Ancient Phenicia gave the world three glorious and equally ancient rival cities - Carthage, Tire and Sidon. These cities were famous for their experienced sailors, dexterous merchants, and skilled artisans.
Tire (Modern city of SUR in LebanonTire (from the Semitic “king” - “rocky island”) is a famous Phoenician city, one of the largest shopping centers in history, arose in the 4th millennium BC. e. on two islands located close to the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and separated by a narrow strait. Opposite the island Tire on the mainland was its mainland quarter - Paletir.
The foundation of the city dates back to the activities of the gods. According to legend, the god Usoos sailed on a log to the island, set up two stones and sprinkled them with the blood of sacrificial animals. According to another legend, the island floated on the waves: there were two rocks on it and between them grew an olive tree, on which an eagle sat. The island was supposed to stop when someone sailed to it and sacrificed an eagle. The first navigator Usoos did this, and so the island was attached to the bottom.
Triumphal Arch
Local priests told Herodotus that their city was founded 23 centuries ago, that is, in the middle of the 28th century. One way or another, the city was maritime, fishing and trading. It began the penetration of the Phoenicians into the Mediterranean basin, and Tyrian settlers founded Carthage.
The oldest mention of Tire is in the Tell el-Amorn correspondence. The prince of Tire, Adimilku, in humiliated terms, asks his overlord for help against Sidon and the Amorites; he was locked on the island, he had neither water nor firewood. In the Anastasi papyrus (XIV century BC), Tire is mentioned as a large “city in the sea, to which water is brought by ships and which is rich in fish more than sand.”
The oldest settlement was actually located on the island; on the mainland there were only suburbs and cemeteries. There was no water on the island; it was carried from Ras el-Ain to the shore, from where it was delivered by ship to the city (the remains of the water pipeline between Tell Mashuk and Ras el-Ain have survived to this day); during sieges it had to be collected rainwater into tanks. The island had two harbors - Sidon in the north and Egyptian in the southeast; the latter is now covered with sand, and part of the island is washed away by the sea.
Shooting gallery Roman ruins
Tire came to first place among the Phoenician cities in the 12th century BC. e. after the destruction of Sidon by the Philistines; in trade he began to play a major role. Almost all the Phoenician colonies in the western half of the Mediterranean Sea (Byblos, Gades, Utica, Carthage, etc.) go back to Tire; they recognized his hegemony, considered his god Melqart theirs and sent annual tribute to his temple.
Melqart, the god of sailors and fishermen, the patron of Tyre, was a cheerful reveler god in a lion's skin (for which he was often identified with Hercules) accompanied by his fellow servant Iolaus. In Libya, he unsuccessfully fought with the monster Tiffon and died. But every year his resurrection was celebrated in Tire. In the very fate of this city there was something of the fate of its divine patron. Throughout its history, it was attacked by the fiends of the ancient world - Ashurnasirpal, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great - everyone wanted to taste the salty fish, and even more Phoenician gold.
Under Assargaddon, Tire first submitted to Assyria, then joined Egypt, was besieged, but, apparently, not conquered, although on the Sendzhirli bas-relief Assargaddon depicted the king of Tire, Baal, together with Taharqa on a rope at his feet (Berlin Museum). Constant sieges and wars weakened the city. The slaves took advantage of this and organized a revolt, of which the nobility fell victim; Abdastart (in Greek - Straton) was chosen as king.
Biblical prophets They hated Tyre and often predicted his imminent death. The prophet Isaiah sees Tire destroyed 140 years in advance (Is. 23:13). Ezekiel also predicts the destruction of Tyre (Ezekiel 26:312). The prophet Zechariah says that the city will be destroyed by fire (Zechariah 9:4).
Soon, however, the Tyrians chose to replace Babylonian rule with Persian rule. Tire demolished this protectorate calmly and supplied the kings with a large fleet. 70 years later, during the reign of Cyrus, Tire was completely restored.
In 335 BC. e. Alexander the Great appeared at the walls of Tire with an army and asked to be allowed into the city, supposedly to make a sacrifice to Melkart. The Tyrian refusal led to a seven-month siege, with the filling of an isthmus from the coast to the island. The townspeople defended themselves desperately and not without success; the dam would hardly have helped Alexander if he had not managed to assemble a large fleet from Phoenician cities hostile to Tire.
As a result, 8,000 citizens died; King Azimilk and the nobles who escaped in the temple were spared, 30,000 townspeople were sold into slavery, but the city was not destroyed and 17 years later it held out for fifteen months against Antigonus, being under the rule of the Ptolemies. During the Hellenistic period, Tire was one of the centers of education (the historians Menander, Dius, and Porphyry came from it). During the Jewish War, the city opposed the Jews.
Christianity appeared early in Tire; the Apostle Paul lived here for a week (Acts XXI, 3); the city soon became a copy bishop (St. Dorotheus and others). During the period of persecution, some of the Tyrian Christians suffered martyrdom; under Diocletian alone, 156 martyrs suffered here. The great early Christian philosopher Origen died in Tire (however, his teaching was recognized as heresy by the official church); His tomb was shown back in the 6th century.
It was the Tyrians who brought the preaching of Christianity to Abyssinia. In Old Testament times, the Tyrians helped the Jews build Solomon's Temple. In New Testament times, the first remarkable temple under Constantine the Great was built by the Tyrian bishop Paulinus and solemnly consecrated in 314. Eusebius of Caesarea describes in detail another Tyrian temple, in the southeast of the city, consecrated by him in 335, and a council was held in Tyre on the case of Athanasius Alexandria.
In the Middle Ages, Tire was one of the main cities of the East and played an important role, being considered impregnable.
Only thanks to discord among the Mohammedans did King Baldwin II manage to conquer it. With the assistance of the Venetian fleet (1124), a Frankish diocese was founded in the city (William, Bishop of Tyre, historian). Saladin besieged it unsuccessfully. In 1190, Frederick Barbarossa was buried here.
Tire was finally destroyed by the Muslims in 1291. Since then, the city has fallen into decay, despite the efforts of Fa-khreddin to raise it.
The present site of Tira Sur (Lebanon) is a small town of no importance, since trade has passed to Beirut.
Sidon (Arabic: Saida) is the third largest city in Lebanon.
Located on the Mediterranean coast, 25 miles north of Tire and 30 miles south of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Another ancient Phoenician city south of the mouth of Nar-elavali, in a narrow coastal plain, takes its name from the Phoenician sidon - “fishing”. The time of its foundation is unknown.
It is very possible that it dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. e. Along with the rest of Syria, Sidon was probably under the political and certainly cultural influence of Babylonia for most of its history. During the conquests of the pharaohs of the 18th dynasty, it fell under Egyptian rule, but was ruled by its own kings. From one of them - Zimrid - two letters to the pharaoh (Amenhotep III or IV) have reached us. In this correspondence he complains about the Bedouins who were taking over his region.
