The
Phoenicians are one of the most important of all cultures in the ancient
Mediterranean. They were not empire builders, subjugators of peoples,
or obtrusive to those they came in contact with. Quite frankly, these
sea-farers were busy with business and trade. The spread of goods
through the entire Mediterranean basin is due to the navigation techniques
used by these forgotten people.
Navigation in the Mediterranean was relatively simple. The coast line was a large oval in shape and if you stayed within eyesight of the shore a vessle was quite safe. To return home you simply turned about and headed in the opposite direction. Cross sailing, from Tunis to Italy for example, required more skill. One had to learn to navigate with no landmarks. It has been asserted that the Phoenicians were the first to recognize the North Star as a tool for ocean navigation. This allowed them to sail to more distant locations and to peddle their wares to cultures far outside of the Mediterranean world.
Phoenician Vocabulary:
Purpura
Phoinix
Colonies
Economy
Merchant
To learn more about the Phoenicians pick a topic:
Phoenician
Maps, Colonies and Homeland
Phoenician
Trade Goods
Phoenician
Alphabet,Culture, and Achievements
The
End of the Phoenicians
Phoenicians are not found as
a cultural group today for a very simple reason. They blended into
wherever they landed. The Phoenician culture was a mixture of sorts.
The mariners would absorb the cultures they came in contact with, take
those elements home and mix them into the group. The Phoenicians
were eventually absorbed into the cultures that dominated the area.
They felt no particular love for any one element of thier own culture and
just adapted to the leaders that conquered them. This is in stark
contrast to the peoples who were thier closest neighbors, the Hebrews,
who fought tooth and nail to keep their culture from being corrupted by
the invading armies that moved them about the continents of the world.
