Who were the Phoenicians?
The Phoenicians were a seafaring civilization based in city-states along the coast of modern Lebanon (Tyre, Sidon, Byblos) from roughly 1500 to 300 BCE. They invented the alphabet, built the Mediterranean's most extensive trade network, and founded colonies including Carthage.
The Phoenicians were never a unified empire but a collection of independent, fiercely competitive city-states strung along the narrow coastal plain of modern Lebanon. The major cities — Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and Berytus (modern Beirut) — each had their own kings, governments, and patron deities, united only by shared language, culture, and maritime orientation.
The name "Phoenician" comes from the Greek phoinikes, probably referring to the purple dye (from the murex sea snail) that was one of their most famous exports. The Phoenicians called themselves Canaanites and their land Canaan.
Their contributions to world civilization are difficult to overstate. The Phoenician alphabet, developed around 1050 BCE, simplified writing from hundreds of signs to just 22 consonant letters. This innovation democratized literacy and became the ancestor of virtually every alphabet used today — Greek, Latin, Arabic, Hebrew, Cyrillic, and many others.
As traders, the Phoenicians connected the entire Mediterranean world. Their ships carried cedar wood, purple dye, glass, metalwork, and luxury goods from Egypt to Spain. They established trading posts and colonies throughout the western Mediterranean, most famously Carthage (founded c. 814 BCE), which became a major power rivaling Rome.
The Phoenicians excelled as cultural intermediaries, transmitting ideas, technologies, and artistic styles between the civilizations of the Near East and the emerging societies of the western Mediterranean. Their role in spreading the alphabet alone makes them one of the most influential peoples in human history.