Phoenicians

This paper is a short review of some of the arguments regarding the relationship between the Proto Semitic / Sinaitic/ Canaanite inscriptions and Paleo Hebrew. It looks at the film of Timothy Mahoney with a disputation between such scholars as Orly Goldwasser and Christopher Rollston and David Rohl and Petrovitch around the studies of Joseph Naveh. Naveh notes that in the tenth century BC Paleo Hebrew, Aramaic and Phoenician were indistinguishable, leaving the door open for a bridge between Proto sinaitic and Paleo Hebrew.  The genius of the alphabet was needed in oder for the Torah to be written. Spome scholars argue that the Proto Sinaitic inscriptions are in fact the earliest form of Hebrew. Rohl sughgest it was designed by Joseph whilst he was in Egypt because of the coincidence between the first inscriptions and Josephs's period in Egypt.

Resumen En el siguiente trabajo se detallan las oportuni-dades educativas y divulgativas que ofrece la actual ciudad de Cádiz (España) en relación con su pasado fenicio. Por ello, el objetivo principal de este estudio ha sido exponer los beneficios que, desde el punto de vista histórico y arqueológico, tiene el Itinerario Cultural Europeo "Ruta de los Fenicios" y su proyección educativa y ciudadana. El método basado en la implementación de varios talleres educativos en la Noche Europea de los In-vestigadores de la Universidad de Cádiz supuso una oportunidad para desarrollar una experiencia motivadora y adaptada a la comunidad educati-va, las familias y los agentes patrimoniales. Los resultados muestran que la existencia de esta ruta, ya diseñada y puesta en marcha, es útil para la divulgación científica al conjunto de la sociedad y como recurso didáctico destinado a todos los niveles educativos de centros docentes de la provincia y la ciudad. En conclusión, es necesario destacar las posibilidades didácticas que estos encuentros divulgativos tuvieron para el aprendi-zaje del patrimonio cultural. Palabras clave Aprendizaje significativo, Didáctica de la histo-ria, Educación patrimonial, Proyecto educativo, Talleres didácticos Abstract The following work details the educational and informative opportunities offered by the current city of Cádiz (Spain) in relation to its Phoenician past. For this reason, the main objective of this study has been to expose the benefits that, from the historical and archaeological point of view, the European Cultural Itinerary "Route of the Phoenicians" and its educational and civic projection have. The method based on the implementation of several educational workshops at the European Night of Researchers at the University of Cádiz was an opportunity to develop a motivating experience adapted to the educational community, families, and patrimonial agents. The results show that the existence of this route, already designed and implemented, is useful for scientific dissemination to society as a whole and as a didactic resource for all educational levels of educational centers in the province and the city. In conclusion, it is necessary to highlight the didactic possibilities that these informative meetings had for learning about cultural heritage.

A complete edition of all known Latino (and Graeco)-Punic inscriptions along with a detailed, comparative grammatical analysis, esp. with regard to phonology and orthographic practice. Several texts are presented here for the first time. These texts from Roman-era Tripolitania (the first centuries A.D.) render Punic systematically, although written with Latin graphemes. Until now they have been largely neglected by Semiticists. They thus provide, among other things, fully vocalised material, unusual for alphabetically written Semitic languages, which can provide us with insight into the historical and diachronic development of the (North-West) Semitic languages, esp. biblical Hebrew. At the same time, these texts are also interesting epigraphic texts documenting the spread of the Punic language into the African interior.

According to generally accepted estimates, the corpus of Phoenician-Punic inscriptions comprises about 10,000 inscriptions from all the countries of the Mediterranean region. The sheer quantity and scattered nature of the documents, spread over a very wide span of time, have severely affected research and caused considerable difficulties in the knowledge, availability and use of these sources. In order to tackle these problems and to try to resolve them, by making Phoenician texts –presented with rigorous and uniform criteria – available to the academic community, the project called CIP (Corpus Inscriptionum Phoenicarum necnon Punicarum, also known as the PhDB or Phoenician Data Base) came into being. For the first time, this project produce a collection and a critical edition of all the Phoenician and Punic epigraphic documents in the form of a data bank; also include all the available information on every Phoenician epigraphic document considered of interest for correctly understanding them. It presents the relevant data in an ordered and programmatic form, together with graphic and photographic material. The project in question, born from an Italian initiative (CNR) that early on made use of collaboration with a Spanish team (CSIC) is directed by Paolo Xella and co-directed by José-Ángel Zamora. The aim of this article is to document the progress of the project, explaining its objectives and illustrating the criteria underlying the work completed so far [as of 2007].

