Did
you know?
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Western/Latin
and other alphabets come from the Phoenician alphabet?
-
Beritus
or Berytus (modern Beirut, Lebanon) had a very important School
of Law in the Roman Empire?
-
The Bible is
called thus because it refers to the Phoenician city of Byblos
("marketplace of papyrus or byblinos" in Greek?
- Despite the fact that the Romans destroyed Punic Carthage in about 150 B.C., in 193 A.D. the Punic Septimius Severus became Emperor of Rome and one third the Roman Senate was made of Punic people.
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King Solomon's
great Temple was built in the style of Tyre's Melqart
Temple by Phoenician artisans using the Cedars of Lebanon?
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The
Egyptian Pharoahs employed Phoenician cedar for their
wood needs?
-
King
Solomon, in his old age, became a worshipper of the Phoenician
goddess Ashtarte?
-
Melchizedek,
the King of Salem (King of Jerusalem) and Priest of the Most
High God (El Elion), who offered bread and wine to Abraham,
was Phoenician?
-
The Pentateuch (Moses'
first five books, if not more, of the the Old Testament Bible,
the Torah) was/were written down (transliterated) in Phoenician
script?
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Jesus
Christ visited Phoenicia and among the first to believe
in him was a Phoenician woman?
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The bishops of
all Phoenician cities were consecrated as bishops by the
Apostles or their immediate successors?
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Tyre,
Sidon and other Phoenician Christian cities and towns provided
rest-stops and shelters for the Apostles on their
way to convert the world?
-
St. Jerome referred
to Tyre as the place where St. Paul once knelt; and called
Zarephath, Elijah's town?
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Phoenicians circumnavigated Africa?
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Phoenicians
were the first to use the Pole Star for navigation?
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Phoenicians
were able traders throughout the Mediterranean?
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Phoenicians colonized the
far corners of the Mediterranean from the Island of Cyprus
in the East to Spain and Gibraltar including the outer Atlantic
coast and North Africa in the West?
-
Britain was
the Phoenicians' secret treasure of tin where the name "Britain" may
be coming from Barr (land) of Tannic (Tin)? Hence Britannia
did not come from Prutani, the name applied to the Celts
by the Romans, and some claim that the Celts were Phoenicians.
-
The
Phoenicians reached North America BC and Punic inscriptions
in Massachusetts and Iowa confirm this fact?
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In
the Iliad and the Odyssey, Homer mentions Phoenicia,
Phoenicians and Phoenician cities.
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The
Phoenician possessed the science or art of dentistry as
evident by the fine braces on a lower jaw of a scull?
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The
Phoenician language is still spoken today in Malta (or Maltese is
a mixture of Phoenician/Punic and other Mediterranean languages)
?
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To
beef up their naval powers, conquerors employed the Phoenicians
in building warship-fleets?
-
The
Phoenicians raised elephants on farms?
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The first
parliament ever to convene in the Middle East met in
the Phoenician confederate city of Tripoli?
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Roman
Emperor Septimius Severus (193 - 211 AD) descended
from early Phoenician settlers and spoke with a Phoenician
accent?
-
Pythagoras was
Phoenician and was initiated into the 'Ancient Mysteries'
of the Phoenicians c. 548 B.C. and studied for about 3 years
in the temples of Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos and that his father
was a Phoenician merchant from Tyre?
-
Archimedes c.287
B.C.-212 B.C., Greek mathematician, physicist, and inventor,
died during the Roman assault on Syracuse while designing
a catapult and the Carthaginians fought on his side to defend
the city.
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Thales
of Miletus (who was half Phoenician), one of the first
great scientists, is said to have forecast the solar eclipse
of the year 585 BC.
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Zeno
of Citium was a glowing star in the pre-Socratic age
but was ridiculed in Athens for his Phoenician appearance.
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Popes Anicetus
(155 - 166 AD), John V (685-686 AD), Sergius I (687-701 AD)
and Gregory III (741-752 AD) and Constantius were Phoenicians?
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Aristotle held
up the constitution of Carthage as a model.
