sistema de comércio fenício
Economia fenícia, comércio e navegação.
Não há dúvida de que os fenícios exploraram a pequena extensão de terra arável tanto quanto podiam, forçando o cultivo até as encostas das montanhas libanesas e usando os cursos de água para a irrigação. O terreno que era possível inundar permitiu-lhes cultivar cereais, enquanto a terra rochosa estava restrita às plantações. O sistema de cultivo dos cereais, em particular dos cereais, deve ter permanecido em uso até recentemente. As estelas púnicas mostram um arado muito simples que, segundo Mago, era puxado por bois e tem uma grande semelhança com o moderno arado berbere e sírio. Parece, portanto, que o arado fenício era semelhante. Rodas de pedra, encontradas em condições mais ou menos boas, devem ter sido usadas para moer.
Videiras, azeitonas, figos e tamareiras eram as plantações mais comuns. Certas pedras grandes com buracos, encontradas na Fenícia, podem ter sido prensas de oliva e uva, e é provável que os sistemas de vinificação descritos por Mago e Columella no Ocidente tenham sido importados da terra natal. Outra plantação generalizada em Cartago, a romã, também foi provavelmente importada da Fenícia.
Finalmente, a água potável nas cidades fenícias, e acima de tudo nas ilhas, foi obtida através de grandes cisternas que reuniam a chuva. Os arqueólogos trouxeram à luz os seus restos mortais e Estrabão faz uma interessante descrição do modo como os habitantes de Aradus usavam uma nascente que jorrava no mar: aparentemente deixavam um funil de chumbo na nascente, ligado a um tubo de couro que Levou a água direto para a ilha.
O fator mais importante na economia fenícia foi a exploração das florestas de cedro e abeto, que forneciam aos valo - res vizinhos madeira valiosa. Fontes egípcias mencionam esse comércio desde o início da história, particularmente com Byblos. E no período em que estamos preocupados, tanto a Bíblia quanto as fontes da Mesopotâmia nos fornecem as informações mencionadas no capítulo sobre a história. Além disso, um relevo de Sargão II mostra navios carregando grandes troncos de árvores. É claro que o comércio com o Egito era feito por mar, enquanto que, para a Mesopotâmia, as caravanas eram usadas até o rio Eufrates e os troncos transportados ao longo do rio. Um relato interessante deste meio de transporte é dado por uma inscrição de Nabucodonosor que ecomeia uma expedição realizada no Líbano, montanha de cedros, floresta verde com ar perfumado: Com a força de Nabu e Marduk, meus senhores, eu armei minhas tropas por um tempo. expedição no Líbano. Eu expulsei o inimigo acima e abaixo, trouxe felicidade ao coração da terra. A população dispersa reuni e trouxe de volta para sua casa. O que nenhum rei fizera antes fiz: Fiz montanhas altas, cortei blocos de pedra das montanhas, abri caminhos, preparei estradas para o transporte dos cedros. No canal de Avakhtu, como se fossem juncos do rio, eu flutuava grandes cedros, altos e fortes, de grande beleza, de aspecto imponente, produto rico do Líbano, e os levava diante de Marduk, o rei. A pedra também foi usada pelos fenícios. O costume de cortar túmulos na rocha é uma prova de seu uso e grandes blocos foram retirados das pedreiras para construir as muralhas da cidade. Em muitos casos, o método de construir com blocos brutos foi provavelmente anterior ao uso de blocos quadrados, embora a técnica não possa ser considerada uma prova definitiva. Os caixões de pedra são uma indicação adicional da trabalhabilidade da pedra.
A principal indústria fenícia era têxteis. Homero refere-se em várias ocasiões às muitas vestimentas coloridas dos sidônios, e os asiáticos retratados em monumentos egípcios usam trajes igualmente coloridos. Os fenícios eram famosos por morrerem seus tecidos com o murex trunculus ou murex brandaris, conchas outrora muito comuns no mar ao largo da costa fenícia, mas que gradualmente desapareceram através de intensa exploração. O murex morto segrega um líquido que, quando aplicado ao material branco, o colore de violeta, e esta é a cor púrpura que está ligada ao nome dos fenícios. De acordo com a intensidade do líquido e a duração de sua exposição ao sol, a cor pode variar de rosa a violeta escuro. Além da vasta evidência literária, a indústria púrpura fenícia é atestada pelos imensos depósitos de conchas encontrados perto de Sidon e Tiro. Ao sul de Sidon há uma colina perto da qual se compõe literalmente de camadas de conchas de vários metros de espessura: presumivelmente os receptáculos em que os peixes foram expostos até que putrefaram e segregaram seu líquido foram colocados a uma distância considerável da cidade por causa do pungente. cheiro. Depósitos de conchas também foram descobertos no Ocidente, provando assim a disseminação desta indústria na área colonial.
O vidro foi outra notável indústria das cidades fenícias após o século VII. É provável que a afirmação de Plínio de que os fenícios inventaram esta indústria esteja correta. É certamente verdade que os fenícios desenvolveram a indústria porque usaram vidro transparente. O vidro também existia no Egito, mas o vidro egípcio era opaco, sugerindo uma evolução muito maior na Fenícia. Somente no primeiro século aC foi uma outra invenção desenvolvida pelos fenícios: a arte de soprar vidro.
Seu trabalho fino de metal e marfim indica ampla atividade comercial: o cobre veio de Chipre, prata e ouro da Etiópia e talvez da Anatólia, embora houvesse minas de cobre e ferro em Wadi Araba, que Salomão explorou amplamente, marfim da índia ou Punt. Tudo isso mostra a importância da rota do Mar Vermelho, que deu acesso tanto à costa africana como à índia.
O comércio fenício é provavelmente melhor descrito pelos profetas hebreus, que condenaram as cidades fenícias e contrastaram seu esplendor do passado com sua futura ruína. Em relação a Sidom, e especialmente a Tiro, temos as profecias de Isaías, Jeremias e, o mais abrangente de todos, Ezequiel:
Ó Tiro, tu disseste, sou de perfeita beleza. Tuas fronteiras estão no meio dos mares, teus construtores aperfeiçoaram tua beleza. Eles fizeram todas as tuas tábuas de navios de Senir: eles tomaram cedros do Líbano para fazer mastros para ti. Dos carvalhos de Hasã fizeram os seus remos; a companhia dos asuritas fez os teus bancos de marfim, trazidos das ilhas de Quitim. O linho fino, com a obra bordada do Egito, foi o que tu estendeste para ser a tua vela; O azul e o roxo das ilhas de Elisás era o que te cobria. Os habitantes de Sidon e Aradus eram teus marinheiros; os teus sábios, ó Tiro, que estavam em ti, foram os teus pilotos. Os anciãos de Gebal e os seus sábios foram em ti os teus calcedores; todos os navios do mar com os seus marinheiros estavam em ti para ocupar as tuas mercadorias. Os da Pérsia, de Lude e de Fute estavam no teu exército, homens de guerra, e em ti penduravam o escudo e o elmo; eles apresentam sua beleza. Os homens de Arade com o teu exército estavam nas tuas muros ao redor, e os gaminadins estavam nas tuas torres; eles penduraram os seus escudos nos teus muros ao redor; eles fizeram a tua beleza perfeita. Társis era teu comerciante em razão da multidão de todos os tipos de riquezas; com prata, ferro, estanho e chumbo eles negociavam em tuas feiras. Javan, Tubal e Meseque eram os teus mercadores: eles negociavam as pessoas de homens e vasos de latão na tua feira. Os da casa de Togarma negociavam nas tuas feiras com cavalos e cavaleiros e mulas. Os homens de Dedan eram teus mercadores; muitas ilhas eram a mercadoria da tua mão: trouxeram-te para um presente chifres de marfim e ébano. A Síria, por causa da multidão das tuas obras, era tua mercadora: ocupavam em tuas feiras com esmeraldas, trabalhos de púrpura e bordados, linho fino, coral e ágata. Judá e a terra de Israel, eles eram os teus mercadores; eles negociavam no teu mercado trigo de Minite, Pannag, mel, azeite e bálsamo. Damasco era teu mercador na multidão das tuas obras, pela multidão de todas as riquezas; no vinho de Helbon e lã branca. Dan também e Javan, indo e voltando em suas feiras: ferro brilhante, cássia e cálamo estavam em teu mercado. Dedan era teu mercador em roupas preciosas para carruagens. A Arábia e todos os príncipes de Quedar, eles ocuparam contigo em cordeiros, em carneiros e em cabritos, em que foram eles os teus mercadores. Os mercadores de Seba e Raamá, eles eram os teus mercadores: eles ocuparam em tuas feiras com todas as especiarias principais, e com todas as pedras preciosas e ouro. Harã, e Canne e Éden, os mercadores de Sabá, Assur e Quilom eram teus mercadores. Estes eram os teus mercadores em toda sorte de vestes, de vestes azuis e de bordados, e em cofres de ricas vestes, amarrados com cordas e feitos de cedro, entre as tuas mercadorias. Os navios de Társis cantavam de ti no teu mercado; e tu ficaste repleto e glorificado no meio dos mares.
A profecia é de grande importância, pois reconstrói em detalhes únicos a atividade comercial de uma cidade fenícia. Pode haver alguma dúvida sobre a identificação das localidades mencionadas e a natureza exata das mercadorias, mas o quadro geral é mais impressionante e mostra a incrível abundância e intensidade do comércio de Tyrian. Para completar, há relatos de outros profetas, como Isaías, que fala do comércio exterior de Sidom em grãos egípcios, e os fatos históricos sobre a frota de Hiram, que importou ouro, pedras preciosas e madeira da região de Ofir (provavelmente do sul). Arábia), enquanto de Társis trouxe de volta madeira, prata, marfim, macacos e pavões.
Por falta de bússola, a navegação era realizada sob a orientação da Ursa Menor e da Estrela do Norte, que os gregos chamavam de "A Estrela Fenícia". Os navios geralmente não iam longe para o mar: os fenícios provavelmente fundaram seus estágios de desembarque em uma viagem de um dia à parte, para poderem se abrigar no continente à noite. No entanto, eles não foram dissuadidos pelos destinos mais distantes e fizeram uso especial das ilhas como ancoradouros em mar aberto.
De acordo com Heródoto, a viagem mais distante que os marinheiros fenícios empreenderam foi a circunavegação do continente africano, realizada sob as ordens do faraó Neco c. 600 aC A jornada supostamente demorou três anos e os navegadores navegaram para o oeste a partir do Mar Vermelho. O fato de que o sol estava à direita deles quando passaram pela ponta da África é a prova de que o jounery foi feito. Heródoto escreve (4.42): Quanto à Líbia (África), sabemos que ela deve ser lavada de todos os lados pelo mar, exceto onde está ligada à Ásia. Esta descoberta foi feita pela primeira vez por Necos, o rei egípcio, que ao desistir do canal que ele havia começado entre o Nilo eo Golfo da Arábia, enviou para o mar um número de navios tripulados por fenícios, com ordens para fazer as Colunas de Hércules. e retorne ao Egito através deles e pelo Mediterrâneo. Os fenícios tomaram a sua partida do Egito através do mar Eritreu, e assim navegaram para o oceano do sul. Quando o outono chegou, eles desembarcaram, onde quer que estivessem, e semeando um pedaço de terra com milho, esperaram até que o grão estivesse pronto para ser cortado. Tendo colhido, eles novamente navegaram; e assim aconteceu que passaram dois anos inteiros, e só no terceiro ano dobraram as Colunas de Hércules e fizeram sua viagem de volta para casa. Ao retornarem, declararam - eu, de minha parte, não acredito neles, mas talvez outros possam - que, navegando pela Líbia, tivessem o sol à sua direita. Desta forma, a extensão da Líbia foi descoberta pela primeira vez. Duas viagens subseqüentes foram realizadas em Cartago: c 450 por Himilco, que navegou pela Espanha até as Ilhas Britânicas, uma área conhecida pelos fenícios como "Terra do Estanho". e C. 425 por Hanno, que parece ter navegado através dos Pilares de Hércules até o Golfo da Guiné.
