Phenicia is a small state that currently lives only on the pages of historical works. Having originated in the eastern part of the Mediterranean coast as several separate settlements around the 5th millennium BC, Phenicia was able to exist for more than four millennia, making a rich contribution to the cultural heritage of mankind.
State of Phenicia: origin of the name
The ancient Greeks were the first to mention Phenicia; in particular, the name of the ancient state is found in Homer's "". In addition, it was the ancient Greeks who own several versions of the origin of its name. So, who are the Phoenicians in terms of etymology:
- People in purple robes. The word φοινως is translated from Greek as “purple.” The Phoenicians invented paints of this color thanks to the specific color of local mollusks.
- Residents of the Mediterranean who worship the divine bird Phoenix. Another Greek word Fοϊνιξ means “land of the Phoenix.” The Phoenicians, being pagans, worshiped this deity.
- Ship builders. This is what the Egyptians called the inhabitants of Phenicia. After all, the Phoenicians were masters of shipbuilding.
The ancient state of Phenicia: the beginning
The exact borders of the ancient state of Phenicia are quite difficult to determine: geographers had contradictory opinions on this matter at different times, and the borders constantly changed as the state developed and depending on the political situation. The only thing that all scientists agree on is that Phenicia occupied the territory between Mesopotamia and Egypt, where modern Israel and Syria are now partially located.
Historians claim that the Phoenician people were formed as a result of the merger of the local inhabitants of these lands and migrants from neighboring territories. In the Bible these people are called Canaanites.
Phenicia had a rather specific geographical location, which allowed it to transform from scattered settlements into one of the powerful powers of its time. Historically, the ancient Phoenicians inherited a narrow rocky strip of land on the Mediterranean coast. Fertile lands were in extreme short supply, so in order to survive and develop, people had to develop maritime territories, which they did more than successfully.
Trade and navigation as the basis for the development of the Phoenician state
Trade and navigation are what made it a state. The local residents, forced to exist on a piece of land limited by rocks and not at all fertile, actually had no other choice. Thanks to the expansion of borders, the development of trade routes, and the establishment of trade relations, Phenicia began to take shape as an independent state unit around the 2nd millennium BC. Where fishing villages were located, large cities began to appear - Ugarit, Arvad, Tire, Byblos, Sidon.
Thanks to numerous military campaigns, the Phoenicians also explored new territories. So, in the 9th century BC, in the northern part of Africa, the Phoenicians founded a state with a capital of the same name, which later became one of the strongest imperial formations. In general, the Phoenicians were able to explore the entire Mediterranean, they even went to the Atlantic and the Red Sea. Some historians believe that they managed to reach the American continent.
Contribution of the Phoenicians to the development of human civilization
By searching “ancient Phenicia Wikipedia” you can find out what role the Phoenicians played in the development of mankind. Thanks to these ancient people, today the world is familiar with alphabetic writing and the basics of marketing, the production of colored glass and soap, multi-story construction and the art of dyeing clothes.
Origin of name
The name "Phenicia" is associated with the production of purple dye from a special type of shellfish that lived in abundance off the coast of Phenicia, which was one of the main industries of the local residents. It is first found in Homer and is often mentioned by Greek historians.
Murex trunculus, from which purple dye was extracted.
In Homer, the name “Phoenicians” is a synonym for “Sidonians”. At the same time, Greek writers knew the name Canaan (henna, which means purple in Hurrian) as the eponym of the Phoenicians and as the name of their country. Some scholars derive the Greek name of the country from the word foynik- “purple”, that is, Phenicia is the “country of purple”. Apparently, Phenicia is the Greek equivalent of the name Canaan.
There is also speculation that "Phoenicians" is a derivative of the Greek word for woodcutters (due to Phenicia's role in supplying wood to the market) and other alternative versions. Discussions continue in the scientific community on the origin of the name "Phoenicia".
It has not been proven that the Phoenicians themselves called themselves by this word. There is information that their self-name is "kenaani"(Akkadian " kinahna»).
The Phoenicians occupied a narrow coastal strip about 200 km long; probably only in northern Galilee (in the region of Hazor) did they live at some distance from the sea. In some cases in the Bible, the name Canaan is associated with the coastal location of Phenicia (Num. 13:29; Deut. 1:7; JbN 5:1, etc.).
The main cities of Phenicia (excluding the colonies) were Sidon, Tire and Beroth (modern Beirut).
But, as a rule, by Canaan the Bible means the entire territory of Eretz Israel, the territory of modern Lebanon, as well as the southern part of the coast of modern Syria.
Such an expanded use of the name is relatively late and, apparently, is associated with the colonization of the internal regions of the country. Signs of such use can be found in Egyptian sources of the 14th-13th centuries. BC e.
The coastal strip is often interrupted by mountain gorges and capes. Only in the Eleutheros region was there a plain of sufficient size. There is only one river - Litani, there are several seasonal streams. None of them were used in agriculture.
The climate is warm, with sufficient rainfall from October to April (100-60 mm in modern times, decreasing from north to south). Conditions were favorable for growing wheat, barley, olives, figs, grapes and other fruits. Good wood grows on the hills and mountains - cedars and junipers (in Hebrew "berosh", Kings 5:22,24), spruces, cypresses and oaks. Sand from the shore was a raw material for glassmaking, and from the sea came a source of precious dye.
Waves of settlement of Phenicia
Although there are many traces of human habitation in Canaan dating back to the Paleolithic period, the settlements found appear to have been founded only in ceramic neolithic, and therefore relatively late in the Syro-Palestinian region. The lag is probably due, at least in part, to the need to clear this part of the coast from forests to make cultivation possible. At Byblos, the first urban settlement dates back to approximately 3050-2850 BC.
The first settlers left behind non-Semitic place names in the first written sources, such as Ushu, Amiya and Ulaz. But most of the place names are Semitic: Tire (a city on an island), Sidon, Beirut, Byblos, Batron, Urkata, Yarimuta, Sumur. Toponymy shows that the massive settlement of the area was carried out by Semites, apparently newcomers from Southern Syria and Eretz Israel, around the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. e.
The Phoenicians probably arrived in the area around 3000 BC. Nothing is known about their original country, although some traditions place it in the Persian Gulf region.
Paleontropological studies show that these aliens were no different in physical type from their predecessors. Later, around 1500 BC, there is a transition from the prevalence of dolichocephalic to brachycephalic type (decrease in the relative length of the skull), reflecting the more complex cultural relationships of this period.
Commercial and religious connections with Egypt, probably by sea, are confirmed by sources from the Egyptian 4th Dynasty (c. 2575 - 2465 BC).
The earliest artistic representations of the Phoenicians are found in Memphis, in a damaged relief of Pharaoh Sahure from the 5th Dynasty (mid-25th to early 20th century BC). This is a depiction of the arrival of an Asian princess - the bride of the pharaoh; her escort is a fleet of sea-going ships, probably of the type known to the Egyptians as the "ships of Byblos", manned by Asian crews, apparently Phoenicians.
At the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The Amorites entered Phenicia. Around the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. a local language developed there, differing in a number of characteristic features from the Amorite. At the next stage of linguistic evolution, the Phoenician dialect emerged, which differed from the more conservative Hebrew.
The history of Phenicia is divided into two main periods:
- approximately from the 30th to the 12th century. BC. And
- from the 12th century to 332 BC
Phenicia in the III-II millennium BC. e.
Already in the 3rd millennium BC. e. Phenicia was in close commercial and religious contact with Egypt. The Phoenician city of Gebal (later Byblos) became a significant timber trading center during this period. He is mentioned in documents of the Fourth Dynasty (2613-2494 BC)
By the time of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt (c. 2305 - 2140 BC), it had practically become an Egyptian colony; with short interruptions it remained a colony until the mid-18th century. BC e.
Egypt appears to have controlled, to varying degrees, the entire territory of Phenicia and Eretz Israel, during this period, particularly during the Hyksos period (c. 1670-1570 BC). But in the 14th century BC. due to internal political instability, he lost this control.
During this long period there were other influences on Canaan besides Egypt. Contacts with the Aegean world become visible in 2000 BC. They became especially close in the 14th and 13th centuries when, after the fall of Knossos, Mycenae conducted vigorous trade throughout the eastern Mediterranean coast.
Relations with Mesopotamia went even further, probably at the beginning of the 3rd millennium, and almost certainly by about 2400 BC. And three centuries later, documents describe a messenger from the "governor" Byblos from Drehem in Babylonia (although the name should not be taken as implying the suzerainty of the Sumerian Third Dynasty of Ur).
The Amorite invasion was also an important step in the formation of the system of small city-states that became characteristic of Canaan and then continued to exist in Phenicia after the emergence of large nation-states in the Iron Age.
Curses texts show the transition from a semi-nomadic stage (as reflected in the earlier group of texts) - when the cities were probably not yet taken, and two or three sheikhs shared power over the surrounding area, to a completely sedentary stage - (reflected in the later group) - when the city captured and, with a few exceptions, there is one ruler.
The emergence of monarchies occurred everywhere and very quickly. Most likely, it should have been accompanied by serious concessions to other leaders who helped in capturing the city. So at an early stage the king was apparently first among equals. From here a characteristic form of government emerged: royal power limited by the power of wealthy merchant families. In the largest cities there were councils of elders.
Large federations of cities, apparently, were never created, which was facilitated by geographical conditions (dividing the country into isolated areas by mountain ranges).
Between 1700 and 1500 BC. all the kings of the region widely used Indo-European mercenaries - warriors on chariots, who were called Marianna. In the cities of the Phoenician coast they never seized power (all the kings bore Semitic names).
