Phoenician civilisation

- http://www.ancient.eu/Phoenician_Colonization/ According to ancient writers, Phoenician colonization began from the 12th century BCE, but some modern historians consider this too early a date and suggest the process was contemporary with Greek colonization in the 8th century BCE. Still other scholars suggest that Phoenician contact with many sites must have been earlier than this and cite such facts as the passing on of the Phoenician alphabet to the Greeks, references in the Bible to sailing vessels of Tyre in the 10th century BCE, a reference in a 10th century source from Tyre to a colony not paying its tribute (either Utica or more likely Cyprus), and the unanimity of ancient writers that Phoenician colonization of the Mediterranean occurred before the Greeks. It is also true that the first primitive trading posts are unlikely to have left much in the archaeological record so that scholars looking for physical evidence of colonization prior to the 8th century BCE are severely challenged to find it.
- maritime

• https://www.quora.com/How-far-did-the-Phoenicians-travel Herodotus noted that Pharaoh Necho II hired Phoenicians to sail around Africa c.600 BC. It took them 3 years to circumnavigate starting from the Red Sea. They planned to sail clockwise around the continent. The reason it took them 3 years was they took some wheat with them. They beached their ships, made a fort then planted the wheat. They then waited for it to grow & finally harvested it then sailed away. Then Herodotus noted (incredulously) that at some point they noticed the Sun rose on their right side. That means they had passed the Tropic of Capricorn by Mozambique.

- language

• Script consisted of 22 simple signsfor consonantal sounds. Spread all over mediterranean through trade
• Was adopted by ancient hebrews, among others
• Greeks adopted the script in 9th century bce but used for vowels some phoenicuan signs that stood for consonantal combinations not native to greek. They took over but soon modified the phoenician letter shapes and names
•  The year is 1600 B.C.-ish in Phoenicia, an ancient Semitic nation near what is now modern-day Israel. They speak a language most closely related to Ancient  Hebrew. Some of them are currently killing lots and lots of snails to make a nice purple colour that will later get a fictional bird named after it. But a few others are doing something that will have a much greater impact on civilization as we know it. There was a writing system made of symbols taken from Egyptian hieroglyphics known today as the Proto-Canaanite writing system. In the 15th century B.C., the Phoenicians took that alphabet and turned it into a new alphabet, which got named after them. https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-history-of-the-alphabet-of-your-language/answer/Oscar-Tay-1
•  the Phoenician writing system was an abjad, not an alphabet. Abjads differ from alphabets in that vowels are not indicated. Greeks created the first actual alphabet by adding vowels to the consonants of the Phoenician script.https://www.quora.com/Where-seems-the-most-likely-place-to-you-that-the-Greeks-borrowed-the-Phoenician-alphabet

sidon
- The Phoenician name Ṣīdūn (𐤑𐤃𐤍, ṣdn) probably meant "fishery" or "fishing town".^[5] It is mentioned in Papyrus Anastasi I as Djedouna.^[1][2][3][4] It appears in Biblical Hebrew as Ṣīḏōn (Hebrew: צִידוֹן‎) and in Syriacas Ṣidon (ܨܝܕܘܢ). This was Hellenised as Sidṓn(Greek: Σιδών), which was Latinised as Sidon. The name appears in Classical Arabic as Ṣaydūn (صَيْدونْ) and in Modern Arabic as Ṣaydā (صيدا). As a Roman colony, it was notionally refounded and given the formal name Colonia Aurelia Pia Sidon to honour its imperial sponsor.In the Book of Genesis, Sidon was the first-born son of Canaan, who was a son of Ham, thereby making Sidon a great-grandson of Noah.It was one of the most important Phoenician cities, and it may have been the oldest. From there and other ports a great Mediterranean commercial empire was founded. Homer praised the skill of its craftsmen in producing glass, purple dyes, and its women's skill at the art of embroidery. It was also from here that a colonising party went to found the city of Tyre. Tyre also grew into a great city, and in subsequent years there was competition between the two, each claiming to be the metropolis ('Mother City') of Phoenicia. Glass manufacturing, Sidon's most important enterprise in the Phoenician era, was conducted on a vast scale, and the production of purple dye was almost as important.
- royalty

