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Lost Civilizations
The Phoenicians: Lost Civilizations
Drawing on an impressive range of archaeological and textual sources and a nuanced understanding of biases, this book offers a valuable reappraisal of the enigmatic Phoenicians.
The Phoenicians is a fascinating exploration of this much-mythologized their history, artistic heritage, and the scope of their maritime and colonizing activities in the Mediterranean. Two aspects of the book stand out from other studies of Phoenician the source-focused approach and the attention paid to the various ways that biases—ancient and modern—have contributed to widespread misconceptions about who the Phoenicians really were. The book describes and analyzes various artifacts (epigraphic, numismatic, and material remains) and considers how historians have derived information about a people with little surviving literature. This analysis includes a critical look at the primary texts (classical, Near Eastern, and biblical), the relationship between the Phoenician and Punic worlds; Phoenician interaction with the Greeks and others; and the repurposing of Phoenician heritage in modernity. Detailed and engrossing, The Phoenicians casts new light on this most enigmatic of civilizations.
The Phoenicians is a fascinating exploration of this much-mythologized their history, artistic heritage, and the scope of their maritime and colonizing activities in the Mediterranean. Two aspects of the book stand out from other studies of Phoenician the source-focused approach and the attention paid to the various ways that biases—ancient and modern—have contributed to widespread misconceptions about who the Phoenicians really were. The book describes and analyzes various artifacts (epigraphic, numismatic, and material remains) and considers how historians have derived information about a people with little surviving literature. This analysis includes a critical look at the primary texts (classical, Near Eastern, and biblical), the relationship between the Phoenician and Punic worlds; Phoenician interaction with the Greeks and others; and the repurposing of Phoenician heritage in modernity. Detailed and engrossing, The Phoenicians casts new light on this most enigmatic of civilizations.
248 pages, Hardcover
Published January 13, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 15, 2022
It's a basic book that covers the civilization in question. Almost all we know about them comes from outside sources, most notably the Greeks. Even the word "Phoenician" is a word others (like the Greeks) gave them. They didn't see themselves as a single group, but as people from Tyre or Sidon or points elsewhere. While there were some linguisitic, cultural, and religious simillarities, they identified themslves locally, not in some overall group. They were good merchants and known for their seafaring, with Herodutes claiming that the Egyptians hired a Phoenician crew to circle Africa. There isn't much evidence that such an excursion ever happened, but the Phoenicians (mainly from Tyre) set up a series of colonies in the Mediterranean. The most famous was clearly Carthage, but they even had some on the Atlantic face of Portugal.
I learned a decent amount, but it's only three stars because it's a very formulaic book that has tons of dead spots despite being just 200 pages of texts. Here's an overview of every account the Greeks gave of them. Here's a depiction of what we know of the gods of this town; now for the gods of a second town, now for a third town, now..... The book reads like a collection of notecards where the author makes sure to give you every bit of info he has, even if the latest bit of info doesn't add to much and just rehashes what was already hashed.
I learned a decent amount, but it's only three stars because it's a very formulaic book that has tons of dead spots despite being just 200 pages of texts. Here's an overview of every account the Greeks gave of them. Here's a depiction of what we know of the gods of this town; now for the gods of a second town, now for a third town, now..... The book reads like a collection of notecards where the author makes sure to give you every bit of info he has, even if the latest bit of info doesn't add to much and just rehashes what was already hashed.
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June 4, 2026According to the English title of this book, The Phoenicians: Lost Civilizations, which this book is a translation of, the Phoenicians are a lost civilization. This is since there are virtually no historical texts left by the Phoenicians themselves. What remains are indeed more than ten thousand Phoenician sources, but these are really just short inscriptions. Nevertheless, the Phoenicians are still one of the better-known lost civilizations, as this book also shows.
What did survive are longer texts from contemporary and successive peoples. The book describes Greek-Roman and Biblical sources about the Phoenicians. The Greeks and Romans admired the Phoenicians as great sea navigators and founders of cities. Yet, the Phoenicians were also portrayed, especially by the Greeks, as a cunning people who could not be trusted. This had to do with the fact that the Phoenicians and Greeks were competitors in the Mediterranean and that the Phoenicians initially aligned with the Persians in the Greco-Persian conflict.
By the way, the Phoenicians themselves did not see themselves as "Phoenicians". They were a collection of independent city-states along the coast of Lebanon, such as Tyre, Sidon, Arwad, Byblos, and Beirut, spanning a vertical strip about 8 kilometers wide. The Greeks coined the term “Phoenicians,” derived from the Greek word phoinós, another word for blood-red purple, which may refer to their skin color or the then-famous purple dye mass-produced there from shells.
The Biblical sources also refer more to individual city-states than to the Phoenicians as a whole. Like the Greek-Roman sources, they are alternately positive and negative about these city-states. For instance, some city-states were sometimes allies of King Solomon, reliable craftsmen, and good suppliers of cedarwood, but on the other hand, they were also worshippers of idols. Moreover, God became angry that Solomon had Phoenician wives. After Solomon started worshiping his wives' idols it ultimately led to the Jewish kingdom splitting into Israel and Judah.
What remains of the Phoenicians themselves? Firstly, the inscriptions, the most noteworthy of which are texts that curse anyone who opens the tomb of the deceased king. The book also discusses Phoenician coins. These were introduced in various city-states in the fifth century during the Persian Empire. The coins were not allowed to be made of gold by the Persian rulers and thus were only of silver and bronze. Besides maritime themes, the coins often featured animals: lions, vultures, rams, bulls, dolphins, owls, horses, and seahorses were all depicted.
