The Phoenicians: Lost Civilizations

Lost Civilizations

by Vadim S. Jigoulov

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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Lebanon, Ancient History

248 pages, Hardcover

Published January 13, 2022

Reviews

[Chris Jaffe · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Jef Verstraete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goed, kort boek over de feniciërs. Er is een grote focus op archeologie, en het is wat droogjes geschreven maar mij stoorde dat niet.

[Mirella Ducasteele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goede inhoud, niet vlot geschreven.