• Abdashtart I (in Greek, Straton I^[1]), the son of Baalshillem II, was the King of Sidon, the Phoenician city-state of Sidon from 365 to 352 BC,^[2] having been associated in power by his father since the 380s.His accession appears to have taken place in a period of economic and political difficulty, since he immediately took 'emergency measures',^[4] reducing the precious metal-content of the Sidonian double shekel by two grams, ^[5] thereby devaluing the Sidonian currency in his first year.^[6] He also expanded the currency, adding bronze coinage as well as silver, which funded the expansion of the Sidonian navy.^[7] It is supposed that he gave his name to the city known in the Hellenized world as Straton's Tower, which was later renamed Caesarea by Herod the Great.^[8] Joseph Patrich argues, however, that Straton's Tower may have been founded during the Ptolemaic Kingdominstead,^[9] in which case the naming may have been for a Ptolemaic general of the third century BC.His accession appears to have taken place in a period of economic and political difficulty, since he immediately took 'emergency measures',^[4] reducing the precious metal-content of the Sidonian double shekel by two grams, ^[5] thereby devaluing the Sidonian currency in his first year.^[6] He also expanded the currency, adding bronze coinage as well as silver, which funded the expansion of the Sidonian navy.^[7] It is supposed that he gave his name to the city known in the Hellenized world as Straton's Tower, which was later renamed Caesarea by Herod the Great.^[8] Joseph Patrich argues, however, that Straton's Tower may have been founded during the Ptolemaic Kingdominstead,^[9] in which case the naming may have been for a Ptolemaic general of the third century BC.

• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Coin_of_Abdashtart_I,_Achaemenid_Phoenicia.jpg coin - obv: Phoenician galley and waves. Rev: King of Persia and driver in chariot drawn by two horses. Ruler of Sidon standing behind the chariot, holding sceptre and votive vase. Dated 360/59 BC.

religion

• Baal Hammon, properly Baʿal Ḥammon or Ḥamon (Phoenician: 𐤁𐤏𐤋 𐤇𐤌𐤍‬ baʿal ḥamūn; Punic: bʻl ḥmn),^[1] was the chief god of Carthage. He was a weather god considered responsible for the fertility of vegetation and esteemed as King of the Gods. He was depicted as a bearded older man with curling ram's horns.^[2] Baʿal Ḥammon's female cult partner was Tanit.The worship of Baʿal Hammon flourished in the Phoenician colony of Carthage. His supremacy among the Carthaginian gods is believed to date to the fifth century BC, after relations between Carthage and Tyre were broken off at the time of the Battle of Himera (480 BC). Modern scholars identify him variously with the Northwest Semitic god El or with Dagon.
  In Carthage and North Africa Baʿal Hammon was especially associated with the ram and was worshiped also as Baʿal Qarnaim ("Lord of Two Horns") in an open-air sanctuary at Jebel Boukornine ("the two-horned hill") across the bay from Carthage, in Tunisia.
  The interpretatio graeca identified him with the Titan Cronus. In ancient Rome, he was identified with Saturn, and the cultural exchange between Rome and Carthage as a result of the Second Punic War may have influenced the development of the festival of Saturnalia. Ba'al Hamon was a place mentioned in the Song of Solomon. It was the location of a productive vineyard owned by Solomon, who let out the vineyard to tenants, each of whom was to bring him a thousand silver shekels. The locale has been supposed to be identical with Baal-gad, and also with Hammon in the tribe of Asher.

- Melqart (also Melkarth or Melicarthus) was the tutelary god of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre and a major deity in the Phoenician and Punic pantheons. Often titled the "Lord of Tyre" (Ba‘al Ṣūr), he was also known as the Son of Baal or El (the Ruler of the Universe), King of the Underworld, and Protector of the Universe.^[1] He symbolized the annual cycle of vegetation and was associated with the Phoenician maternal goddess Astarte. Melqart was typically depicted as a bearded figure, dressed only in a rounded hat and loincloth. Reflecting his dual role as both protector of the world and ruler of the underworld, he was often shown holding an Egyptian ankh or lotus flower as a symbol of life and a fenestrated axe as a symbol of death. As Tyrian trade and settlement expanded, Melqart became venerated in Phoenician and Punic cultures across the Mediterranean, especially its colonies of Carthage and Cadiz.^[2]During the high point of Phoenician civilization between 1000 and 500 BCE, Melqart was associated with other pantheons and often venerated accordingly. Most notably, he was identified with the Greek Herakles (Hercules) since at least the sixth century BCE, and eventually became interchangeable with his Greek counterpart.Melqart was written in the Phoenician abjad as mlqrt(Phoenician: 𐤌𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤕) which means "King of Earth".193年，塞普蒂米烏斯·塞維魯成為羅馬帝國皇帝。由於塞維魯出生在原腓尼基在北非的殖民城市大萊普提斯，尊奉美刻爾，故而他在羅馬城為其建立了一座神殿。不過，這座神殿並非以美刻爾的名義建立的，而是以「利柏爾和赫拉克勒斯」的名義建立的。此後，美刻爾被等同於羅馬神話里的豐收之神利柏爾。