Pharaoh instructed him to investigate Amorite affairs, but the king of Tire called him in reports to Pharaoh a traitor who had entered into an alliance with the Amorites. Thus, already at this time there was rivalry between Tire and Sidon. Moreover, throughout its entire centuries-old history these two Phoenician cities, inhabited by the same people and speaking the same language, believing in the same gods (unlike Tire, the patroness of Sidon was the moon goddess Astarte), competed and were at enmity with each other. Zimrida, being at enmity with Tire, tried to prevent his king from entering the court. During this period, Sidon was the first city of Phenicia: the book of Genesis (X, 15) calls it “the firstborn of Canaan,” and subsequently in the Bible the Phoenicians are often called Sidonians; Likewise, only Sidon knows the Homeric epic.
Meanwhile, under the Seleucids, Tire identified itself on its coins as the “mother of the Sidonians.” The greatness of Sidon was dealt a blow by defeat by the “Ascalonians,” that is, the Philistines during their devastating movement into Egypt in the 12th century, under Ramesses III. Tire becomes the head of Phenicia.
Royal Necropolis
Alexander Sarcophagus
For a long time, Sidon did not even have kings (among the cities subject to Babylon, “Great Sidon” and “Little Sidon” are mentioned). The kingdom of Sidon was restored by Sennacherib to create a counterweight to Tire. He planted Itobal in Sidon (701 BC) and subjugated to him the cities that lay to the south (Bethsaida, Sareita, Mahaliba, Ecdippa, Acre). However, the next king Abdmilkot rebelled against Assyria, which resulted in the destruction of the city of Assargaddon by the Assyrian army (678 BC). The inhabitants of Sidon were captured, and in its place a colony of “Irassurahidtzin” (“City of Assargaddon”) arose.
In Persian times there was again a royal dynasty in Sidon, from which an inscription has been preserved on the island of Delos.
The city suffered a new defeat under Artaxerxes in 342 BC. e., who took part in the general uprising of Asian and Cypriot cities against the Persians. King Tenn, the ruler of Sidon, who at first acted successfully, at a decisive moment changed and went over to the side of the enemy. The city was burned, up to 40 thousand citizens died in the flames. Hatred of the Persians as a result of this cruelty forced Sidon to enter into an alliance with Alexander the Great and even help him in the fight against Tyre.
. Sidon was restored to its rights and possessions; Abdalonim was appointed king. Probably, his successors included the Tabnits and Eshmunazars, under whom the state again achieved its former prosperity and received Dora, Joppa and the Sharon fields from one of the Ptolemies. Under the rule of the Seleucids, Hellenism in Sidon achieved great success, so that Strabo could even point to the learned Sidonians - the philosophers Boeph and Diodotus.
In Roman times, the city enjoyed self-government, had a Senate and a national assembly, and was called a navarchy, metropolis and Colonia Aurelia. From the 3rd century. BC e. the autonomous era of Sidon begins; Many silver and bronze tetradrachms and didrachms appear with Phoenician and Greek emblems, and under the emperors - with Latin ones, and with the image, among other things, of the patroness of the city of Astarte.
Sea fortress (kalayat al-bahr)
Christianity penetrated into Sidon in apostolic times (Acts XXVII, 3); the Bishop of Sidon was present at the First Council of Nicaea.
Mithra kills the bull. Relief from the Sanctuary of Mithra in Sidon
The terrible earthquake of 501 AD. e. caused severe damage to the well-being of the city, and in 637 Sidon surrendered to the Arabs without resistance. During crusades the city often changed hands and was repeatedly fortified and ravaged. At the beginning of the 17th century, under the Druze emir Fakhreddin, Sidon was the harbor of Damascus; its trade (especially silk) flourished, the city became decorated and rich; The Egyptian government also patronized him.
Currently, the rise of Beirut and the clogging of the once famous harbor (due to the fact that the walls that closed it from the sea were pulled away) have led to the complete decline of the ancient city. Now Sidon is proud of gardens that stretch far around the area; Oranges, lemons, apricots, bananas, and almonds are grown and exported. Royal tombs of the 4th century were discovered in these gardens. BC e. The tombs, dug into the limestone mountains dominating the city, have been badly damaged by thieves.
The Phoenicians are a people of traders, sailors and pirates (they learned maritime science from the Cretans and Mycenaeans, and early began to build ships with a keel and frames and warships with a bow ram. Sailing on the high seas, they deepened their knowledge of navigation and began to offer transport maritime services Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians and Israelites.Ordered by Pharaoh Necho around 600 BC, they made a risky expedition around Africa for those times, setting off through the Red Sea and returning almost three years later to Egypt through Gibraltar.
We do not know who commanded this grandiose campaign, because the Phoenicians, like the Carthaginians, deliberately did not leave any documents. All data was strictly classified as a trade secret. That is why we cannot unconditionally trust reports that they allegedly reached the shores of America. But there is no doubt that Phoenician ships visited England, the Canaries, the Persian Gulf and India. In the Mediterranean Sea, the Phoenicians were the main traders; on its shores they founded trade and port centers. The main of these centers was
CarthageCarthage is the most famous place Tunisia. This city was founded back in 814 BC. e. It is located 35 kilometers from the capital. Here was the center of the Phoenician trading empire, which included almost the entire Mediterranean, trade routes through the Sahara and Western Asia converged here, and the famous battles of the Punic Wars raged here.
A beautiful legend is associated with the founding of the city. When the Phoenician ship landed on the shores of northern Africa, the local king was not happy with such guests who wished to stay on his territory for a long time. Then the queen of the Phoenicians asked the king for very little for the settlement - a territory that could be covered with just one bull's skin.
The local king was delighted at the “stupidity” of the Phoenician queen and happily agreed to such conditions. At night, the Phoenicians took the skin of an ox, cut it into thousands of thin ropes, and tying them all together, they got a rope of such length that it was enough to draw the border of a fairly large city.
From the Punic era there were ports, remains of streets, city buildings and Tophet, where the ashes of thousands were discovered human bodies sacrificed to the deity Baal.
Most of the buildings of Carthage that have survived to this day date back to the 1st century - the Roman period. The ruins of the Baths of Antonia, one of the largest bath complexes of the Roman period, have survived to this day. On the eastern slope of Odeon Hill you can see a Roman house from the 3rd century, called the Poultry House because of its mosaics depicting birds. Nearby are fragments of the Odeon of the 3rd century, built under Septimius Severus for poetry competitions, and the theater of the 2nd century, where performances of the international festival are now held
The date of its foundation is known for certain. From 820 to 774 BC. e. (according to the royal annals transmitted by Menander) the king of Tyre was Pygmalion. In the seventh year of Pygmalion’s reign (according to Timaeus and others), his sister, Dido-Elissa, began construction of the first buildings. This was in 814 BC. e.
Soon this colony became completely independent and itself founded its own colonies in the Western Mediterranean.
The Carthaginians always claimed that they were the discoverers Canary Islands, Madeira Islands. It can be assumed that northeastern winds helped them reach America. At the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries. BC e., around 500, the Carthaginians organized a large trade and colonization expedition to the shores of West Africa.