Usando a rota marítima de Himilco, de Cartago até a Inglaterra, pelo Estreito de Gibraltar, os fenícios puderam negociar diretamente com a Grã-Bretanha, já que o comércio de estanho era controlado pelas pessoas que viviam na área que hoje é a França.
A famosa expedição do rei Hanno é contada em detalhes vívidos em uma tabuinha encontrada nas ruínas do templo de Cronos, em Cartago. Conhecido como O Periplus de Hanno, é uma tradução grega de um texto púnico que narra a missão de Hanno. Essas viagens, realizadas não a partir da Fenícia, mas de Cartago, parecem ser a continuação natural de uma expansão e arte naval da qual os fenícios eram mestres. Hanno partiu com 60 navios e milhares de colonos. Eles navegaram para o sul ao longo da costa africana, estabelecendo colônias ou postos comerciais ao longo do caminho. Eles passaram pelo "Chifre do Oeste", provavelmente Dakar ou Cabo Palmas, até chegarem a um imponente vulcão em plena erupção, que chamaram de "A Carruagem dos Deuses" e que a maioria dos especialistas concorda que provavelmente seja o Monte Camarões, com seus 13.000 pés. pico vulcânico.
Viagens fenícias de descoberta podem não ter se aventurado pelo Atlântico. Houve uma evidência na forma de mapas em moedas fenícias para sugerir que eles também podem ter descoberto a América. Diversos textos clássicos reforçam essa teoria. Por exemplo, no século I aC, Diodoro da Sicília escreveu: “Nas profundezas da África há uma ilha de tamanho considerável - frutífera, grande parte montanhosa - através dela flui rios navegáveis. Os fenícios a haviam descoberto por acaso após terem plantado. muitas colônias em toda a África. Durante suas viagens, os fenícios parecem ter recorrido à pirataria e se especializaram em sequestrar meninos e meninas para serem vendidos como escravos em outros países. Assim, na Odisséia, Eumeus conta que 'fenícios, homens famosos por seus navios, gananciosos, trazendo inúmeras bugigangas em seu navio negro', chegaram ao seu país quando ele era criança. Eles organizaram com a enfermeira fenícia do palácio para levar tanto a enfermeira quanto a criança a fim de vendê-los à escravidão. Novamente na Odisséia, Ulisses conta que um fenício o levou para sua terra sob o pretexto de transportar a carga até a Líbia com ele, mas na verdade para vendê-lo como escravo. Outras evidências são fornecidas por Heródoto: Lo, filha de Inácio, foi seqüestrada pelos fenícios, que a levaram para o Egito; As sacerdotisas tebanas foram raptadas no Egipto para serem enviadas para a Líbia. No todo, porém, as atividades piratas devem ter sido bastante limitadas, caso contrário, teriam comprometido as relações comerciais às quais os fenícios atribuíam grande importância, e havia também uma diferença entre a pirataria e o tráfico organizado de escravos, que era legal e considerado parte do comércio comercial normal. atividade.
Comércio no mundo fenício.
publicado em 01 de abril de 2016.
Os fenícios, baseados em uma estreita faixa costeira do Levante, colocaram em prática suas excelentes habilidades marítimas e criaram uma rede de colônias e centros comerciais em todo o Mediterrâneo antigo. Suas principais rotas de comércio eram por mar até as ilhas gregas, pelo sul da Europa, pela costa atlântica da África e até a antiga Grã-Bretanha. Além disso, a Arábia e a Índia foram alcançadas através do Mar Vermelho, e vastas áreas da Ásia Ocidental estavam conectadas à terra natal por meio de rotas terrestres onde os bens eram transportados por caravanas. No século IX aC, os fenícios haviam se estabelecido como uma das maiores potências comerciais do mundo antigo.
Extensão Geográfica.
O comércio e a procura de bens valiosos exigiam o estabelecimento de postos de comércio permanentes e, como os navios fenícios geralmente navegavam perto da costa e apenas durante o dia, as estações de caminho regulares também. Esses outposts se tornaram mais firmemente estabelecidos para controlar o comércio de commodities específicas disponíveis naquele local específico. Com o tempo, estes se desenvolveram ainda mais para se tornarem colônias completas, de modo que uma influência fenícia permanente se estendeu por toda a costa do antigo Mediterrâneo e do Mar Vermelho. Seus navios de carga de vela única, de fundo largo, transportavam mercadorias do Líbano para a costa atlântica da África, da Grã-Bretanha e até das Ilhas Canárias, e levavam as mercadorias de volta à direção oposta, parando em centros comerciais em qualquer outro lugar. O comércio também não era restrito a rotas marítimas, já que caravanas fenícias também operavam em toda a Ásia Ocidental, atingindo zonas de comércio bem estabelecidas, como a Mesopotâmia e a Índia.
Propaganda.
O comércio marítimo fenício pode, portanto, ser dividido naquelas de suas colônias e com outras civilizações de comércio. Conseqüentemente, os fenícios não apenas importavam o que precisavam e exportavam o que eles próprios cultivavam e fabricavam, mas também podiam atuar como intermediários, transportando mercadorias como papiros, têxteis, metais e especiarias entre as muitas civilizações com as quais tinham contato. Eles poderiam, assim, obter enormes ganhos vendendo uma mercadoria com um valor baixo, como óleo ou cerâmica, para outra, como a lata ou a prata, que não era ela mesma valorizada por seus produtores, mas que poderia obter preços enormes em outros lugares. Fenícios mercantis aparecem em todos os tipos de fontes antigas, desde relevos da Mesopotâmia até as obras de Homero e Heródoto, da arte da tumba egípcia até o Livro de Ezequiel na Bíblia. Os fenícios eram o equivalente aos caminhões de transporte internacionais de hoje e tão onipresentes.
Métodos de troca.
Tal como acontece com muitas outras civilizações antigas, os fenícios comercializavam mercadorias usando uma variedade de métodos. Os bens de prestígio poderiam ser trocados como presentes recíprocos, mas estes poderiam ser mais do que sinais mútuos de boa vontade, pois, ao conceder ao receptor uma obrigação, eles eram um método para iniciar parcerias comerciais. Os bens de luxo dados como presentes também podem ter sido uma tentativa deliberada dos fenícios de criar uma demanda por mais itens e ajudar os fenícios a adquirir os recursos locais que eles cobiçavam.
As mercadorias poderiam ser coletadas como uma forma de tributo em troca de proteção militar ou sob compulsão. Estes foram então armazenados em grandes quantidades e depois redistribuídos localmente ou comercializados em outro lugar. As mercadorias poderiam ser trocadas e trocadas em espécie no local. Alternativamente, e talvez o método mais comum empregado pelos fenícios, os bens poderiam ser comprados ou vendidos de maneira relativamente controlada, onde as quantidades e os preços eram fixados antecipadamente através da elaboração de acordos comerciais e tratados controlados pelo Estado. O valor de troca dos bens era, portanto, fixo e, portanto, a cunhagem era desnecessária, o que não quer dizer que não houvesse um sistema de valores arbitrariamente escritos e arranjos de crédito. Os fenícios podem não ter produzido moedas precisamente porque o seu comércio era verdadeiramente internacional e não tinham qualquer utilidade para moedas que não podiam ser usadas longe do local da sua casa da moeda.
Propaganda.
O comércio completamente livre, onde os preços flutuam devido à oferta e à demanda, é um mecanismo que alguns historiadores consideraram não estar em operação antes do século IV aC, mas a opinião é muito debatida entre os estudiosos. O comércio fenício era, então, realizado por funcionários do Estado trabalhando em comissão, mas também por consórcios de comerciantes intimamente associados a famílias reais. Estes últimos teriam sido nobres de alto nível, como descrito em Isaías 23: 8, "Tiro, a cidade que coroa, cujos mercadores são príncipes, cujos traficantes são os honrados da terra". Talvez por volta do século VIII aC a quantidade de comércio realizada por comerciantes privados aumentou e a intervenção direta do Estado foi reduzida, novamente, o ponto ainda está sujeito ao debate acadêmico. O comércio de bens ocorria com maior frequência em centros comerciais sancionados pelo estado, que eram geralmente reconhecidos como neutros pelos diferentes estados regionais. A cidade fenícia de Tiro é um exemplo clássico.
Bens Exportados - Madeira.
Phoenicia era uma mera faixa costeira apoiada por montanhas. Apesar da escassez de terras disponíveis, eles conseguiram produzir cereais através da irrigação do terreno arável e cultivar em uma escala limitada alimentos como azeitonas, figos, tâmaras, nozes, amêndoas, romãs, ameixas, damascos, melões, abóboras, pepinos e vinho. No entanto, os fenícios eram mais conhecidos como exportadores de madeira. Essa commodity vinha de suas abundantes florestas de cedro e abeto e era comercializada desde o início da história registrada. O cedro é uma árvore alta com uma espessura grossa, tornando-o ideal para madeira. Também tem o benefício adicional de possuir um odor aromático. A Mesopotâmia e o Egito eram os clientes mais notáveis, os primeiros recebendo seus troncos em uma caravana até o rio Eufrates, enquanto os navios levavam a floresta para a costa africana. O comércio é registrado em relevos de Sargão II e uma inscrição de Nabucodonosor. De acordo com o historiador George Rawlinson, madeira de cedro fenícia foi usada pelo rei Salomão para seu célebre templo, por Herodes no Templo de Zerubbabel, e pelos efésios pelo teto do Templo de Ártemis em Éfeso, uma das Sete Maravilhas. do mundo antigo.
A outra famosa exportação fenícia eram têxteis que usavam lã, fios de linho, algodão e, mais tarde, seda. A lã (ovelha e cabra) provavelmente dominou e veio de Damasco e da Arábia. O fio de linho foi importado do Egito, enquanto a seda veio da Pérsia. Tomando essas matérias-primas, os fenícios os transformaram em itens exclusivamente coloridos, especialmente roupas e tapetes. Roupas finas multicoloridas da Fenícia são referenciadas tanto em Homero - onde Paris dá a Helen um presente do pano antes de levá-la para Tróia - quanto na arte egípcia ao retratar os fenícios de Sidon. Os tecidos tingidos foram então exportados de volta, por exemplo, para Memphis, onde os fenícios tinham até seu próprio bairro na cidade.
Propaganda.
Pano tingido de roxo (na verdade tons variando de rosa a violeta) usando fluido do Murex trunculus, Purpura lapillus, Helix ianthina, e especialmente o marisco brandure Murex trouxe a fama fenícia em todo o mundo antigo. Vivendo em águas relativamente profundas, essas conchas foram capturadas em armadilhas iscadas de flutuadores. O corante foi então extraído de milhares de mariscos putrefatos deixados para assar ao sol. Tão populares eram estes têxteis que vastos depósitos das conchas foram escavados nos arredores de Sidon e Tiro, e a espécie quase foi levada à extinção ao longo das costas da Fenícia. O tecido da mais alta qualidade era conhecido como Dibapha, significando & ndash; mergulhado duas vezes & # 39; na tintura roxa. Os fenícios não apenas exportaram o tecido tingido, mas também o processo de extração do corante, como indicam os depósitos de conchas encontrados nas colônias fenícias do outro lado do Mediterrâneo. Além de suas cores vivas, os tecidos fenícios também eram famosos pelos seus belos bordados. Desenhos populares incluíam motivos repetidos, como escaravelhos, rosetas, globos alados, flores de lótus e monstros míticos.
Os fenícios também negociavam objetos de vidro. Os egípcios já eram produtores de longa data, mas a partir do século 7 aC os fenícios começaram a produzir vidros transparentes, em oposição a objetos de vidro meramente opacos. Importantes centros de produção de vidro foram Sidon, Tyre e Sarepta. O vidro transparente era usado para fabricar espelhos, pratos e copos, mas os fenícios pareciam ter apreciado vidros coloridos semitransparentes (azul, amarelo, verde e marrom) para suas produções mais elaboradas, bem como para jóias e pequenas placas que eram costurado na roupa. O vidro fenício, especialmente na forma de pequenos frascos de perfume, foi encontrado em lugares distantes como Chipre, Sardenha e Rodes.
Bens importados.