other info
- https://www.quora.com/What-was-the-smartest-ancient-civilization
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmAuY6l6jVg first people to cross africa, set up largest colony in africa (carthage)

carthage

- roman times

• Carthage was not just some random Barbarian Kingdom but a well trained enemy country that was just as ambitious as Rome was and would fight for its strategic holdings. They had Elephants, Libyan Spearmen (crackfoot professionals), and some of the best Cavalry in the world.Comparatively also they had one of the best commanders or Generals in the world in Hannibal Barca son of Hamilcar. https://www.quora.com/Who-was-the-best-general-of-Ancient-Rome-Scipio-Africanus-or-Julius-Caesar

- catholicism

• The Councils of Carthage were church synods held during the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries in the city of Carthage in Africa. 

• The Council of Carthage, called the third by Denzinger,^[5] met on 28 August 397. It reaffirmed the canons of Hippo from 393, and issued its own. One of these gives a canon of the Bible. The primary source of information about the third Council of Carthage comes from the Codex Canonum Ecclesiae Africanae, which presents a compilation of ordinances enacted by various church councils in Carthage during the fourth and fifth centuries. In one section of this code the following paragraph concerning the canon of Scripture appears.
•  The Vandal Synod of Carthage (484) was a largely unsuccessful church council meeting called by the Vandal King Huneric to persuade the orthodox bishops in his recently acquired North African territories to convert to Arian Christianity. The orthodox bishops refused and many, including Fulgentius of Ruspe and Tiberiumus, were exiled to Sardinia, and some executed. The Notitia Provinciarum at Civitatum Africa says that nearly 500 went into exile. 

- any relation?

• Carthage is a city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. It is best known for being the site of the 1844 murder of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.The company Methode Electronics, Inc. operates an auto parts production facility in Carthage, though the company no longer employs as large a portion of the population as was once the case.

america

- https://www.quora.com/Why-the-theory-of-Phoenicians-discovering-America-is-not-accepted-if-there-are-evidences-Pedra-do-Ing%C3%A1-in-Brazil There was a “stone” found in Pouso Alto close to Paraiba (Brazil) in 1872, It tells about a phoenician ship that was separated from a fleet sailing from Egypt around Africa and also mentions the pharaohs Neco I and II which had indeed ordered this trip.

legacy

- Spain and Itly have sites of Phoenician city states, which Germany and the UK don't have because the Phoenicians were never there. Spain and Italy have sites of Carthaginian cities, which the UK and Germany don't have because the Carthaginians were never there.https://www.quora.com/Why-does-Italy-or-Spain-have-more-heritage-sites-than-countries-like-the-UK-or-Germany
- israel

• Caesarea Maritima (/ˌsɛsəˈriːə məˈrɪtɪmə/; Greek: Παράλιος Καισάρεια Parálios Kaisáreia), formerly Strato's Tower,^[1] also known as Caesarea Palestinae,^[2] was an ancient city in the Sharon Plain on the coast of the Mediterranean, now in ruins and included in an Israeli national park.The city and harbour were built under Herod the Great during c. 22–10 or 9 BCE near the site of a former Phoenician naval station known as Stratonos pyrgos(Στράτωνος πύργος, "Straton's Tower"), probably named after the 4th century BCE king of Sidon, Strato I.^[3][4] It later became the provincial capital of Roman Judea, Roman Syria Palaestina and Byzantine Palaestina Prima provinces. The city was populated throughout the 1st to 6th centuries AD and became an important early centre of Christianity during the Byzantine period, but destroyed during the Muslim conquest of 640, after which it lost its importance.^[5] After being re-fortified by the Muslims in the 11th century, it was conquered by the Crusaders, who strengthened and made it into an important port, and was finally slighted by the Mamluks in 1265.The name Caesarea (Καισάρεια) was adopted into Arabic as Qaysaria قيسارية‎. The location was all but abandoned in 1800. It was re-developed into a fishing village by Bosniak Muslim immigrants after 1884, and into a modern town after 1940, incorporated in 1977 as the municipality of Caesarea (Hebrew Kesariyaקיסריה‎) within Israel's Haifa District, about halfway between the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa.