Phoenicians: Powerful Traders And Their Remarkable Seafaring Achievements

A. Sutherland  – AncientPages.com – The Phoenicians remain one of the most enigmatic ancient civilizations. Our knowledge about these people is mostly based on scholars’ speculations and educated guesses.

Although many Greek, Roman, and Egyptian writers mention the Phoenicians in trade records and military battles, only a few records were left by the original Phoenicians themselves, leaving modern scholars to fill in the blanks through these educated guesses and material culture.

With the material we possess, we can never obtain the whole picture of this civilization.

Today, their culture is associated with long-distance seafaring, trade and colonization, exploration, and language. However, in ancient times, the Phoenicians still needed to be protected from ground-based attacks. Therefore, over time, they developed a strong military and well-secured city fortifications that protected individual settlements.

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