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THE PHOENICIA PORTAL

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 languagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portal:Phoenicia/Sandbox&action=edit

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Temple of Azizos in Bziza

The Roman temple of Bziza is a well-preserved first century AD building dedicated to Azizos, a personification of the morning star in ancient Arab polytheism. This Roman temple lends the modern Lebanese town of Bziza its current name, as Bziza is a corruption of Beth Azizo meaning the house or temple of Azizos. Azizos was identified as Ares by Emperor Julian.

The tetrastyle prostyle building has two doors that connect the pronaos to a square cella. To the back of the temple lie the remains of the adyton where images of the deity once stood. The ancient temple functioned as an aedes, the dwelling place of the deity. The temple of Bziza was converted into a church and underwent architectural modification during two phases of Christianization; in the Early Byzantine period and later in the Middle Ages. The church, colloquially known until modern times as the Lady of the Pillars, fell into disrepair. Despite the church's condition, Christian devotion was still maintained in the nineteenth century in one of the temple's niches. The temple of Bziza is featured on multiple stamps issued by the Lebanese state. (Full article...)

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Hasdrubal (fl. 255 – 250 BC) was a Carthaginian general who served during the middle years of the First Punic War, fought between Carthage and Rome, and took a leading part in three of the four major field battles of the war. He was a citizen of the city state of Carthage, which was in what is now Tunisia. His date of birth and age at death are both unknown, as are his activities prior to his coming to prominence in 255 BC. Modern historians distinguish him from other Carthaginians named Hasdrubal by the cognomen "son of Hanno".

Hasdrubal was one of three Carthaginian generals, possibly the senior, who took command of the army raised when the Romans invaded North Africa in 255 BC. He was responsible for the decision to march against the Romans late in the year and was present at the Battle of Adys where the Carthaginians were routed. Early in 254 BC the triumvirate of Carthaginian generals gave control of the army to the Spartan mercenary commander, Xanthippus, and accompanied him when the Romans were decisively beaten at the Battle of Tunis. (Full article...)

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The Cippi of Melqart are a pair of Phoenician marble cippi that were unearthed in Malta under undocumented circumstances and dated to the 2nd century BC. These are votive offerings to the god Melqart, and are inscribed in two languages, Ancient Greek and Phoenician, and in the two corresponding scripts, the Greek and the Phoenician alphabet. They were discovered in the late 17th century, and the identification of their inscription in a letter dated 1694 made them the first Phoenician writing to be identified and published in modern times. Because they present essentially the same text (with some minor differences), the cippi provided the key to the modern understanding of the Phoenician language. In 1758, the French scholar Jean-Jacques Barthélémy relied on their inscription, which used 17 of the 22 letters of the Phoenician alphabet, to decipher the unknown language.

The tradition that the cippi were found in Marsaxlokk was only inferred by their dedication to Heracles, whose temple in Malta had long been identified with the remains at Tas-Silġ. The Grand Master of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller, Fra Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc, presented one of the cippi to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1782. The inscription is known as KAI 47. (Full article...)

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

Selected Phoenician mythology articles - show another

A Cypriot Dea Gravida figure circa 8-5th century B.C.E. (Louvre Museum)

Dea Gravida or Dea Tyria Gravida (Latin for "pregnant goddess") was either a goddess or representation of mortal women that were associated with procreation and fertility deriving from Phoenician culture and spreading within the Phoenician circle of influence. Although not much is known about the cult surrounding Dea Gravida, votive terracotta statues have been found throughout the Mediterranean, most notably in Phoenicia and Cyprus. The figure differs from kourotrophic figures that hold babies and are not visibly pregnant. (Full article...)

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

General images

The following are images from various Phoenicia-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Phoenicians 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 2Oinochoe; 800–700 BC; terracotta; height: 24.1 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, US) (from Phoenicia)
Image 3Major Phoenician trade networks (c. 1200–800 BC) (from Phoenicia)
Image 4Map of Phoenicia, trade routes and the Phoenician colony of Carthage (from Punic people)
Image 5Ruins of the Punic and then Roman town of Tharros (from Punic people)
Image 6Stela from Tyre with Phoenician inscriptions (c. 4th century BC). National Museum of Beirut. (from Phoenicia)
Image 7Skull of King Tabnit of Sidon (reigned c. 549 BC – c. 539 BC), now in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums (from Phoenicia)
Image 8Painting by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (1731) titled Young Hannibal Swears Enmity to Rome (from Punic people)
Image 9Face bead; mid-4th–3rd century BC; glass; height: 2.7 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (from Phoenicia)
Image 10Achaemenid-era coin of Abdashtart I of Sidon, who is seen at the back of the chariot, behind the Persian King (from Phoenicia)
Image 11Phoenician faces. Glass from Olbia, 4th century BC. The bold pools of color and detailed hair give a Greek impression. (from Phoenicia)
Image 12Mortise 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 13Tomb of King Hiram I of Tyre, located in the village of Hanaouay, in southern Lebanon (from Phoenicia)
Image 14Map of Phoenician (yellow labels) and Greek (red labels) colonies around 8th to 6th century BC (with German legend) (from Phoenicia)
Image 15An Etruscan tomb (c. 350 BC) depicting a man wearing an all-purple toga picta (from Phoenicia)
Image 16Figure 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 17Sarcophagus of Ahiram, which bears the oldest inscription of the Phoenician alphabet. National Museum of Beirut. (from Phoenicia)
Image 18Ruins of the ancient Phoenician city of Motya, Sicily, present-day Italy (from Phoenicia)
Image 19Earring 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 20Phoenician sarcophagi found in Cádiz, Spain, thought to have been imported from the Phoenician homeland around Sidon. Archaeological Museum of Cádiz. (from Phoenicia)
Image 21Female figurines from Tyre (c. 1000–550 BC). National Museum of Beirut. (from Phoenicia)
Image 22A naval action during Alexander the Great's Siege of Tyre (332 BC). Drawing by André Castaigne, 1888–89. (from Phoenicia)
Image 23The Capuan bust, reputedly of Hannibal (from Punic people)
Image 2419th-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 25Phoenician 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 26Sicily at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War (from Punic people)
Image 27Two 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 28aDNA of ancient Mediterranean (incl. 30 Punic) samples clustering with contemporary populations (from Punic people)