Under the command of the navigator Hanno, sixty large ships set off, each with 50 oars. Thirty thousand men and women were brought to the shores of Cameroon.
In the 3rd century. BC e. The Romans began a naval war with Carthage for the possession of Sicily, which produced a lot of grain. Not yet having any fleet, the Romans sent their first landings on rafts. A capstan was mounted in the middle of the raft, driven by three bulls. Wheels with blades began to rotate from the capstan. These rafts did not have rudders and moved literally at the will of the waves.
But luck was on the Roman side. In 261 BC. e. A Carthaginian pentera crashed off the coast of northeastern Sicily. The Romans copied its design, and in a few months they built one hundred and sixty ships.
Difficult to control, these penters in the very first naval battle became victims of the powerful blows of the Carthaginian sharp rams. But already in 260 BC. e. In the second battle of Milazzo, in the north-west of the Strait of Messina, the Romans managed to defeat the Carthaginian fleet using a new tactic: boarding with the help of “raven” bridges mounted on the decks falling onto another ship. The Carthaginians were defeated. And in subsequent naval battles, these Roman tactics invariably brought victories.
Thus began the era of the Punic Wars, which ultimately led Carthage to defeat. In 218 BC. e. The army of the Carthaginian commander Hannibal invaded the territory of the Roman Republic. In December 218 BC. e. Hannibal defeated the Romans at Ticinus and Trebia, then at Lake Trasimene (217) and inflicted the heaviest defeat at Cannae (216). In 211, Hannibal's army invaded Italy. "Hannibal is at the gates!" - the Romans shouted in panic. All this time was marked by strange and frightening celestial signs: comets and meteorites.
One of the most intense meteor showers at that time frightened the Roman senators. They turned to the priests, who, after consulting the Sibylline books, predicted the possibility of defense against Hannibal in a way that is strange for our time. All that was required for this was to bring to Rome a sacred stone that personified the “mother of the gods.” It was a large cone-shaped meteorite, which was kept in the castle of Pessinus in Asia Minor (modern central Turkey).
A magnificent Roman delegation was sent to King Attalus with a request to give up the sacred stone. The king gave his consent only after the earthquake, which was considered a sign. Soon the stone was transported by ship to Rome and placed in the Temple of Victory. Perhaps the “mother of the gods” provided moral support to the Romans, who soon expelled Hannibal from Italy. Most likely, a clever political trick worked.
The fact is that in a moment of extreme danger, no longer trying to crush their formidable rival, the Romans sent a military expedition to... Africa. Finding Roman legions at the gates, the Carthaginian merchants panicked and demanded that Hannibal return immediately. The talented commander was an executive servant and, immediately curtailing all military operations, went to save hometown. But the war did not end there.
“Carthage must be destroyed,” Senator Cato declared at the end of each of his speeches. And Carthage was destroyed.
As often happens in history, the cause of the death of the unique and original Carthaginian civilization was not military skill or superiority in manpower on the part of the enemy, but the elementary human meanness and pettiness of a few powerful scum.
As a result, it happened that the Carthaginian corrupt merchant government did not pay salaries to the mercenary troops. They started an uprising and suppressed it in the most brutal way...
Excavations of Carthage
Hannibal's victories, as a result of the intrigues of his rivals, were represented by defeats, and he was forced to retire into exile. The Romans chased him literally all over the world. As a result, betrayed by all his former friends, the great commander was forced to commit suicide to avoid shameful captivity
As a result, when the Roman legions approached the walls of the city, there was no one to defend it. Having captured the city, the pedantic Romans broke the surrounding walls, palaces and temples literally stone by stone, scattered the stones, and carefully sterilized the land with salt, so that even grass would not grow there...
So now visitors to the Tunisian coast don’t have much to see. Tourists are shown the Antonnina Baths, the amphitheater, the hill where small urns with the ashes of the firstborn of the city nobility are buried at a depth of six meters, the top of Mount Birsa and National Museum, where on the night of the full moon it seems that the goddess Tanit in a silver dress still reigns over her defeated possessions. In the summer, an international festival takes place in Carthage, which is organized in an open-air ancient Roman amphitheater.
The scientific world became acquainted with the Phoenician civilization only in the 19th century, but since then not even a decade has passed without discovering some new secret in it. It turns out that the ancient inhabitants of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea invented the alphabet, radically improved shipbuilding, laid out routes to the very limits of the world known in their era, and even significantly expanded these limits. In a sense, they became the first “globalizers” - they connected Europe, Asia and Africa with a pervasive web of trade routes. But as a reward for all this, the Phoenicians became known as heartless, deceitful, unscrupulous people and, moreover, fanatics who offered human sacrifices to their gods. The latter, however, was true.
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However, the scientists’ findings were not very impressive, so for many years Phenicia was forgotten again. Only in 1923, the famous Egyptologist Pierre Montet continued excavations in Byblos and discovered four untouched royal tombs with gold and copper jewelry. Texts were also found there, written not in Egyptian hieroglyphs, but in an unknown alphabetic script. Soon, linguists - by analogy with later Hebrew, as well as some other types of writing - managed to decipher it. Thus began the study of ancient Phenicia.
Ancient Phenicia was originally located in the northern and central parts of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, on a piece of land between the sea and mountains up to several tens of kilometers wide, with a climate favorable for field farming and horticulture. The Semitic people, whom the Greeks eventually called the Phoenicians, appeared on the coast of the eastern Mediterranean more than 5,000 years ago. Where these people came from and what they did before remains a mystery to historians to this day.
First half of the 3rd millennium BC e. — the Phoenicians built one of the oldest cities in the world on the territory they were developing. The Assyrians and Babylonians called it Gubl, the Israelites and Jews - Gebal, and the Phoenicians themselves - Byblos. The city grew rapidly, its population carried on a lively trade in timber, wine and olive oil, built houses and fortifications, as well as good ships. With bronze axes they cut down the trees that grew on the hillsides outside the city wall - the famous cedars of Lebanon, the main wealth of this land.
Cedar trunks served building material for ships, palaces and temples, they were delivered to neighboring countries - Egypt and Mesopotamia. A record from Egyptian scribes has survived to this day that in 2650 BC. e. 40 Phoenician ships with timber for Pharaoh Snefru arrived from Byblos to the capital of Egypt, Memphis. In addition to wood, from Byblos to Egypt from the 3rd millennium BC. e. exported wine and olive oil.
And to Byblos on the same ships they brought gold from Nubia and copper ingots from Cyprus, and land caravans from the East brought grain, gems, wool, animal skins, spices and incense. During the excavations of Byblos, a sarcophagus was discovered that was at least 3,000 years old. The inscription was carved on it: “Ahiram, king of Byblos... His abode is the afterlife.”
By the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Phoenician settlements appear throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. Coastal settlements - Sidon, Tyre, Beruta, Arvad and others - in the 2nd millennium BC. e. are turning into small but prosperous city-states, which was facilitated by early development trade in Phenicia. Crafts flourished in the cities: Phoenician glass was famous throughout the Mediterranean, and only here they knew the secret of dyeing fabrics purple.
