The World of the Phoenicians

by Sabatino Moscati

This tells of the spread of Phoenician colonies into the Mediterranean, & describes the archeology & history of each area settled, tracing the development of Phoenician civilization down to the fall of the greatest of their colonies, Carthage.
Translator's Note
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
The Phoenicians in the East
Name, people, and region
History
Religion
Art
Economy and trade
Script and language
Phoenician expansion
The Phoenicians in Cyprus
Phoenicians and Carthaginians in Africa
History
Religion
Art
Economy and trade
Script and language
The colonies in the west
Malta, Gozo, Pantelleria
Sicily
Sardinia
Spain
Conclusion
Maps
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Archaeology

330 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1966

Reviews

[Chris Fellows · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learned quite a few interesting things about the connections between Phoenicia and other Semitic cultures - for instance, Muhammad's misunderstanding of the Trinity now seems like a very obvious mistake - and about the expansion of Phoenician culture to the Western Mediterranean. However, as a book of 'popular history' I did not find this book satisfactory.

There were too many floating names of obscure places unattached to maps in this book to please me, and too many undefined archaeological/linguistic/art terms.

The name is a little misleading. Moscati goes where the evidence is - material remains, mostly of artistic value, and written records left by non-friends of the Phoenicians/Carthaginians. Maybe there is no other way; but this 'looking under the lamppost' approach leaves us without a very good idea of the 'world of the Phoenicians'. For example, there are very many pages on artistic trends and a detailed chronicle of the events of the Greek-Punic wars in Sicily, but only a page or so about human sacrifice and no satisfactory discussion of the apparent economic collapse of the 4th century BCE.

It is like a history of the sixties devoting one page to music, 200 pages to stylistic differences between cars of the period, and presenting all political events in a bald 'Johnson did this, then Khrushchev did this' fashion without any explanation of their ideologies and motivations.

[Ligita Dykumų Ugnis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very detailed but dry account of the facts known at the time, and some speculations, about the Phoenicians. It probably did not help that I read a translation of a translation and not a very good translation at that.

Anyway, this book confirms once again that technologies change but humans not really. Unfortunately.

[Patrick Neylan · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an old book and (one hopes) archaeology and history have superseded things like the provisional conclusions of 'new' discoveries from the 50s and 60s. One does't want to criticise book that was perfectly acceptable for its time, but it also fails by failing to create any story about the Phoenicians. In that respect it's academic, which is no bad thing in itself, but can't relate to any other audience. Being dated and a tough read makes it difficult to recommend. We've learned how to write history better than this.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read maybe one-third of this book for a research paper; it was the first third of the book. The book itself is divided into three sections that describe the 'three branches' of the Phoenician culture. It was pretty easy to read; the information was insightful and the format was helpful when going back to look for blurbs I wanted to use in my paper.

I used the book primarily for information on the history and culture of Phoenicia itself as well as three specific cities (Tyre, Sidon, and Arvad).

I think it is well-written for the time in which it was published. Obviously, books published more recently will have additional information not available in this book, but I felt this book was still a good introduction to the Phoenician people.

I am glad I used this book as a source for my paper. I could see myself finishing it at a later date.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember picking this up on the Portebello Road when I was ten. I have no idea what possessed me!

Interesting book, though. I used it in college and graduate school, which is not something one can say of many books one reads when they are ten years old!

[C. B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good all-round introduction to the subject, though I still think there's a big gap for a good up-to-date general history of the Phoenicians; it is a fascinating topic. This book has served to begin my studying of the Phoenicians, and particularly their presence in the Iberian peninsular.