Sarcophagus of Ahiram from Byblos, XIII-X century BC.
In the 14th century BC. There was a series of uprisings in Phoenician cities. According to the El-Amarna letters, half of the free people fled from there, and kings were killed.
In the 14th century BC e. a significant part of Phenicia became part of the Amorite state, which soon turned into a Hittite vassal.
During the 19th Dynasty in Egypt, the southern part of Phenicia again came under Egyptian rule. An inscription by Pharaoh Seti I (c. 1318 - 1301 BC) speaks of the conquest of Asia and mentions Tire and Uzu (Palaitiros?) in particular. Seti advanced as far as Kadesh on the Orontes River, but at the time of the accession of his son Ramesses II (c. 1301 – 1234 BC), Kadesh was in Hittite hands. Having concluded a peace treaty, these countries divided Phenicia. The border was probably north of Byblos. The ensuing peace ensured the cultural and material development of Phenicia, and its foreign trade reached its peak.
Ruins of Ugarit
First contacts with Israel
The first meeting of the Phoenicians with the Jews took place during the conquest of the Land of Israel at the end of the 13th century BC. An army of Jews destroyed the Phoenician city of Hazor in Galilee (JbN 11:1-14). Apparently the Jews did not settle on this site, because after about a hundred years, Hazor again became a rich and powerful city, at war with the Jewish tribes (Judg. 4). At the end of this war, Hazor was again destroyed.
In the north of the Land of Israel, some Phoenician cities repelled the Jewish onslaught and remained in their place, paying tribute to the new masters of the country.
| (27) And Menashe did not drive out Beit Shean and the villages around it, and Tanach and the villages around it, and the inhabitants of Dor and the villages around it, and the inhabitants of Ibleam and the villages around it, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and the villages around it; and the Canaanites decided to live in this land. (28) And so, when Israel gained a foothold, he made the Canaanites tributary, but did not drive them out. (29) And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; and the Canaanites dwelt among him in Gezer. (30) Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron and the inhabitants of Naalol, and the Canaanites lived among him and became tributaries. (31) Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acre, and the inhabitants of Zidon, and Ahlav, and Achziv, and Halba, and Afik, and Rehob; (32) And Asher lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for he did not drive them out. (YbN 1) |
At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. Tire became the leading city of Phenicia and for the next 300 years dominated the cities of southern Phenicia, and according to some researchers, was the capital of the country.
W.F. Albright believes that the alliance between Israel and Tire began under Abibaal, Hiram's father, who fought the Philistines at sea while King David fought them on land.
In exchange for agricultural products, Hiram supplied Solomon with timber and sent skilled artisans to build the Temple and the royal palace in Jerusalem, and equipped joint trading sea expeditions from the Israeli Red Sea port of Ezion Geberah to Ophir.
Canaanite (Phoenician) ritual mask found on Mount Carmel.
The close cooperation of Phenicia with the Kingdom of Israel is evidenced by both the Bible and Phoenician sources from this period.
Among the allies who participated in the battle with the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III at Karkar (853 BC), along with the forces of the king of the kingdom of Israel Ahab, king Hamath Irhuleni and king Aram-Dammesek Hadadezer, the troops of the northern Phoenician cities of Arvad, Arki, Usantana and Shiana, however, the cities of southern Phenicia - Gebal, Sidon and Tire - did not participate in the coalition. They probably had a strong navy and a weak land army; they had nothing to do in such a battle.
Trade and colonization
Phoenician wine amphorae.
Surviving documents indicate that from the time of Hiram, the history of Phenicia became the history of Tire.
The names have changed: Hiram is called the king of Tire in the TANAKH, and Ethbaal, who ruled during the time of the kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel Omri and Ahab, is called the king of the Sidonians (I Ts. 6:31,32), although his throne was in Tire.
During the reign of Hiram, the Phoenician (in fact, Tyrian) colonization of the Mediterranean began, with the goal of establishing control over maritime trade routes. No other Phoenician city created colonies.
One of the oldest, if not the oldest, colony was Kitim mentioned in the Bible (Bereishit 10:04) - Kition, present-day Larnaca on the island of Cyprus. Phoenician colonies were established in Rhodes and other Aegean islands, as well as in Anatolia.
Phoenician expansion is reflected in Greek sources. According to Greek myth, the Phoenician prince Cadmus, who taught the Greeks to write, arrived in Boeotia from Rhodes (Herodotus, Persian Wars, 5:57-58).
The Phoenicians are mentioned in the poems of Homer, for example:
| Then the Phoenician, the cunning deceiver, arrived in Egypt, An evil schemer from whom many people suffered; |
Thucydides wrote that the Phoenicians founded their settlements around the island of Sicily, from there they reached in the north to Sardinia, south to Malta and Gozo, then to North Africa, and from there west to Spain (Peloponnesian War, 6:2) . According to archaeological data, there were indeed Phoenician colonies in Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, in North Africa: Utica and Carthage (Qart-Hadasht, 814-813 BC). Traces of the existence of Carthage have so far been found in layers no earlier than the second half of the 8th century. BC.
The most famous product of the Phoenicians was the purple (purple) dye made from the shells of the mollusk Murex. The second most important are high quality fabrics (vison) from Tire, Byblos and Berit. The Phoenicians knew how to dye fabrics. Multi-colored robes from the Phoenicians are mentioned in almost all lists of Assyrian kings.
Phoenician exports also included cedar and pine wood, embroidery from Sidon, wine, metalwork and glass, glazed earthenware, salt and dried fish. In addition, the Phoenicians conducted important transit trade.
Metal and wood carving became a Phoenician specialty, and Phoenician products made of gold and other metals were also well known. They also produced ivory, figurines, jewelry and seals.
Blown glass was probably invented in the coastal area of Phenicia in the 1st century or earlier. They did not invent glass itself, but developed the technology for its production.
Since all products were made for sale, the Phoenicians adapted the styles of other countries to please the tastes of buyers.
At the end of the 8th century BC. Greek colonial expansion began in the Mediterranean Sea - in the same places where the Phoenicians operated. The Greeks immediately became dangerous competitors and military opponents of the Phoenicians.
Around the middle of the 7th century BC, when Tire fought wars for its independence, the colonies in Spain and Sicily were left to their own devices in the face of intensifying war with the Greeks. After this, they united under the rule of Carthage and effectively became a separate state.
Contacts with Tire turned into purely religious: every year taxes (“tithes”) were sent from the colonies to the temple of Tyrian Baal - Melqart (“king of the city,” that is, the king of Tire; according to some researchers, the king of the other world).
The maritime achievements of the Phoenicians are evidenced by an expedition carried out by Phoenician sailors on the instructions of Pharaoh Neko (610-595 BC). They left the port on the Red Sea to the south, walked around Africa and returned to Egypt from the west, through the Strait of Gibraltar. Herodotus, who reported on this voyage (Persian Wars, 4:42), presented it as sailors’ lies, citing an “incredible” detail as proof: part of the way they saw the sun in the north. This is what proves the authenticity of the story, since only those who visited the southern hemisphere could see this.
Another famous voyage of the Phoenicians is Hanno's expedition to Central Africa (presumably as far as the Ivory Coast) at the beginning of the 5th century BC.
Under the rule of empires
During the reign of the Assyrian king Adadnirari III (810-783 BC), Tire and Sidon were among the tributaries of Assyria. It is not established whether they were part of a single province or formed two different subordinate states. Tire was always mentioned first in Assyrian lists of Phoenician cities, even after the secession of Sidon, indicating its leadership in Phenicia. In the TANAKH, too, lists of Phoenician cities always begin with Tire (Isa. 23; Jer. 47:4; Zech. 9:02).
As early as the 5th century AD, a rural dialect of the Punic language, a descendant of Phoenician, was found in North Africa.
Nothing is known about the language of the first settlers except that it was Semitic. There is a layer in the Ugaritic vocabulary that, for West Semitic languages, has an unusually close relationship with Akkadian; perhaps these are remnants of the earliest speech in the Syro-Palestinian region.
The first physical evidence for a language spoken in Canaan comes from curse texts, shards (c. 1900 BC) or figurines (c. 1825 BC) with the names of rebel rulers and their localities in Canaan inscribed on them.
It was a language that later (around the beginning of the 14th century BC) was divided into “the language of Canaan” (Is. 19:18) and Aramaic. It is usually called West Semitic.
Linguistically, the earliest Phoenician dialect can, with reservations, be considered Ugaritic. The language of Gabla (Byblos) almost coincides with it in time, but its monuments are extremely scarce. The Phoenician Tire and Sidon, as well as the colony of Tire - Carthage (Finnish qart ḥedeš "new city") are represented much richer.
The language survived in the colonies of North-West Africa until the end of the 4th century; even longer - in Sardinia and Malta. In Phenicia proper it disappeared in Hellenistic times, replaced by Aramaic and Greek.
Although the Phoenicians used cuneiform (Mesopotamian script), they also developed their own writing system. The 22-letter Phoenician alphabetic script was used in Byblos as early as the 15th century BC. This writing method, later adopted by the Greeks, is the ancestor of most modern alphabets.
The earliest Phoenician alphabetic text dates from the 11th century BC; an alphabet of 22 consonants was already used there.
Ancient Phenicia was located along the northern part of the Mediterranean coast. In this area, the lands were not good enough for arable farming, however, those that were available were used quite intensively, because the sea winds brought heavy rains. That is why gardening prevailed on the territory of Ancient Phenicia; olives, dates, and grapes were cultivated. The ancient Phoenicians were also involved in fishing; it is no coincidence that the name of one of the Phoenician cities is Sidon, which means “place of fishing.” The forests of mountain Lebanon were considered valuable for the country, because cedar and other valuable species grew in them in abundance.
