Why Were The Greek People Called The Phoenicians

Archaeologists noticed that these items did not come from a central location, but came from several specific locations. By analyzing the artifacts, archaeologists are able to determine which cultures came into contact and traded with each other. Through isotope analysis, it was determined that the copper ingots were from the island of Cyprus. The pottery was similar to those found throughout Canaan. Also in the wreck, there were logs of blackwood which grew in primarily Africa. There were also glass ingots that were the same as glass found in Egypt and Mycenaean Greece. In addition, there was ivory from elephants and hippopotamus primarily from Syria. Since all of these items were on one trading vessel, archaeologists were able to determine that there was “a vast trade network was well established among various racial and linguistic groups centered on the Mediterranean, from subtropical Africa and the Near East to northern Europe” (Bass 699). Therefore, underwater archaeology shows that there was multicultural trade during the Late Bronze Age. The various civilizations along the Mediterranean coast worked together in a cooperative fashion and relied on each other in order to thrive during the Late Bronze Age. In addition, trade was not localized but widespread throughout the Mediterranean.

The Phoenicians, the original ancient mariners, are responsible for transforming cuneiform into a more efficient writing system by paring down the somewhat ungainly number of 5,000 cuneiform characters into 29 characters. Adopted around 1000 B.C.E., the Phoenician alphabet was not a collection of pictographs like many early forms of writing, but instead a close relative of many modern writing systems.11 The sophisticated navy and extensive trade network of Phoenicia ensured that this new version of cuneiform would quickly spread to its ancient neighbors. Phoenicia’s alphabet would soon be adopted by the Greeks, who also refined and perfected this writing system to meet their own needs; likewise the Romans, eager inheritors of all things Greek, adopted the alphabet for their own use. It could be said that the highly adaptive descendants of cuneiform formed the basis for the literature of the Classical world. The Phoenician cuneiform alphabet was also adopted by Jewish culture, providing a medium for Hebrew narrative and progressive sense of history, another innovation

In western ancient world, there were kings who tried to bring the world come together ideologically, culturally and politically. This caused lots of cultural exchange between people and help them understand and respect each other’s ways of life. On the other hand, politically, it created a lot of major wars. It took a large amount of resources and decades to end these wars. As a result of these wars, most kingdoms suffered from both economical and political problems. Therefore, it is fair to say that Greek/Hellenistic civilization could be characterized as being a period of intellectual and cultural achievement but political failure.

During the ancient times each civilization had their own views on how they wanted their society to be and what they believed in. For every individual there was a different meaning of what it meant to be human depending on their way of life and the practices they follow. Every civilization whether it is Rome, Mesopotamia, Greece, etc worshiped a God or many Gods and had their own way of thinking about the supernatural. Two ancient civilizations that had different views on government and religion are the Ancient Hebrews and Ancient Greeks. The Greeks were polytheistic and had an aristocracy and democracy and the Hebrews were monotheistic and were ruled by a monarchy.

The city of Napata gained its fame from the religious significance of Gebel Barkal. The Egyptians promoted the belief the primary form of their god dwelt inside the pure mountain Gebel Barkal. Egypt’s sun-god Amun was represented as either a man with a ram head or as a crowned ram with a solar disk. It seems as though the Egyptians identified their pre-existing god from the land of Nubia as a local form of their own supreme god Amun who was considered to be the important source of the royal power of Egypt and Kush. The city of Meroe located on the east bank of the Nile, was the second urban center of the binary kingdoms of Kush. This city became the permanent royal residence of the Kushite Kings of Napata in the fifth century BC. Nubian pottery from the earliest periods represented the basic plastic material employed in Nubia and Egypt. Primitive drawings and engravings on Nubian pottery had a form identified of some geometric and symbolic patterns. These forms have been used on the surface of decorated pottery such as circles, squares, or triangles which represented the initial signs of most ancient civilizations. During the Neolithic period, people of this time covered their tools and pottery products with different forms, not particularly of art, but rather for recording their idea of life. Although these forms represent hidden symbols with no clear meaning, its purpose or goal was to help unleash the human mind while imagining its

Opening up a new and more productive way of communication, the alphabet made recording financial deals much easier. Face-to-face encounters weren't the only way to converse with a friend or loved one. Phoenicians began to write letters which they could send across great distances. The wide exposure of the Phoenician alphabet to many outsiders in the Fertile Crescent illustrates how important trade was in Phoenician life. This cultural diffusion reveals, that ultimately, Phoenicians exchanged goods with all territories that had seaports. In addition to the wide-range trading Phoenicians endured, their alphabet displays that their society was forward-thinking and advanced, for education played a huge role in Phoenician civilization.