"Abstract
Food habits are of primary importance in order to characterize cultural identities. Recently an increasing amount of archaeological data, submitted to new archaeozoological analyses, has made possible new developments in food and nutrition studies on ancient societies. The aim of our work is to collect and study the archaeozoological evidence related to the presence of suids in the Phoenician settlements of the West Mediterranean area and to compare it with the well known information given by written source on food rules in the Syro-Palestinian world. Another aspect of the research will focus on the differences in the consumption of suids within Phoenician colonies and settlements that hosted both Phoenicians and local populations.

La disamina delle abitudini alimentari appare di primaria importanza nella caratterizzazione delle identità culturali. L’incremento dei dati archeologici e l’intensificazione delle analisi archeozoologiche stanno recentemente aprendo nuovi sviluppi agli studi relativi all’alimentazione delle società antiche.
Finalità di questo lavoro è la verifica della nota proibizione alimentare relativa al consumo della carne di maiale, attestata in alcune fonti scritte, attraverso la raccolta e l’analisi delle evidenze archeologiche relative al consumo dei suini negli insediamenti fenici e punici di Sardegna. Il quadro così delineato sarà quindi rapportato con i dati provenienti dal consumo presso le comunità indigene dell’isola, e da altre aree zone del Mediterraneo occidentale, e con le informazioni desumibili dalle fonti epigrafiche fenicie e puniche e dai testi ugaritici."

Xenia was a vital thread in the social fabric of both the Homeric world and the eighth century BC. However, due to its very importance and due to the changing environment of the world in which Homer was composing, xenia is flagged as a cause for concern in Homer through the portrayal of certain characters, situations and relationships: examples of xenia appear throughout the Odyssey and are persistently problematic. Through these examples of xenia, Homer inspires a discussion about it, which implies that it was vulnerable to abuse and change, and that the boundaries of such relationships were not concretely defined. Homer demonstrates that xenia was a way of gauging the level of civilisation of a community, which Odysseus must identify as he encounters new and alien groups on his voyage and must either depend on their hospitality or escape from their enmity. Homer also uses certain examples of xenia to define that it was a personal relationship rather than as a system of exchange that could benefit a wider community. He places xenia on a spectrum of exchange, which encompasses concerns about its relation to trade and piracy. Throughout, xenia is flagged as a concept of huge importance, yet also of huge concern, and thus an essential issue for discussion in the epic.

During the Iron Age, the northern coast of Israel passed through several geopolitical upheavals. During the Second Iron Age II, the Carmel coast is considered a border zone between the Phoenician city-states and the Kingdom of Israel. Between 1963–1977, Tel Shiqmona, located on the coast of the Carmel, was extensively excavated and revealed a nearly continuous occupation from the Late Bronze Age to the end of the Iron Age and further into the classical periods. Still, 40 years later, the results and finds of the early periods have not been researched or published. The Tel Shiqmona Project was launched in 2016 in order to save the cultural and intellectual assets hidden in the site’s forgotten finds. At this very preliminary point it has become clear that there are indications of material culture associated with that of Phoenicia and evidence of an extensive commercial relationship with Cyprus throughout the Iron Age. In addition, the excavation at Shiqmona yielded the largest number of potsherds on which a real purple dye is preserved. These findings raise many questions concerning political, cultural, economic and ethnic aspects of the site. The study is still in progress and the purpose of this short paper is to introduce Tel Shiqmona, its research and to formulate the questions, rather than to give the answers.

In recent years it has become evident that the origin of the great Punic goddess Tanit is in Phoenicia. Her cult is attested in Palestine from the Persian to the Late Roman periods. Related finds have been discovered mainly, but not only, at the sites of coastal cities belonging to the Phoenician cultural sphere. Remarkable evidence for the cult of Tanit might be recognized in the enigmatic deity Phanebalos who appears on the coinage of Ascalon from the reign of Augustus to the closing of the city’s mint in the time of Maximinus. Many attempts have been made to identify this Ascalonian deity; the main obstacle seems to be a difficulty in establishing its sex. On certain coins Phanebalos
appears as a male, while on other types a definitely female figure is depicted.
It is possible that Phanebalos is not one god, but a pair of deities, male and female, probably a local interpretation and development of the Phoenician-
Punic Tanit and Ba‘al Haman.

