Phoenicia was an ancient civilization composed of independent city-states which lay along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea stretching through what is now Syria, Lebannon and northern Israel. The Phoenicians were a great maritime people. They were also known for their mighty ships that were adorned with horses’ heads in honor of their god of the sea, Yamm who was the brother of Mot, the god of death. The most powerful states in Phoenicia were the cities of Tyre and Sidon. Gebal/Byblos and Baalbek are the most important spiritual/religious centers. Phoenician city-states were firmly established by 2750 BCE. The city thrived as a maritime trader (shipping goods from port) and manufacturing center from 1500-332 BCE. In addition, the Phoenicians were highly regarded for their skill in ship-building, glass-making, the production of dyes, and they had an impressive level of skill in the manufacture of luxury and common goods (Mark, Joshua 2009). This paper will explore the reasons why the Phoenicians were considered a civilization.
Did the Phoenicians process the 5-steps to being a civilization? Holmes 2
RESEARCH OF THE PHOENICIAN CIVILIZATION 1500 B.C.
Did the Phoenicians process the 5-steps to being a civilization?
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Their major cities were Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and Arwad. All four cities were fiercely independent rival cities. Unlike the neighboring inland states, the Phoenicians represented a confederation of maritime traders rather than a defined country (Metropolitan Museum of Art 2000 – 2015). In addition, the National Museum of Art reported that it is unknown what the Phoenicians actually called themselves. However, the word Phoenician may have been from the ancient term Canaanite. The name Phoenician could possibly represent the color purple-red which is an allusion to the production of a highly prized purple dye. The violet-purple dye is derived from the Murex sea-snail's
Phaiacia. Phaiacia is a highly civilized land with a huge respect for the arts, music,
Reckford, Kenneth J. “Phaedra and Pasiphae: The Pull Backward.” Transactions of the American Philological Association 104 (1974): 307-328. JSTOR. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
Renfrew, Colin. The Emergence of Civilisation: The Cyclades and the Aegean in the Third Millennium B.C. London: Metheun 1972.
The Odyssey, Phaedra and Things Fall Apart are works of art that have a common and important theme. These works have a single hero who is characterized by a personal strength, respect and highest moral obligations and ethics. As such, the theme of a hero is still attributable to the modern times because people value morality, ethics and individual strength. Another major theme is the burden that these heroes have to carry and in some cases, they have to take it without complaining to others of fate which has made them who they are. Those with strong principles in life will always stay heroes, even if they do not survive, their memory and legacy will be their mark to remember.
The first civilization to rise was the Mesopotamia, located in present day Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and Egypt, along the Nile River. It’s split in two ecological zones. In the south Babylonia (irrigation is vital) and north Assyria (agriculture is possible with rainfall and wells). By 4000 B.C.E., people had settled in large numbers in the river-watered lowlands of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Archaeologists have shown that large-scale irrigation appeared only long after urban civilization had already developed, meaning major waterworks were a consequence of urbanism (population). Mesopotamia cities were made of people called the Summerians in the land of Sumer located on the south of Babylonia. The Summerian city was one of
Around 3500 B.C.E to 3000 B.C.E., civilizations emerged in many places. Egypt and Mesoamerica are distinctive two of them. Considering the different aspects of civilization, historians can find some same characteristics and differences which are valuable for historians to understand civilization in-depth.
Sherman, D. (2000). Civilizations of the Ancient World. Western Civilizations: Sources, Images, and Interpretations (pp. 8-12). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Gates, Charles. Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome. London: Routledge, 2003. Print.
Their civilization consists of what men made. In a sense, they give shape to their environment with the intention of having better conditions. " But once we reach our city, ringed by walls/ and strong high towers too, with a fine harbor either side..." (Homer, 176) The city of Phaeacians has walls, which is a sign of wealth and power as well as human effort to do it. They have also man made buildings, towers. Likewise, they make wine and bread that confirms their diligence in the system of civilization. They not only rely on the generosity of the nature but also work hard to have an improved environment.
Pompeii is possibly the best-documented catastrophe in Antiquity. Because of it, we know now how the Pompeians lived because they left behind an extensive legacy of art, including monuments, sculptures and paintings. Pompeii lay on a plateau of ancient lava near the Bay of Naples in western Italy in a region called Campania, less than 1.6 kilometers from the foot of Mount Vesuvius. With the coast to the west and the Apennine Mountains to the East, Campania is a fertile plain, traversed by two major rivers and rich soil. However, in the early days, it was not a remarkable city. Scholars have not been able to identify Pompeii’s original inhabitants. The first people to settle in this region were probably prehistoric hunters and fishers. By at least the eight century B.C., a group of Italic people known as the Oscans occupied the region; they most likely established Pompeii, although the exact date of its origin is unknown. “The root of the word Pompeii would appear to be the Oscan word for the number five, pompe, which suggests that either the community consisted of five hamlets or, perhaps, was settled by a family group (gens Pompeia)”(Kraus 7). In the course of the eight century B.C., Greek and Etruscan colonization stimulated the development of Pompeii as a city around the area of the Forum. A point for important trade routes, it became a place for trading towards the inland. Up until the middle of the 5th century B.C., the city was dominated politically by the Etruscans.
Abounding similarities exist between the Mesopotamian and Greek societies. As history progresses many cultural advances occur, but societies also adopt some of the same characteristics as preceding societies, you will notice this between the Mesopotamian and Greek civilizations. After learning about the Greek civilizations I immediately began generating connections to Mesopotamian societies. I noticed similarities in all aspects of society, whether it was religion, military, architecture or any other cultural idiosyncrasies.
“The first advanced culture in Greece, and indeed in all of Europe, was created by a people referred to today as the Minoans. Their civilization flourished from about 2200 to 1450 B.C. on Crete, the large island located about one hundred miles southeast of the Gree...
McKay, J/P/, Hill, B.D., Buckler, J., Ebrey, P.B., Beck, R.B., Crowston, C.H., & Wiesner-Hanks, M.E. (2008). A History of World Societies, Volume A: From Antiquity to 1500. New York, NY: Bedford/St. Martin's
The Mycenaean civilization flourished for four hundred years in the late Bronze Age before collapsing in to small bands of subsistence farmers. Some historians attribute this decline to ‘the Sea People’ who terrorized the Egyptians, Anatolians and the Hittites. But could a mysterious people who left no archeological proof of their existence really bring about the collapse of entire civilizations?
In 1882, Ignatius L. Donnelly published a book named “Atlantis: the Antediluvian World”. In this book, Donnelly tried to demonstrate his hypothesis that all known ancient civilizations were descended from a specific civilization, which was Atlantis. He observed that ancie...