-
Hasdrubal-Clitomachus added
to Arcesilas a critical interpretation of certitude which
makes him a forerunner of modern thought.
-
St. Augustine
was Phoenician. He wrote "...there was a great
deal of virtue and wisdom in the Punic books".
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St. Jerome believed
Punic erotic poetry to be pernicious and described it as "lewd".
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Many
parts of the Old Testament were plagiarized from Phoenician
literature, poetry, and religion, similar to plagiarizing
of the Book of Job (for example ) from Babylonian tales?
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Phoenician sacrifice
of children to the gods was copied/practiced by many
Semites such as Abraham's attempt to sacrifice his son?
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The
Phoenicians had a rough knowledge about pi (3.1416)
at the time of Hiram and the building of Solomon's Temple?
-
St.
Frumentius, Phoenician from Tyre, converted Ethiopia to Christianity?
-
Mochus,
a Sidonian, wrote a work on the atomic theory.
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Missionaries
of Civilization
The Phoenicians
were instrumental in disseminating their form of writing which became
our modern alphabet and in opening up various civilizations and cultures
of the Mediterranean basin to each other. Both sciences and pseudosciences
spread from Egypt and Mesopotamia to Phoenicia and Anatolia. The Phoenicians,
in particular, transmitted much of this knowledge to the various lands
of the Mediterranean, especially to the Greeks. The direction taken
by these influences can be followed from Egypt to Phoenicia, Syria and
Cyprus. The evidence comes thanks to a combination of excavated art
forms that prove the direction of movement, as well as to Greek tradition.
The latter lays great stress on what the early Greek philosophers learned
from Egypt. Mesopotamian influence can be traced especially through
the partial borrowing of Babylonian science and divination by the Hittites
and later by the transmission of information through Phoenicia. The
Egyptians and Mesopotamians wrote no theoretical treatises; information
had to be transmitted piecemeal through personal contacts.
Phoenician,
what's in a name?
It is not
certain what the Phoenicians called themselves in their own language;
it appears to have been Kena'ani (Akkadian: Kinahna), "Canaanites."
In Hebrew the word kena'ani has the secondary meaning of "merchant," a
term that well characterizes the Phoenicians.
The name 'Phoenicians,'
was not what the Phoenicians called themselves but what the Greeks
called them; the word means dark
red in Greek and refers to the royal Tyrian purple dye that Phoenicians
extracted from murex shells to dye cloth with and sold to the rich
of the ancient world. The name appears in Psalm 45:14, in the phrase bat
melek Ponnima (daughter
of
the king
of the
Phoenicians),
which parallels bat Sor (daughter of Tyre) of verse 13. The
same term, Ponnim (meaning the Phoenician language),
appears in a comedy called Poenulus, by the Roman playwright
T. Maccius Plautus
(died 184 B.C.). The Latin poenus (noun)
and punicus (adjective),
as well as Greek phoinikos, refer to the
term Phoenician.
Ethnic
Origin and Language
The Phoenicians
probably were the original inhabitants of the eastern Meditrranean. DNA studies prove that the Phoenicians come from an ancient Mediterranean substratum. The cliams that they despite the claims that come from elsewhere are unfounded, in the light of modern genetic studieis.
Geography
and Major Cities
Baalbeck
Berytus
Byblos
Caesarea
Carthage
Sidon
Tyre
Zarephta
Political
Structure and Colonies
Their city
states had a loose alliance and they established colonies in the far
corners of the Mediterranean.
Religion
and Mythology
They worshiped
fertility gods and goddesses and their belief system was influenced
by other religions in the Eastern Mediterranean and had some influence
on Greek and Roman mythologies. At the beginning of the Christian era,
Phoenicians were the first to accept the new faith after the Jews.
Troubled
History
Phoenician
cities, at the cross-roads of the East, were often invaded and subjugated
by foreign conquerors which include Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians,
Macedonians, Persians, and Romans, in addition
to others. However, the Phoenicians were basically traders not warriors;
and trade and war do not work well together.
Creators
of Alphabet
They created
a form of alphabet which evolved and was adapted by the Greeks to become
the backbone of modern alphabet.
Commerce
and Other Achievements
The Phoenicians
were sea-faring traders who carried merchandise and goods across the
Mediterranean. They circumnavigator Africa and used the Polar Star as
a navigational guide.
Important
Visitor to Phoenicia (as opposed to invaders)
Herodotus,
historian
Jesus Christ of Nazareth
Saint Paul
Saint Peter and other Apostles
Origen, Christian scholar
Pythagoras, mathematician and philosopher
Others (more to come)
Very
Important Phoenicians (VIPs)
Antipater of Sidon, Phoenician epigrammatist (150 BC - 127 BC)
Aquilina
of Byblos, Christian martyr (died in 293 A.D.)
Barbara of Baalbeck/Heliopolis, Christian martyr (died in 237 A.D.)
Cadmus, "Teacher of the Phoenician Alphabet"
Christina of Tyre, Christian martyr (died in 300 A.D.)
Dorotheus, Jurist and Professor of Roman Law
Eusebius Bishop of Berytus (Beirut)
Eusebius of Caesarea, Christian Icon
Frumentius, Saint, Apostle of Abyssinia
Hanno, Circumnavigator of Africa
Himilco, Voyager
Hiram the Architect, Solomon's Temple Designer
Jezebel Princess of Sidon and Queen of Israel (wife of King Ahab of Israel)
John Mark Bishop of Byblos designated Bishop by St. Peter
Pamphilus, Saint
King Hiram of Tyre
King Abi-Milki of Tyre
King Ethbaal of Sidon (father of Princess Jezebel)
King Ahiram of Byblos
King Rib-Addi of Byblos
King Zimrida of Sidon
King Jabin of Hazor
Matrona of Perge, Saint
Mochus of Sidon wrote on the atomic theory
Papinian, Jurist
Perpetua and Felicity, Christian martyrs of Carthage (died in 203 A.D.)
Philo of Byblos, Writer
Porphyry of Tyre, Writer
Pythagoras
Phoenician Popes
Sanchuniathon, Writer
Thales of Citium
Thales of Miletus, Astronomer
Theodosia of Tyre, Christian martyr (died 293 A.D.)
Ulpian, Jurist
Zadok the Priest
Zeno of Citium, Philosopher
Zeno of Sidon, Philosopher
Others (more to come)
Phoenician
Art, Crafts, Music, and Literature
They dyed
cloth which was the prized possession of the rich and worked in precious
metals and ivory. Most Phoenician literature is unknown or was lost.
However, second hand information and some ecclesiastical Phoenician
works survive. Traces of their music may still be found in some church
music today.
The
Logo or Coat of Arms ©
The logo
or Coat of Arms is my own creation and it represents Phoenician achievements
and mythology. The two creatures or mythological monsters -- part horse,
part fish -- called hippocampus come from Phoenician antiquity and represent
Phoenician mythology. (The Trade link, under the subtitle Transit
Trade, contains an image of a Phoenician silver coin with an impression
of the hippocampus monster and a Phoenician ship.) Further, on the top
of the logo, a piece of marble with Phoenician script represents Phoenician
alphabet. Beneath it, the cloth represents famous Phoenician dyed cloth.
At the very bottom, amphorae represent vessels which were used to carry
Phoenician merchandise, as they traded about the Mediterranean.
Why
a Web page about Phoenicia?
As a duty
to my ancestors, to my national origin, to the young and old who do
not know, to the old who wish to ignore the facts or like to hide them
and to all those who are interested in history and cultures, I compiled
this information.
Dedication
I dedicate
this site in loving memory to my parents, Lucy and George, and to the
good people of Bmakine, Souk El-Gharb, Ein El-Saiydeh, and Ein El-Rimmeneh
-- in the Lebanese mountains -- where ever they may be.
Acknowledgment
The researcher,
editor, complier of these pages wishes to convery his appreciation and
gratitude to the persons who povided historical
information, reference pointers and editorial comments on the materials
contained in these pages.
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