distant from its territory, extending its economic and cultural influence to all the peoples of the Mediterranean Sea basin. They practiced colonization systems that were:the concessions , the factories and the colonies .
The Concessions :They were obtained through negotiations with civilized countries, to establish themselves in a neighborhood or place in the city, where they located warehouses, bazaars or public markets.
The Factories :They were foundations that were established in the barbarian countries, to carry out barter . They had fortifications for their defense in case of attack.
The Colonies :They were cities or human establishments in foreign lands, with submission to the country of the Phoenicians. This is how they came about:**Gades** (current Cadiz ), Malaga (current Malaga ), to the south of Spain; Carthage to North Africa.
5. Social organization of the Phoenician culture
There is no news of the rivalries or social concerns that must have existed in the different Phoenician states, as there were in Greece and Rome.
In the beginning, there was a great gulf between the upper and lower social classes, but it is not known whether it continued to exist in later times. It is only known that the Libyans were in the service of the Punics and that they were dissatisfied, but later, thanks to their rebellions, they achieved the rights of the Punics and that it was they, rather than the descendants of the Phoenicians. those who maintained the Punic language and culture in the Numidian kingdom after the fall of Carthage.
The historians of the Punic world refuse to admit the existence of pure Phoenicians, they do not even admit that the Phoenicians had a clear conscience of their race and even of their nationality. Perhaps due to their own vocation or commercial interest and their passage through different nations, they assimilated languages, cultures and cults of other peoples.
For this reason, possibly, they were successful in their trade, since they were able to encourage people from other cultures and conditions to interact with them and even allow them to settle in their territories.
It was the Greek culture that most influenced the Punic, but there are also reverse influences and the presence of the Punic world in the Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek and Etruscan cultures, which is why it is so difficult to define them.
At the same time, socially, the Phoenicians mixed more than any other people with people from other places where they settled. Mixed marriages between Phoenicians and natives were common, so there are three notable factors in this civilization:
a) The mixture with other cultures.
b) The division and independence of their cities.
c) Reciprocal influences with other peoples.
Economic organization of the Phoenician culture
The Phoenicians developed intense industrial, commercial, maritime and business economic activity.
6.1 The industry
The Phoenicians developed three great industries:weaving, dyeing, glass and metals :
In the dyeing industry they were manufacturers of dyes, especially purple — which was provided by the marine snail, murex or murice —. They made fine purple fabrics that were the delight of the nobility of the ancient world.
They were also creators of translucent white glass, which due to the combination of molten sand with metallic oxides were of various colors.
Finally, as metallurgists, they made bronze and iron weapons; gold and silver jewelry also copper and bronze utensils. In many productions they imitated other cultures.
6.2 Trade
Phenicia was a mercantilist society. For this reason, it is said that the Phoenicians were the creators of industrial, shipping, construction and commercial companies.
They developed the technique of international trade with insurance, documentary credit, loans, financing by shares or on account and the discount system.
6.3 Navigation
With the products of their industry and trade, they developed navigation, covering the Mediterranean in all directions, the Aegean Sea and part of the Atlantic.
Unaware of the compass, their ships sailed close to the coast. At night they were guided by observing the position of the stars. The boats were propelled by oars and by a square sail, which was only used when the wind was favourable. They followed two major trade routes.
- By sea:from Europe they brought silver, iron, lead, tin, amber, cereals and wool. From Africa:ivory, gold, ostrich feathers and papyrus.
- By land:from Arabia, Mesopotamia, Persia and India using caravans, they brought:wines, oils, spices, perfumes, fabrics, etc.
The Phoenicians were great navigators for which they expanded and managed to colonize many places, close to their commercial limits. For more information there is a complete article about its expansion and colonization.
6.4 The company of the Phoenician culture
The permanent commercial activity made the Phoenicians create great workshops with numerous personnel, many times, with association of capitals and the union of several people to lead in series and obtain benefits in common. For example, Phoenician companies commissioned King Solomon to build the famous temple in Jerusalem over a period of seven years.
7. Cultural manifestations of the Phoenician culture
7.1 Religion
The Phoenicians were polytheists. They worshiped the stars and the phenomena of nature. His main divinities were:
- Baal :the Sun, the teacher, god of rain and storms.
- Astarte or Baalith :the Moon, goddess of vegetation and fertility.
These gods received other names where they were worshiped:Adonis, in Byblos; Eshmun in Sidon; Melkar in Tire and Baal-Moloch in Carthage.
For more information there is a complete article on the Phoenician Religion.
7.2 The art
The art of the Phoenician Culture is a markedly artisanal art which reached its splendor which gave them products of high value for exchange with other objects, being a very valuable product for other cultures or peoples. For example, in the Old Testament, some passages are cited in which the skills of the Phoenicians to produce these products are observed. The artist Hiram was sent to build and decorate Solomon's temple in Jerusalem.
The influence of Egypt on Phoenician art can be considered prominent without ruling out other peoples who had contact with the Phoenician Culture through trade such as Syria, the Cypriots, the Assyrians and the Aegean peoples also influenced, after all these peoples were also their clients and their tastes, religion and traditions were taken into account by the Phoenicians when creating these works.
Regarding the architecture, pieces have been found in a good state of conservation, such as the Goddess Tanit from the Puig d'es Molins necropolis that is exhibited in the Museum of Ibiza.
7.3 The alphabet
The Phoenicians used at the end of the third millennium B.C. cuneiform writing , on clay tablets, by Babylonian influence. Later, they used hieroglyphic writing, on papyrus, during the predominance of the Egyptian pharaohs.
The need to communicate with the peoples of the ancient world of different languages and to maintain their commercial empire, led them to create an alphabet composed of 22 signs, which represented elementary sounds of the human voice, with which they could write any word.
This alphabet (derived from the word Aleph which means ox and Beth meaning house) was improved upon by the Greeks, who added the five vowels.
For more information there is a complete article on the Phoenician Alphabet.