The location of the origin of the trireme has long been debated between academics who firmly place themselves in either a Greek, or Phoenician, origin group. This study aims to discuss the historiography of the last century on this debate by separating the various pieces of literary and archaeological evidence, before discussing the merit that these pieces have to offer to the whole. Collectively, the majority of the archaeological evidence is far from conclusive for the purpose of this study and does not grant any credence to either argument. This is due mostly to improper representation of the architectural aspects through mostly abstract portrayals. The written primary sources (chiefly: Thucydides, Herodotus, and Clement of Alexandria) are of slightly more usefulness. However, they are often too vague in the few areas that they do not directly contradict each other. With the oldest unambiguous depictions of multiple banks of oars coming from Phoenicia, it has been argued that the triremes originated in Sidon between 701 and 676 BCE. However, the question of origin of the trireme may not be as important as the evolution of the trireme, which has not received as much research. By highlighting the differences between Phoenician, and Greek ships discussed and portrayed in ancient sources (i.e. the ram, its associated wales, deck and hull size, and the absence – or presence – of the paraxeiresia), and the documented evolution of ships after the invention of the trireme (i.e. the addition of the Athenian light sail, the evolution of the Rhodian triemiolia, the Peloponnesian hippagogoi, the samaina, and the polyremes which evolved independently in the fourth century BCE) scholars can begin to fill in the gaps and look to achieve a greater understanding of how the trireme may have originated in Phoenicia, but evolved through innovations in Greece as well.

The problem with using royal inscriptions as historical sources is their inherent bias. The interests of the king drive the narratives of royal inscriptions. Yet this essential feature reveals their underlying concept of history. In royal inscriptions, historical thought is defined by the life and experience of the king. This article will present a hermeneutic for reading royal inscriptions that focuses on the individual king. The article will first look at the concept of historical time in epigraphic Hebrew and Old Aramaic sources before examining the compli-cated ways in which this concept is rendered in the principal genres of royal writings, the memorial and the dedicatory inscription. A survey of features found in memorial inscriptions from Dibon (the Mesha Stele) and Sam’al (Kulamuwa), followed by a study of the Old Byblian dedicatory inscriptions, will explore the complex process of configuring time and narrative around the king. In each genre of royal inscription, the linear time of the ruler intersects with cyclical traditions of kingship, revealing the historicality of respective king.

The Karatepe inscriptions contain an intriguing image of a woman walking fearlessly with spindles. This image builds on the symbolism of the spindle in the ancient Near East as an emblem of femininity and highlights the gendered language of the passage in which it occurs. In the context, the figure of the woman with spindles is contraposed with the image of the fearful man. The contrast between them portrays the magnitude of the positive changes accomplished by Azitawada, the ruler who commissioned the inscriptions.

This dissertation examines the mortuary practices of the Iron I-III Levantine Phoenicians to document and analyze material expressions of social identity.  Previous scholarship on Iron I-II Phoenicians has emphasized their city-based political allegiances on the one hand, and relatively uniform material culture on the other.  But political or cultural affiliation with a particular city does not seem to be consistently signaled in the mortuary record of the northern coastal Levant in these early periods.
    The history of the Phoenicians, or inhabitants of the Iron Age northern coastal Levant, has long been told from the perspective of their neighbors – via the texts of the Hebrew Bible, Greek and Roman authors, and inscriptions from Western Phoenician and Punic “colonies.”  This has been the case in part because the most significant Phoenician cities (e.g. Byblos, Beirut, Sidon, Tyre) have been continually inhabited since the Iron Age (or earlier), and extensive excavation in these urban centers is not fully possible.  However, a significant number of Iron Age burials found outside settlement boundaries – in the form of isolated tombs, clusters of graves, and extensive cemeteries – have been explored or excavated since the 1850s throughout coastal southern Syria, Lebanon, and northern Israel.  This project catalogs the more than 1400 burials known from the Phoenician “homeland” to date, offering a substantive contribution to a social history of the Levantine Phoenicians in the earliest periods of their cultural distinctiveness.
      The study begins with a reassessment of all inscriptions relating to Phoenician mortuary practice thought to date to the Iron I-II (chapter two) and Iron III – Greco-Roman (chapter three) periods.  The literary sources for Phoenician mortuary practice are then analyzed, first addressing the biblical texts (chapter four), and then classical sources (chapter five).  This newly evaluated textual corpus is finally supplemented with a discussion of the burial database and mortuary landscapes of the Iron I-III period northern coastal Levant (chapter sixr).  All of this material is incorporated into a discussion of the treatment of the dead as a stage for Phoenician meaning-making in the Iron I-III periods, and a reassessment of Phoenician social identity in this period (chapter seven).
    An examination of the Phoenician mortuary record indicates no sharp regional distinctions in material culture reflective of an expected city-based model of Phoenician identity.  Instead, a significant degree of variation is evident in individual cemeteries, indicating that Iron I-II period Phoenicians wished to “signal” not political allegiance or ethnic identity, but other aspects of their social identities in death. Contrasting the burial data from these early centuries with the innovative mortuary practices which arose in the better-documented Iron III (Persian) period illustrates how Achaemenid influence in the region seems to have significantly altered these early Phoenician concepts of social status and affiliation.