The descendant of Sidon the firstborn of Canaan were the original inhabitants of the land of Lebanon (Judges 3:3). These same Canaanite tribe were anciently famous and remarkable in manufacturing of arts and craftsmanship and had great reputations on their trades. Their skills drawn the attention of king Solomon which led him to contract the Canaanite Sidonian to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem with the help of Hiram who was the chief architectural planner, surveyor and a builder (2 Chronicles 2:1-18; 1 Kings 5:1-9). King Hiram sent Huram-abi one of his trusted counselor whose mother was from the tribe of Dan, and father was a Canaanite Tyre, and he was well skilled in all areas of architectural buildings (2 Chronicles

Phoenicians- a major element of the the ancient population of Syria-Palestine, referred to themselves as Can’ani, during a period of violent upheaval and mass migrations many Canaanite cities were destroyed, by 1100 B.C.E. their territory had shrunk to a narrow strip of present day Lebanon, where new political forms were adopted and new forms of commerce and manufacture were necessary for survival. Territory was split up into city states; Byblos Berytus, Sidon, and Tyre, thriving trade in raw materials and luxury goods brought considerable wealth and gave them an important role in international politics, developed an earlier Canaanite model into an “alphabetic” system with around two dozen symbols which represented a sound, very few records

The Egyptians achieved and invented a lot of stuff that we still use today. One of the main achievements that they are known for are the pyramids. The pyramids were used as royal tombs for their past pharaohs. Another achievement that they are widely known for is the Great Sphinx of Giza. They built these sphinxes to protect the tombs of their past pharaohs. The Egyptians also invented the calendar that we still use as of today. The Egyptians main system of writing was called hieroglyphics. Then later on they stopped using hieroglyphics and they started using demonic script because hieroglyphics took too much time to write.

My ancestors are the Phoenician people who vanished from history 2,000 years ago. They are the one that created the alphabets and taught us to read.

they came up with the world’s first written language called cuneiform in order for doing

they had some differences but many similarities, and they were first started along the Nile River. Even though the Egyptian Civilization seemed the strongest, the Sumerian Civilization was the first to create writing and government. " Their writing system was called cuneiform and was named after the wedge shaped writing implement used". ( Rachel, 2009) Egyptians developed what was called hieroglyphics written on the papyrus leaf.

The Minoans maintained a massive and impressive fleet of ships.   Evidence of Minoan products and cultural influences have been found in mainland Greece, Asia Minor, the entire Mediterranean coast of the Middle East, and even as far as Egypt. Products and artistic ideas from each of these cultures have also been found in Minoan Crete, so we can tell that there was a high degree of exchange between these groups. Religion: The Minoan civilisation was primarily a polytheist group, which was the larger religious group in the ancient east region.

Kassites- Nomadic people from the Zagros Mountains who spoke non-Semitic language, and by 1460 B.C.E. a Kassite dynasty had come to power in Babylon. Names were kept from their language but otherwise embraced Babylonian culture and ways. During their time in power they defended a core area, and traded raw material but no conquests for land were made. (66-69)

Trade, along with the previous two origin stories examined, is a difficult practice to pinpoint in an exact location and time. Evidence for trade does occur sometime before the introduction of writing, however, for the purpose of this paper, the trade being examined here is what scholars call “organized trade.” Early evidence for “organized trade” is seen in the late Neolithic period to the Early Bronze age in Mesopotamia, specifically in the Ubaid to early Uruk periods. While the text portrays the invention of writing and cuneiform texts as a means for Enmerkar to communicate with the Lord of Aratta, the archaeological record tells a different story. Clay documents found at the site of Uruk and surrounding areas during the 3000’s B.C. show