The tribes that lived in Phenicia were called Canaanites. The name "Phoenician" is found already in Egyptian hieroglyphs of the mid-3rd millennium BC in the form "fenech". Later, the ancient Greeks used the word “foinikes”, which meant “reddish”, “swarthy”. This is where the name of the country comes from.
By the end of the 3rd millennium, small slave states began to emerge in Phenicia. Each of them had a port city. One of these cities was the city-state of Ugarit. It was located south of the mouth of the Orontes River, opposite the northeastern cape of the island of Cyprus and at the crossroads of sea routes from the Aegean Sea and Asia Minor to Egypt and Western Asia.
On an island south of Ugarit was the city of Arvad. In the center of the Phoenician coast was the city of Byblos, which maintained contact with Egypt. The southernmost cities of Phenicia are Sidon and Tyre. They were constantly at odds with each other.
The further development of the cities of Phenicia was facilitated by their inclusion in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC into the powerful Egyptian state. One of the main products that the Phoenicians traded was dried fish. The oak and cedar forests of Lebanon were also valuable - they provided excellent material for shipbuilding. Sarcophagi were also made from wood, in which the mummies of Egyptian nobles were placed. High quality wine, as well as olive oil, played a major role in trade. Some Phoenician craft products were also valued, for example, gold and silver vases decorated with the heads of various animals. And already in the 1st millennium BC, Phoenician glass vessels began to become famous.
The Phoenicians were the first to produce purple dye from a special type of shellfish and dyed wool and linen fabrics with it. For the first time, it was the Phoenicians who began to use a purely alphabetic writing system.
The main god in the cities of Phenicia was the god of the sky, who was called simply “lord” (Baal), “king of the city” (Melkart), simply “power” (Moloch) or “god” (El). Next to the sky god Baal stood his wife, the goddess Astarte. In the cult of Phenicia, human sacrifices were preserved for a long time, and children, especially first-born infants, were often used as victims.
When the Egyptian power of the New Kingdom weakened, the Phoenician states regained their independence. After the destruction of Sidon by the “peoples of the sea,” Tire reached its greatest prosperity, especially under King Hiram I. He made Tire an almost impregnable fortress for external enemies. The Phoenicians began to build large keel ships with a ram and a straight sail. However, the development of shipbuilding led to the destruction of Lebanon's cedar forests. Presumably, under Hiram, the colonization of the modern region of Tunisia on the African coast of the Mediterranean Sea began. And under his heirs and successors the city of Carthage was founded there. He not only acted as a unifier of the cities of the northern coast of Africa, but was also the center of the fight against the Greeks, who in the 8th century BC began to very actively penetrate into the western part of the Mediterranean Sea. In the middle of the 7th century BC, the Carthaginians settled in the Balearic Islands and soon penetrated Sardinia. At the end of the 7th - beginning of the 6th century BC, a more fierce struggle with the Greeks for Sicily began. This struggle lasted for about three centuries. In the first half of the 4th century BC, the Carthaginians conquered a large part of Sicily. There they founded the city of Palermo. And at the same time they began active penetration into Spain. As a result, the old colonies of Tire came into the possession of Carthage.
From the second half of the 8th century BC, all Phoenician cities, except Tire, were forced to submit to Assyria.
From the end of the 7th century BC, Egypt and Babylonia began to strengthen again, and the Phoenician city-states became dependent on them. In the second half of the 6th century BC, Phenicia was included in the Persian Empire.
That conglomerate of city-states that we now know as Ancient Phenicia, occupied in the distant past the entire coastal strip along the northern part of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, bordered on the east by the Lebanese Mountains, which in some places approached almost close to the shore.
The uniqueness of the natural conditions of Phenicia is reflected even in the names of the most important populated places. So, for example, the name of the city Bible(Gebal) means “mountain”, cities Thira(Tsur) - “rock”. The opportunity to engage in arable farming was limited due to the lack of good lands, but those that were available could still be used quite intensively, since the sea winds brought heavy rains. Gardening prevailed here; olives, dates, and grapes were cultivated.
The ancient Phoenicians were also involved in fishing, which is natural for a sea people. It is no coincidence that the name of one of the Phoenician cities is Sidon, which means “fishing place.” The forests of Mount Lebanon, which abounded in cedar and other valuable species, represented great wealth for the country.
As some researchers suggest, the first inhabitants of Phenicia spoke a non-Semitic language. However, already in the 3rd millennium BC, according to Egyptian sources, Semitic tribes living here belonged to the group of Western Semitic tribes that inhabited the Palestinian lands at about the same time, since their languages are almost identical. All these tribes were called Canaanites. The newcomers soon not only mixed with the indigenous population, but also assimilated it.
The name “Phoenician” is found already in Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions of the mid-3rd millennium BC. in the shape of " fenech" Later, the ancient Greeks used the word “ foynikes”, which meant “reddish”, “swarthy”. This is where the name of the country comes from. In Semitic sources there is no special name for Phenicia and the Phoenicians. Name Kinakhhi, or according to the Greek text of the Bible, Canaan, which some scholars explain as “the land of purple dye,” has a much broader meaning, since it also includes Palestine and partly Syria. The Egyptians also used similar general designations for these countries.
City-states in Phenicia
One of the most ancient city-states on the territory of Phenicia, it was founded at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Ugarit, located south of the mouth of the Orontes River, opposite the northeastern cape of the island of Cyprus and at the crossroads of sea routes from the Aegean Sea and Asia Minor to Egypt and Western Asia. A fortified seaside city was excavated, in which, along with valuable material monuments, numerous tablets from the mid-2nd millennium BC were discovered. with texts written in 29-letter cuneiform. These written monuments contain myths that shed light on the ancient culture of Phenicia.
On an island south of Ugarit there was a city Arvad, whose island position contributed to its preservation of independence in the military clashes of that time. Almost in the center of the Phoenician coast was a city Bible, which has maintained contact with Egypt since ancient times. Through the Bible back in the 3rd millennium BC. Phoenician goods were exported to Egypt. The culture of the latter took deep roots in this Phoenician city-state. In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. Byblos subjugated neighboring small cities and settlements. The Egyptian kings of the 18th dynasty made this city their main stronghold on the coast. Egyptian hieroglyphic writing was widely used here, as well as a special syllabary and later the linear alphabet.
Sidon And Shooting Range, the southernmost cities of Phenicia, were constantly at war with each other. Was it because they were protected by rocks from attacks by external enemies? The most inaccessible was Tire, which consisted of two settlements: the island and the mainland. When it was impossible to save the mainland, all the inhabitants moved to the island, which could be supplied with water with the help of ships and was inaccessible to the enemy army, which did not have a fleet.
In general, it is worth noting that the Phoenicians attached great importance to maritime affairs. In the matter of shipbuilding and navigation at that time they had no equal in the world. For many centuries, residents of large cities on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean maintained the fame of skilled shipbuilders. The Phoenician word “galley” has entered all existing European languages and continues to exist to this day. However, like the “galley slave”, the Phoenicians were also the first to come up with the use of slaves as oarsmen. Before them, rowers were basically only free people.
Economy and economy of Phenicia
Since ancient times, the eastern coast of the Mediterranean has been famous for its natural riches, and despite the relatively small strip of land occupied by Ancient Phenicia, this area was a fertile land in all respects. One of the main products that the Phoenicians traded was dried fish. The oak and cedar forests of Lebanon were of particular value - better material for making ships at that time could not be found. However, Lebanese cedar was used not only for ships, but also for other products - for example, sarcophagi for the mummies of Egyptian nobles were made from it. The center of the timber trade was Byblos, which by that time had long been firmly in the hands of the Egyptians. It was the papyri of the latter that brought to us information about medicinal plants and the resins necessary for embalming, which were also supplied from Phenicia.
However, the Phoenicians were also skilled craftsmen - quite a few “Egyptian” gold and silver vases decorated with the heads of various animals were, in fact, Phoenician. But the Phoenicians also possessed a remarkable technology for making glass vessels and fabrics of a rich purple color. It was the Phoenicians who first began producing purple dye from a special type of shellfish, dyeing wool and linen fabrics with it. The territory of Phenicia suitable for agriculture was small, but the soil was fertile and was very carefully cultivated. High-quality wine played a major role in trade.
It is possible that the word “wine” itself, corresponding to the Latin “vinum”, Greek “oinos” and “viyana”, goes back to the Phoenician “ yain" Olive oil was also an important horticultural product. However, the Phoenicians were primarily known as slave traders. Although a significant part of the slaves they acquired was intended for resale, obviously, in the Phoenician cities themselves there were large numbers of slaves who were used on ships, in workshops, etc.
In addition to locally produced goods, the Phoenicians also traded in what they exported from Asia Minor, Cyprus, Crete, from the areas of the Mycenaean culture of Greece, and from the western lands of the Mediterranean. The cities of Phenicia were essentially the focus of transit trade. From Asia Minor the Phoenicians received silver and lead, and later iron. The Phoenician cities quite early entered into close relations with the island of Cyprus, at that time the main supplier of copper. In all likelihood, the Latin word “ sirgit” (copper) comes from the name of this island.
From Crete, the Phoenicians received items of Aegean artistic craft and products from other countries in the Mediterranean basin. Scientists suggest that a permanent Mycenaean colony may have existed in Ugarit, the main center of trade relations with the Aegean world.
An interesting fact: probably, ordinary free citizens of city-states also took an active part in maritime trade, to whom the king and the nobility lent them silver and goods. In the overland caravan trade, which began to develop especially from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, when the camel was already domesticated and, as a result, it became easier to overcome the vast desert and steppe spaces of Syria, along with the kings and the nobility, some representatives of ordinary free people could also already enrich themselves.