Os fenícios importavam metais, especialmente cobre de Chipre, prata e ferro da Espanha e ouro da Etiópia (e possivelmente da Anatólia). Essa matéria-prima foi transformada em embarcações ornamentadas e objetos de arte em oficinas fenícias e depois exportada. Estanho (da Grã-Bretanha), chumbo (Scilly Isles e Espanha) e brassware também foram negociados, o último principalmente vindo da Espanha. O marfim era importado de Punt ou da índia, como era ébano, ambos chegando à Fenícia via Arábia. Amber veio ou da costa do Báltico ou do Adriático e foi usado em jóias fenícias. Linho e grãos bordados eram importados do Egito e tecidos finos e trabalhados da Mesopotâmia. Grãos, cevada, mel e madeira de carvalho usada para remos em navios fenícios vieram da Palestina.
Os mercados fenícios também eram negociados em escravos (da Cilícia e da Frígia, mas também capturados pelos próprios fenícios), ovelhas (Arábia), cavalos e mulas (Armênia), cabras, lã (Damasco e Arábia), coral, perfumes (Judá e Israel). Ágata e pedras preciosas como esmeraldas (da Síria e Sabá). Especiarias vinham da península arábica (algumas vindas da distante Índia) e incluíam canela, cálamo, cássia, ladanum, incenso e mirra.
A partir do século 7 aC, os fenícios & # 39; a rede de comércio foi eclipsada pelos esforços de uma de suas colônias mais bem-sucedidas - Cartago, pelos gregos e depois pelos romanos. Mas os fenícios haviam sido a primeira superpotência do comércio mediterrâneo, e seu domínio inicial levou aos impérios que se seguiram adotando práticas comerciais similares e até adotando nomes fenícios para certos bens exóticos de terras distantes. Os fenícios ousaram navegar além do horizonte e transportar mercadorias para onde eram mais valorizados. Como o profeta Isaías (23: 2) declarou, "vocês mercadores de Sídon, cujos bens viajaram pelo mar, por largos oceanos".
Revisão editorial Este artigo foi revisado quanto à precisão, confiabilidade e aderência aos padrões acadêmicos antes da publicação.
sistema de comércio fenício
Atualizado em 3 de março de 2018.
Placas de ouro com fenícia.
e escrita etrusca.
Você pode imaginar que algo tão simples e básico como o alfabeto teria existido para sempre. Mas é claro que não. Como você deve saber, os quadros elaborados de hieróglifos egípcios e as intricadas marcas de junco-de-barro do cuneiforme da Mesopotâmia costumavam ser o modo como as pessoas se comunicavam por escrito. Gradualmente, estes foram simplificados em símbolos silábicos em vez de símbolos de palavras, mas ainda eram bastante assustadores e apenas alguns poucos estudiosos aprenderam a escrever.
Muitas vezes nos dizem que os fenícios inventaram o alfabeto, embora alguns debatam isso. Independentemente de quem colocou caneta em papiro para criá-lo, a contribuição fenícia foi, no entanto, importante e crítica. Eles eram os principais comerciantes do mar do Mediterrâneo, e eles foram para todos os lugares.
Todos os países que tinham uma costa parecem ter negociado com eles. Quando os fenícios começaram a usar o alfabeto como uma maneira simples e fácil de acompanhar seus negócios, ele foi exposto a todos. E como o dinheiro e a riqueza estavam envolvidos, as pessoas estavam altamente motivadas para aprender o sistema e certificar-se de que ele estava sendo escrito com precisão. Este novo método provou ser muito melhor do que os métodos anteriores, que logo estava sendo usado por muitas pessoas e muitos idiomas. Foi dado tanto impulso que não pôde ser detido.
As primeiras invenções são às vezes um pouco ásperas e precisam resolver os erros, e assim foi com esse novo alfabeto que os fenícios tornaram popular. Consistia em 22 consoantes. . . mas sem vogais. Supunha-se que o leitor falava a língua, para que eles soubessem qual som colocar entre as consoantes. É claro que, olhando para suas inscrições, alguns milhares de anos depois, isso não é tão óbvio. Essa é uma das razões pelas quais você verá diferentes grafias para a mesma palavra ou nome. Os antigos e modernos tradutores fizeram o melhor que puderam.
Alfabeto fenício - note sua escrita lê.
direita para a esquerda e que alguns símbolos foram.
mais tarde reutilizado e transformado em vogais.
[© Sanford Holst, usado aqui com permissão]
Os gregos adotaram esse alfabeto fenício e acrescentaram vogais a ele. A combinação refinada funcionou muito bem. Permitiu que a filosofia de Sócrates e as peças teatrais de Eurípides - entre muitas outras grandes obras de literatura - fossem passadas para nós.
Na Estela Incirli, escrita grega.
(incisões profundas) foi cortado no.
texto fenício anterior.
Os etruscos na Itália estavam familiarizados com o alfabeto fenício, como mostrado nas placas de ouro Pyrgi na parte superior e inferior desta página. O prato deles à esquerda estava escrito em fenício e o outro em etrusco. Depois que os etruscos adotaram e modificaram o alfabeto grego, eles passaram para Roma. Os romanos fizeram seus próprios refinamentos, e isso levou ao alfabeto que usamos hoje.
Um relato bastante revelador de como - e por que - o alfabeto e a escrita inicial surgiram é descrito no livro Segredos Fenícios. Nessa narrativa bem pesquisada e intrigante, os misteriosos fenícios e o antigo Mediterrâneo são experimentados em riqueza de detalhes.
O alfabeto não surgiu no vácuo. Fazia parte de um fenômeno social mais amplo que se espalhava pelo antigo Mediterrâneo e atingia um de seus pináculos na Grécia clássica. Para apreciar plenamente as origens e os impactos dos primeiros alfabetos, é necessário ver o fluxo de pessoas e descobertas de um lado para o outro do Mediterrâneo naqueles dias. Segredos fenícios é um dos poucos livros para capturar completamente as muitas linhas sociais que foram tecidas nesta criação humana essencial.
& quot; Sanford Holst criou uma narrativa fascinante, acessível e intrigante dos fenícios. Explica como o sucesso do comércio e das invenções necessárias, incluindo o alfabeto, se desenvolveram nas civilizações do Mediterrâneo.
& quot; O livro de Sanford Holst deveria ser um & quot; deve ler! & Quot; para todos aqueles que querem aprender a ciência e a arte de como um sistema social não apenas sobrevive, mas prospera em um ambiente de grande turbulência política, militar, cultural, religiosa e econômica. & quot;
Este livro de bolso é.
Alfabetos em Uso.
Pyrgi Gold Comprimidos.
Pyrgi Gold Comprimidos.
Origem do Alfabeto
Estes comprimidos mostram como o alfabeto fenício e alfabeto etrusco foram utilizados na prática real. As inscrições datam de aproximadamente 500 aC. Eles foram encontrados em um templo perto de Caere, na Itália, e descrevem uma dedicação feita à deusa fenícia.
"Este livro deu uma visão tremenda da história sobre a qual eu nunca havia pensado. Muito interessante livro que foi muito difícil de colocar até que eu terminei o livro. & Quot; Veja Segredos Fenícios.
sistema de comércio fenício
Os fenícios apareceram em cena com uma tradição marítima estabelecida e a tecnologia para construir navios com casco de quilha. Isso lhes permitiu navegar pelos mares abertos e, como resultado, os fenícios desenvolveram um florescente comércio marítimo.
Além dessas exportações e importações, os fenícios também realizaram um importante comércio de trânsito, especialmente nos bens manufaturados do Egito e Babilônia (Heródoto, i, 1). Das terras do Eufrates e do Tigre, rotas comerciais regulares levaram ao Mediterrâneo. No Egito, os mercadores fenícios logo ganharam uma posição segura; só eles foram capazes de manter um comércio lucrativo nos tempos anárquicos das dinastias 22 e 23 (c. 945-c. 730 aC). Though there were never any regular colonies of Phoenicians in Egypt, the Tyrians had a quarter of their own in Memphis (Herodotus, ii, 112). The Arabian caravan trade in perfume, spices, and incense passed through Phoenician hands on its way to Greece and the West (Herodotus, iii, 107).
The role that tradition especially assigns to the Phoenicians as the merchants of the Levant was first developed on a considerable scale at the time of the Egyptian 18th dynasty. The position of Phoenicia, at a junction of both land and sea routes, under the protection of Egypt, favoured this development, and the discovery of the alphabet and its use and adaptation for commercial purposes assisted the rise of a mercantile society. A fresco in an Egyptian tomb of the 18th dynasty depicted seven Phoenician merchant ships that had just put in at an Egyptian port to sell their goods, including the distinctive Canaanite wine jars in which wine, a drink foreign to the Egyptians, was imported. The Story of Wen-Amon recounts the tale of a Phoenician merchant, Werket-el of Tanis in the Nile Delta, who was the owner of "50 ships" that sailed between Tanis and Sidon. The Sidonians are also famous in the poems of Homer as craftsmen, traders, pirates, and slave dealers. The prophet Ezekiel (chapters 27 and 28), in a famous denunciation of the city of Tyre, catalogs the vast extent of its commerce, covering most of the then-known world.
Phoenician Ship, Byblos, Phoenicia Maritima.
by the Lebanese master artist Joseph Matar (Visit his site, a must see)
Note: To see a closeup of the front of the ship, please click the head of the hippocampus (sea horse) on the image above. (return to main page)
The exports of Phoenicia as a whole included particularly cedar and pine wood, fine linen from Tyre, Byblos, and Berytos, cloths dyed with the famous Tyrian purple (made from the snail Murex), embroideries from Sidon, metalwork and glass, glazed faience, wine, salt, and dried fish. They received in return raw materials, such as papyrus , ivory, ebony, silk, amber, ostrich eggs, spices, incense, horses, gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, jewels, and precious stones. The name Byblos is Greek; papyrus received its early Greek name (byblos, byblinos) from its being exported to the Aegean through Byblos. Hence the English word Bible is derived from byblos as "the (papyrus) book."
Transit Trade.
In addition to these exports and imports, the Phoenicians also conducted an important transit trade, especially in the manufactured goods of Egypt and Babylonia (Herodotus, i, 1). From the lands of the Euphrates and Tigris regular trade routes led to the Mediterranean. In Egypt the Phoenician merchants soon gained a foothold; they alone were able to maintain a profitable trade in the anarchic times of the 22nd and 23rd dynasties (c. 945-c. 730 BC). Though there were never any regular colonies of Phoenicians in Egypt, the Tyrians had a quarter of their own in Memphis (Herodotus, ii, 112). The Arabian caravan trade in perfume, spices, and incense passed through Phoenician hands on its way to Greece and the West (Herodotus, iii, 107).
Navigation and Seafaring.
For the establishment of commercial supremacy, an essential constituent was the Phoenician skill in navigation and seafaring. The Phoenicians are credited with the discovery and use of Polaris ( the Pole Star) . Fearless and patient navigators, they ventured into regions where no one else dared to go, and always, with an eye to their monopoly, they carefully guarded the secrets of their trade routes and discoveries and their knowledge of winds and currents. Pharaoh Necho II (610-595 BC) organized the Phoenician circumnavigation of Africa (Herodotus, iv, 42). Hanno, a Carthaginian, led another in the mid-5th century. The Carthaginians seem to have reached the island of Corvo in the Azores; and Britain. Some archeologists suggest that the Phoenicians may have reached America before the Vikings and/or Columbus? The hypothesis is based on inscriptions found in the Americas (including Brazil) and seemed to represent a Phoenician script. However, others find the hypothesis unfounded.
Ships, Navigation and Commerce, Extended Discussion.
Earliest navigation by means of rafts and canoes.
