The Phoenicians Research Paper

The Phoenicians were located in the northern part of Canaan. What is known about the Phoenicians comes from the Bible, the writings of other ancient people, the ruins of their cities and ships. The Phoenicians were part of a large group known as the Canaanites. The Canaanites came from the south and east part of the desert in Canaan. The Phoenicians wandered from pasture to pasture known as herders. Phoenicians built cities and towns along a narrow strip of land between the mountains and the sea by 1200 B.C. Phoenicia never became a united country, mountains separated one group of Phoenicians from another. Phoenicia remained of independent city-states. The largest city-states were Tyre, Byblos, Beirut, and Sidon. The Phoenicians believed in many gods. They thought the gods met people only …show more content…
The Phoenicians started as coastal traders, then became widely traveled merchant shippers who controlled the trade of the Mediterranean. They exchanged cloth, cedar logs, glass trinkets, and perfume for gold and other metals.
The Phoenicians also created an alphabet that spread, making it easier for people of different nations communicate. The Canaanite system had 22 symbols/ letters from which any numbers of words could be formed. They colonized the Western Mediterranean and left their influence there. They contributed a lot to Greek culture and, indirectly, to Roman culture.
The Hebrews or Israelites were a small group among the peoples of the ancient Middle East. Their religion had a great influence on the world’s civilization. Their religion is called Judaism, which still exists today. Some Hebrews were nomadic (wandering herders) and some were traveling merchants. Hebrew artisans made goods from gold, copper, and ivory. They sold their goods by traveling on donkeys, going up the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates. They exchanged their good for