State and power in ancient Phenicia
Surprisingly, despite the extremely favorable geographical position of the country, the courageous character and enterprise of its inhabitants, the Phoenicians not only failed to defend their independence, they were not even really able to build their own unified state. For all its wealth and power, each of the Phoenician cities was on its own, and was very jealous of maintaining its political independence.
Thanks to this, there was never any talk of any military alliance of the Phoenician city-states. What kind of state is there if even the people of Phenicia speaking the same language never had any single self-name and designated themselves as follows: “people of such and such a city.” It’s paradoxical, but true - for the “ancient Phoenicians” themselves, no “Phoenicia” existed!
Elections of officials in the cities of the Canaanites (later in their colonies, for example in) were carried out on the basis of property qualifications. At the same time, the Phoenician “oligarchs” kept under control not only the poor citizens, but also the king, who in the trading city-states of Phenicia did not have despotic power, like the kings of Egypt and Babylonia. It is even possible that in a number of cities there were not even kings, and such state formations themselves were a kind of oligarchic republics in miniature.
On the one hand, all this contributed to the growth of wealth, but on the other, it was as a result of such a policy that not one of their cities had enough strength to unite all of Phenicia into a single state.
The results of this policy were felt a little later, when the “centralized” neighbors finally finished “gathering land” at home and began to look around, in search of a rich but weak victim.
First to fall Ugarit- once one of the strongest cities of the Phoenicians. Due to the civil war, the city was weakened and therefore easily fell victim to the Hittite power, being conquered by King Suppiluliuma and becoming part of his power. Another major city of Phenicia, Ugarit, outlived it only for a few years. Bible. The city was devastated by its neighbors, since the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, who patronized the city, did not send help, and his forces were not enough to repel the threat. The next “victim” was Sidon- at that time remained the largest city of the Canaanite-Phoenicians. Around 1200 BC it was destroyed by the “peoples of the sea”, who, after the defeat of the Hittites, devastated Phenicia and the coast.
It seemed that Ancient Phenicia was about to completely cease to exist, but political crises among its once powerful neighbors (and the invasion of the “peoples of the sea,” of course) led to the fact that the threat of imminent destruction from Phenicia temporarily receded.
After the destruction of Sidon by the “Sea Peoples,” hegemony passed to Tire, which reached its greatest prosperity at this time, especially under King Hiram I, a contemporary of Solomon, king of Israel (about 950 BC).
Hiram expanded the island on which the main part of Tire was located with the help of an artificial embankment, and, having discovered a source of water here, made Tire an almost impregnable fortress for an external enemy.
At this time, Tire, taking advantage of its geographical position, entered into close trade relations with all surrounding states. Under Hiram, the colonization of the modern region of Tunisia on the African coast of the Mediterranean Sea probably began, and later, under his heirs and successors, the city of Carthage was founded there (according to legend in 814 BC). The favorable geographical position of the country allowed the Phoenicians to take an active part in overland trade with Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley, as well as gradually master the sea routes to the Mediterranean Sea.
Phenicia's maritime trade, already significant during Egyptian rule, began to expand even more after the collapse of the Egyptian Empire. All trade in Egypt had now passed into the hands of the Phoenicians; their numerous merchant ships constantly arrived at the piers of cities located along the banks of the Nile.
Historical sources indicate an acute class struggle in Phenicia. The Greek tradition reports an uprising of slaves in Tire, which may have been joined by poor free people. This uprising was led by Abdastratus (Starathon). This is an uprising that may have occurred in the 9th century. BC. ended, according to legend, with the complete destruction of the male representatives of the ruling class, and women and children were distributed among the rebels.
Greek historians tell us about some “Phoenician misfortunes,” which can also presumably be considered uprisings of the oppressed masses of the Phoenician city-states. But these uprisings, however, like other numerous slave uprisings, did not lead to changes in existing relations. Slave society and the state continued to exist in Phenicia.
As a result of the internal struggle in Tyre, its power weakened and from the end of the 9th century. BC. Along with Tire, at times surpassing its importance, the city of Sidon (modern Saida in Lebanon) rises again - a Phoenician city-state on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It appeared, apparently, in the 4th millennium BC. In the 2nd millennium BC. was a major center of international trade; led a stubborn struggle with Tire for hegemony in Phenicia.
At the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Sidon participated in the Phoenician colonization of the Western Mediterranean. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. was under the rule of Tyre. In 677 BC. destroyed by the Assyrians; then it was rebuilt again. In the second half of the 6th century. BC. Sidon became part of.
However, soon the period of complete independence of the Phoenician cities comes to an end. From the second half of the 8th century. BC. Assyrian troops began to increasingly reach the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and although the economic importance of the Phoenician cities remained, in the end all the Phoenician city-states, except Tyre, were forced to submit to Assyria.
From the end of the 7th century. BC. Egypt and Babylonia began to strengthen again, and the Phoenician city-states became dependent on them. In the second half of the 6th century. BC. Phenicia was included in the Persian Empire. At the same time, the Phoenician cities still retained their self-government and their importance as rich centers of trade. The Phoenician fleet formed the backbone of Persian power at sea.
Culture of ancient Phenicia
Phoenician artists mainly used motifs and subjects of Egyptian, Hittite-Hurrian and Babylonian art, however, there were also Phoenician motifs proper, and objects of Phoenician applied art, as already mentioned, were highly valued even abroad.
It is quite possible that the two famous Ugaritic epics - the epic of Keret and the epic of Daneda - are monuments of secular rather than religious literature. Only with an understandable degree of convention do we attribute to literature several later gravestone inscriptions, which were mostly short.
One of the most significant achievements of the Phoenicians was the invention of alphabetic writing. The Phoenician scribes actually brought the discovery of the Egyptians to its logical conclusion. As you know, the Egyptians created 24 consonant signs, but also retained hundreds of syllabic signs and signs denoting entire concepts. The next step towards the creation of an alphabetic letter was taken, according to scientists, by the scribes of the Hyksos conquerors. Perhaps it was they who, based on the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, created the first alphabetic letter of 26 characters for consonants - the so-called “Sinaitic letter”, named after the location of the inscriptions.
This writing is believed to have origins in Egyptian hieroglyphics. The alphabet of the Hyksos scribes did not have time to take final shape due to the short existence of the Hyksos state, but at the same time it influenced the creation of the alphabetic writing of Southern Phenicia. In the north, in Ugarit, on the same basis, an alphabetic letter of 29 letters was created, adapted for writing in cuneiform on clay tablets.
Some scientists believe that the Phoenician letter could have developed not at all on the basis of the Egyptian, but on the basis of the Cretan-Mycenaean or Phoenician syllabary writing, the monuments of which have reached us from the city of Byblos. In any case, one thing is clear: for the first time, it was the Phoenicians who began to use a purely alphabetic writing system. There is also no doubt that the presence of alphabetic signs for consonants in the Egyptian script, with which the Phoenicians had long been familiar, had to play a significant role in this.
Obviously, the need to create an alphabetic letter arose in a variety of policies of Phenicia. With the development of navigation and trade relations, in which a significant part of the population was employed, a letter was required that was much simpler, more accessible than that which only a few scribes could study.
The disadvantages of the Phoenician alphabet were the following: it conveyed only consonant sounds, and did not convey various additional symbols, with the help of which the Egyptians, for example, made it easier to read texts written in the same way, only with consonants. Therefore, reading was still not easy; understanding more complex texts was quite difficult.
The time came when the northern alphabet was supplanted by the southern one, which consisted of 22 characters and subsequently spread throughout the country. The Greek alphabet also originates from it, as can be seen from the most ancient forms of Greek letters, as well as from the fact that the names of a number of Greek letters are of Semitic origin. Thus, the word “alphabet” contains the names of the first two Greek letters alpha and beta (in Byzantine pronunciation - vita), which correspond to the names of the first two Phoenician letters - “aleph” and “bet”, which in Western Semitic languages means “bull” ” and “house”.
These alphabetic signs were based on more ancient drawing signs. Most of the names of the letters of the Greek alphabet correspond to the names of the Phoenician letters. The Greek and Aramaic alphabets are the ancestors of most modern alphabetic systems.
Unfortunately, the actual Phoenician literary and historical works have not reached us, but in the works of later writers there are references, for example, to the works of the Phoenician Sanhotiaton (it has not yet been established whether he actually existed).
During the period of Hellenism and Roman rule in Phenicia, literature in Greek was developed: on cosmogony, on theogony, historical narratives of Menander, Dius (2nd - 1st centuries BC), Theodotus (1st century AD), Philo of Byblos (1st - 2nd centuries AD) and others. These authors refer to the “Tyrian Chronicles” and other Phoenician works proper.
From the Phoenician literature that developed in North Africa, we know (in addition to the Punic historical tradition, which has come down to us in the presentation of the ancient authors Diodorus, Justin, and Sallust) the writings of the naval commanders Hanno and Hamilcon about their voyages in the Atlantic Ocean and the works of Mago devoted to rational agriculture.
Phoenician science also played a significant role, especially astronomy and geographical research.
The Phoenicians made a significant contribution to the development of ancient philosophy. The Phoenician philosopher Moss was considered one of the founders of the atomistic doctrine. The Carthaginian Hasdrubal, who took the name of Clitomachus, son of Diognetus, in Greece in the last quarter of the 2nd century. BC. became the head of the Academy in Athens.
The Phoenicians also had a grammatical theory that was developed in detail, apparently during the Hellenistic period.
