See Also: Phoenician(dictionary)
Phoenician(encyclopedia)

Phoenician (sh)




One of a people of ancient Phoenicia.

They were merchants, traders, and colonizers who probably arrived from the Persian Gulf งใ 3000 BC. By the 2nd millennium BC they had colonies in the Levant, North Africa, Anatolia, and Cyprus. They traded wood, cloth, dyes, embroideries, wine, and decorative objects; ivory and wood carving became their specialties, and the work of Phoenician goldsmiths and metalsmiths was well known. Their alphabet became the basis of the Greek alphabet.