Why Did Phoenicians Spread Across The Mediterranean

Geography played a big role in determining the political units and economic institutions of Mediterranean society. The mountains interspersed throughout the Greek peninsula led to regionalism in the form of city-states. This was a departure from the centralized government of China. The fact that civilization developed along a peninsula also shaped Mediterranean culture. The ocean provided some protection from invaders and allowed for the advancement of trade.

Basing at the “strayer” argument, he argued that among the factors that contributed to Mediterranean area adapting to Greek culture were because of the political development, whereby he said that availability of the mountainous terrain facilitated the elaboration of the towns and the city states. Moreover, most Greeks cities were designed in a way that they were able to support and promote commercial activities such as trade. Therefore, comparing many features in Greek culture and those of the areas such as in Mediterranean contributed to the lasting effects of Greek culture and its spread throughout the Mediterranean world.

The Punic Wars were a series of conflicts between Rome and Carthage for control of the Mediterranean. They are called the Punic Wars because the word “Punic” is derived from the Roman word for Phoenician, in reference to the Carthaginians’ ancestry. Carthage was founded by settlers from Phoenicia on the fertile land of North Africa. The Phoenicians were known as brave and skillful sailors and merchants. By the third century BC, Carthage became a substantially strong power of the Western Mediterranean. It was considered the richest city in the world. All maritime trade between East and West Mediterranean went through it. Hundreds of ships transported goods from all over the world. The city, built up with tall buildings, had 700 thousand inhabitants. The Greek colonies in Sicily and Southern Italy were the only serious competition to Carthage. There was a continuous struggle between them for the possession of the island for 100 years, since the end of the fifth century BC. Four times the Carthaginians conquered the island. However, they could not take the city of Syracuse.

There were good things about being a seafaring civilization. As the Ancient Greeks migrated to the coast of the Mediterranean, and Black Seas, they were able to put all of their energy into maritime trade, eventually making them dominant of the busiest waterway in the ancient world. (Acrobatic, 2014)

One way was the sea. Athens was located on the Attica peninsula so they were surrounded by water on three sides and Athens built its naval supremacy of Triremes. The Triremes gave Athens control of the Mediterranean Sea so they controlled trade and gained the name the “Big Olive.” A lot of the battles of the Persian war were fought with navies and the Trireme allowed for them to win the narrow straits of Salamis. The sea also greatly impacted economy. The Ionian Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Aegean Sea connected all of the land and islands of Ancient Greece so they could trade with one another. The Sea also allowed for travel and they could trade with other countries like Egypt. They could make a profit for their natural resources and benefit from obtaining resources that were not natural to Greece at the time. The biggest impact geography had on Greece was the land. The land was dry with only 20% arable land and it was extremely mountainous. The mountains ran from the northwest part of Greece to the southeast part along the Balkan Peninsula. Due to the dryness, the Greek city states were constantly looking to expand their land and the mountains caused each city state to be spread apart. This made them have decentralized governments. Also due to the mountainous geography, there were over 1000 Greek city states including Athens and Sparta. Land also was on Sparta’s side during the Peloponnesian

The colonies had the same form of government and religious traditions as the original metropolis. However, there were no political ties between the metropolis and the apoikia, resulting in political independence. In the 8th century B.C., when colonization first occurred, the locations of the colonies reflected the trading outposts on the coast of the land; the colonies were in those locations in order to secure and control the trade routes. Consequently, the Greeks frequently came into contact with other groups of people who would pass through these trades post, connecting them with other resources. As the Greeks expanded from the western direction, another power was expanding to the same place from the eastern direction. The Greek colonies located in Asia Minor were overtaken by the Persian Empire under the rule of King Darius. In the early 5th century B.C., the Ionian Greeks intended to revolt against the unwanted Persian rule. As they revolt against the Persians, they get help from Athens, “Once persuaded to accede to Aristagoras’ appeal, the Athenians passed a decree for the dispatch of twenty ships to Ionia…These ships were the beginning of evils for Greeks and barbarians” (Herodotus, 5.97). Because Athens helps her former colonies revolt against the tyrants appointed by Persia, Persia seeks revenge against Athens. The rapid colonization of the areas outside of mainland Greece, particularly to Asia Minor, created an inevitable conflict between the Greeks and the