The main purpose of this dissertation is to describe the economic aspects at the beginning of the Phoenician colonization across the Iberian Peninsula. These mercantile characteristics are connected with the primary sector and include agriculture, cattle or fishing, among others. Equally, this starting point is useful to investigate the nature of the relationship between settlers and the indigenous communitiesin Southern Iberia, which would finally end up being called Tartessos. In order to fulfil the goal, I check the original ancient documents about this subject and, at the same time, I evaluate the archaeological remains that prove the Phoenician presence in the Iberian Peninsula, as well as the native lands in the eastern Mediterranean. First of all, we must attempt to investigate the situation that was taking place in the Phoenician's mother-cities. This should inform us about the daily circumstances in the metropolis, why Phoenician people decided to leave their homes and where they went. This is an important point because the original conditions that led to a colonial movement are crucial for understanding the subsequent practices in distant places. After studying the basic condition, I carry out a meaningful research about the core elements that have influenced the colonization process. In addition to this, we try to understand the mechanisms beneath those primary settlement patterns. Without doubt, a deep analysis of the marine environment (such as winds, oceanic currents or ships) is crucial to understanding the nature of the Phoenician's routes across the Mediterranean Sea. Likewise, I have deepened into the features and characteristics of the Phoeniciansocial classes focused on commerce and trading. Knowing which kind of people took part at the beginning of this unpredictable colonial process has made my work even more meaningful. This section of the research has been extremely useful to trace this complex historical process. The study of the religious mechanisms that were implemented by the Tyre authorities in order to

The existence of lighthouses before the Pharos of Alexandria is a subject of much debate, but so far there is no unequivocal evidence of lighthouse structures prior to 280 BCE. This paper examines the latest evidence to shed light on the matter.

Türkçeye Fransızcadan geçen ve sömürgecilikle eşdeğer bir kelime olarak kullanılan kolonicilik genel anlamıyla bir ulusun ya da topluluğun yabancı bir toprağı işgal etmesi, işgal edilen bölgeye göçmenlerin yerleştirilmesi ve ilhak edilen bölgenin toprağının işlenmesinin sağlanması anlamına gelmektedir. Bu bağlamda her ne kadar Batı tarihçilik geleneği koloniciliği Coğrafi Keşiflerle başlatsa da anlamı itibariyle bu tanım, Eski Yunan ve hatta bazı eksikleri olmasına rağmen Fenikeliler dönemine kadar geriye götürülebilmektedir.
İlk olarak Yunanlılar, daha sonrasında onların mirasını devralan Romalılar tarafından mor boyanın ülkesinden gelen halk olarak nitelenen Levant halkı, bu betimlemeye atfen Fenikeliler olarak tanımlanmıştır. Tarihi kayıtlar çerçevesinde ilk kolonist devlet olarak nitelenen Fenikeliler esasen bir devletin oluşturduğu üniter birliktelikten çok uzaktı, bölge birçok kent devletinden müteşekkil olup bu devletler arasındaki ilişkiler farklı nitelikler gösterebilmekteydi. Dahası her kent devleti kendi dış ilişkilerini istediği istikamette ilerletebilmekteydi. Ancak bu kent devletleri her ne kadar tarihi olarak farklı yönler izlediyse de kültürel ve dil bağlamında birbiriyle ortak bir mirası paylaşmaktaydı, bu sebeptendir ki bugünkü Lübnan sınırları içerisinde yer alan Fenike Kent Devletleri tarih boyunca tek bir devletmiş gibi değerlendirilmiştir. Her ne kadar Fenikelilerden elimize yazılı kaynak kalmamış olsa da birtakım arkeolojik kalıntılar ve miras bıraktıkları dikili taşlar kültürel ve siyasi yapıları bakımından az da olsa bir fikir edinmeyi olanaklı kılmaktadır.
Bir sahil şeridi çevresine yerleşen Fenikeliler şüphesiz ki coğrafyanın kendilerine sağladığı avantajları oldukça iyi bir şekilde kullanmışlardır. Nitekim bölgeye ilk yerleştikleri dönemlerden itibaren balıkçılıkla uğraşan Sami kökenli bu halk, zamanla sahil şeridinin dışına çıkıp çok uzak bölgeler de dahil Akdeniz’in birçok bölümünde koloniler kurmayı başarabilmiştir. Gerek zaruri ihtiyaçlardan gerekse de daha fazlasını elde etme arzusu Fenikeli kolonicilere cesaret vermiştir. Coğrafya olarak çok hassas bir bölgeye yerleşmiş olan Fenike halkı, tarih boyunca Asur, Babil, Mısır, Hitit gibi devletlerin baskısı altına girmiş gözükse de özerkliğini bir şekilde korumayı başarmıştır. Şüphesiz ki bu başarının en önemli sırrı Fenikelilerin ticaretteki üstünlüğünden kaynaklanmıştır.