Since ancient times, Phoenician cities have been centers of highly developed handicraft production.
Under the direct influence of the Phoenicians, literature and other branches of culture of the peoples of Syria, Palestine and Asia Minor developed.
The cultural influence of Phenicia was also reflected in the fact that during this period the Phoenician alphabet spread in the Mediterranean countries.
With all the positive qualities of the Phoenicians, these guys were not role models at all - the ubiquitous slave traders sacrificing infants to the horned god (Moloch), as you understand, is just another image
Religion of Phenicia
The political fragmentation of Phenicia, never overcome, contributed to the fact that the Phoenician religion did not know the system of myths that existed among the Babylonians. The priesthood of the cities did not have the opportunity to nominate their god as the “king of the gods,” just as the Theban god Amon was declared the “reigning god” of Egypt during the reign of Thebes. The god of the sky was the main god in the cities of Phenicia and bore a common name, not his own. He was simply called “Lord” ( Baal), “king of the city” ( Melqart), simply “power” ( Moloch) or “god” ( El).
Next to the sky god Baal stood his wife, the goddess Astarte(variant name - Ashtart, Asherat). Along with the gods of heaven and earth, the god of dying and resurrecting vegetation was also revered. Most often it was called Adoni- “my lord” or, according to the Greek version, Adonis. Some features of the dying and resurrecting god are found in the myth of Baal and his sister Anat (according to another version, the wife of Astarte).
However, the names of the Phoenician gods were generally taboo, they could not be pronounced (the Canaanites themselves simply said “god”, “goddess”), and therefore our knowledge of the Phoenician pantheon may not be accurate.
The main theme of the vast mythological epic is the story of the death and resurrection of Baal, and the fidelity of his wife Anat in both life and death. Some episodes from this myth are close to the plots of the Egyptian myth about Osiris and his sister Isis.
In the cult of Phenicia, as in the cults of Palestine and Syria, human sacrifices were preserved for quite a long time. Children and especially first-born infants were often used as victims. Mainly - in moments of grave danger for the state. It is worth mentioning this fact: back in the 4th century. BC. During the siege of Tire by Greek-Macedonian troops, foreigners - Macedonian prisoners of war - were slaughtered as victims on the city wall.
It is also worth noting that the Phoenician cities also had patron gods: Tire had Melqart (“king of the city”), Sidon had Eshmun (apparently the god of healing), Beritus had the Great Mistress Berita, Byblos had the goddess of love and fertility. Ashtarta (Astarte), who was also one of the most important common Phoenician deities.
Colonies and maritime art of Ancient Phenicia
As already noted, the Phoenicians built beautiful ships, were enterprising, brave people, and also excellent sailors. Naturally, it is not surprising that it was they who soon entangled almost the entire Mediterranean with a network of their colonies. But it was not only the thirst for adventure that drove the brave sailors forward.
The fact is that the ruling class of the Phoenician states, fearing an uprising of slaves and the poor, sought to ensure that a large number of “restless elements” did not immediately accumulate in the cities under their control. The Phoenicians did not like to fight, so this proven method of “draining” restless hotheads did not suit them. But, relying on their mentality, they invented their own way.
From the writings of the Greek scientist and philosopher Aristotle (IV century BC), we know about the measures that the nobility used for this purpose in Carthage: “Although the structure of the Carthaginian state is marked by the nature of the domination of the propertied, the Carthaginians successfully save themselves from indignation on the part of the people by giving them the opportunity to get rich. Namely, they constantly exile certain parts of the people to cities and regions subject to Carthage. With this, the Carthaginians heal their political system and give it stability.”.
Thus, the Carthaginians learned the art of healing their political system from the metropolis - Tire, which from time to time (maybe from the end of the 2nd millennium BC and, in any case, from the beginning of the 1st millennium) repeatedly expelled and other Phoenician city-states, several thousand citizens each, so that they created their colonies on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea.
Such Phoenician colonies, the purpose of which was to secure part of the Mediterranean Sea, primarily on the island of Cyprus, where the Phoenicians firmly established themselves in the 2nd millennium BC. There were no significant successes only in the northern part of the Eastern Mediterranean, where there were their own seafaring peoples - the Greeks, Lycians, Carians.
But on the coast of Africa, in Sicily, Malta, in Spain, as well as on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean (present-day Cadiz), the Phoenicians settled firmly. However, the matter was not limited only to the Mediterranean.
The Phoenicians were the first of the Mediterranean peoples to reach the shores of what is now England and here they obtained tin, which was very valuable at that time. Through exchange, they also received on the Atlantic coast the amber that was so highly valued at that time, delivered here by dry route from the Baltic States.
Carthaginian sailors, entering the ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar, which they called “the pillars of Melqart” (the supreme god of Tyre), also repeatedly sailed along the western coast of Africa.
The description of one of these sea expeditions of the brave Carthaginian sailors is also known to us in the Greek translation. This is a journey called Hanno's journey, dating from around the 6th or 5th century. BC. Although the expedition of the Carthaginian sailor is described as an entertaining adventure novel, nevertheless, all of its information, according to the judgment of authoritative historians, corresponds to reality. We can trace the expedition's route step by step on a map, comparing data about this journey with what we know about the geography of the west coast of Africa.
Using the help of the Egyptians, and sometimes Israel and Judea, the Phoenician cities sent sea expeditions not only to the northwest and southwest, but also to the then less accessible south. In this case, the Phoenician ships probably even reached the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea.
One such sea voyage is well written about in the Bible, which tells of an expedition to the gold-rich country of Ophir, organized by Hiram, king of Tire, and Solomon, king of Israel.
But the most ambitious undertaking must be considered the maritime expedition of the Phoenicians, which they carried out on behalf of the Egyptian king Necho at the end of the 7th century. BC. Within three years they circumnavigated Africa and returned through the “pillars of Melqart,” accomplishing this remarkable feat more than two thousand years before Vasco da Gama.
The crisis that gripped the Eastern Mediterranean in the XIII-XII centuries. BC, was also reflected in Phenicia. Invasions by Jewish and Aramaic tribes reduced the territory of the Canaanites, who were increasingly concentrated in Phenicia itself. During one of the Philistine raids, Sidon was destroyed, whose inhabitants moved to Tire. But still, Phenicia turned out to be less affected by the events than many other countries in this region. They even did her good. The death of some and the decline of other great powers led to the temporary flourishing of small states, including the Phoenician city-states, freed from Egyptian rule.
Rise of the city-state of Tyre
Internal and external position of the state
Ugarit perished north of Phenicia. Tire, which had probably been active in the Western communications of the Eastern Mediterranean coast before, now became the main center of Western trade and travel. In addition, it was in this city that, after the temporary destruction of Sidon, a particularly large population gathered, and this demographic tension had to be “relieved” by evicting some of the “extra” people overseas. This caused the beginning of active colonization activities in Tire. As a result of the first stage of colonization, Tyrian colonies arose in different places in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. Gold and silver flowing into Tire from remote areas of the Western Mediterranean and the north of the Aegean enriched this city. Tire became the "London of antiquity". It retained its position as a major trading center even after the Phoenicians were driven out of the Aegean Sea. This did not prevent active Phoenician trade with Greece. Trade with the West was largely ensured by the preserved network of trading posts and colonies. These colonies became part of the Tyrian state, paying tribute to the Tyrian king.
In the 10th century BC. King Hiram of Tire entered into an alliance with the kings of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah, David and his son Solomon. The Tyrian king supplied timber to Jerusalem for the construction of palaces and temples and artisans who, together with Solomon's subjects, built the Jerusalem Temple. For this, he received bread, wine and oil from Palestine, which was extremely important given the constant need of Phenicia for food products. The creation of a trading “community” between monarchs was no less important. Solomon's ship was included in Hiram's fleet, trading with distant Tarshish in Southern Spain, and from there gold, silver, and exotic animals and birds prized in the eastern courts were delivered to both Phenicia and Palestine. In exchange, the Tyrian king gained access to the port of Ezion Geber on the Red Sea and thereby the opportunity to sail to the gold-rich Ophir, the exact location of which is unknown, but which was most likely located somewhere near the exit from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.
Gold handle for a teapot, with a glass insert. 600-500 BC.
After the collapse of the unified Hebrew state, Tyre continued to be in contact with the northern kingdom - Israel, and in the south Tyrian merchants still used the caravan road from Gaza to the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, judging by the finds of inscriptions of these merchants along the road. Extensive trade with Tarshish and Ophir, dominance over a far-flung colonial power gave the Tyrian kings a lot of money and contributed to the transformation of Tyre into the strongest city in southern Phenicia. The result is, to one degree or another, the dominance of this city over other city-states of the zone, including Sidon, restored after the Philistine raid.
The traditional point of view is that in the 9th or even as early as the 10th century. BC. A united Tyro-Sidonian kingdom arose. Its king acted primarily as the “king of the Sidonians” (as he is called not only in one of the biblical books and in the annals of the Assyrian kings, but also in the dedicatory inscription of the royal governor), but his capital was Tire. More recently, a different opinion was expressed: a federation of cities led by Tire arose in the southern part of Phenicia.
Internal contradictions and the founding of Carthage
Phoenician blessing goddess. VIII century BC.