The ship roman traders used for trading by sea was called the Corbitas. In Document 2, they described the trade ship as “ A round-hulled ship with curving prow and stern.” And also praising the Corbitas in context by stating “The Corbitas could carry a maximum of 600 passengers, or an alternative maximum of 6,000 jars of wine, oil, and other liquids; cargo weighing between 70 and 350 tons.” These trading ships also transported the surplus of goods faster than a cart could on land, Document 2 supports this by adding an example that stated “It took only two to three weeks for a ship to travel from Egypt to Rome.” And sea trade was so important romans built deep harbors in key locations to increase its effectiveness, at their peak, Rome constructed lighthouses in 40 different locations to help sailors navigate at night or in environments where their vision was obscured. Sea trade ultimately became Rome’s best and most efficient trading routes, and raked in a lot of money for Rome, and became one of Rome’s best economy boosters in their

Carthage was founded around 813 BCE by the Phoenician Queen Elissa also known as Dido. Originally the city was called Kart-hadasht, but the Greeks called it Karchedon and then the Romans changed it to Carthago. The city started off as only a small port on the coast used for short stops, however over time Carthage became the most powerful city in the Mediterranean before the progression of Rome. After the fall of the Phoenician city of Tyre in 332 BCE, Carthage became the new center of Phoenician trade with a harbor made up of 220 docks in a semi-circle. The Carthaginians enslaved and demanded money from native africans in the area and grew the city in size. They also became very successful in trading. In less then one hundred years Carthage became the richest city in the Mediterranean.

Communities in greece were isolated by water and mountains which took a big role, because of this settlements did not have much communication with each other. They were isolated from each other also because time over time the population of communities grew and they needed more land. To get more land they fought each other and this caused them to isolate from each other because they hated each other. In greece mainland it was very hard to travel because of the high mountains.They used carts to travel but because of rocks the wooden wheels broke. Only few of the rich people could afford horses. When traveling there were inns beside roads which offered shelter but no food and water. Travelers needed to bring there own things. When walking peoples foot would also get stuck in mud puddles. Greeks used the sea to travel but it was also hard because of the stormy nights and big waves in long journeys. They also had trouble trading because there trading material was narrowed down by a lot.

The people from Rome,China,India,and Persia that had a lot of gold,traded gold for salt. They traded stuff from the cities that were close to the trade routes and those cities were called "trading cities". The trading cities were so popular back then. The trading cities were located next to Oceans. Why were they had the trade cities next ocean ? Because back then people traveled by

These new colonies were influenced greatly by other established societies, like Egypt and the Phoenicians. An example of this would be the Phoenician ships that an early colony called the Minoans used. These ships then led to a massive development in Greek society, maritime trade. Since most of these Greek colonies were located on islands, the main way to travel was by water. People would trade with other settlements and use water travel to get there, and this rapidly changed the economies of different areas.

     In the beginning, the Italian town of Genoa was one of the busiest ports in Europe. Ships sailed from there to trade all over the Mediterranean Sea. In October of 1347, 12 merchant

Yet in the major cities by the mediterranean and the Atlantic ocean, most goods were transported via ships. Many of the public buildings in Rome had been built with Carrara marble shipped from the city of Carrara and Massa. It was much easier to ship the stone blocks, rather than carrying it. Carrara marble was not the only thing that needed to be shipped. Many different items were constantly being traded from the area of Alexandria to the city of Rome.

Shortly, economic, political, and social cooperation between the Greeks and those around them became compulsory and similar. As shown in the Greek Colonization Map (chapter3) the procedure of Greek settlement became stronger on the coasts of Anatolia lastingly changing the cultural geography of the Mediterranean world and the swap of cultures from the Greek to others and vice versa, as a fast result of trade. The western shores of Anatolia held the Greek culture strongly for the following thousands of years. A large amount of Greeks settled in southern parts of Italy which the Romans called Magna Graecia “Greater Greece.” The hunt for bazaars, possessions, and trade paths indorsed more understanding between cultures. Trade involving long distance was significant for a new arising economy but also the pipeline for concepts, and technical growth. Egyptians admired Greek’s pottery and wool while, the Greek’s revered the Egyptians Canaanite glass, and amulets. As seen in Egypt And Its Neighbors Map (Chapter 2) this led to a greater mutual

To the north, the Mediterranean Sea was the trade center of the world and allowed Ancient Egyptian trading to flourish. The Mediterranean is surrounded by land masses that allowed the Egyptian to trade with Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and nations such as the Greeks, Romans, and Macedonians. During the Roman Imperial period, the city of Alexandria flourished with its shipping trade from the Mediterranean. Egypt became the bread-basket of