Sidon, which appeared somewhat later than Byblos and was located to the south, was glorified by the legendary ancient Greek poet Homer. In the Iliad, he called the Sidonians “craftsmen skilled in handiwork.” The poet said, in particular, that the silver jug they made was “one of the most beautiful in all the land.”
The king-city of Phenicia, Tyre, the same age as Sidon, was the southernmost of the three great Phoenician metropolises, city-states. It and another southern city, Arvad, were located on offshore islands for protection from external enemies. (Tire was first occupied only in the 4th century BC, when troops built a rampart from the shore to the island.) In the Bible, the entire 27th chapter of the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel is devoted to a description of Tire as it was at the end of the 6th century BC . e. From Tire, its ruler, King Hiram, sent it to his friend and ally, King David of Israel, and then to his son, the legendary King of Judah Solomon, scaffolding, carpenters and masons for the construction of palaces and the main temple of Jerusalem (its prototype was the temple of the Phoenician god Baal in Tire).
“Behold, I intend to build a temple in the name of our almighty God,” proclaimed around 950 BC. . But his people - recently nomads - had no experience in constructing monumental buildings, so he turned for help to his ally, the outstanding builder, King Hiram of Tire. Over the next 7 years, a Phoenician-style temple grew in Jerusalem. Thousands of workers took part in its construction, using a variety of skillfully crafted stones, Phoenician cedar and other valuable woods, drapery and wallpaper fabrics dyed purple. The renowned master from Tire cast two tall bronze columns that were installed on either side of the main entrance to the temple.
Solomon paid the “foreman” Hiram with olive oil and wheat, 20 cities in Galilee and 120 talents of gold. Such spending seriously undermined the country's economy, which led to the weakening of the entire kingdom, which soon fell apart. 400 years later, the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomon's Temple. To this day, the Wailing Wall has been preserved in Jerusalem - the remnant of the new, Second Temple, built on the same site by King Herod in the 1st century AD. e.
“Father of History” Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC. e., claimed that in front of the entrance to the temple there were actually two columns, but one was not bronze, but made of pure gold, the other was covered with emeralds.”
It should be noted that on the western tip of Sicily the ruins of one of the Phoenician colonial cities have been preserved to this day. They are included in the exhibition of the local museum under open air. Two museum employees, local residents, said that in the ancient Phoenician cemetery they often see ghosts - bearded men in outlandish clothes. “I’m not afraid of any ghosts and I don’t believe in them at all,” says one of the ministers, “but our donkeys get very scared of them and gallop away, and then we have to look for them for a long time.”
The Phoenicians themselves called themselves by the names of the cities where they were from: “Sidonians”, “Tyrians”, “Carthaginians”. The Greeks called them Phoenicians, after the rich dark red dye they used to dye their clothes, extracted from sea snails. Later, the Romans, taking the Greek word as a basis, began to call the Phoenicians-Carthaginians “Puni” or “Punians”, and the wars that subsequently took place with them - Punic.
Herodotus told how the Phoenicians-Carthaginians traded with the Libyans. Having moored to the shore near the settlement, the merchants unloaded their goods from the ships and laid them out on the shore. Afterwards they returned to the ship and lit a smoke signal.
The Libyans approached the laid out goods and inspected them. And then they piled up nearby as much gold as they considered appropriate to pay for the goods offered, and moved away from the place of trading at some distance.
The Carthaginians went ashore and assessed the Libyans' offer. If, as they believed, there was enough gold, they took it and sailed from the shore, and if not, they returned to the ship and waited. The Libyans then added gold until the sellers agreed to accept it. “Neither side,” Herodotus emphasized, “cheated. The Carthaginians did not touch the gold until its quantity reached a sufficient amount, and the Libyans did not touch the goods until the Phoenicians took the gold.”
The heyday of Sidon and Tire coincided with the invention of the alphabet by the Phoenicians and the rapid spread of writing based on it. Using the very first letters in human history to record spoken sounds was much easier than using a huge number of pictograms - Egyptian hieroglyphs or Mesopotamian cuneiform icons.
It is generally accepted that the most important cultural achievement of the Phoenicians is the creation of a completely new type of writing, which over time formed the basis of almost all ancient and modern alphabetic writing. In Phenicia in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. created a shortened type of syllabic writing, the number of characters of which was initially about 30, and by the 13th century BC. e. decreased to 22. The Phoenician writing itself, close to the alphabetic, did not yet adequately convey all the phonemes of the language: like most Semitic languages, the Phoenician writing did not have signs for vowels. Vowels were first used regularly in the 8th century BC. e. The Greeks and Phrygians adopted the Phoenician writing system.
The Phoenicians’ lack of symbols for vowel sounds caused certain inconveniences, but the system worked and was successfully used in trade affairs, it was adopted by other nations. This ancient alphabet became the prototype of the alphabets of all European languages. This was the greatest gift of this amazing people of the East to all the peoples of the West.
The Phoenicians made their notes on papyrus, or less often on shards of clay vessels. They bought papyrus from the Egyptians and usually brought it to Byblos. In the minds of the ancient Greeks, Byblos and papyrus were so closely connected that when they decided to translate the narratives of the Jewish prophets into their language, this gigantic work was named after the city of Byblos - the Bible.
Unfortunately, not a single literary monument of the Phoenicians has yet been found. In humid, saturated sea salt papyrus quickly deteriorates in the air. Thus perished the literature of the people who taught us all how to write. We learned about the life and lifestyle of the Phoenicians from the records of Egyptian priests, as well as from sculptures, bas-reliefs and paintings by Assyrian artists.
One of the rare monuments of Phoenician writing that has survived to this day is the golden plate of the 5th century BC. e. with an inscription in Phoenician letters - the predecessors of the letters of our alphabets. The inscription speaks of the construction of a sanctuary in honor of the goddess Astarte. The plate was discovered in 1964 in Italy north of Rome, this find proves that the Phoenicians traded with the Etruscans even before the advent of the Roman Empire.
The Phoenicians were extraordinary people for those times. Unlike their neighbors, they did not seek to conquer other peoples and seize their lands. There was never any hostility between the Phoenician cities and colonies. The Phoenicians did not like to fight at all. Its rulers, being skilled diplomats, sought to resolve all conflicts with their neighbors peacefully. But when the Phoenicians were forced to take up arms, they became skilled warriors. Their troops fought against the Greeks on the side of the Persian king Xerxes, and during the Second Punic War, the Carthaginian Hannibal and his army crushed the Romans on their own territory.
The large role of merchants in the life of urban communities slowed down the development of the monarchical system in Phenicia. The Phoenician cities were never united into one centralized state, as, for example, Babylonia was in that era. Almost every city had its own king, but in general the government in them was oligarchic in nature.
