Wikijunior:Ancient Civilizations/Phoenicians
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About 800 BC, the Phoenicians lived on the shores of the eastern Mediterranean. Their major cities were Tyre and Byblos, and they were merchants and sailors. They traveled all over the Mediterranean and Black Seas, establishing trading outposts and cities that bought goods and raw materials from local people, and sold luxuries like ivory and purple cloth. The purple cloth was their greatest luxury — no one else in the world knew the secret of making purple dye, and kings alone could wear the color because the Phoenicians made it so expensive.
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[edit] What country did they live in?
Ancient Phoenicia had its heartland in modern-day Lebanon and Syria.
Their most famous cities were Tyre, Byblos, Sarpeta, and Sidon. The Phoenicians called themselves the Canaani, but the name we know them by, the Phoenicians, is actually what the Greeks called them. It means "purple people" because of the purple dye and purple cloth which only they could provide. The Phoenicians also established trading colonies across the Mediterranean: Tunis in Tunisia sits on top of the ancient Phoenician city of Carthage, and Cadiz in Spain is also an ancient Phoenician city. For a time, parts of Sicily and the Baelaeric Islands were part of Phoenician territory.
[edit] What did their buildings look like?
[edit] What did they eat/drink ?
Because the Phoenicians traded all over the Mediterranean world, they ate very well. Their diet included olives, olive oil, wine, lamb, goat, cheese, garlic, honey and more.
[edit] What did they wear?
The phoneicans wore many things that were purple.The kings wore alot of purple items because they wanted to show their high authority
[edit] What did their writing look like?
Phoenician writing is very similar in some ways to the Latin alphabet, because the Latin alphabet was designed, in part, from the Phoenician alphabet. In fact, the Phoenicians are the first known people to use an alphabet. Their writing system had 22 letters, which were all consonants. The reader had to guess at the vowels the author meant to use.
One Phoenician city, Byblos, is thought to have been a major center for writing, because the city's name is the origin of the word "book"! Many scribes or professional writers worked in Byblos, and made copies of books there on Egyptian papyrus — an important trade product.
The Phoenicians, most likely a Semitic people, spoke the Phoenician language. In addition to their many inscriptions, the Phoenicians, contrary to some reports, wrote many books that have not survived. Evangelical Preparation by Eusebius of Caesarea quotes extensively from Philo of Byblos and Sanchuniathon. Furthermore, the Phoenician Punic colonies of North Africa continued to be a source of knowledge about the Phoenicians. Saint Augustine knew at least a smattering of Punic and occasionally uses it to explain cognate words found in Hebrew. The name of his mother, Saint Monica, is said to be of Punic origin as well.
[edit] What did they believe?
Phoenicians had many gods and goddesses called Baal and Baalet. (Baals) for men and (Baalet) for women. They all worshiped the same major gods,but they may have different names in different cities. The Phoenicians practiced sacrifices including human sacrifices and that gave them the reputation of being cruel. It was inspired by nature. The temples were filled with priests,singers,musicians,divers,and scribes. Many of their sacrifices in the temple were of animals and children. Two of the gods they worshiped were named Baal and Astarte as he was the chief god and his consort. The Phoenicians took worship seriously and to prevent evil they would have ceremonies of dancing.
[edit] What is their History?
[edit] Are some of them famous even today?
[edit] What is left of them today?
tayla morais is what is left of phoenicia.