Art about the gods worshipped in Phoenicia, such as Astarte and various manifestations of Baal, has also been preserved, although these were by no means the only gods. More or less each city-state had its own unique patron god. Based on their type of graves, the Phoenicians also seem to have believed in the resurrection of the dead and had religious elements from Persia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt.
However, what the Phoenicians mainly contributed to modern society is the alphabet. The Greek alphabet is derived from the Phoenician alphabet. The Phoenicians, in turn, drew their inspiration from Egyptian cursive writing. Without the Phoenicians, we might have a far less understandable script, as seen in the East. For another book on this subject, see A History of Writing by Stephen R. Fischer.
Why were the Phoenicians so well-known when they occupied only a small strip in Lebanon? This is also due to their many trading posts throughout the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians were great seafarers, according to the book the most important and successful sailors between 1500 and 400 BCE. In the past, there were also some apocryphal stories about them. For example, according to Herodotus, the Phoenicians sailed around Africa, and according to more modern sources, they discovered America. Cornwall’s tin mines and Stonehenge were even attributed to them in some inaccurate stories. Nevertheless, the Phoenicians were an adventurous people who possibly reached the Canary Islands, traded from Cyprus to Portugal, and even founded cities like Palermo, Carthage, and possibly Cadiz.
Informative but measured are the words that come to mind with this book. The author is knowledgeable about the subject but does not indulge in much speculation. Additionally, some of the more spectacular war accounts from Phoenician enemies like Assyria don't get much attention in this book. But if you're a novice wanting to learn about the Phoenicians without too much fuss, this is undoubtedly an excellent work. It met my needs in that respect.
What did survive are longer texts from contemporary and successive peoples. The book describes Greek-Roman and Biblical sources about the Phoenicians. The Greeks and Romans admired the Phoenicians as great sea navigators and founders of cities. Yet, the Phoenicians were also portrayed, especially by the Greeks, as a cunning people who could not be trusted. This had to do with the fact that the Phoenicians and Greeks were competitors in the Mediterranean and that the Phoenicians initially aligned with the Persians in the Greco-Persian conflict.
By the way, the Phoenicians themselves did not see themselves as "Phoenicians". They were a collection of independent city-states along the coast of Lebanon, such as Tyre, Sidon, Arwad, Byblos, and Beirut, spanning a vertical strip about 8 kilometers wide. The Greeks coined the term “Phoenicians,” derived from the Greek word phoinós, another word for blood-red purple, which may refer to their skin color or the then-famous purple dye mass-produced there from shells.
The Biblical sources also refer more to individual city-states than to the Phoenicians as a whole. Like the Greek-Roman sources, they are alternately positive and negative about these city-states. For instance, some city-states were sometimes allies of King Solomon, reliable craftsmen, and good suppliers of cedarwood, but on the other hand, they were also worshippers of idols. Moreover, God became angry that Solomon had Phoenician wives. After Solomon started worshiping his wives' idols it ultimately led to the Jewish kingdom splitting into Israel and Judah.
What remains of the Phoenicians themselves? Firstly, the inscriptions, the most noteworthy of which are texts that curse anyone who opens the tomb of the deceased king. The book also discusses Phoenician coins. These were introduced in various city-states in the fifth century during the Persian Empire. The coins were not allowed to be made of gold by the Persian rulers and thus were only of silver and bronze. Besides maritime themes, the coins often featured animals: lions, vultures, rams, bulls, dolphins, owls, horses, and seahorses were all depicted.
Art about the gods worshipped in Phoenicia, such as Astarte and various manifestations of Baal, has also been preserved, although these were by no means the only gods. More or less each city-state had its own unique patron god. Based on their type of graves, the Phoenicians also seem to have believed in the resurrection of the dead and had religious elements from Persia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt.
However, what the Phoenicians mainly contributed to modern society is the alphabet. The Greek alphabet is derived from the Phoenician alphabet. The Phoenicians, in turn, drew their inspiration from Egyptian cursive writing. Without the Phoenicians, we might have a far less understandable script, as seen in the East. For another book on this subject, see A History of Writing by Stephen R. Fischer.
Why were the Phoenicians so well-known when they occupied only a small strip in Lebanon? This is also due to their many trading posts throughout the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians were great seafarers, according to the book the most important and successful sailors between 1500 and 400 BCE. In the past, there were also some apocryphal stories about them. For example, according to Herodotus, the Phoenicians sailed around Africa, and according to more modern sources, they discovered America. Cornwall’s tin mines and Stonehenge were even attributed to them in some inaccurate stories. Nevertheless, the Phoenicians were an adventurous people who possibly reached the Canary Islands, traded from Cyprus to Portugal, and even founded cities like Palermo, Carthage, and possibly Cadiz.
Informative but measured are the words that come to mind with this book. The author is knowledgeable about the subject but does not indulge in much speculation. Additionally, some of the more spectacular war accounts from Phoenician enemies like Assyria don't get much attention in this book. But if you're a novice wanting to learn about the Phoenicians without too much fuss, this is undoubtedly an excellent work. It met my needs in that respect.
February 18, 2025
Not the best read but I'll give the author credit for getting a book out of this when there really isn't too much information known about the Phoenicians
June 12, 2024
Goed, kort boek over de feniciërs. Er is een grote focus op archeologie, en het is wat droogjes geschreven maar mij stoorde dat niet.
January 7, 2025
Goede inhoud, niet vlot geschreven.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews