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The Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon. They developed a maritime civilization which expanded and contracted throughout history, with the core of their culture stretching from Arwad in modern Syria to Mount Carmel. The Phoenicians extended their cultural influence through trade and colonization throughout the Mediterranean, from Cyprus to the Iberian Peninsula, evidenced by thousands of Phoenician inscriptions.

The Phoenicians directly succeeded the Bronze Age Canaanites, continuing their cultural traditions after the decline of most major Mediterranean basin cultures in the Late Bronze Age collapse and into the Iron Age without interruption. They called themselves Canaanites and referred to their land as Canaan, but the territory they occupied was notably smaller than that of Bronze Age Canaan. The name Phoenicia is an ancient Greek exonym that did not correspond precisely to a cohesive culture or society as it would have been understood natively. Therefore, the division between Canaanites and Phoenicians around 1200 BC is regarded as a modern and artificial construct.

The Phoenicians, known for their prowess in trade, seafaring and navigation, dominated commerce across classical antiquity and developed an expansive maritime trade network lasting over a millennium. This network facilitated cultural exchanges among major cradles of civilization, such as Mesopotamia, Greece and Egypt. The Phoenicians established colonies and trading posts across the Mediterranean; Carthage, a settlement in northwest Africa, became a major civilization in its own right in the seventh century BC.

The Phoenicians were organized in city-states, similar to those of ancient Greece, of which the most notable were Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos. Each city-state was politically independent, and there is no evidence the Phoenicians viewed themselves as a single nationality. While most city-states were governed by some form of kingship, merchant families probably exercised influence through oligarchies. After reaching its zenith in the ninth century BC, the Phoenician civilization in the eastern Mediterranean gradually declined due to external influences and conquests such as by the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Achaemenid Empire. Yet, their presence persisted in the central, southern and western Mediterranean until the destruction of Carthage in the mid-second century BC. — Read more about Phoenicia, its mythology and language

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The Temple of Eshmun (Arabic: معبد أشمون) is an ancient place of worship dedicated to Eshmun, the Phoenician god of healing. It is located near the Awali river, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) northeast of Sidon in southwestern Lebanon. The site was occupied from the 7th century BC to the 8th century AD, suggesting an integrated relationship with the nearby city of Sidon. Although originally constructed by Sidonian king Eshmunazar II in the Achaemenid era (c. 529–333 BC) to celebrate the city's recovered wealth and stature, the temple complex was greatly expanded by Bodashtart, Yatonmilk and later monarchs. Because the continued expansion spanned many centuries of alternating independence and foreign hegemony, the sanctuary features a wealth of different architectural and decorative styles and influences.

The sanctuary consists of an esplanade and a grand court limited by a huge limestone terrace wall that supports a monumental podium which was once topped by Eshmun's Greco-Persian style marble temple. The sanctuary features a series of ritual ablution basins fed by canals channeling water from the Asclepius river (modern Awali) and from the sacred "YDLL" spring; these installations were used for therapeutic and purificatory purposes that characterize the cult of Eshmun. The sanctuary site has yielded many artifacts of value, especially those inscribed with Phoenician texts, such as the Bodashtart inscriptions and the Eshmun inscription, providing valuable insight into the site's history and that of ancient Sidon. (Full article...)

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Phoenician mythology • show another

Ruins of the 7th century BC Phoenician Temple of Eshmun in Sidon

Eshmun (or Eshmoun, less accurately Esmun or Esmoun; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤔𐤌𐤍 ʾšmn; Akkadian: 𒅀𒋢𒈬𒉡 Yasumunu) was a Phoenician god of healing and the tutelary god of Sidon. (Full article...)

List of mythology articles
Sanchuniathon Baal El (deity) Astarte Adon Melqart Resheph Tanit Dea Gravida Hadad Yam (god) Moloch Marqod Kothar-wa-Khasis Heliopolitan Triad Kotharat Anat Asherah Allatu Dumuzid Nikkal Qetesh Shahar (god) Shalim Shapash Taautus Baʽalat Gebal