Main direction foreign policy Phoenician rulers were always interested in the development of trade, the discovery and development of new lands. Building port city colonies on these lands, the Phoenicians used them as outposts for subsequent sea expeditions. Phoenician sailors plied the Aegean Sea with oars and sails, sailed along the coast of North Africa, boldly went beyond the Mediterranean Sea, and paved new routes both to the west and to the east.
Their most advanced ships at that time, up to 35 meters long, had a high carrying capacity and seaworthiness, and in addition, each had a talisman - a sculpture or bas-relief of a patron god who protected sailors from storms, treacherous coastal currents and attacks by hostile ships. One of these talismans is a figurine from the 13th century BC. e., found in Sicily, indicates that already in those distant times the Phoenicians conducted trading business far to the west of their metropolises.
According to Herodotus, the Phoenicians around 600 BC. e. sailed around the whole of Africa. Believing that Libya (as Africa was then called) was just a relatively small island surrounded by the Ocean River, the Egyptian pharaoh of the XXVI dynasty Necho II hired the best Phoenician sailors and sent them south along the Red Sea. “The Phoenicians... sailed across the Southern Sea,” wrote Herodotus. - When autumn came, they moored to the shore and sowed the field... Then, having harvested the crop, they set sail again. So two years passed, and on the third, after passing the pillars of Melqart, that is, passing through the Strait of Gibraltar, they arrived in Egypt. They Phoenicians also said - and let whoever wants to believe it, I don’t believe it - that, sailing along the coast of Libya, that is, Africa, they had the sun on the right side.”
However, it is precisely what the wise Greek did not believe that shows the veracity of this story. In the time of Herodotus, no one was so far south, beyond the equator. And there the sun actually moves across the sky in the northern part of the sky, that is, on the right side of the ship if it moves around Africa in a westerly direction.
According to the testimony of the Roman historian Festus Avenus, the Phoenician sea adventurer Himilco sailed north along the coast of Iberia (Iberian Peninsula) and reached the tin-rich shores of Albion (England).
There is an assumption that the Phoenicians visited the American continent. Ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus in the 1st century BC. e. wrote: “Far away from Libya lies an island of considerable size, flourishing, with many mountains, between which wide, navigable rivers flow. The Phoenicians discovered this island by chance, after they founded colonies along the entire coast of Libya and decided to sail beyond the Pillars of Hercules to the west, into the sea that people call the Ocean. But the only lands with mountains and navigable rivers to the west of Africa are South America and the Antilles.
Other ancient authors - Greek and Roman - also describe rich lands lying far to the west. Some modern archaeologists and historians firmly believe that ancient sailors (possibly the Phoenicians or Egyptians) reached these lands.
There are generally accepted facts that to this day excite the minds of both specialists and simply history buffs.
The Mayans and their semi-legendary predecessors, the mysterious Olmecs, built flat-topped pyramids similar to the Mesopotamian ziggurat pyramids. Bas-reliefs and sculptures of Indians depict priests and kings very similar to the Mediterranean ones - hook-nosed, with lush beards, conical headdresses, wearing shoes with pointed, upturned toes - as on Phoenician figurines and Assyrian bas-reliefs.
At the beginning of the 8th century BC. e. was founded, one of the most powerful and impregnable city-colonies of the Phoenicians on southern shores Mediterranean Sea.
Historians believe that the first trade agreement between Carthage and Rome was concluded in 509 BC. e. Agreements on the division of trade spheres of influence were renewed in 348, 305 and 281 BC. e. At the same time, Carthage for centuries fought with the Greeks, and subsequently with the Romans, for dominance not only in Sicily, the southwestern part of which was the traditional sphere of influence of the Punics, but, in essence, in all the lands of the southwestern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
The First Punic War between Rome and Carthage began in 264 BC. e. the landing of Roman troops led by consul Appius Claudius in Sicily. Combat operations on land and sea continued with varying success until 242 BC. e. As a result, the Romans gained the upper hand, and this forced the Carthaginians to conclude an unfavorable peace for them, according to which they completely abandoned Sicily and the adjacent islands. Further internal unrest in the Carthaginian state, caused by the uprising of mercenaries, excluded the Carthaginians for a long time from the struggle for dominance in the Western Mediterranean, because of this Sardinia was captured by the Romans.
The immediate cause of the Second Punic War was the active expansion of Carthage in Spain. From 237 BC e. the commanders Hamilcar, then Hasdrubal and finally Hannibal gradually conquered the different tribes of Spain. When Hannibal, after a long siege, captured the city of Saguntum, allied to the Romans, they in 218 BC. e. declared war on Carthage.
The Romans expected a Punic invasion from the sea, but Hannibal outwitted them. With an army of one hundred thousand and war elephants, he quickly crossed the Pyrenees, Gaul and the almost inaccessible Alps, descending into the Po River valley (northern Italy) with only a third of the army. The speed and surprise of the invasion of Italy brought him a number of brilliant victories. When in 216 BC. e. at the Battle of Cannae, he defeated and almost completely destroyed the 80 thousandth Roman army, this caused real panic in Rome. The path to the capital was open. But Hannibal failed to take advantage of the victory.
In 214 BC. e. At the city of Nola, the Romans inflicted their first defeat on the Punics. In 212 BC. e. The Sicilian city of Syracuse, allied to the Carthaginians, fell. Hannibal's campaign against Rome in 211 BC. e. did not bring success, since he did not dare to besiege the city, having a strong enemy behind him. In 210 BC. e. The Romans captured the most important city for the Punics in Spain, New Carthage, and in 207 BC. e. On the Metavra River, Hasdrubal, who was marching with 56 thousand troops to join Hannibal, was completely defeated.
Having conquered Spain, the Romans transported their army to Africa. This forced the Carthaginians to recall the never-defeated Hannibal from Italy. But on his own territory he was defeated at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC. e. The Carthaginians were forced to make peace on the terms of a complete renunciation of their possessions in Spain, payment of 10,000 talents of gold to the Romans, and the surrender of the entire navy, elephants, and Hannibal himself. Hannibal fled Carthage.
The Third Punic War was started by the Romans, who feared the revival of Carthage. Senator Cato the Elder in the Roman Senate demanded the complete destruction of Carthage. In 149 BC. e., taking advantage of the discord between the Punics and the Numidian king Masinissa, the Romans declared war and besieged Carthage. The townspeople defended themselves with the despair of the doomed, and only after a three-year siege in 146 BC. e. The Romans captured the city, destroyed it to the ground, and sold the surviving Carthaginians into slavery. Carthage ceased to exist.
From the period between the 12th and 9th centuries BC. e. Almost no information about Phenicia has reached us. It was probably at this time that hegemony in Phoenician territory passed to Sidon, which was forced to fight for primacy with the other largest Phoenician center - Tire.
During this period, the Phoenicians (Canaanites) are often mentioned in the Bible. Hiram, the king of Tire, helps Solomon build his famous Temple, and a hundred years later the daughter of Ethbaal of Tire, Jezebel, became the wife of Ahab, the king of Israel, and their daughter, in turn, the wife of the king of Judah. The Bible indignantly tells that at this time temples and altars to the Phoenician gods were erected in Israel and Judea. We know little about the religion of the Phoenicians, although the ruins of many temples have been preserved. The main god was, apparently, El, and the cult of Astarte played an important role. Baal, or Baal, often mentioned in the Bible, meant the name of god in general. The Phoenicians practiced human sacrifice.
In 332 BC. e. Phenicia was conquered by Alexander the Great, Tire was destroyed, and from that time on, Phoenician culture began to quickly become Hellenized. During this period, the Phoenician language practically fell out of use and was replaced by Aramaic and Latin, and later Greek.
V. Pimenova
The population of Phenicia was the Phoenicians (Phoenicians). Mention of the Phoenicians is found in Egyptian inscriptions already in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. like "fenech". The ancient Greeks modified the Egyptian name to “foinikes”, which translated from ancient Greek means “reddish”, “swarthy”. Presumably the Phoenicians are a Canaanite branch of Western Semitic tribes who came from the shores of the Erythraean Sea (the modern Arabian Sea is a semi-enclosed sea of the Indian Ocean, between the Arabian peninsulas in the west and Hindustan in the east). However, according to the mentions of Roman and Greek scientists familiar with the works of Phoenician historians, the latter considered the Phoenicians to be native tribes of the eastern Mediterranean.
By the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Small slave states were formed with centers in port cities. At the site of the city-state of Ugarit, located on the mainland opposite the northeastern tip of the island of Crete, numerous objects and cuneiform tablets were found that give us an idea of the Phoenician culture and life of that era.
The names of Phoenician cities reflected the peculiarities of the country's topography - the city of Byblos (in Phoenician - Gebal) means "mountain"; the city of Tire (Tzur) - “rock”, etc.
South of Ugarit was the island city of Arvad; Byblos, closely associated with Egypt both commercially and culturally - the Egyptian kings of the 18th dynasty used Byblos as their stronghold on the eastern Mediterranean coast; Sidon and Tire, often at odds with each other, were surrounded by rocks, which protected them from attacks by external enemies. The shooting gallery was located both on the mainland and on the island - this allowed the population of the city to move to the island in the event of an enemy invasion.
The Phoenicians were skilled shipbuilders and had an excellent fishing, merchant and military fleet. The Phoenicians were the first in history to use slaves on rowing ships - “galleys”, the name of which entered all European languages.
The Phoenicians were engaged in fishing and traded dried fish. The center of the timber trade was in Byblos - the oak and cedar forests of Lebanon served as ship and ornamental material. Olive oil played an important role in Phoenician trade High Quality and wine. Even the origin of the word “wine” is attributed to the Phoenicians (from the Phoenician “yayan”, the Hittite “viyana”, the Greek “voinos”, the Latin “vinum”). The Phoenicians were skilled craftsmen, jewelers, and glassblowers. Works of Phoenician jewelry were in great demand in the countries of the Middle East and Egypt.
In the middle of the 2nd millennium, the Phoenician city-states were included in the mighty Egyptian power.
At the beginning of the 1st millennium, the Egyptian power of the New Kingdom period weakened, and the Phoenician city-states - Arvad, Byblos, Sidon, Tyre, etc. regained their independence. Around 950 BC hegemony passes to Tire, which flourishes during the reign of King Hiram I. This period marks the rise of Phoenician cities and colonies in North Africa, Southern Spain, Western Sicily, and Sardinia. Crafts and trade are developing rapidly. The Phoenicians actively trade in Syrian wool, dyed in the famous Phoenician purple, glassware and jewelry. In general, after the collapse of the Egyptian Empire in IX-VII BC, most of the Egyptian trade passed into the hands of the Phoenicians.
Under the Tyrian king Hiram I, according to various sources, the Phoenicians colonized the coastal Mediterranean strip of the African continent (modern Tunisia) and, according to legend, ca. 815 BC founded the famous Phoenician Carthage. Possessing an exceptionally advantageous geographical position, Carthage already at an early stage of its emergence turned into one of the largest Mediterranean trading centers - it traded with Egypt, the Greek states, Italian Etruria, Sicily, and Sardinia.
According to legend, in the second half of the 7th century. BC. Phoenician sailors upon request Egyptian pharaoh The Nechos made an unprecedented journey, starting their journey from the Red Sea and, having rounded the African continent, returned to Egypt through the Strait of Gibraltar.
In the VI century. BC. The ruler of the powerful Assyrian power, Tiglath-pileser III, brought almost all the Phoenician city-states in the eastern Mediterranean under his rule. The island cities of Arvad and Tire left behind them a precarious independence. The Assyrian conquest placed a heavy burden on Phenicia. The city of Sidon was completely destroyed by the Assyrians, and most of the population was captured and turned into slaves.
However, already at the beginning of the 5th century. BC. The Assyrian power fell under the blow of the Neo-Babylonian kingdom. The city of Tyre entered into an alliance with Egypt. In response to this, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city. The siege lasted for several years, and the Tyrians, despite the fact that the Babylonians never managed to capture the city, were forced to recognize the authority of the Babylonian king.
Full most interesting questions and even riddles. Most likely, we will never know exactly how many great civilizations were never able to be born, being crushed by their neighbors, who were stronger and more successful in military and economic terms. But some of the peoples managed to “break out into the people.” Sometimes this was facilitated by the collapse or weakening of powerful neighbors.
Such were the Kassites, who once separated from the ordinary mountain tribes, and such were once the Phoenicians, who vegetated under the rather harsh rule of the Egyptians. But everything comes to an end, and Egypt began to weaken. Soon after this, both the cities of the Phoenicians and their entire people began to rapidly develop and prosper.
Contemporaries described these people as follows: “They were amazing people, who managed both peaceful and military affairs with equal ease. They invented their own writing, achieved unprecedented success in politics, public administration and navigation. The Phoenicians were and are traders from God.”
After reviewing the information provided by modern anthropologists, we can even imagine the appearance of these people. Like many peoples of that era, they were not distinguished by their heroic status. Men were rarely taller than 1.63 meters, women - 1.57 meters. Judging by the remaining images, the people had narrow, slightly elongated faces, curly hair and short, straight noses.
The clothing of the Phoenicians was bright and colorful. Thus, the Egyptians wrote that in the crowd of Pharaoh’s citizens, these newcomers stood out like “butterflies on a sheep’s fleece.” Men and women in Phenicia equally loved exquisite jewelry made of precious stones. valuable metals and stones.
As soon as Egypt began to lose ground politically and militarily, Tire, Sidon, Byblos, Arvad and some other policies immediately declared their independence. And there was absolutely nothing surprising about this. The fact is that not only the cities of the Phoenicians, but also all other large settlements at that time were actually autonomous states.
Often there was a “personal” king, his own faith and his own clergy, his own army, armed with his own artisans. There is no need to talk about farmers! They were much more impressed by the idea of paying taxes into only one pocket, and not into several. Tyr came to this idea faster than others. The city quickly became completely independent, although for some time it was formally subordinate to Sidon.