The first attempts of the Phoenicians to navigate the sea which washed their coast were probably as clumsy and rude as those of other primitive nations. They are said to have voyaged from island to island by means of rafts. 1 When they reached the shores of the Mediterranean, it can scarcely have been long ere they constructed boats for fishing and coasting purposes, though no doubt such boats were of a very rude construction. Probably, like other races, they began with canoes, roughly hewn out of the trunk of a tree. The torrents which descended from Lebanon would from time to time bring down the stems of fallen trees in their flood-time; and these, floating on the Mediterranean waters, would suggest the idea of navigation. They would, at first, be hollowed out with hatchets and adzes, or else with fire; and, later on, the canoes thus produced would form the models for the earliest efforts in shipbuilding. The great length, however, would soon be found unnecessary, and the canoe would give place to the boat, in the ordinary acceptation of the term. There are models of boats among the Phoenician remains which have a very archaic character, 2 and may give us some idea of the vessels in which the Phoenicians of the remoter times braved the perils of the deep. They have a keel, not ill shaped, a rounded hull, bulwarks, a beak, and a high seat for the steersman. The oars, apparently, must have been passed through interstices in the bulwark.
Click on image of ship to view a cross-section.
Model of a very primitive boat.
From this rude shape the transition was not very difficult to the bark represented in the sculptures of Sargon, 3 which is probably a Phoenician one. Here four rowers, standing to their oars, impel a vessel having for prow the head of a horse and for stern the tail of a fish, both of them rising high above the water. The oars are curved, like golf or hockey-sticks, and are worked from the gunwale of the bark, though there is no indication of rowlocks. The vessel is without a rudder; but it has a mast, supported by two ropes which are fastened to the head and stern. The mast has neither sail nor yard attached to it, but is crowned by what is called a "crow's nest"--a bell-shaped receptacle, from which a slinger or archer might discharge missiles against an enemy. 4
Phoenician vessel of the time of Sargon.
A vessel of considerably greater size than this, but of the same class --impelled, that is, by one bank of oars only--is indicated by certain coins, which have been regarded by some critics as Phoenician, by others as belonging to Cilicia. 5 These have a low bow, but an elevated stern; the prow exhibits a beak, while the stern shows signs of a steering apparatus; the number of the oars on each side is fifteen or twenty. The Greeks called these vessels triaconters or penteconters. They are represented without any mast on the coins, and thus seem to have been merely row-boats of a superior character.
About the time of Sennacherib (B. C. 700), or a little earlier, some great advances seem to have been made by the Phoenician shipbuilders. In the first place, they introduced the practice of placing the rowers on two different levels, one above the other; and thus, for a vessel of the same length, doubling the number of the rowers. Ships of this kind, which the Greeks called "biremes," are represented in Sennacherib's sculptures as employed by the inhabitants of a Phoenician city, who fly in them at the moment when their town is captured, and so escape their enemy. 6 The ships are of two kinds. Both kinds have a double tier of rowers, and both are guided by two steering oars thrust out from the stern; but while the one is still without mast or sail, and is rounded off in exactly the same way both at stem and stern, the other has a mast, placed about midship, a yard hung across it, and a sail close reefed to the yard, while the bow is armed with a long projecting beak, like a ploughshare, which must have been capable of doing terrible damage to a hostile vessel. The rowers, in both classes of ships, are represented as only eight or ten upon a side; but this may have arisen from artistic necessity, since a greater number of figures could not have been introduced without confusion. It is thought that in the beaked vessel we have a representation of the Phoenician war-galley; in the vessel without a beak, one of the Phoenician transport. 7
Click on image of ship to view a cross-section.
Phoenician pleasure vessels and merchant ships.
A painting on a vase found in Cyprus exhibits what would seem to have been a pleasure-vessel. 8 It is unbeaked, and without any sign of oars, except two paddles for steering with. About midship is a short mast, crossed by a long spar or yard, which carries a sail, closely reefed along its entire length. The yard and sail are managed by means of four ropes, which are, however, somewhat conventionally depicted. Both the head and stern of the vessel rise to a considerable height above the water, and the stern is curved, very much as in the war - galleys. It perhaps terminated in the head of a bird.
According to the Greek writers, Phoenician vessels were mainly of two kinds, merchant ships and war-vessels. 9 The merchant ships were of a broad, round make, what our sailors would call "tubs," resembling probably the Dutch fishing-boats of a century ago. They were impelled both by oars and sails, but depended mainly on the latter. Each of them had a single mast of moderate height, to which a single sail was attached; 10 this was what in modern times is called a "square sail," a form which is only well suited for sailing with when the wind is directly astern. It was apparently attached to the yard, and had to be hoisted together with the yard, along which it could be closely reefed, or from which it could be loosely shaken out. It was managed, no doubt, by ropes attached to the two lower corners, which must have been held in the hands of sailors, as it would have been most dangerous to belay them. As long as the wind served, the merchant captain used his sail; when it died away, or became adverse, he dropped yard and sail on to his deck, and made use of his oars.
Merchant ships had, commonly, small boats attached to them, which afforded a chance of safety if the ship foundered, and were useful when cargoes had to be landed on a shelving shore. 11 We have no means of knowing whether these boats were hoisted up on deck until they were wanted, or attached to the ships by ropes and towed after them; but the latter arrangement is the more probable.
Click on image of ship to view a cross-section.
Superiority of the Phoenician war-galleys.
The war-galleys of the Phoenicians in the early times were probably of the class which the Greeks called triaconters or penteconters, and which are represented upon the coins. They were long open rowboats, in which the rowers sat, all of them, upon a level, the number of rowers on either side being generally either fifteen or twenty-five. Each galley was armed at its head with a sharp metal spike, or beak, which was its chief weapon of offence, vessels of this class seeking commonly to run down their enemy. After a time these vessels were superseded by biremes, which were decked, had masts and sails, and were impelled by rowers sitting at two different elevations, as already explained. Biremes were ere long superseded by triremes, or vessels with three banks of oars, which are said to have been invented at Corinth, 12 but which came into use among the Phoenicians before the end of the sixth century B. C. 13 In the third century B. C. the Carthaginians employed in war quadriremes, and even quinqueremes; but there is no evidence of the employment of either class of vessel by the Phoenicians of Phoenicia Proper.
The superiority of the Phoenician ships to others is generally allowed, and was clearly shown when Xerxes collected his fleet of twelve hundred and seven triremes against Greece. The fleet included contingents from Phoenicia, Cyprus, Egypt, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia, Caria, Ionia, Æolis, and the Greek settlements about the Propontis. 14 When it reached the Hellespont, the great king, anxious to test the quality of his ships and sailors, made proclamation for a grand sailing match, in which all who liked might contend. Each contingent probably--at any rate, all that prided themselves on their nautical skill--selected its best vessel, and entered it for the coming race; the king himself, and his grandees and officers, and all the army, stood or sat along the shore to see: the race took place, and was won by the Phoenicians of Sidon. 15 Having thus tested the nautical skill of the various nations under his sway, the great king, when he ventured his person upon the dangerous element, was careful to embark in a Sidonian galley. 16
Click on image of ship to view a cross-section.
Excellence of the arrangements.
A remarkable testimony to the excellence of the Phoenician ships with respect to internal arrangements is borne by Xenophon, who puts the following words into the mouth of Ischomachus, a Greek: 17 "I think that the best and most perfect arrangement of things that I ever saw was when I went to look at the great Phoenician sailing-vessel; for I saw the largest amount of naval tackling separately disposed in the smallest stowage possible. For a ship, as you well know, is brought to anchor, and again got under way, by a vast number of wooden implements and of ropes and sails the sea by means of a quantity of rigging, and is armed with a number of contrivances against hostile vessels, and carries about with it a large supply of weapons for the crew, and, besides, has all the utensils that a man keeps in his dwelling-house, for each of the messes. In addition, it is laden with a quantity of merchandise which the owner carries with him for his own profit. Now all the things which I have mentioned lay in a space not much bigger than a room which would conveniently hold ten beds. And I remarked that they severally lay in a way that they did not obstruct one another, and did not require anyone to search for them; and yet they were neither placed at random, nor entangled one with another, so as to consume time when they were suddenly wanted for use. Also, I found the captain's assistant, who is called 'the look-out man,' so well acquainted with the position of all the articles, and with the number of them, that even when at a distance he could tell where everything lay, and how many there were of each sort, just as anyone who has learnt to read can tell the number of letters in the name of Socrates and the proper place for each of them. Moreover, I saw this man, in his leisure moments, examining and testing everything that a vessel needs when at sea; so, as I was surprised, I asked him what he was about, whereupon he replied--'Stranger, I am looking to see, in case anything should happen, how everything is arranged in the ship, and whether anything is wanting, or is inconveniently situated; for when a storm arises at sea, it is not possible either to look for what is wanting, or to put to right what is arranged awkwardly.'"
Phoenician ships seem to have been placed under the protection of the Cabeiri, and to have had images of them at their stem or stern or both. 18 These images were not exactly "figure-heads," as they are sometimes called. They were small, apparently, and inconspicuous, being little dwarf figures, regarded as amulets that would preserve the vessel in safety. We do not see them on any representations of Phoenician ships, and it is possible that they may have been no larger than the bronze or glazed earthenware images of Phthah that are so common in Egypt. The Phoenicians called them /pittuchim/, "sculptures," 19 whence the Greek and the French /fétiche/.
Early navigation cautious, increasing boldness.
The navigation of the Phoenicians, in early times, was no doubt cautious and timid. So far from venturing out of sight of land, they usually hugged the coast, ready at any moment, if the sea or sky threatened, to change their course and steer directly for the shore. On a shelving coast they were not at all afraid to run their ships aground, since, like the Greek vessels, they could be easily pulled up out of reach of the waves, and again pulled down and launched, when the storm was over and the sea calm once more. At first they sailed, we may be sure, only in the daytime, casting anchor at nightfall, or else dragging their ships up upon the beach, and so awaiting the dawn. But after a time they grew more bold. The sea became familiar to them, the positions of coasts and islands relatively one to another better known, the character of the seasons, the signs of unsettled or settled weather, the conduct to pursue in an emergency, better apprehended. They soon began to shape the course of their vessels from headland to headland, instead of always creeping along the shore, and it was not perhaps very long before they would venture out of sight of land, if their knowledge of the weather satisfied them that the wind might be trusted to continue steady, and if they were well assured of the direction of the land that they wished to make. They took courage, moreover, to sail in the night, no less than in the daytime, when the weather was clear, guiding themselves by the stars, and particularly by the Polar star, 20 which they discovered to be the star most nearly marking the true north. A passage of Strabo 21 seems to show that--in the later times at any rate--they had a method of calculating the rate of a ship's sailing, though what the method was is wholly unknown to us. It is probable that they early constructed charts and maps, which however they would keep secret through jealousy of their commercial rivals.
Furthest ventures.
The Phoenicians for some centuries confined their navigation within the limits of the Mediterranean, the Propontis, and the Euxine, land - locked seas, which are tideless and far less rough than the open ocean. But before the time of Solomon they had passed the Pillars of Hercules, and affronted the dangers of the Atlantic. 22 Their frail and small vessels, scarcely bigger than modern fishing-smacks, proceeded southwards along the West African coast, as far as the tract watered by the Gambia and Senegal, while northwards they coasted along Spain, braved the heavy seas of the Bay of Biscay, and passing Cape Finisterre, ventured across the mouth of the English Channel to the Cassiterides. Similarly, from the West African shore, they boldly steered for the Fortunate Islands (the Canaries), visible from certain elevated points of the coast, though at 170 miles distance. Whether they proceeded further, in the south to the Azores, Madeira, and the Cape de Verde Islands, in the north to the coast of Holland, and across the German Ocean to the Baltic, we regard as uncertain. It is possible that from time to time some of the more adventurous of their traders may have reached thus far; but their regular, settled, and established navigation did not, we believe, extend beyond the Scilly Islands and coast of Cornwall to the north-west, and to the south-west Cape Non and the Canaries. Some theories suggest that the Phoenicians reached the Americas (including Brazil).
Extent of the Phoenician land commerce.
The commerce of the Phoenicians was carried on, to a large extent, by land, though principally by sea. It appears from the famous chapter of Ezekiel 23 which describes the riches and greatness of Tyre in the sixth century B. C., that almost the whole of Western Asia was penetrated by the Phoenician caravans, and laid under contribution to increase the wealth of the Phoenician traders.
Witness of Ezekiel.
