Chapter 6, Section 1

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Chapter 6, Section 1

• The Phoenicians

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Introduction

• Phoenicians lived in northern part of Canaan.
  (Please refer to map p. 108 of your textbook)
• Our information about them comes mostly from the
  Bible, writings of other ancient people, and
  ruins of their cities and ships.

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Phoenician Groups

• Canaanites
• Herders who wandered from pasture to pasture
• Came from desert south and east of Canaan

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• Philistines
• Traders and ship-builders
• Came from eastern Mediterranean near Greece

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Growth of Trade 1200 B.C.

• Phoenicians built their cities along coast
  between mountains and the sea
• Rich soil, but not enough of it to feed everyone
• Mountains were covered with cedar forests (good
  for making ships)
• The geography therefore contributed to the
  development of a trading culture

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Phoenician ships

• Merchant vessels (traded cedar logs, glass, and
  perfume for gold and other metals)
• Traveling workshops where artisans worked while
  traveling from place to place
• Navigated by sun and starsmaybe as far as around
  coast of Africa to India

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Treaties

• Phoenician merchants were vulnerable to the
  strong countries they traded with
• Agreements made with other countries to guarantee
  Phoenician independence in exchange for free
  Phoenician goods
• Protected them from more powerful neighbors

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Cities of Phoenicia

• Mountains separated cities from each other, so
  Phoenicia was never a united country
• Independent city-states, each with its own king
  and ruling council of merchants
• Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, Beirut
• All spoke same language/had same religion

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Conflict between Phoenicians

• Jealousy and competition over trade sometimes led
  to conflict between city-states.
• Phoenicians called themselves by the name of
  their city only outsiders referred to them as
  Phoenicians

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What were their cities like?

• Stone walls around them
• Family-owned shops of merchants and artisans
  inside the walls
• Crowded narrow streets, brick or stone
  buildings were close together, some houses had
  roof gardens

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The Ports

• Outside the city walls was the port
• Busy place, ships coming and going, goods loading
  and unloading
• Goods stored in warehouses until ready for sale
  in the city or trade overseas

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Purple Merchants

• Phoenician cities were important cloth-dyeing
  centeres
• The word Phoenician means of purple merchants
• Purple dye from a shellfish called a murex

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Religion

• Many gods closely tied to nature
• Thought gods only met people on hills or under
  trees
• Later built temples with an entrance hall, a main
  hall, and a holy of holies where the statue of
  the god stood
• Sacrifices of wine, animals, perfume, and humans
  were made on stone altar

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• Only priests could offer sacrifices
• Believed in life after death
• Buried dead in clay urns
• Later, after contact with Egypt, they began
  embalming them and then burying in stone coffins
  in hillside cemeteries

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Carthage

• A Phoenician city built on the Northern Coast of
  Africa that began as a colony, or permanent
  settlement, established by traders.
• Became a great trading city

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The Alphabet

• Phoenicians spread ideas as well as goods while
  they were trading
• One of the most important of these ideas was the
  alphabet (see page 105 in textbook) borrowed from
  some Canaanite people to the south
• 22 letters that could be used to make any word

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• Phoenicians liked the alphabet because it helped
  them keep records of their business deals.
• Greeks borrowed the alphabet from the
  Phoenicians, making a few changes.
• Romans borrowed it from the Greeks, making a few
  changes.
• Most modern alphabets, including ours, come from
  Roman version

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• Lets sing the Alphabet Song together to thank
  the Phoenicians for helping bring us the alphabet!

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Core Content Connections

• 30.  The natural resources of a place or region
  impact its political, social, and economic
  development.
• In what ways did the natural resources of the
  land of the Phoenicians influence the way their
  cities and economies developed?
• Write your answer in your social studies notebook

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Discuss how these core content statements relate
to Phoenicians

• 11.  Conflict and competition (e.g., political,
  economic, religious, ethnic) may occur as
  cultures emerge and develop.
• 12.  Compromise and cooperation are possible
  choices for positive social interaction and
  resolution of conflict.