At that time, this city was first among equals, but its time quickly came to an end. The terrible raid of the “peoples of the sea” did not leave stone unturned from the once majestic settlement, after which the cities of the Phoenicians began to listen to the opinion of Tire. The latter had just reached its peak of development at that time. King Hiram I was sitting on the throne at that time.
There is evidence in many sources that he was a contemporary of the great Solomon, king of Judah (circa 950 BC). Hiram began his achievements by making a massive artificial embankment around the city, almost doubling its territory. The king was lucky: soon his prospectors dug a good spring in these places with fresh water, so Tire turned into an almost impregnable stronghold. The achievements of the Phoenicians of that time in irrigation are also known.
Thanks to well-thought-out irrigation systems and selection inclinations, they could fully provide themselves with food. In those days, this was incredible progress in the development of the state.
It is not surprising that the city very soon established strong trade relations with all its neighbors. Most likely, it was Hiram who began the colonization of modern Tunisia. This assumption is based on the fact that his heirs founded Carthage there, and the area itself was very familiar to them, since the builders immediately chose the optimal place for the new policy. Some small information about which has not reached our time was founded.
Tradition says that its foundation took place in 814 BC. e. Soon the Phoenicians were actively trading with Mesopotamia and the peoples who inhabited the Nile Valley. In addition, they gradually settled firmly in those areas from which it was possible to control the approaches to Mediterranean Sea. All this led to the fact that, of all the cities of this state, it was Carthage that retained its importance for a long time. History has brought us information about the majestic Hannibal and his struggle with Rome.
To attract new people (military, in particular), the kings of the cities rewarded the land for faithful service. Within the rural community there was also a certain land property, which was distributed among its members depending on the merits and influence of a particular person. However, by that time, its own agricultural production only fed Phenicia, but had little impact on trade profits.
Where more money The Phoenicians had cities that developed deposits of valuable metals in the mountains of Lebanon. In addition, many valuable tree species grew there, the wood of which quickly became the most important export item. Foreign merchants loved Phoenician wool, dyed purple, the secret of which was known only to the scientists of Tire. Since the VIII - VII centuries. BC e. The production of sophisticated and refined products is becoming increasingly important glass products, which were also in great demand among foreign traders.
After Egypt finally collapsed, Tire and other cities began to grow rich at an amazing speed. Almost all the Phoenician colonies grew rapidly, many of them later became independent states. They quickly took control of all the Egyptian trade channels, and the process of enrichment went even faster.
It should be understood that in ancient times Phenicia grew rich not so much because of the sale of goods produced on its territory. First of all, her wealth grew due to the resale of luxury goods and rare items (jewelry, in particular). In addition, the inhabitants of this country were not only excellent sailors, but also desperate pirates. All the loot was often quite officially surrendered in Phoenician cities, for which the ancient “privateers” received a decent sum.
Remembering that the Phoenicians were seafarers from birth, neighboring countries did not dare to bully them, since the state’s navy could cause a lot of problems to the offenders. At the same time, the “glory” of this people was such that even their worst enemies could temporarily forget their feuds in order to sink a couple of their ships with joint forces. The Phoenicians knew this, and therefore did not hesitate to carry out daring sea raids on coastal settlements, taking the people who inhabited them into captivity.
It is not surprising that one of the main sources of income for the maritime trade of the same Tire were slaves. There is information that in ancient times Phenicia was one of those unique states in which the kings of policies could lend considerable sums to ordinary citizens. This was done not for the sake of altruism, but for the purpose of developing “entrepreneurship”: a person received money from the state, with which he could only purchase a ship and supplies of goods for the first time. The family of the “giftee” became the guarantee of loyalty. Simply put, cheating with money was not in the interests of citizens.
The Phoenicians did not master land routes so quickly. But everything changed around the first millennium BC. uh, when people were able to tame camels. The people of hardened traders could not miss such unique opportunity, and therefore the development of the same Syria began instantly.
You might think that Phenicia in ancient times was simply a branch of heaven on earth, where free citizens of the country could freely trade and earn money. It wasn't that simple. Yes, the constantly developing trade brought gigantic profits to the state, and almost any free person could open his own business.
But a significant number of slaves, without whom Phoenician trade could not function, an ever-increasing number of dispossessed debtors and representatives of bankrupt families gradually turned into a real bomb, on which ancient Phenicia subsequently “exploded”.
IN Ancient world this country had a bad reputation, which arose precisely because of the passion of its people for the slave trade. A huge amount of “living goods” was sold to other countries, but ancient Phenicia itself was in dire need of these people: workshops and stocks of shipbuilding shipyards, quarries and vineyards, road construction and sheep raising... In a word, without slave labor the entire state economy would have immediately collapsed. end.
All the achievements of the Phoenicians, especially in the field of building high-quality roads and grandiose temples, were based precisely on the work of slaves. However, this phenomenon also had back side, which was often extremely unpleasant and even deadly for the “rulers of the world” themselves.
Almost all contemporaries testify that there was an intense and constantly intensifying class struggle in the country. Thus, the Greeks repeatedly wrote about the grandiose slave uprising in Tire, which was joined by thousands of poor citizens. The leadership of the uprising is attributed to a certain Abdastratus (Staraton). Oddly enough, the grandiose massacre that happened around the 9th century BC ended in a complete and unconditional victory for the slaves.
Greek historians testify that all the men of the “privileged” classes were mercilessly slaughtered, and their women were distributed among the representatives of the rebels who inhabited Tire. The city was completely depopulated for a long time.
In general, in Greek texts on historical subjects, some mysterious “Phoenician misfortunes” are almost universally reported. It may very well be that all this is an echo of the grandiose slave uprising that swept through all the cities, including the great Carthage. History, however, has taught us nothing ruling class. No mitigation was expected in relation to slaves, and the state did not even think of somehow “diversifying” its dependence on their labor.
All this subsequently led to the fact that the history of the Phoenicians ended sadly, and the once great state, weakened by constant strife and internal turmoil, was simply taken away by its powerful neighbors.
Despite this, all their contemporaries spoke of them with the deepest amazement. The Greeks and Romans were surprised how the Phoenicians, whose world map was the most detailed at that time, having managed to conquer many peoples, were unable to organize at least some semblance of a state. “Having ruled the world, they cannot rule at home,” this is what they said about these people. Traders, desperate and enterprising travelers, they became perhaps the first people in the entire History of mankind who created their Empire not with fire and sword, but with conviction, cunning, intelligence and gold.
So, due to political squabbles, intrigues and slave uprisings, Tire eventually loses its significance. “The reins of government” were immediately seized (at the end of the 9th century BC) by Sidon, which had been completely restored by that time (the current city of Saida in Lebanon). In those years, this policy regained its lost importance, acquired a powerful fleet and army, and therefore could dictate its terms to its neighbors.
