I.            Geography

a.       Phoenicia was located between the eastern Mediterranean coast and the Lebanon Mountains

     II.            Government

a.       Not a unified nation

b.      Consisted of independent city-states

  III.            Phoenicians were sailors

a.       No maps or modern technology

b.      Sailed beyond Gibraltar (Pillars of Hercules)

c.       Evidence they may have circumnavigated Africa

  IV.            Phoenician colonies

a.       Sailed and colonized throughout the Mediterranean beginning circa 1000 BCE

                                                               i.      Gades (Cadiz, Spain)

                                                             ii.      Carthage (Tunis, Tunisia)

b.      Modern DNA testing links Palestinians, Lebanese, and residents of old Phoenician colonies

     V.            Trade

a.       Leading sailors and traders of ancient world

b.      They traded:

                                                               i.      Cloth

                                                             ii.      Dye (purple dye prized by kings, made from shellfish murex)

                                                            iii.      Glass

                                                           iv.      Pottery

c.       Traded for:

                                                               i.      Tin (Britannia)

                                                             ii.      Hides, ivory, ostrich feathers, and slaves (Africa)

                                                            iii.      Gold, precious stones, and spices (India)

  VI.            Alphabet

a.       Carried their civilization and culture where they trades

b.      Adopted and adapted Egyptian hieroglyphics into an alphabet of 22 symbols (letters) representing sounds

                                                               i.      Egyptian hieroglyphics ↘

1.       Egyptian hieratic (script) ↘

a.       Phoenician ↘

                                                                                                                                       i.      Greek ↘

1.       Roman (Latin)

VII.            Review questions

a.       Where was Phoenicia located?

b.      Name two Phoenician colonies.

c.       Where did the Phoenicians trade?

d.      What is considered to be the Phoenicians’ greatest contribution to the world?