Importance of the Phoenicians

In Antiquity, the Phoenicians were one of the most powerful peoples in naval and commercial terms. Although they failed to develop an empire or a central level of political power, they did so thanks to their economy, excellent water management, and trading techniques. That is why knowing the Phoenicians, ancestors of many Eastern peoples today, is relevant to better understand the achievements of Humanity.

Geographical location: the reason for an inexorable naval power

Although at present the area where the Phoenicians were located is a highly conflictive area with many networks of power, in the In ancient times, the region known as the Syrian-Palestinian Corridor was the center of much of the commercial activities of the Mediterranean. The eastern parts of that sea, where the countries of Israel, Lebanon, Syria, etc., are located today, were the intermediate contact between the peoples of the East and those of the West.

The geography The location is very important if we want to understand why the Phoenicians developed their economic and naval power. The Phoenician cities (which never managed to form an empire or a unified political territory) were located for the most part on the coasts of this corridor. Among them we must mention Byblos, the most important and powerful, Tire, Sidon, Acre, Arvad, Tripoli, Beritos and others. In all of them, the main economic activity, the basis of their power, was

Why are the Phoenicians not as well known as other ancient peoples?

This is a very interesting question and its answer is simple. The main problem with the legacy of the Phoenicians has to do with its history. Generally speaking, they were always kept in city-states that were independent of each other (as did the Sumerians in Mesopotamia as well). This made it easier for them coexistenceAlthough Tire and Byblos were the most powerful among them, none of them ever wanted to conquer the rest.

What we need to understand is that the Phoenicians never built a vast and extremely wealthy empire like the Assyrians, Akkadians, Romans, or Persians did. This means that their cultural and identity richness was largely lost over time since they failed to be the hegemonic civilization of their time. However, the Phoenicians made great contributions from the religion, art and literature to the oriental civilizations that should be revalued.

Images: Fotolia-Vic / Disq