"Thou, son of man, (we read) take up a lamentation for Tyre, and say unto her, O thou that dwellest at the entry of the sea, Which art the merchant of the peoples unto many isles, Thus saith the Lord God, Thou, O Tyre, hast said, I am perfect in beauty. Thy borders are in the heart of the sea; Thy builders have perfected thy beauty. They have made all thy planks of fir-trees from Senir; They have taken cedars from Lebanon to make a mast for thee Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; They have made thy benches of ivory, Inlaid in box-wood, from the isles of Kittim. Of fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was thy sail, That it might be to thee for an ensign; Blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was thy awning. The inhabitants of Zidon and of Arvad were thy rowers; Thy wise men, O Tyre, were in thee--they were thy pilots. The ancients of Gebal, and their wise men, were thy calkers; All the ships of the sea, with their mariners, were in thee, That they might occupy thy merchandise. Persia, and Lud, and Phut were in thine army, thy men of war; They hanged the shield and helmet in thee; They set forth thy comeliness. The men of Arvad, with thine army, were upon thy walls round about; And the Gammadim were in thy towers; They hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; They have brought to perfection thy beauty. Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; With silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for thy wares. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy traffickers; They traded the persons of men, and vessels of brass, for thy merchandise. They of the house of Togarmah traded for thy wares, With horses, and with chargers, and with mules. The men of Dedan were thy traffickers; many isles were the mart of thy hands; They brought thee in exchange horns of ivory, and ebony. Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of thy handiworks; They traded for thy wares with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, And with fine linen, and coral, and rubies. Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy traffickers; They traded for thy merchandise wheat of Minnith, And Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. Damascus was thy merchant for the multitude of thy handiworks; By reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; With the wine of Helbon, and white wool. Dedan and Javan traded with yarn for thy wares; Bright iron, and cassia, and calamus were among thy merchandise. Dedan was thy trafficker in precious cloths for riding; Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they were the merchants of thy hand, In lambs, and rams, and goats, in these were they thy merchants. The traffickers of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy traffickers; They traded for thy wares with chief of all spices, And with all manner of precious stones, and gold. Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the traffickers of Sheba, Asshur and Chilmad, were thy traffickers: They were thy traffickers in choice wares, In wrappings of blue and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, Bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise. The ships of Tarshish were thy caravans for they merchandise; And thou wast replenished, and made very glorious, in the heart of the sea. Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters; The east wind hath broken thee in the heart of the sea. Thy reaches, and thy wares, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, Thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, With all the men of war, that are in thee, Shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of thy ruin. At the sound of thy pilot's cry the suburb's shall shake; And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, They shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land, And shall cause their voice to be heard over thee, and shall cry bitterly, And shall cast up dust upon their heads, and wallow in the ashes; And they shall make themselves bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, And they shall weep for thee in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning. And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, And lament over thee saying, Who is there like Tyre, Like her that is brought to silence in the midst of the sea? When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many peoples; Thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with thy merchandise and thy riches. In the time that thou was broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, Thy merchandise, and all thy company, did fall in the midst of thee, And the inhabitants of the isles are astonished at thee, And their kings are sore afraid, they are troubled in their countenance, The merchants that are among the peoples, hiss at thee; Thou art become a terror; and thou shalt never be any more."
Wares imported, caravans.
Translating this glorious burst of poetry into prose, we find the following countries mentioned as carrying on an active trade with the Phoenician metropolis:--Northern Syria, Syria of Damascus, Judah and the land of Israel, Egypt, Arabia, Babylonia, Assyria, Upper Mesopotamia, 24 Armenia, 25 Central Asia Minor, Ionia, Cyprus, Hellas or Greece, 26 and Spain. 27 Northern Syria furnishes the Phoenician merchants with /butz/, which is translated "fine linen," but is perhaps rather cotton, 28 the "tree-wool" of Herodotus; it also supplies embroidery, and certain precious stones, which our translators have considered to be coral, emeralds, and rubies. Syria of Damascus gives the "wine of Helbon"--that exquisite liquor which was the only sort that the Persian kings would condescend to drink 29 --and "white wool," the dainty fleeces of the sheep and lambs that fed on the upland pastures of Hermon and Antilibanus. Judah and the land of Israel supply corn of superior quality, called "corn of Minnith"-- corn, i. e. produced in the rich Ammonite country 30 --together with /pannag/, an unknown substance, and honey, and balm, and oil. Egypt sends fine linen, one of her best known products 31 --sometimes, no doubt, plain, but often embroidered with bright patterns, and employed as such embroidered fabrics were also in Egypt, 32 for the sails of pleasure-boats. Arabia provides her spices, cassia, and calamus (or aromatic reed), and, beyond all doubt, frankincense, 33 and perhaps cinnamon and ladanum. 34 She also supplies wool and goat's hair, and cloths for chariots, and gold, and wrought iron, and precious stones, and ivory, and ebony, of which the last two cannot have been productions of her own, but must have been imported from India or Abyssinia. 35 Babylonia and Assyria furnish "wrappings of blue, embroidered work, and chests of rich apparel." 36 Upper Mesopotamia partakes in this traffic. 37 Armenia gives horses and mules. Central Asia Minor (Tubal and Meshech) supplies slaves and vessels of brass, and the Greeks of Ionia do the like. Cyprus furnishes ivory, which she must first have imported from abroad. 38 Greece Proper sends her shell-fish, to enable the Phoenician cities to increase their manufacture of the purple dye. 39 Finally, Spain yields silver, iron, tin, and lead--the most useful of the metals--all of which she is known to have produced in abundance. 40.
Description of the land trade.
With the exception of Egypt, Ionia, Cyprus, Hellas, and Spain, the Phoenician intercourse with these places must have been carried on wholly by land. Even with Egypt, wherewith the communication by sea was so facile, there seems to have been also from a very early date a land commerce. The land commerce was in every case carried on by caravans. Western Asia has never yet been in so peaceful and orderly condition as to dispense prudent traders from the necessity of joining together in large bodies, well provisioned and well armed, when they are about to move valuable goods any considerable distance. There have always been robber-tribes in the mountain tracts, and thievish Arabs upon the plains, ready to pounce on the insufficiently protected traveller, and to despoil him of all his belongings. Hence the necessity of the caravan traffic. As early as the time of Joseph-- probably about B. C. 1600--we find a /company/ of the Midianites on their way from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 41 Elsewhere we hear of the "travelling /companies/ of the Dedanim," 42 of the men of Sheba bringing their gold and frankincense; 43 of a multitude of camels coming up to Palestine with wood from Kedar and Nebaioth. 44 Heerenis entirely justified in his conclusion that the land trade of the Phoenicians was conducted by "large companies or caravans, since it could only have been carried on in this way." 45
The nearest neighbours of the Phoenicians on the land side were the Jews and Israelites, the Syrians of Damascus, and the people of Northern Syria, or the Orontes valley and the tract east of it. From the Jews and Israelites the Phoenicians seem to have derived at all times almost the whole of the grain which they were forced to import for their sustenance. In the time of David and Solomon it was chiefly for wheat and barley that they exchanged the commodities which they exported, 46 in that of Ezekiel it was primarily for "wheat of Minnith;" 47 and a similar trade is noted on the return of the Jews from the captivity, 48 and in the first century of our era. 49 But besides grain they also imported from Palestine at some periods wine, oil, honey, balm, and oak timber. 50 Western Palestine was notoriously a land not only of corn, but also of wine, of olive oil, and of honey, and could readily impart of its superfluity to its neighbour in time of need. The oaks of Bashan are very abundant, and seem to have been preferred by the Phoenicians to their own oaks as the material of oars. 51 Balm, or basalm, was a product of the land of Gilead, 52 and also of the lower Jordan valley, where it was of superior quality. 53
From the Damascene Syrians we are told that Phoenicia imported "wine of Helbon" and "white wool." 54 The "wine of Helbon" is reasonably identified with that which is said to have been the favourite beverage of the Persian kings. 55 It was perhaps grown in the neighbourhood of Aleppo. 56 The "white wool" may have been furnished by the sheep that cropped the slopes of the Antilibanus, or by those fed on the fine grass which clothes most of the plain at its base. The fleece of these last is, according to Heeren, 57 "the finest known, being improved by the heat of the climate, the continual exposure to the open air, and the care commonly bestowed upon the flocks." From the Syrian wool, mixed perhaps with some other material, seems to have been woven the fabric known, from the city where it was commonly made, 58 as "damask."
According to the existing text of Ezekiel, 59 Syria Proper "occupied in the fairs" of Phoenicia with cotton, with embroidered robes, with purple, and with precious stones. The valley of the Orontes is suitable for the cultivation of cotton; and embroidered robes would naturally be produced in the seat of an old civilisation, which Syria certainly was. Purple seems somewhat out of place in the enumeration; but the Syrians may have gathered the /murex/ on their seaboard between Mt. Casius and the Gulf of Issus, and have sold what they collected in the Phoenician market. The precious stones which Ezekiel assigns to them are difficult of identification, but may have been furnished by Casius, Bargylus, or Amanus. These mountains, or at any rate Casius and Amanus, are of igneous origin, and, if carefully explored, would certainly yield gems to the investigator. At the same time it must be acknowledged that Syria had not, in antiquity, the name of a gem-producing country; and, so far, the reading of "Edom" for "Aram," which is preferred by many, 60 may seem to be the more probable.
The commerce of the Phoenicians with Egypt was ancient, and very extensive. "The wares of Egypt" are mentioned by Herodotus as a portion of the merchandise which they brought to Greece before the time of the Trojan War. 61 The Tyrians had a quarter in the city of Memphis assigned to them, 62 probably from an early date. According to Ezekiel, the principal commodity which Egypt furnished to Phoenicia was "fine linen" 63 --especially the linen sails embroidered with gay patterns, which the Egyptian nobles affected for their pleasure-boats. They probably also imported from Egypt natron for their glass-works, papyrus for their documents, earthenware of various kinds for exportation, scarabs and other seals, statuettes and figures of gods, amulets, and in the later times sarcophagi. 64 Their exports to Egypt consisted of wine on a large scale, 65 tin almost certainly, and probably their peculiar purple fabrics, and other manufactured articles.
The Phoenician trade with Arabia was of especial importance, since not only did the great peninsula itself produce many of the most valuable articles of commerce, but it was also mainly, if not solely, through Arabia that the Indian market was thrown open to the Phoenician traders, and the precious commodities obtained for which Hindustan has always been famous. Arabia is /par excellence/ the land of spices, and was the main source from which the ancient world in general, and Phoenicia in particular, obtained frankincense, cinnamon, cassia, myrrh, calamus or sweet-cane, and ladanum. 66 It has been doubted whether these commodities were, all of them, the actual produce of the country in ancient times, and Herodotus has been in some degree discredited, but perhaps without sufficient reason. He is supported to a considerable extent by Theophrastus, the disciple of Aristotle, who says: 67 "Frankincense, myrrh, and cassia grow in the Arabian districts of Saba and Hadramaut; frankincense and myrrh on the sides or at the foot of mountains, and in the neighbouring islands. The trees which produce them grow sometimes wild, though occasionally they are cultivated; and the frankincense-tree grows sometimes taller than the tree producing the myrrh." Modern authorities declare the frankincense-tree (/Boswellia thurifera/) to be still a native of Hadramaut; 68 and there is no doubt that the myrrh-tree (/Balsamodendron myrrha/) also grows there. If cinnamon and cassia, as the terms are now understood, do not at present grow in Arabia, or nearer to Phoenicia than Hindustan, it may be that they have died out in the former country, or our modern use of the terms may differ from the ancient one. On the other hand, it is no doubt possible that the Phoenicians imagined all the spices which they obtained from Arabia to be the indigenous growth of the country, when in fact some of them were importations.