The wealth and external splendor of Tire hid acute internal contradictions. A fierce social and political struggle unfolded there. Hiram's grandson, Abdastarte, was killed by the sons of his nurse, and the eldest of them, enthroned, reigned for 12 years. After this, he, in turn, was eliminated, and the previous dynasty, represented by three more monarchs, apparently returned to the throne. But the last of them, Felet, was also overthrown and killed, and power was seized by the priest of Astarte Itobaal, who became the founder of a new dynasty. Itobaal's speech reflects the struggle between the royal power and the apparently quite powerful priesthood. Another similar clash, which took place under Itobaal’s great-grandson, Pygmalion, led this time to the victory of the king and the execution of the priest Melkart Aherb. The widow of Acherb and the king's sister Elissa, with a group of nobles who supported her and her late husband, fled Tire and became the founder of Carthage in Africa.
The founding of Carthage fits into the second stage of Phoenician colonization that had already begun. Colonization itself (at this stage) was caused by both general economic reasons and specific socio-political ones that developed specifically in Tire. First of all, this is the internal struggle that we are talking about now. A fairly significant group of nobles opposed the king. These people also involved the “plebs” in their struggle, i.e. lower strata of the community. Perhaps these included those Tyrian “farmers” who, most likely under Itobaal, rose up in arms. Their demand was new lands in the colonies. The aristocrats who were defeated in this struggle, together with part of the “plebs” who supported them, went overseas and created new settlements there. This was apparently beneficial to the kings of Tire, who thus got rid of internal enemies and potential rivals. It is not for nothing that it was Itobaal, who ruled in the first half of the 9th century. BC, began to found new cities, creating Botris in Phenicia itself and Ausa in Africa, hoping, perhaps, to send his enemies there.
Phoenician or Carthaginian glass pendant in the shape of a head. IV-III centuries BC.
Being a consequence of the acute political situation in Tire itself, colonization at the same time generally met the interests of the ruling circles of this city, and not only it. We must take into account the role of Tire in the economy of the then Middle East. Since the first stage of colonization, Tire has been the main point of communication between Western Asia and the vast and rich regions of the Western Mediterranean. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, economic development had reached such a level that it required the unification of various economic regions within single empires. Colonization was a means of connecting to the Middle Eastern economy the resources of those countries that were beyond the immediate reach of the imperial rulers. But this, while enriching the Phoenician cities, especially Tire, also created a great danger for them. Unable to seize directly Tarshish or North-West Africa, Sardinia or Sicily, the imperial lords sought to establish their control over that country in the East where these Western resources predominantly came, i.e. over Phenicia. The decline did not allow this country to restore the political role that it played during the New Kingdom.
At this time, it remained the main point of Phoenician-Egyptian contacts, but this time independent of the pharaohs. In the first half of the 11th century. BC. the king of this city, Cheker-Baal, whose predecessors groveled before the pharaoh, proudly asserted the independence of not only his own, but also that of his father and grandfather. The first pharaohs of the XXII dynasty may have tried to restore political control over Byblos, but unsuccessfully: if such control existed (they argue about this in science), then for a very short time, hardly longer than the reign of the first two pharaohs of this dynasty - Shoshenq I and Osorkon . A much greater danger was approaching Phenicia from the east. This was Assyria.
Phenicia's relations with the Middle Eastern empires
The struggle between Phenicia and Assyria
The golden head of the Egyptian deity Bes, who was popular among the Phoenicians. OK. VI-V centuries BC.
Even at the turn of the XII-XI centuries. BC. Tiglath-pileser I received tribute from Byblos, Sidon and Arvad and himself visited Arvad and Tzumur (Simir), which was not so long ago the center of Egyptian power in this region. Phoenician cities were forced to pay tribute to Ashur-nasir-apal II and his successors Shalmaneser III and Adad-nerari III. The Phoenicians tried more than once to fight the Assyrian kings. Some cities, in particular Arvad, participated in the anti-Assyrian coalition led by the Damascus king in the middle of the 9th century. BC. Perhaps the danger from Assyria was caused by the alliance of the Tyrian king Itobaal and the Israeli king Ahab, sealed by the marriage of Ahab with the Tyrian princess Jezebel. But all efforts were in vain, and Itobaal’s son, Baleazar, was forced to pay tribute to Shalmaneser.
The situation became even more acute when the Assyrians moved from spectacular but still sporadic campaigns to the creation of an empire. The campaigns of Tiglath-pileser III (744-727 BC) led to the subjugation of Phenicia. Its northern part, except for the city of Arvad, located on an island, was annexed directly to Assyria itself, and the remaining cities became its tributaries. The occasional tribute turned into a permanent tax paid by the Phoenicians to the Assyrian king. Local dynasties in the cities were preserved, but next to the kings of Tire and other cities special representatives of the Assyrian king were placed, without whose knowledge the local monarchs could not only take any initiative, but even read correspondence. The Tyro-Sidonian state (or the South Phoenician federation led by Tyre) collapsed. In any case, in the 7th century. BC. in the face of Assyrian power, these cities acted separately.
Phoenician ivory board with carved sphinx. OK. VIII century BC.
The Phoenicians tried more than once to free themselves from the heavy Assyrian yoke, but these attempts ended very badly. The uprising of Sidon ended with the new destruction of the city and the deprivation of even a ghostly independence. Tyr's disloyalty cost him the loss of all possessions on the mainland (Tyre itself, like Arvad, was on an island). Part of the Phoenician population was taken away from their homeland: thus, the population of the southern city of Akhzib, at one time subordinate to Tire, completely changed. After the destruction of Sidon, its inhabitants were also taken away from Phenicia. True, a little later Sidon was restored and inhabited by Phoenicians. The Assyrians did not completely destroy Phenicia, since this was contrary to their interests.
Phenicia and Babylonia
The subjugation of Assyria marked the beginning of a new era in Phoenician history, in which the cities of Phenicia, with the exception of a short time, never regained full independence. The fall of Assyria freed them. But the legacy of this first Middle Eastern empire immediately became the target of new predators. Claims to it were put forward by Sais Egypt and the Neo-Babylonian kingdom. The Phoenician cities, like other small states in this region, did not have the strength to play an independent role in the unfolding drama; they could only bet on one card or another. Tire bet on Egypt, and this led to a thirteen-year siege of the city by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonians were unable to take Tire, but the city was still forced to recognize the authority of the Babylonian king. At the same time, part of the Tyrian population was resettled to Mesopotamia, as were the inhabitants of Byblos. For some time, the kings of Tire, Sidon, and Arvad found themselves at the court of Nebuchadnezzar. Perhaps it was then that a peculiar situation arose in Tyre, when the throne turned out to be empty and power passed to the Sufets for 7-8 years, after which the previous dynasty was restored to the throne.
Phenicia as part of the Achaemenid Empire
Head of a Phoenician lion from Sulcis (Sardinia). Alabaster. OK. IV-III centuries BC. Stored in the Baraccio Museum, Rome, Italy.
After the capture of Babylon by the Persians, the Phoenician cities immediately recognized the dominance of Cyrus. Later they became part of the fifth satrapy (“Zarechye”), which covered all Asian territories south of Asia Minor and west of the Euphrates. According to Herodotus, this entire satrapy paid the Persians a tax of 350 talents of silver. This was a relatively small amount, considering that 500 talents came to the Achaemenids from Cilicia alone, and 1760 in total from Asia Minor. Moreover, it is unknown what share of these 350 talents fell to Phenicia. The autonomy of the Phoenician cities was preserved; their own kings continued to rule there, and the Persians did not interfere in their internal affairs. It was beneficial for the Achaemenids to attract the Phoenicians, since their ships formed a significant part of the Persian fleet: it was not without reason that when the Phoenicians did not obey the order to move against Carthage, Cambyses had to abandon his intention to subjugate this city. On the other hand, the relatively mild Persian rule was beneficial to the Phoenicians, since the power of Persia helped them in the competitive struggle, especially with the Greeks. In the Greco-Persian wars, the Phoenicians actively supported the Persians, and Herodotus, among the few local military leaders he mentioned who were subordinate to the Persians in the Battle of Salamis, especially singled out the Sidonian Tetramnestus, the Tyrian Mattenus and the Arvadian Merbal. During the reign of the Achaemenids, Sidon came to first place among the Phoenician cities. His ships were the best in the Persian fleet. For some “important” matters, Xerxes or Artaxerxes I handed over to the Sidonian king “forever” (which did not prevent the Sidonians from losing this later) the cities of Dor and Jaffa and the entire fertile Sharon Valley on the Palestinian coast. With the advent of the coin, only the Sidonian coin had the name of the king of Persia minted on the reverse, which also speaks of Sidon’s connections with the Achaemenids, which were somewhat different from those of the other Phoenicians.
The emergence of its own coin
The appearance of the coin in the middle of the 5th century. BC. was a sign of beginning changes in the life of the Phoenicians. The Phoenician economy has long been of a commodity nature. The Phoenicians traded both their own goods (crafts, timber, wine, although there was not always enough for themselves), and mainly those of others, being the main transit traders of the Mediterranean. The scope of their trade covered the territory
- from Assyria to Spain,
- from South Arabia to Italy,
- from Egypt to Asia Minor, including Greece, Etruria, and its own colonies.
However, until the middle of the 5th century. BC. it was essentially an exchange of goods, and the Phoenicians used Greek coin when necessary. From the middle of the 5th century. BC. Tire, Sidon, Byblos, and Arvada have their own silver and bronze coins. The Phoenician economy was no longer just a commodity economy, but also a monetary one, as if foreshadowing the development of a money economy in the Hellenistic era. At the same time, the Phoenicians used their own standard, different from others, including the very common Attic one.
Phoenician revolt against Persian rule
Another sign of the emerging changes was the first attempt in the history of Phenicia to somehow coordinate its policies and create a semblance of a confederation within the Achaemenid power. For this purpose, the Sidonians, Arvadians and Tyrians built a “triple city” (Tripolis, as the Greeks called it) in the northern part of the country, where they lived, however, in separate quarters at a short distance from each other. Here, apparently, the Phoenician kings and their advisers gathered to consider matters common to all Phoenicians. How effective these meetings were, we do not know. It is possible that at such a meeting in 349 BC. The Phoenicians decided to rebel against the Persians.
