Origin and history of PHENICIS

Undoubtedly, one of the most important ancient peoples are the Phoenicians, a people of Semitic origin that towards the 12th century BC. C. it made up the first cities on the Syro-Palestinian coast. In this lesson from a TEACHER we bring you a summary of the origin and history of the Phoenicians in which we will see its evolution, its society, its economy and its religion; in this way, we will be able to understand the legacy it left after the end of its existence.

Index

1. History of the Phoenician people
2. Phoenician society
3. Economy and religion of the Phoenicians

We begin our summary of the origin and history of the Phoenicians, focusing on the origin of this. The Phoenician people come from the Semitic branch and they came to the Syro-Palestine coast around the 12th century BC. C. along with the Hebrew people.

The problem they had, however, was that the portion of land between the sea and the mountain ranges were minimal, forcing them from the beginning to jump into the sea in search of food with which stocking up. Soon they began to carry out commercial exchanges with Egypt and Crete, creating a backbone of trade.

From the beginning, we will see how this people never came to be united, that is, we will find city-states that at many moments in history would face each other. In fact, there will be few occasions in which they would unite because only in the face of great adversity did they unite their banners.

The major cities that we will find will be:

• ByblosIts main characteristic is that it had a large port and during the Egyptian expansion it was a large imported papyrus, hence its name.
• Sidon: they were the main promoters of trade in the eastern Mediterranean, being therefore one of the great colonizers of that place.
• Threw: Its importance will be enormous, since it was the backbone of the colonies of the center and the western Mediterranean, even reaching the British Isles and the Baltic Sea. In the same way, they even skirted the entire African continent.

We know that the Phoenician people will soon began to create free ports in other places to trade with the indigenous peoples of the area looking for elements such as precious metals or raw materials. In return, they used to entertain their bosses with manufactured products, which allowed them on many occasions to create colonies in these territories.

The most important colonies were the following:

• Carthage: founded by inhabitants of Tire, at first it was a colony of these, to which they had to pay a series of annual tributes. Over time, at a time of decline of the city, they became independent, and began their expansion through the Mediterranean, annexing the Phoenician colonies that were around.
• Gades: within the Phoenician colonies established in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, we can say that this was the most important, due to its strategic position and the fact that from there the fishing of the famous tuna. It was also one of the colonies that had a great impact on the peoples of the southern peninsula, reaching a strong orientalization in the area.
• Hispalis: Being rather a commercial port, its importance resides in the orientalization that it left in the peripheral towns, as was the case of Tartesos.

After the year 333 a. C. the city-states had disappeared being absorbed by the great empires of the time such as, first, the Assyrian Empire and later the Persian.

Image: Universal History

Within our summary of the origin and history of the Phoenicians, we must comment on the social structure that defined this civilization:

• King: the Phoenician kings never had total power over the cities, since there was a council of elders to whom they had to listen with great caution.
• Nobles: Coming from the great founding families of the cities, they used to hold the most important positions within the administration. Many of them also paid for commercial companies.
• Merchants: They were practically in the same ranks as the nobles, since their city depended on the large commercial contracts they made.
• Town: we will find both farmers and artisans, who manufactured the materials they brought the merchants, which later were sold in the places from which they had taken said materials cousins.
• Slaves: coming in many cases from commercial exchanges, they used to serve in the houses of the wealthy or in temples.

Image: History and universal geography

Now we stop at the most important part of this civilization, since commerce was the backbone of society since the lands, although fertile, were scarce, so the great profits came from commercial exchanges that were carried out.

Similarly, we know that they soon began to coin the coin that was used for the purchase / sale of materials or objects. These exchanges were usually carried out in the temples to give assurance that the exchanges were honest; in fact, it was the temples themselves that functioned as a bank in economic transactions.

Regarding their deities, we know that they were polytheistsAlthough the main god was Melkar, the most famous temple of this being the one located in the city of Gades, in which, according to the texts, Julius Caesar himself wanted to visit.

Image: Slideshare

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