Images

Image 1Oinochoe; 800–700 BC; terracotta; height: 24.1 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, US) (from Phoenicia)
Image 2A naval action during Alexander the Great's Siege of Tyre (332 BC). Drawing by André Castaigne, 1888–89. (from Phoenicia)
Image 3Skull of King Tabnit of Sidon (reigned c. 549 BC – c. 539 BC), now in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums (from Phoenicia)
Image 4Painting by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (1731) titled Young Hannibal Swears Enmity to Rome (from Punic people)
Image 5An Etruscan tomb (c. 350 BC) depicting a man wearing an all-purple toga picta (from Phoenicia)
Image 6Figure of Ba'al with raised arm, 14th–12th century BC, found at ancient Ugarit (Ras Shamra site), a city at the far north of the Phoenician coast. Musée du Louvre. (from Phoenicia)
Image 7Female figurines from Tyre (c. 1000–550 BC). National Museum of Beirut. (from Phoenicia)
Image 8Mortise and tenon joinery in the Mazarron 1 Phoenician shipwreck. Phoenicians pioneered the pegged mortise and tenon joinery, which came to be known as Phoenician joints (from Phoenicia)
Image 9Two bronze fragments from an Assyrian palace gate depicting the collection of tribute from the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon (859–824 BC). British Museum. (from Phoenicia)
Image 10Map of Phoenician (yellow labels) and Greek (red labels) colonies around 8th to 6th century BC (with German legend) (from Phoenicia)
Image 11Achaemenid-era coin of Abdashtart I of Sidon, who is seen at the back of the chariot, behind the Persian King (from Phoenicia)
Image 12Stela from Tyre with Phoenician inscriptions (c. 4th century BC). National Museum of Beirut. (from Phoenicia)
Image 13Face bead; mid-4th–3rd century BC; glass; height: 2.7 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (from Phoenicia)
Image 14aDNA of ancient Mediterranean (incl. 30 Punic) samples clustering with contemporary populations (from Punic people)
Image 15Tomb of King Hiram I of Tyre, located in the village of Hanaouay, in southern Lebanon (from Phoenicia)
Image 16Phoenician sarcophagi found in Cádiz, Spain, thought to have been imported from the Phoenician homeland around Sidon. Archaeological Museum of Cádiz. (from Phoenicia)
Image 17Phoenician metal bowl with hunting scene (8th century BC). The clothing and hairstyle of the figures are Egyptian. At the same time, the subject matter of the central scene conforms with the Mesopotamian theme of combat between man and beast. Phoenician artisans frequently adapted the styles of neighboring cultures. (from Phoenicia)
Image 18Map of Phoenicia, trade routes and the Phoenician colony of Carthage (from Punic people)
Image 19The Capuan bust, reputedly of Hannibal (from Punic people)
Image 20Ruins of the Punic and then Roman town of Tharros (from Punic people)
Image 21Phoenician faces. Glass from Olbia, 4th century BC. The bold pools of color and detailed hair give a Greek impression. (from Phoenicia)
Image 22Sicily at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War (from Punic people)
Image 23Earring from a pair, each with four relief faces; late fourth–3rd century BC; gold; overall: 3.5 x 0.6 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (from Phoenicia)
Image 24Ruins of the ancient Phoenician city of Motya, Sicily, present-day Italy (from Phoenicia)
Image 25Major Phoenician trade networks (c. 1200–800 BC) (from Phoenicia)
Image 26Phoenicians build pontoon bridges for Xerxes I of Persia during the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC (1915 drawing by A. C. Weatherstone). (from Phoenicia)
Image 2719th-century depiction of Phoenician sailors and merchants. The importance of trade to the Phoenician economy led to a gradual sharing of power between the King and assemblies of merchant families. (from Phoenicia)
Image 28Sarcophagus of Ahiram, which bears the oldest inscription of the Phoenician alphabet. National Museum of Beirut. (from Phoenicia)

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Ancient Sumerian depiction of the marriage of Inanna and Dumuzid

Dumuzid or Dumuzi or Tammuz (Sumerian: 𒌉𒍣, romanized: Dumuzid; Akkadian: Duʾūzu, Dûzu; Hebrew: תַּמּוּז, romanized: Tammūz), known to the Sumerians as Dumuzid the Shepherd (Sumerian: 𒌉𒍣𒉺𒇻, romanized: Dumuzid sipad) and to the Canaanites as Adon (Phoenician: 𐤀𐤃𐤍; Proto-Hebrew: 𐤀𐤃𐤍), is an ancient Mesopotamian and associated with agriculture and shepherds, who was also the first and primary consort of the goddess Inanna (later known as Ishtar). In Sumerian mythology, Dumuzid's sister was Geshtinanna, the goddess of agriculture, fertility, and dream interpretation. In the Sumerian King List, Dumuzid is listed as an antediluvian king of the city of Bad-tibira and also an early king of the city of Uruk.

In Inanna's Descent into the Underworld, Inanna perceives that Dumuzid has failed to properly mourn her death and, when she returns from the Underworld, allows the galla demons to drag him down to the Underworld as her replacement. Inanna later regrets this decision and decrees that Dumuzid will spend half of the year in the Underworld, but the other half of the year with her, while his sister Geshtinanna stays in the Underworld in his place, thus resulting in the cycle of the seasons. In the Sumerian poem Inanna Prefers the Farmer, Dumuzid competes against the farmer Enkimdu for Inanna's hand in marriage. (Full article...)

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Phoenician inscriptions & language • show another

The Marseille Tariff is a Punic language inscription from the third century BCE, found on two fragments of a stone in June 1845 at Marseille in Southern France. It is thought to have originally come from the temple of Baal-Saphon in Carthage. It is one of the earliest published inscriptions written in the Phoenician alphabet, and one of the longest ever found.

It was first published by Jean-Joseph-Léandre Bargès, and is known as KAI 69 and CIS I 165.

It is held on display in Marseille at the Musée d'archéologie méditerranéenne. (Full article...)

List of Phoenician inscription articles
Ahiram sarcophagus Byblian royal inscriptions Osorkon Bust Baal Lebanon inscription Baalshillem Temple Boy Cippi of Melqart Phoenician language Nora Stone Yehawmilk Stele Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum Eshmunazar II sarcophagus Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions

Did you know (auto-generated) • load new

... that the sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II, the Phoenician king of Sidon, is one of only three ancient Egyptian sarcophagi unearthed outside Egypt?
... that the deity of the Phoenician sanctuary of Kharayeb remains unidentified due to the absence of names of specific gods in unearthed inscriptions?
... that according to second-century AD Greek rhetorician Athenaeus, the Phoenicians played a flute-like instrument called the gingras in their mourning rituals?
... that Bochart's 1646 Geographia Sacra seu Phaleg et Canaan was the first full-length book devoted to the Phoenicians?
... that the earliest-known Phoenician inscriptions were found near Bethlehem?
... that archaeological excavations in the historic town of Kharayeb revealed a rural settlement with a complex system of cisterns and a Phoenician temple?