Key Facts about Phoenicia

About Phoenicia:

• Phoenicia was an ancient region at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea.
• It covered the land where the present day Lebanon is located.
• The Phoenicians lived on the seacoast and were skilled shipbuilders and navigators.
• Their trade routes reached as far as Spain and the British Isles.
• The Phoenicians traded wood, linen, dyes, and wine.
• They also carved wood and ivory and worked with metals and glass.
• The art of glassblowing was probably invented in Phoenicia.
• The Phoenician alphabet was the source of the Greek alphabet and of the Latin alphabet, which most people use today.
• They built the cities of Sidon, Tyre, and Berot (modern Beirut).
• The Phoenicians set up colonies all around the Mediterranean. Carthage, in North Africa, was a very successful colony.
• Decline:
  • Over the centuries a number of foreign powers controlled all or parts of Phoenicia. They included Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia.
  • The Macedonians, led by Alexander the Great, conquered Phoenicia in 332 BCE.
  • In 64 BCE Phoenicia became a part of the Roman Empire.