Next to her spices, Arabia was famous for the production of a superior quality of wool. The Phoenicians imported this wool largely. The flocks of Kedar are especially noted, 69 and are said to have included both sheep and goats. 70 It was perhaps a native woollen manufacture, in which Dedan traded with Tyre, and which Ezekiel notices as a trade in "cloths for chariots." 71 Goat's hair was largely employed in the production of coverings for tents. 72 Arabia also furnished Phoenicia with gold, with precious stones, with ivory, ebony, and wrought iron. 73 The wrought iron was probably from Yemen, which was celebrated for its manufacture of sword blades. The gold may have been native, for there is much reason to believe that anciently the Arabian mountain ranges yielded gold as freely as the Ethiopian, 74 with which they form one system; or it may have been imported from Hindustan, with which Arabia had certainly, in ancient times, constant communication. Ivory and ebony must, beyond a doubt, have been Arabian importations. There are two countries from which they may have been derived, India and Abyssinia. It is likely that the commercial Arabs of the south-east coast had dealings with both. 75
Of Phoenician imports into Arabia we have no account; but we may conjecture that they consisted principally of manufactured goods, cotton and linen fabrics, pottery, implements and utensils in metal, beads, and other ornaments for the person, and the like. The nomadic Arabs, leading a simple life, required but little beyond what their own country produced; there was, however, a town population 76 in the more southern parts of the peninsula, to which the elegancies and luxuries of life, commonly exported by Phoenicia, would have been welcome.
The Phoenician trade with Babylonia and Assyria was carried on probably by caravans, which traversed the Syrian desert by way of Tadmor or Palmyra, and struck the Euphrates about Circesium. Here the route divided, passing to Babylon southwards along the course of the great river, and to Nineveh eastwards by way of the Khabour and the Sinjar mountain-range. Both countries seem to have supplied the Phoenicians with fabrics of extraordinary value, rich in a peculiar embroidery, and deemed so precious that they were packed in chests of cedar-wood, which the Phoenician merchants must have brought with them from Lebanon. 77 The wares furnished by Assyria were in some cases exported to Greece, 78 while no doubt in others they were intended for home consumption. They included cylinders in rock crystal, jasper, hematite, steatite, and other materials, which may sometimes have found purchasers in Phoenicia Proper, but appear to have been specially affected by the Phoenician colonists in Cyprus. 79 On her part Phoenicia must have imported into Assyria and Babylonia the tin which was a necessary element in their bronze; and they seem also to have found a market in Assyria for their own most valuable and artistic bronzes, the exquisite embossed pateræ which are among the most precious of the treasures brought by Sir Austen Layard from Nineveh. 80
The nature of the Phoenician trade with Upper Mesopotamia is unknown to us; and it is not impossible that their merchants visited Haran, 81 rather because it lay on the route which they had to follow in order to reach Armenia than because it possessed in itself any special attraction for them. Gall-nuts and manna are almost the only products for which the region is celebrated; and of these Phoenicia herself produced the one, while she probably did not need the other. But the natural route to Armenia was by way of the Cœlesyrian valley, Aleppo and Carchemish, to Haran, and thence by Amida or Diarbekr to Van, which was the capital of Armenia in the early times.
Armenia supplied the Phoenicians with "horses of common and of noble breeds," 82 and also with mules. 83 Strabo says that it was a country exceedingly well adapted for the breeding of the horse, 84 and even notes the two qualities of the animal that it produced, one of which he calls "Nisæan," though the true "Nisæan plain" was in Media. So large was the number of colts bred each year, and so highly were they valued, that, under the Persian monarchy the Great King exacted from the province, as a regular item of its tribute, no fewer than twenty thousand of them annually. 85 Armenian mules seem not to be mentioned by any writer besides Ezekiel; but mules were esteemed throughout the East in antiquity, 86 and no country would have been more likely to breed them than the mountain tract of Armenia, the Switzerland of Western Asia, where such surefooted animals would be especially needed.
Armenia adjoined the country of the Moschi and Tibareni--the Meshech and Tubal of the Bible. These tribes, between the ninth and the seventh centuries B. C., inhabited the central regions of Asia Minor and the country known later as Cappadocia. They traded with Tyre in the "persons of men" and in "vessels of brass" or copper. 87 Copper is found abundantly in the mountain ranges of these parts, and Xenophon remarks on the prevalence of metal vessels in the portion of the region which he passed through--the country of the Carduchians. 88 The traffic in slaves was one in which the Phoenicians engaged from very early times. They were not above kidnapping men, women, and children in one country and selling them into another; 89 besides which they seem to have frequented regularly the principal slave marts of the time. They bought such Jews as were taken captive and sold into slavery by the neighbouring nations, 90 and they looked to the Moschi and Tibareni for a constant supply of the commodity from the Black Sea region. 91 The Caucasian tribes have always been in the habit of furnishing slave-girls to the harems of the East, and the Thracians, who were not confined to Europe, but occupied a great part of Asia Minor, regularly trafficked in their children. 92.
Such was the extent of the Phoenician land trade, as indicated by the prophet Ezekiel, and such were, so far as is at present known, the commodities interchanged in the course of it. It is quite possible-- nay, probable--that the trade extended much further, and certain that it must have included many other articles of commerce besides those which we have mentioned. The sources of our information on the subject are so few and scanty, and the notices from which we derive our knowledge for the most part so casual, that we may be sure what is preserved is but a most imperfect record of what was--fragments of wreck recovered from the sea of oblivion. It may have been a Phoenician caravan route which Herodotus describes as traversed on one occasion by the Nasamonians, 93 which began in North Africa and terminated with the Niger and the city of Timbuctoo; and another, at which he hints as lying between the coast of the Lotus-eaters and Fezzan. 94 Phoenician traders may have accompanied and stimulated the slave hunts of the Garamantians, 95 as Arab traders do those of the Central African nations at the present day. Again, it is quite possible that the Phoenicians of Memphis designed and organised the caravans which, proceeding from Egyptian Thebes, traversed Africa from east to west along the line of the "Salt Hills," by way of Ammon, Augila, Fezzan, and the Tuarik country to Mount Atlas. 96 We can scarcely imagine the Egyptians showing so much enterprise. But these lines of traffic can be ascribed to the Phoenicians only by conjecture, history being silent on the subject.
Sea trade of Phoenicia.
1. With her own colonies.
The sea trade of the Phoenicians was still more extensive than their land traffic. It is divisible into two branches, their trade with their own colonists, and that with the natives of the various countries to which they penetrated in their voyages. The colonies sent out from Phoenicia were, except in the single instance of Carthage, trading settlements, planted where some commodity or commodities desired by the mother-country abounded, and were intended to secure to the mother-country the monopoly of such commodity or commodities. For instance, Cyprus was colonised for the sake of its copper mines and its timber; Cilicia and Lycia for their timber only; Thasos for its gold mines; Salamis and Cythera for the purple trade; Sardinia and Spain for their numerous metals; North Africa for its fertility and for the trade with the interior. Phoenicia expected to derive, primarily, from each colony the commodity or commodities which had caused the selection of the site. In return she supplied the colonists with her own manufactured articles; with fabrics in linen, wool, cotton, and perhaps to some extent in silk; with every variety of pottery, from dishes and jugs of the plainest and most simple kind to the most costly and elaborate vases and amphoræ; with metal utensils and arms, with gold and silver ornaments, with embossed shields and pateræ, with faïnce and glass, and also with any foreign products or manufactures that they desired and that the countries within the range of her influence could furnish. Phoenicia must have imported into Cyprus, to suit a peculiar Cyprian taste, the Egyptian statuettes, scarabs, and rings, 97 and the Assyrian and Babylonian cylinders, which have been found there. The tin which she brought from the Cassiterides she distributed generally, for she did not discourage her colonists from manufacturing for themselves to some extent. There was probably no colony which did not make its own bronze vessels of the commoner sort and its own coarser pottery.
2. With foreigners, Mediterranean and Black Sea trade.
In her trade with the nations who peopled the coasts of the Mediterranean, the Propontis, and the Black Sea, Phoenicia aimed primarily at disposing to advantage of her own commodities, secondarily at making a profit in commodities which she had obtained from other countries, and thirdly on obtaining commodities which she might dispose of to advantage elsewhere. Where the nations were uncivilised, or in a low condition of civilisation, she looked to making a large profit by furnishing them at a cheap rate with all the simplest conveniences of life, with their pottery, their implements and utensils, their clothes, their arms, the ornaments of their persons and of their houses. Underselling the native producers, she soon obtained a monopoly of this kind of trade, drove the native products out of the market, and imposed her own instead, much as the manufacturers of Manchester, Birmingham, and the Potteries impose their calicoes, their cutlery, and their earthenware on the savages of Africa and Polynesia. Where culture was more advanced, as in Greece and parts of Italy, 98 she looked to introduce, and no doubt succeeded in introducing, the best of her own productions, fabrics of crimson, violet, and purple, painted vases, embossed pateræ, necklaces, bracelets, rings--"cunning work" of all manner of kinds 99 --mirrors, glass vessels, and smelling-bottles. At the same time she also disposed at a profit of many of the wares that she had imported from foreign countries, which were advanced in certain branches of art, as Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, possibly India. The muslins and ivory of Hindustan, the shawls of Kashmir, the carpets of Babylon, the spices of Araby the Blest, the pearls of the Persian Gulf, the faïence and the papyrus of Egypt, would be readily taken by the more civilised of the Western nations, who would be prepared to pay a high price for them. They would pay for them partly, no doubt, in silver and gold, but to some extent also in their own manufactured commodities, Attica in her ceramic products, Corinth in her "brass," Etruria in her candelabra and engraved mirrors, 100 Argos in her highly elaborated ornaments. 101 Or, in some cases, they might make return out of the store wherewith nature had provided them, Eubœa rendering her copper, the Peloponnese her "purple," Crete her timber, the Cyrenaica its silphium.
North Atlantic trade.
Outside the Pillars of Hercules the Phoenicians had only savage nations to deal with, and with these they seem to have traded mainly for the purpose of obtaining certain natural products, either peculiarly valuable or scarcely procurable elsewhere. Their trade with the Scilly Islands and the coast of Cornwall was especially for the procuring of tin. Of all the metals, tin is found in the fewest places, and though Spain seems to have yielded some anciently, 102 yet it can only have been in small quantities, while there was an enormous demand for tin in all parts of the old world, since bronze was the material almost universally employed for arms, tools, implements, and utensils of all kinds, while tin is the most important, though not the largest, element in bronze. From the time that the Phoenicians discovered the Scilly Islands--the "Tin Islands" (Cassiterides), as they called them --it is probable that the tin of the civilised world was almost wholly derived from this quarter. Eastern Asia, no doubt, had always its own mines, and may have exported tin to some extent, in the remoter times, supplying perhaps the needs of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. But, after the rich stores of the metal which our own islands possess were laid open, and the Phoenicians with their extensive commercial dealings, both in the West and in the East, became interested in diffusing it, British tin probably drove all other out of use, and obtained the monopoly of the markets wherever Phoenician influence prevailed. Hence the trade with the Cassiterides was constant, and so highly prized that a Phoenician captain, finding his ship followed by a Roman vessel, preferred running it upon the rocks to letting a rival nation learn the secret of how the tin-producing coast might be approached in safety. 103 With the tin it was usual for the merchants to combine a certain amount of lead and a certain quantity of skins or hides; while they gave in exchange pottery, salt, and articles in bronze, such as arms, implements, and utensils for cooking and for the table. 104
If the Phoenicians visited, as some maintain that they did, 105 the coasts of the Baltic, it must have been for the purpose of obtaining amber. Amber is thrown up largely by the waters of that land-locked sea, and at present especially abounds on the shore in the vicinity of Dantzic. It is very scarce elsewhere. The Phoenicians seem to have made use of amber in their necklaces from a very early date; 106 and, though they might no doubt have obtained it by land-carriage across Europe to the head of the Adriatic, yet their enterprise and their commercial spirit were such as would not improbably have led them to seek to open a direct communication with the amber-producing region, so soon as they knew where it was situated. The dangers of the German Ocean are certainly not greater than those of the Atlantic; and if the Phoenicians had sufficient skill in navigation to reach Britain and the Fortunate Islands, they could have found no very serious difficulty in penetrating to the Baltic. On the other hand, there is no direct evidence of their having penetrated so far, and perhaps the Adriatic trade may have supplied them with as much amber as they needed.
Trade with the West Coast of Africa and the Canaries.
The trade of the Phoenicians with the west coast of Africa had for its principal objects the procuring of ivory, of elephant, lion, leopard, and deer-skins, and probably of gold. Scylax relates that there was an established trade in his day (about B. C. 350) between Phoenicia and an island which he calls Cerne, probably Arguin, off the West African coast. "The merchants," he says, 107 "who are Phoenicians, when they have arrived at Cerne, anchor their vessels there, and after having pitched their tents upon the shore, proceed to unload their cargo, and to convey it in smaller boats to the mainland. The dealers with whom they trade are Ethiopians; and these dealers sell to the Phoenicians skins of deer, lions, panthers, and domestic animals--elephants' skins also, and their teeth. The Ethiopians wear embroidered garments, and use ivory cups as drinking vessels; their women adorn themselves with ivory bracelets; and their horses also are adorned with ivory. The Phoenicians convey to them ointment, elaborate vessels from Egypt, castrated swine(?), and Attic pottery and cups. These last they commonly purchase in Athens at the Feast of Cups. These Ethiopians are eaters of flesh and drinkers of milk; they make also much wine from the vine; and the Phoenicians, too, supply some wine to them. They have a considerable city, to which the Phoenicians sail up." The river on which the city stood was probably the Senegal.
It will be observed that Scylax says nothing in this passage of any traffic for gold. We can scarcely suppose, however, that the Phoenicians, if they penetrated so far south as this, could remain ignorant of the fact that West Africa was a gold-producing country, much less that, being aware of the fact, they would fail to utilise it. Probably they were the first to establish that "dumb commerce" which was afterwards carried on with so much advantage to themselves by the Carthaginians, and whereof Herodotus gives so graphic an account. "There is a country," he says, 108 "in Libya, and a nation, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, which the Carthaginians are wont to visit, where they no sooner arrive than forthwith they unlade their wares, and having disposed them after an orderly fashion along the beach, there leave them, and returning aboard their ships, raise a great smoke. The natives, when they see the sample, come down to the shore, and laying out to view so much gold as they think the wares are worth, withdraw to a distance. The Carthaginians upon this come ashore again and look. If they think the gold to be enough, they take it and go their way; but if it does not seem to them sufficient, they go aboard ship once more, and wait patiently. Then the others approach and add to their gold, till the Carthaginians are satisfied. Neither party deals unfairly by the other: for they themselves never touch the gold till it comes up to the worth of their goods, nor do the natives ever carry off the goods until the gold has been taken away."
The nature of the Phoenician trade with the Canaries, or Fortunate Islands, is not stated by any ancient author, and can only be conjectured. It would scarcely have been worth the Phoenicians' while to convey timber to Syria from such a distance, or we might imagine the virgin forests of the islands attracting them. 109 The large breed of dogs from which the Canaries derived their later name 110 may perhaps have constituted an article of export even in Phoenician times, as we know they did later, when we hear of their being conveyed to King Juba; 111 but there is an entire lack of evidence on the subject. Perhaps the Phoenicians frequented the islands less for the sake of commerce than for that of watering and refitting the ships engaged in the African trade, since the natives were less formidable than those who inhabited the mainland. 112
Trade in the Red Sea a nd Indian Ocean.
There was one further direction in which the Phoenicians pushed their maritime trade, not perhaps continuously, but at intervals, when their political relations were such as to give them access to the sea which washed Asia on the south and on the southeast. The nearest points at which they could embark for the purpose of exploring or utilising the great tract of ocean in this quarter were the inner recesses of deep gulfs. It has been thought by some 113 that there were times in their history when the Phoenicians had the free use of both these gulfs, and could make it a point of their eastern explorations and trading voyages either a port on one of the two arms into which the Red Sea divides towards the north, or a harbour on the Persian Gulf near its north - western extremity. But the latter supposition rests upon grounds which are exceedingly unsafe and uncertain. That the Phoenicians migrated at some remote period to the Mediterranean may be allowed to be highly probable; they still maintained a connection with their early trading posts that may have gone all the way to the Far East. The Babylonians, through whose country the connection must have been kept up, were themselves traders, and would naturally keep the Arabian and Indian traffic in their own hands; nor can we imagine them as brooking the establishment of a rival upon their shores. And the evidence entirely fails to show that the Phoenicians ever launched a vessel in the Persian Gulf, or had any connection with the nations inhabiting its shores, beyond that maintained by the caravans which trafficked by land between the Phoenician cities and the men of Dedan and Babylon. 114.
It was otherwise with the more western gulf. There, certainly, from time to time, the Phoenicians launched their fleets, and carried on a commerce which was scarcely less lucrative because they had to allow the nations whose ports they used a participation in its profits. It is not impossible that, occasionally, the Egyptians allowed them to build ships in some one or more of their Red Sea ports, and to make such port or ports the head-quarters of a trade which may have proceeded beyond the Straits of Babelmandeb and possibly have reached Zanzibar and Ceylon. At any rate, we know that, in the time of Solomon, two harbours upon the Red Sea were open to them--viz. Eloth and Ezion-Geber--both places situated in the inner recess of the Elanitic Gulf, or Gulf of Akaba, the more eastern of the two arms into which the Red Sea divides. David's conquest of Edom had put these ports into the possession of the Israelites, and the friendship between Hiram and Solomon had given the Phoenicians free access to them. It was the ambition of Solomon to make the Israelites a nautical people, and to participate in the advantages which he perceived to have accrued to Phoenicia from her commercial enterprise. Besides sharing with the Phoenicians in the trade of the Mediterranean, 115 he constructed with their help a fleet at Ezion-Geber upon the Red Sea, 116 and the two allies conjointly made voyages to the region, or country, called Ophir, for the purpose of procuring precious stones, gold, and almug-wood. 117 Ophir is, properly speaking, a portion of Arabia, 118 and Arabia was famous for its production of gold, 119 and also for its precious stones. 120 Whether it likewise produced almug-trees is doubtful; 121 and it is quite possible that the joint fleet went further than Ophir proper, and obtained the "almug-wood" from the east coast of Africa, or from India. The Somauli country might have been as easily reached as South-eastern Arabia, and if India is considerably more remote, yet there was nothing to prevent the Phoenicians from finding their way to it. 122 We have, however, no direct evidence that their commerce in the Indian Ocean ever took them further than the Arabian coast.
The illustrations of Phoenician ships were provided by kind courtesy of Cedarland, the History of Lebanon (the section on Phoenician history is here). The sea battle on the top of the page is an illustration of the battle of Salamis.
2 Perrot et Chipiez, /Hist. de l'Art/, iii. 517, No. 352.
3 Layard, /Nineveh and its Remains/, ii. 383.
4 Compare the practice of the Egyptians (Rosellini, /Monumenti Storici/, pl. cxxxi.)
5 See Mionnet, /DÈscript. de MÈdailles/, vol. vii. pl. lxi. fig. 1; Gesenius, /Ling. ScripturÊque Phún. Monumenta/, pl. 36, fig. G; Layard, /Nineveh and its Remains/, ii. 378.
6 Layard, /Monuments of Nineveh/, first series, pl. 71; /Nineveh and its Remains/, l. s.c.
7 So Perrot et Chipiez, /Hist. de l'Art/, iii. 34.
8 See Di Cesnola, /Cyprus/, pl. xlv.
9 Herod. iii. 136.
10 In later times there must have been more sails than one, since Xenophon describes a Phúnician merchant ship as sailing by means of a quantity of rigging, which implies /several/ sails (Xen. /åconom./ ß 8).
11 Scylax. /Periplus/, ß 112
14 See Herod. vii. 89-94.
16 Ibid. vii. 100
17 Xen. /åconom./ ß 8, pp. 11-16 (Ed. Schneider).
18 Herodotus (iii. 37) says they were at the prow of the ship; but Suidas (ad voc.) and Hesychius (ad voc.) place them at the stern. Perhaps there was no fixed rule.
19 The of the Greeks probably representes the Hebrew , which is from , "insculpere," and is applied in Scripture to "carved work" of any kind. (See 1 Kings vi. 29; Ps. lxxiv. 6; &c.) Some, however, derive the word from the Egyptian name Phthah, or Ptah. (See Kenrick, /Phúnicia/, p. 235.)
20 Manilius, i. 304-308.
21 Strab. /Geograph./ xv.
22 Tarshish (Tartessus) was on the Atlantic coast, outside the Straits.
24 Signified by one of its chief cities, Haran (now Harran).
25 Signified by "the house of Togarmarh" (verse 14).
26 Ionia, Cyprus, and Hellas are the Greek correspondents of Javan, Chittim, and Elishah, Chittim representing Citium, the capital of Cyprus.
27 Spain is intended by "Tarshish" (verse 12) == Tartessus, which was a name given by the Phúnicians to the tract upon the lower BÊtis (Guadalquivir).
28 See the /Speaker's Commentary/, ad loc.
30 Minnith appears as an Ammonite city in the history of Jephthah (Judg. xi. 33).
31 Herod. ii. 37, 182; iii. 47
32 See Rawlinson's /Herodotus/, ii. 157; /History of Ancient Egypt/, i. 509; Rosellini, /Mon. Civili/, pls. 107-109.
33 See Herod. iii. 107; /History of Ancient Egypt/, ii. 222-224.
34 That these were Arabian products appears from Herod. iii. 111, 112. They may be included in the "chief of all spices," which Tyre obtained from the merchants of Sheba and Raamah (Ezek. xxvii. 22).
35 Arabia has no ebony trees, and can never have produced elephants.
36 See Ezek. xxvii. 23, 24. Canneh and Chilmad were probably Babylonian towns.
37 Upper Mesopotamia is indicated by one of its chief cities, Haran (Ezek. xxvii. 23).
38 Ezek. xxvii. 6. Many objects in ivory have been found in Cyprus.
39 Ibid. verse 7. The /Murex brandaris/ is still abundant on the coast of Attica, and off the island of Salamis (Perrot et Chipiez, /Hist. de l'Art/, iii. 881).
40 Strab. iii. 2, ß 8-12; Diod. Sic. v. 36; Plin. /H. N./ iii. 3
41 See Gen. xxxvii. 28.
42 Isaiah xxi. 13
44 Ibid. verses 6, 7.
45 Heeren, /Asiatic Nations/, ii. 93, 100, 101.
46 1 Kings v. 11; 2 Chr. ii. 10
47 Ezek. xxvii. 17
50 2 Chron. l. s.c.; Ezra l. s.c.; Ezek. xxvii. 6, 17.
52 Gen. xxxvii. 28.
53 Strab. xvi. 2, ß 41.
54 Ezek. xxvii. 18
56 So Heeren (/As. Nat./ ii. 118). But there is a Helbon a little to the north of Damascus, which is more probably intended.
58 See Amos, iii. 12, where some translate "the children of Israel that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and upon a damask couch."
59 Ezek. xxvii. 16
60 The Hebrew terms for Syria and Edom are constantly confounded by the copyists, and we must generally look to the context to determine which is the true reading.
64 Egyptian pottery, scarabs, seals, figures of gods, and amulets, are common on most Phúnician sites. The Sidonian sarcophagi, including that of Esmunazar, are of an Egyptian stone.
65 Herod. iii. 5, 6.
66 Ibid. iii. 107; Strab. xvi. 4, ß 19; Diod. Sic. ii. 49.
67 Theophrast. /Hist. Plant./ ix. 4
68 Wilkinson, in the author's /Herodotus/, iii. 497, note 6; Heeren, /As. Nat./ ii. 95.
69 Is. lx. 7; Her. xlix. 29
70 Ezek. xxvii. 21
71 Ezek. xxvii. 20
72 Ex. xxvi. 7; xxxvi. 14
73 Ezek. xxvii. 15, 19-22.
74 See Heeren, /Asiatic Nations/, ii. 96.
75 Ibid. pp. 99, 100.
76 Gerrha, Sanaa, and Mariaba were flourishing towns in Strabo's time, and probably during several centuries earlier.
77 Ezek. xxvii. 23, 24.
79 See Di Cesnola, /Cyprus/, pls. xxxi.-xxxiii.; A. Di Cesnola, /Salaminia/, ch. xii.; Perrot et Chipiez, /Hist. de l'Art/, iii. 636-639.
80 Layard, /Monuments of Nineveh/, 2nd series, pls. 57-67; /Nineveh and Babylon/, pp. 183-187.
81 Ezek. xxvii. 23
82 So Heeren translates (/As. Nat./ ii. 123).
83 Ezek. xxvii. 14
86 1 Kings i. 33; Esth. viii. 10, 14.
87 Ezek. xxvii. 13
89 Hom. /Od./ xv. 415-484; Herod. Eu. 1
91 Ezek. xxvii. 13
96 Ibid. iv. 181-184. Compare Heeren, /African Nations/, ii. pp. 202-235.
97 No doubt some of these may have been imparted by the Cyprians themselves, and others introduced by the Egyptians when they held Cyprus; but they are too numerous to be accounted for sufficiently unless by a continuous Phúnician importation.
98 Especially Etruria, which was advanced in civilisation and the arts, while Rome was barely emerging from barbarism.
99 2 Chron. ii. 14
100 Dennis, /Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria/, ii. 204, 514; Gerhard, /Etruskische Spiegel/, passim.
101 Schliemann, /MycenÊ/, Pls. 357-519.
102 Ezek. xxvii. 12; Plin. /H. N./ xxxiv. 16; &c.
103 Strabo, iii. 5, ß 11
104 Ibid. In Roman times the pigs of tin were brought to the Isle of Wight by the natives, thence transported across the Channel, and conveyed through Gaul to the mouth of the RhÙne (Diod. Sic. v. 22).
105 Heeren, /Asiatic Nations/, ii. 80
106 Hom. /Od./ xv. 460. Some doubt, however, if amber is here intended.
107 Scylax, /Periplus/, ß 112
108 Herod. iv. 196.
109 These forests (spoken of by Diodorus, v. 19) have now to a great extent been cleared away, though some patches still remain, especially in the more western islands of the group. The most remarkable of the trees is the /Pinus canariensis/.
110 Pliny, /H. N./ vi. 32, sub fin.
111 Pliny, l. s.c. The breed is now extinct.
112 The savagery of the ancient inhabitants of the mainland is strongly marked in the narrative of Hanno (/Periplus/, passim).
113 As Heeren (/As. Nat./ ii. 71, 75, 239).
114 Ezek. xxvii. 15, 20, 23.
115 See 1 Kings x. 22; 2 Chr. ix. 21
116 1 Kings ix. 26, 27.
117 Ibid. x. 11; 2 Chr. ix. 10
118 Gen. x. 29. Compare Twistleton, in Dr. Smith's /Dictionary of the Bible/, vol. ii. ad voc. OPHIR.
119 Ps. lxxii. 15; Ezek. xxvii. 22; Strab. xvi. 4, ß 18; Diod. Sic. ii. 50
120 Ezel. l. s.c.; Strab. xvi. 4, ß 20
121 There are no sufficient data for determining what tree is intended by the almug or algum tree. The theory which identifies it with the "sandal-wood" of India has respectable authority in its favour, but cannot rise beyond the rank of a conjecture.
122 If Scylax of Cadyanda could sail, in the reign of Darius Hystaspis, from the mouth of the Indus to the Gulf of Suez (Herod. iv. 44), there could have been no great difficulty in the Phúnicians accomplishing the same voyage in the opposite direction some centuries earlier.
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The Phoenicians.
Phoenicia was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550 BCE to 300 BCE. They were famed in Classical Greece and Rome as ‘traders in purple’, referring to their monopoly on the precious purple dye of the Mrex snail, used, among other things, for royal clothing, and for their spread of the alphabet, upon which all major modern alphabets are derived.
The Phoenician alphabet was one of the first alphabets with a strict and consistent form. It is assumed that it adopted its simplified linear characters from an as-yet unattested early pictorial Semitic alphabet developed some centuries earlier in the southern Levant. The precursor to the Phoenician alphabet was likely of Egyptian origin as Middle Bronze Age alphabet from the southern Levant resemble Egyptian hieroglyphs, or more specifically an early alphabetic writing system found in central Egypt.
The oldest known representation of the Phoenician alphabet is inscribed on the sarcophagus of the King of Byblos, dating to the 11th century BCE at the latest. Phoenician inscriptions are found in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Cyprus and other locations, as late as the early centuries of the Christian Era. The Phoenicians are credited with spreading the Phoenician alphabet throughout the Mediterranean world. Phoenician traders disseminated this writing system along Aegean trade routes, to Creta and Greece. The Greeks adopted the majority of these letters but changed some of them to vowels which were signifiable in their language, giving rise to the first true alphabet.
Phoenician art lacks unique characteristics that might distinguish it from its contemporaries. This is due to its being highly influenced by foreign artistic cultures: primarily Egypt, Greece and Assyria. Phoenicians who were taught on the banks of the Nile and the Euphrates gained a wide artistic experience and finally came to create their own art, which was an amalgam of foreign models and perspectives.
The Phoenicians were among the greatest traders of their time and owed much of their prosperity to trade. At first, they traded mainly with the Greeks, trading wood, salves, glass and powdered Tyrian purple. Tyrian Purple was a violet-purple dye used by the Greek elite to color garments. In fact, the word Phoenician derives from the Ancient Greek word phoinios meaning “purple”. As trading and colonizing spread over the Mediterranean, Phoenicians and Greeks seemed to have unconsciously split that sea in two: the Phoenicians sailed along and eventually dominating the southern shore, while the Greeks were active along the northern shores. The two cultures clashed rarely, mainly in Sicily, which eventually settled into two spheres of influence, the Phoenician southwest and the Greek northeast.
In the centuries after 1200 BCE, the Phoenicians were the major naval and trading power of the region. Phoenician trade was founded on the Tyrian Purple dye, a violet-purple dye derived from the shell of the Murex sea-snail, once profusely available in coastal waters of the eastern Mediterranean Sea but exploited to local extinction. The Phoenicians established a second production center for the dye in Mogador, in present day Morocco. Brilliant textiles were a part of Phoenician wealth, and Phoenician glass was another export ware. They traded unrefined, prick-eared hunting dogs of Asian or African origin which locally they had developed into many breeds. To Egypt, where grapevines would not grow, the 8th-century Phoenicians sold wine, the wine trade with Egypt is vividly documented by the shipwrecks located in 1997 in the open sea 30 miles west of Ascalon. Pottery kilns at Tyre produced the big terracotta jars used for transporting wine and from Egypt they bought gold.
From elsewhere, they obtained other materials, perhaps the most important being silver from Iberian peninsula and tin from Great Britain, the latter of which when smelted with copper (from Cyprus) created the durable metal allow bronze. It is also apparent that there was a highly lucrative Phoenician trade with Britain for tin.
Cyrus the Great conquered Phoenicia in 539 BCE. The Persians divided Phoenicia into four vassal kingdoms. They prospered, furnishing fleets for the Persian kings. Phoenician influence declined after this. It is likely that much of the Phoenician population migrated to Carthage and other colonies following the Persian conquest. In 350 or 345 BCE a rebellion in Sidon led by Tennes was crushed by Artaxerxes III.
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Atualizado em 3 de março de 2018.
Placas de ouro com fenícia.
e escrita etrusca.
Você pode imaginar que algo tão simples e básico como o alfabeto teria existido para sempre. Mas é claro que não. Como você deve saber, os quadros elaborados de hieróglifos egípcios e as intricadas marcas de junco-de-barro do cuneiforme da Mesopotâmia costumavam ser o modo como as pessoas se comunicavam por escrito. Gradualmente, estes foram simplificados em símbolos silábicos em vez de símbolos de palavras, mas ainda eram bastante assustadores e apenas alguns poucos estudiosos aprenderam a escrever.
Muitas vezes nos dizem que os fenícios inventaram o alfabeto, embora alguns debatam isso. Independentemente de quem colocou caneta em papiro para criá-lo, a contribuição fenícia foi, no entanto, importante e crítica. Eles eram os principais comerciantes do mar do Mediterrâneo, e eles foram para todos os lugares.
Todos os países que tinham uma costa parecem ter negociado com eles. Quando os fenícios começaram a usar o alfabeto como uma maneira simples e fácil de acompanhar seus negócios, ele foi exposto a todos. E como o dinheiro e a riqueza estavam envolvidos, as pessoas estavam altamente motivadas para aprender o sistema e certificar-se de que ele estava sendo escrito com precisão. Este novo método provou ser muito melhor do que os métodos anteriores, que logo estava sendo usado por muitas pessoas e muitos idiomas. Foi dado tanto impulso que não pôde ser detido.
As primeiras invenções são às vezes um pouco ásperas e precisam resolver os erros, e assim foi com esse novo alfabeto que os fenícios tornaram popular. Consistia em 22 consoantes. . . mas sem vogais. Supunha-se que o leitor falava a língua, para que eles soubessem qual som colocar entre as consoantes. É claro que, olhando para suas inscrições, alguns milhares de anos depois, isso não é tão óbvio. Essa é uma das razões pelas quais você verá diferentes grafias para a mesma palavra ou nome. Os antigos e modernos tradutores fizeram o melhor que puderam.
Alfabeto fenício - note sua escrita lê.
direita para a esquerda e que alguns símbolos foram.
mais tarde reutilizado e transformado em vogais.
[© Sanford Holst, usado aqui com permissão]
Os gregos adotaram esse alfabeto fenício e acrescentaram vogais a ele. A combinação refinada funcionou muito bem. Permitiu que a filosofia de Sócrates e as peças teatrais de Eurípides - entre muitas outras grandes obras de literatura - fossem passadas para nós.
Na Estela Incirli, escrita grega.
(incisões profundas) foi cortado no.
texto fenício anterior.
Os etruscos na Itália estavam familiarizados com o alfabeto fenício, como mostrado nas placas de ouro Pyrgi na parte superior e inferior desta página. O prato deles à esquerda estava escrito em fenício e o outro em etrusco. Depois que os etruscos adotaram e modificaram o alfabeto grego, eles passaram para Roma. Os romanos fizeram seus próprios refinamentos, e isso levou ao alfabeto que usamos hoje.
Um relato bastante revelador de como - e por que - o alfabeto e a escrita inicial surgiram é descrito no livro Segredos Fenícios. Nessa narrativa bem pesquisada e intrigante, os misteriosos fenícios e o antigo Mediterrâneo são experimentados em riqueza de detalhes.
O alfabeto não surgiu no vácuo. Fazia parte de um fenômeno social mais amplo que se espalhava pelo antigo Mediterrâneo e atingia um de seus pináculos na Grécia clássica. Para apreciar plenamente as origens e os impactos dos primeiros alfabetos, é necessário ver o fluxo de pessoas e descobertas de um lado para o outro do Mediterrâneo naqueles dias. Segredos fenícios é um dos poucos livros para capturar completamente as muitas linhas sociais que foram tecidas nesta criação humana essencial.
& quot; Sanford Holst criou uma narrativa fascinante, acessível e intrigante dos fenícios. Explica como o sucesso do comércio e das invenções necessárias, incluindo o alfabeto, se desenvolveram nas civilizações do Mediterrâneo.
& quot; O livro de Sanford Holst deveria ser um & quot; deve ler! & Quot; para todos aqueles que querem aprender a ciência e a arte de como um sistema social não apenas sobrevive, mas prospera em um ambiente de grande turbulência política, militar, cultural, religiosa e econômica. & quot;
Este livro de bolso é.
Alfabetos em Uso.
Pyrgi Gold Comprimidos.
Pyrgi Gold Comprimidos.
Origem do Alfabeto
Estes comprimidos mostram como o alfabeto fenício e alfabeto etrusco foram utilizados na prática real. As inscrições datam de aproximadamente 500 aC. Eles foram encontrados em um templo perto de Caere, na Itália, e descrevem uma dedicação feita à deusa fenícia.
"Este livro deu uma visão tremenda da história sobre a qual eu nunca havia pensado. Muito interessante livro que foi muito difícil de colocar até que eu terminei o livro. & Quot; Veja Segredos Fenícios.
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