A figurine of a woman lying down. Found in Arslan-Tash, Syria. IX-VIII centuries BC.
Over time, irreversible processes took place in the Achaemenid power, leading to its weakening. Under these conditions, the benefits of Persian domination became increasingly doubtful. The Persian kings used Phenicia as a springboard for military operations against Egypt and Cyprus, and these wars disrupted free trade shipping in the Eastern Mediterranean. The military power of the Achaemenids was in decline, and they could no longer be a reliable shield for the Phoenicians in the fight against competitors, and the further development of the commodity-money economy increasingly connected the Phoenician merchants with their Hellenic colleagues.
Therefore, the dominance of the Achaemenids became more and more painful for the Phoenicians, and in 349 BC. they rebelled. The soul of the uprising was Sidon, which had previously been the main support of the Persians in Phenicia. During the uprising, differences in the interests of the Sidonian king and the citizens of Sidon emerged. The latter were interested in an uncompromising fight against the Persians, while the king at the decisive moment colluded with Artaxerxes III and betrayed the city. In 345, Persian troops entered Sidon. The townspeople offered them courageous resistance, but were broken. The city was again destroyed and burned, and even its conflagration was sold by Artaxerxes for several talents. 40 thousand people died in the flames, and the king took many others into slavery. The following year, the rest of the Phoenician cities submitted to Artaxerxes. For the third time in its history, Sidon was soon restored, and some of the inhabitants were apparently returned to it. After this, he was for some time placed under the “direct” control of the satrap of Cilicia, Mazdeus, but then again found himself under the rule of his own king, Abdastarte. Thus, even the suppression of the uprising did not lead to a radical change in the internal situation of Phenicia.
Internal structure of Phenicia
System of power
The internal history of Phenicia after the invasion of the “Sea Peoples” in its main features was a direct continuation of the previous period. As in the 2nd millennium BC, the political system of the Phoenician cities was a hereditary monarchy, and in each city the throne seemed to belong to representatives of one royal family, although it could pass (and more than once passed) to different branches of this family. The solution to all foreign policy issues was concentrated in the hands of the king (and, when subordinate to the kings of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia, relations with them). During wars, kings led the army and navy or sent their own people to command. Within the state, they carried out administrative, judicial and military-police functions. With the advent of the coin, it was issued not by the city, but by the king. The king was apparently connected in a special way with the deity. But this did not mean that the figure of the king itself had a sacred character. He remained a socialite. Next to the king stood the high priest, who could be the second person in the state, which was the priest of Melkart in Tire under the kings Meten and Pygmalion. Quite sharp contradictions could arise between these two persons. As a result, the throne could end up in the hands of the priest, as happened in Tire under Itobaal and in Sidon under Eshmunazar. But even so, it seems, the dualism of secular and spiritual power was soon restored.
In the Phoenician cities of the 1st millennium BC, as before, the existence of a community is noted, with whose will the king in many cases had to reckon. The community expressed its will through a meeting “at the gates” of the city and a council, which was clearly an organ of the community aristocracy. The exact distribution of powers between the king and the community is unknown. But the available facts suggest that the authority of the latter extended to the capital city itself, and beyond its borders the king acted completely independently.
Besides the capital, other cities were under the rule of the kings. The colonies founded by Tyre, with the exception of Carthage, were for a long time part of the Tyrian state. In Phenicia itself there were more or less extensive territories subject to one or another Phoenician king. In the subject cities there were probably also civil communities, but the system of relations between the community of the capital and the rest is not attested. Probably, in the Phoenician states there was a certain political dualism, in which royal power and a system of communities coexisted, seemingly unrelated to each other. The king shared power with communal bodies directly in the cities themselves, but not outside them or in the state in general.
Socio-economic relations
This political-administrative dualism corresponded to duality in socio-economic terms. In Phenicia, the existence of two sectors of socio-economic life is clearly visible.
The royal sector included the forest. Both the Tyrian and Byblos kings cut down cedars, cypresses, and pines and sent them to Egypt or Palestine, without asking anyone and clearly based on their property rights. Even if the king did not have a monopoly on the forest (there is no information about private felling, but their absence is not proof), he still provided himself with the lion's share in the extraction and export of this most important product of Phenicia. The royal sector also included ships and the maritime trade carried out on them. The king also owned some lands, the products of which he could put into trade. The king also had craft workshops. Thus, the royal sector covered all sectors of the economy.
Naturally, the royal sector also included people. First of all, these are slaves. Despite all the inaccuracies in the use of the word “slave” in the ancient East, we can be sure that some of those whom the sources call so were real slaves, for example, the woodcutters of the Biblical king Cheker-Baal, who worked under the supervision of overseers, and the Tyrian king Hiram, whose wages were paid Solomon, went to the king himself as their master.
Along with them, there were people in Phenicia who nevertheless occupied a slightly different position and were rather “royal people.” Such are the rowers, sailors and helmsmen - some of them were strangers who came to the city, as in Tyre, where the rowers are the inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad. Among the “royal people” there were also artisans, like the coppersmith (and in fact a “wide-profile” master) Hiram, whom his royal namesake sent to build the Jerusalem Temple. Apparently, foreign warriors who served together with their own citizens also belonged to this type of people. In the VI century. BC. in Tire these were citizens of Arvad, and in the 4th century. in Sidon - Greeks.
Only fragmentary information reveals the path to the formation of a layer of “royal people”. The sailors, especially the oarsmen who did the hardest work at sea, were foreigners, just like the warriors. But they came from different layers of a foreign city. Ezekiel calls the oarsmen "inhabitants" of Arvad, and the warriors "sons" of the same city. The last expression denoted precisely the citizens of the city. As for the artisans, they could be local residents, but socially inferior, like the mentioned coppersmith Hiram, who was only half Tyrian.
For all its importance, the royal sector was not the only one in the economy. Thus, part of the trade, both sea and land, was carried out by private traders. There were undoubtedly artisans and landowners who were not part of the royal sector, as evidenced by inscriptions on various products and on vessels containing agricultural products. There is no information about the relationship between these sectors. But indirect indications suggest that the king was not the supreme owner of all the land. If he wanted to “round up” his holdings at the expense of the peasants, he had to resort to litigation. The implementation of such intentions was not to proceed quietly. And we know about the uprising of the farmers of Tyre, which most likely took place under Itobaal.
Internal social structure of Phoenician cities
Thus, both in socio-economic and political terms, in Phoenician cities there is a duality of royal and communal institutions. The community itself, of course, was not a single whole. It distinguishes between the aristocracy and the “plebs,” as the Latin author calls it (the corresponding Phoenician terms were “mighty” and “small”). But both of them were “sons” of the city, i.e. its citizens. Besides them, there were also “residents” of the city. They, apparently, were not part of the civil collective, but were free people, for otherwise it is not clear how the “residents” of Arvad could become rowers on the ships of Tyre. Perhaps the “residents” included “royal people,” although they could have been the third category of the state’s population.
Phoenician glass pendant in the shape of a head. OK. 400-200 BC.
The complexity of the socio-political structure of Phoenician cities was reflected in the acute internal struggle, which has already been partially discussed. Kings and priests clashed, sharp conflicts tore apart the camp of the “powerful”. The latter dragged the “little ones” into their civil strife, and sometimes they themselves rose to defend their interests. It is even known about a slave uprising in Tyre, which occurred during the war between the Tyrians and the Persians, i.e., probably during the uprising of 348-344. BC, in which Tire also took part. For some time, the slaves even took possession of the city, but then power fell into the hands of a certain Straton (Abdastart), who became the founder of a new dynasty. Thus, Phoenician society, as far as the scant data from sources allows us to judge, “fits” into the general structure of the societies of ancient Western Asia. Those changes that began to emerge in the V-IV centuries. BC. (the appearance of coins and the attempt to create a Phoenician confederation) did not radically change the character of Phenicia. Deeper transformations took place in it after its conquest by Alexander.
After the defeat in 333 BC. The army of Darius III, Alexander the Great, moved to Phenicia. Most of the Phoenician cities submitted to him without a fight. True, the Sidonian king Abdastart II would have preferred to remain faithful to Darius, but was forced to follow the “people’s will.” The Tyrian community, in the absence of the king, who was in the Persian fleet, took the fate of the city into their own hands, especially since the entire mainland of the state was already in the hands of the conqueror. The Tyrians wanted to remain neutral in the war, but Alexander demanded to be allowed into the city. The Tyrians refused. The siege began. After a months-long siege and brutal assault, the city for the first time in its history in 332 BC. was taken by the enemy army. With the capture of Tyre, Alexander established his control over all of Phenicia. The Macedonian conquest opened in Phenicia, as in other countries of the Middle East, a new era of history - the Hellenistic.
Phoenician colonization
Phoenician head. Limestone. X century BC. Kept in the Museum of Cadiz, Spain.
A characteristic feature of ancient history was forced emigration caused by the “scissors” between population growth and the low level of development of productive forces. One of the forms of forced emigration was colonization, i.e. the founding of new settlements in foreign lands. Phoenician colonization played a significant role in the history of the ancient Mediterranean. The history of Phoenician colonization can be divided into two stages. The main causes and conditions of colonization at its first stage have already been discussed:
- this is the occurrence of relative overpopulation in Tyre,
- the collapse of the Mycenaean sea power, which made it possible to sail westward more intensively,
- the ruling circles of Tire used this situation to get rid of, on the one hand, “undesirable” elements of the population, and on the other, to strengthen themselves on the most important trade routes and in places where precious metals were mined.