Historians believe that the ancient Phoenicians built it around the 4th century BC. Already in the second millennium, Sidon became strong enough for a fierce struggle with Tire in the region. At the beginning of the first millennium, the citizens of this particular city-police took an active part in the Phoenician colonization, which spread like a wave throughout the Western Mediterranean. However, he soon became heavily dependent on Tire, which had strengthened by that time.
In 677 BC the city was captured by Assyrian troops, who completely destroyed it. However, a decade later it was completely restored. Around the beginning of the 6th century BC, Sidon was absorbed by the Achaemenid dynasty.
Soon other Phoenician cities were completely deprived of their independence. Already in the middle of the 6th century BC, restless Assyrians increasingly began to appear under their walls. Despite the remaining economic power, all policies, with the exception of proud Tire, quickly submitted to the power of Assyria.
We should not forget that at the end of the 7th century BC Egypt began to regain its former power, and therefore a considerable number of cities of the former Phenicia are part of it. Finally, in those centuries the Persian Empire quickly began to mature and develop, which put an end to the history of the state of sailors, merchants and pioneers.
However, the Phoenicians themselves had nothing to do with this: their cities retained their self-government, and trade became even more profitable due to the protection and patronage of the Persians. The Phoenician fleet became part of the Persian flotilla as the most powerful and respected unit of the latter.
These people reminded of themselves for a long time. Thus, the language and traditions of the Phoenicians were preserved in many regions of the Mediterranean almost until the end of the Middle Ages. Only the brutal Arab conquests finally put an end to the developed ancient culture.
Over the past few decades, we have made significant progress in the study of writing and people. Many new inscriptions are discovered every year... Archaeologists suggest that an in-depth study of the Phoenician heritage can reveal many
The nature of the country provided every opportunity for a blessed life. There was little land, but those areas that were available turned out to be very fertile. Wet sea winds brought rain and made artificial irrigation unnecessary. Since ancient times, local residents grew olives, dates, grapes, and raised cows and sheep. Archaeologists find traces of agriculture already in the 10th millennium BC. e.
Towards the middle III millennium BC e. Cities grew up in place of villages of farmers and fishermen. The largest of them were Ugarit and Arvad in the north, Byblos in the center, Tire and Sidon in the south.
Excavations by archaeologists made it possible to restore their appearance. The cities were fortified with walls, in the center of them there were sanctuaries and residences of local rulers, surrounded by adobe and brick houses. In a small country, land was of great value, so cities were built very densely. The lack of space was especially felt in Tire and Arvada. These two cities were located on small islands not far from the coast. It even got to the point that in the 9th century. BC e. King Hiram of Tire built a dam and expanded the island on which the city was located.
Houses in Phenicia usually built two-story, with an open or barred gallery on top floor where the owners lived. In the lower, often stone, floor, various supplies were stored and slaves lived.
Carthage, the largest Phoenician colony in North Africa, was built up even more closely. According to ancient Roman historians, Carthage had many six-story buildings with flat roofs. They stood so densely that Roman soldiers stormed the city in 146 BC. e. They threw boards from roof to roof and so moved to another house.
Judging by the excavations at Ugarit, in ancient Phenicia multi-storey buildings were also erected round houses towers. A model of such a three-story house was also found in Carthage.
The outside of the house was decorated with painted plaster. The painting consisted of friezes located one below the other, consisting of colored triangles, circles and ovals, solid ribbons and teeth. Inside, there was a corridor running through the entire house. A courtyard opened up in the middle. On both sides of the courtyard there were living quarters.
Excavations also made it possible to gain some insight into the furniture and household items that surrounded the Phoenicians. True, furniture can be judged mainly by small copies made of metal and clay preserved in graves. Most likely, the Phoenicians used low tables, chairs, stools, and flat beds. A large wooden chest, in which the main wealth of the house was kept, occupied a place of honor in the house. Those who were richer covered it with a carpet, and the poor - with a mat.
Special drainage ditches were dug in the center of the streets, which made it possible to keep the city relatively clean.
Each city with its surrounding area was a small state. Not one of them was able to unite the entire country into a single whole. Over the centuries, the struggle between them continued with varying success. In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Ugarit dominated in the north, and Byblos dominated in the center. In the first half of the 15th century. BC e. the leading role passed to Sidon (the modern city of Saida in Lebanon), which apparently arose in the 4th millennium BC. e. But around 1200 BC. e. it was destroyed by the "Sea Peoples" (a group of Mediterranean peoples who moved in the 13th century BC to the borders of ancient Egypt and the Hittite state, presumably from the region). Tire soon replaced Sidon. He even managed to unite most of Phenicia, but also not for long.
Understand construction and life of the Phoenician city-state a huge archive of clay tablets from the mid-2nd millennium BC helps. e. with texts written in 29-letter cuneiform. It was discovered by archaeologists in Ugarit.
Ugaritic society consisted of "the king's people", which included officials and warriors, ploughmen and artisans - all free citizens, "sons of Ugarit", and slaves. According to the documents, it is known about the collection of collective taxes and the calling of community members to national duties. The most important of them were military, rowing and government work. Those who served them were supported by the treasury.
The king was at the head of the state, but his power was weak. It was limited by councils of city elders. Elections of officials in cities were carried out on the basis of property qualifications. This order was in effect, for example, in Carthage, government system which was described by the ancient Greek philosopher Guv. BC e. Aristotle.
Archival records and archaeological finds testify to the wealth of Phoenician cities and the skill of their artisans and jewelers. What was the basis of their prosperity?
The fruits of agriculture provided prosperity, but due to the lack of land they could not provide wealth. Its source was trade. Trade routes from all over Western Asia converged in this ancient state. The caravans went south to Ancient Egypt and Palestine, to the north - to Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, ships carried goods to the Nile Delta, to the islands of the Aegean Sea and further to the west.
The main product of the Phoenicians was wood, in which sharply. The cities, most notably Byblos, traded in the cedar, oak and cypress trees that grew along the slopes of the Lebanese Mountains. Ships and sarcophagi were made from wood; mummies of Egyptian nobles were placed in them. High-quality wine played a major role in trade. Olive oil was also an important product.
The Phoenicians were the first to start production of purple paint from special type shellfish It was used to dye wool and linen fabrics. These fabrics immediately came into fashion and were in great demand in all neighboring countries. During excavations of ancient Phoenician cities, piles of empty shells were found, left over after receiving paint.
The scale of production was very large. There was not enough fabric of our own, and cheap undyed wool was imported into Phenicia from the pastoral areas of Syria, from Crete, and later from all of Western Asia. The beautiful products of Phoenician artisans made of bronze and silver, as well as the famous glass from Sidon, the secrets of which were discovered in the 17th century, were also highly valued in ancient times. BC e. In addition to locally produced goods, the Phoenicians also traded in what they exported from Asia Minor, Cyprus, Crete, etc. Their cities were largest centers transit trade. Silver and lead came from Asia Minor, and later iron. The Phoenicians exported copper from the island of Cyprus. From Crete they received artistic crafts and products from other Mediterranean countries. The main center of trade relations with the West was Ugarit, and after its destruction - Tire.