The colonization of Phenicia is divided into two stages -
- second half of the 12th - first half of the 11th century. BC. — there is a gradual penetration into new lands, outposts are formed, connections with the locals are of an unstable nature;
- IX-VII centuries BC. - a more serious stage of colonization. Building cities and forming strong connections with local residents.
First stage of colonization
The first stage of colonization covers the second half of the 12th - first half of the 11th century. BC. The Phoenicians moved in two ways -
- one went to Rhodes, then along the western coast of Asia Minor to Thasos,
- the other from Rhodes along the southern edge of the Aegean archipelago to Sicily, thence to the northern tip of Africa and finally along the African coast to Southern Spain.
Gold-bearing Thasos and silver-rich Spain were the main goals of the colonists. On the way to them, the Phoenicians created intermediate points. Such points arose on the island of Melos in the Aegean Sea, on Cythera south of the Peloponnese, on the eastern and southern coasts of Sicily, in North Africa (Utica). An ancient legend tells of a three-time attempt by the Tyrians to settle in southern Spain, and this was apparently due to the resistance of the local population. Only the third time, on a small island off the coast, already beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar), the Phoenicians founded a city that received the characteristic name Gadir - “fortress”; later the Romans called this city Gades. Apparently, in the interval between these attempts, in order to create a springboard for penetration into Spain in northwest Africa, also already behind the Pillars of Hercules, Lyke was founded.
Figurine of a Phoenician woman with an Egyptian hairstyle. Ivory. OK. IX-VIII centuries BC.
At this stage, Phoenician colonization was predominantly commercial in nature. The most important goal of the Phoenicians was precious metals. In response, they sold oil, various trinkets, all kinds of small sea goods, and fabrics. The nature of these goods meant that few material traces of Phoenician trade remained. And this was most likely a “silent” exchange, when the participants in the transaction laid out their goods until both parties agreed to take them. In some cases, the Phoenicians themselves operated the mines, as was the case at Thasos.
At this time, the Phoenicians founded simple strongholds for conducting trade or ensuring its security, trading posts without a permanent population, and anchorages. Temples played an important role, often preceding the founding of cities, as was the case at Hades and Lix: they gave traders a sense of divine protection and a safe market. Some temples, like those at Thasos, could also act as organizers of production. At that time, real cities with a permanent population were created, like Gadir (Gades) in Spain and Utica in Africa.
Second stage of Phoenician colonization
A gap of approximately two centuries separates the first stage of colonization from the second. The economic and political problems that arose in the East, which have already been mentioned, led to the resumption of colonial expansion. The beginning of its second stage apparently falls in the second quarter of the 9th century. BC.
Tartessian "Winged Cat" from Spain. 750-575 BC. Stored in the Getty Villa Museum, Los Angeles, USA.
In the Eastern Mediterranean, the possibilities for Phoenician expansion were limited. Here large centralized states again gained strength, and in the Aegean basin the movements of the Greeks and Thracians led to the displacement of the Phoenicians from the already occupied islands. In Greece itself, under the conditions of the beginning of the formation of the polis, there was also no place for Phoenician colonization. Therefore, even if the Phoenicians settled there, they did not form independent organizations and quickly Hellenized. In other countries they could create separate quarters-factories, like the Tyrian camp in Memphis in Egypt. And only in Cyprus the Phoenicians founded colonies in the southern part of the island. Cyprus became the base for their further advance to the west. The Phoenicians moved through this island to the Western Mediterranean.
In the Western Mediterranean, the scope of Phoenician colonization changed in its second phase. Now Sardinia has entered it. It attracted colonists with its mineral wealth, soil fertility, and strategic position, which opened the way to Italy, Corsica, Gaul, and Spain. In the IX-VII centuries. BC. A number of Phoenician cities arose on the southern and western coasts of Sardinia - Nora, Sulkh, Bitiya, Tharros, Kalaris. Relatively early, the Phoenicians began to settle inside the island.
The second new area of colonization was the small but very important islands between Sicily and Africa: Melita (Malta) and Gavlos (Gozo). The Tyrians settled there in the 8th century. BC. These islands were the most important points of communication between the metropolis and the westernmost outskirts of the Phoenician world.
In Southern Spain by the end of the 8th century. BC. The Tartessian power was formed, which entered into various contacts with the Phoenicians. Strengthening these contacts required the creation of new points on the Iberian Peninsula. And on its southern shore, but already east of the Pillars of Hercules, the Phoenicians created in the 8th-7th centuries. BC. many settlements of varying sizes and significance. These were relatively large cities, like Melaka or Sexi, and relatively small villages, the names of which we do not know and which are now called by the names of modern settlements, like Toscanos or Chorrera. The creation of colonies on the Mediterranean, and not the Atlantic, as before, coast of southern Spain was apparently caused by the policy of the Tartessian monarchs, who did not want to strengthen competitors in the immediate vicinity of the center of power, which was located at the mouth of the river. Betis (Guadalquivir), flowing into the Atlantic Ocean immediately west of the Pillars.
In Sicily in the 8th century. BC. with the beginning of Greek colonization, the Phoenicians left the eastern and southern coasts and concentrated in the western part of the island. The cities of Motia, Solunt and Panormus created there provided connections with the already colonized areas of Sardinia and Africa. In the central part of North Africa, where Utica had been founded earlier, several new Phoenician cities now arose, including Carthage (Karthadasht - New City). In the north-west of this continent, south of Lix, the Phoenicians settled around the bay, which in Greek bore the eloquent name “Emporik” (Trading).
The second stage of Phoenician colonization covered the 9th-7th centuries. BC, and colonization probably acquired its greatest scope in the second half of the 9th century. BC, when the Tyrians began to establish colonies in Sardinia and radically expand their presence in Africa, founding Carthage and perhaps other cities. The territory of colonization has changed, now covering the extreme west of Sicily, the south and west of Sardinia, the Mediterranean coast of southern Spain, the islands of Melita and Gavlos, the central and extreme western part of North Africa. As before, the main goal of the Phoenicians was metals. However, now we are talking not only about gold and silver, but also about the iron, lead, and tin necessary for production itself. Another goal of colonization at this stage was the acquisition of land: it was not without reason that the center of colonization activity largely moved from Spain, where the Tartessians were not given the opportunity to settle in the fertile Betis Valley, to the center of the Mediterranean basin - to fertile Sardinia and the Tunisian ledge of Africa, famous for its land wealth. Colonization itself acquired a much greater scope, and the number of settlers increased.
Internal life of the colonies
Lead weight with the symbol of Tanita - the Phoenician goddess of the Moon. V-II centuries BC.
In the colonies, along with trade, crafts, agriculture and, of course, fishing began to develop. The number of cities has increased. Along with them, small villages also arose - some of them developed a diversified economy, while others focused on a single industry. The Phoenicians began to penetrate into the interior regions of certain territories.
The relationship between the colonists and the local population changed. The latter has now developed so much that it was not limited to “silent” exchanges and began to enter into a wide variety of contacts with aliens. These contacts eventually covered the entire economic, political and cultural sphere. Where there were conditions for this, local variants of “orientalizing” civilization arose. This was the Tartessian, which developed in the south of the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th-6th centuries. BC. There was also a reverse influence of the local population on the colonists, which led to the emergence of local branches of Phoenician culture. The surrounding inhabitants thus acted as an important component of the colonization process.
The establishment of colonies, and to a large extent trade, were due to the support and even initiative of the government. Under these conditions, the cities and towns that emerged became part of the Tyrian state, although it is now difficult to establish the forms and degree of dependence on the metropolis. It is known that in Cypriot Carthage there was a deputy of the king, who called himself his slave and bore the title of a bitch. Apparently, in the Phoenician cities of Cyprus, close to Phenicia, the power of the king was felt quite strongly. It was more difficult to maintain strict control over the more distant colonies, yet Utica's attempt to evade paying tribute prompted a punitive expedition from Tire. Later, the Carthaginians sent special residents to their colonies to control the life of these cities. It is possible that they borrowed this practice from the metropolis, and in this case it can be assumed that the Tyrian authorities sent similar residents to their colonies. There was one important exception to this rule - African Carthage. It was founded in 825-823. BC, but not on the initiative of the Tyrian king, but by a group of opposition nobility led by the king’s sister Elissa. She became the queen of the city. Here there could no longer be any talk of the political subordination of Carthage to Tire, although the Carthaginians maintained spiritual ties with the metropolis throughout their history.
Decline of Phenicia as a powerful nation
The political subordination of Phenicia to the Assyrians could not but affect the fate of the Tyrian state. Back at the end of the 8th - beginning of the 7th century. BC. The Phoenician cities in Cyprus were subject to Tire: its king fled to the island, clearly to his own possessions, from the attack of Sennacherib. But Sennacherib's successor, Esarhaddon, treated the Phoenician kings of Cyprus as his own subjects, regardless of Tire or Sidon. Apparently, it was in the first half of the 7th century. The Phoenicians of Cyprus left the rule of Tire. The final blow to the power was dealt by the events of the 80-70s of the 6th century. BC, when, after a long siege in 574, Nebuchadnezzar subjugated Tire, where royal power was even liquidated at some point. And soon after this, the Tartessians began an attack on the Phoenician colonies in Spain, apparently taking advantage of the fact that they had lost the support of the metropolis. Some Phoenician settlements there perished. The colonial power that Tire had created appears to have ceased to exist. Its place in the Western Mediterranean was taken by another Phoenician power, headed by Carthage.