The ‘Arabic’ numerals are ultimately derived from letters of the Phoenician alphabet.
Specifically from the letters Lamedh through Sin.

The original theory, which can be read in Georges Ifrah’s “the original history of numbers” and similar works, proposed that the Arabic numbers were derived from Indian (Brahmi,Shunga,Gupta,…) numerals. However it seems much more natural to view those Indian and Arabic numerals as simplification of the Phoenician signs.

SUMMARY: Lecture-18 discusses the origins of the Israelites, including the first mention of "Israel" in Merenptah's "Israel" Stela, the current status regarding minimal to no archaeological evidence for an Exodus (also postulated as being a later remembrance of Hyksos expulsion), the state of evidence regarding the sojourn in Sinai (also minimal/no archaeological evidence), the "Exodus Papyrus" (noting the escape and tracking of two fugitives from Egypt), the conquest account (which also contains conflicting data in the archaeological record), the emergence of numerous, small, hill country and other settlements (i.e., typically small, agrarian enclosures with some terracing in areas, herding, semi-nomadic roots in settlement design, forest clearance in newly occupied terrain, simple pottery and other artefacts with clear Canaanite roots), and the emergence of a more complex, Israelite polity by 1000 BC. This lecture is designed mainly as an educational resource/aid for college students (i.e., normally posted only on my institution's course website), the public (e.g., people auditing my course), and interested colleagues from other disciplines (to whom I periodically provide copies privately).  I am posting it here, both as a broader access, educational tool, and especially to promote the study of this region and its past societies.  For further knowledge about this region and period, I refer interested parties to the textbooks and other sources from which the initial materials were extracted for this ppt. (see syllabus; e.g., initially Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible), and/or the bibliographies in these works and my online resource guides (see other files in my academia folders).  Much of this and the other lectures summarize the pertinent materials in the course textbook(s), add in other data, including my own research materials, and furnish numerous images to clarify/illustrate the wealth of information encountered in the textbook(s).  Some generic imagery (usually indicated as such) is posted to aid in transmitting various concepts visually, and/or when a specific image remains not located (temporarily).  I update and revise such lectures each time, with such elective courses normally being taught once every two years.  I try to cover the most current, mainstream views, and usually place summary notes at the end of each lecture (or in separate test study guides).  Over time, each lecture is improved, errors rectified, and additional data placed within the lecture.  These ppt. lectures take many hours to compile, but they have proved useful to many of my more serious students (who have since pursued graduate degrees), and a few colleagues, who, like me, often teach outside our main fields of specialty, and I hope they can be of benefit to others as well.  My apologies for any errors I may have made (over time, as I teach this course every two years, I try to rectify any errors that might slip in inadvertently), and for my liberal usage of educational imagery from professional sources and vetted internet sources.  UPDATED:  Oct. 2023, re-formatting, and a new slide and text revisions.

THE NECROPOLIS OF HELLENISTIC MARESHA, JUDEAN FOOTHILLS, ISRAEL
AMOS KLONER, NILI GRAICER AND BOAZ ZISSU

The ancient city of Maresha is identified with Tell Sandahannah, situated in the Judean Foothills, about 40 km southwest of Jerusalem. During the Hellenistic period Maresha flourished and became an important city.
The archaeological site consists of a Tell - the Upper City (=UC), a Lower City (LC) and a Subterranean City (=SC). A vast necropolis forms a ring surrounding the LC and includes three main cemeteries (Northern, Eastern and South-Western). The exploration of the necropolis started in 1873 and has continued up until the present day.
The cemeteries consist of more than 40 rock-cut burial chambers or hypogea. A typical hypogeum includes an elongated rectangular hall into whose walls loculi (burial niches) featuring typical gabled openings; sometimes additional chambers were cut, forming a burial complex. The loculi were used for primary and secondary burials.
Two of the tombs [nos. 1 (551) and 2 (552)], discovered in 1902, had outstanding wall paintings dating from the 3rd century BCE. The paintings are characterized by a mixture of sepulchral motifs, mostly of Greek or Alexandrian origin. The animal frieze painted in Tomb 1 (551, The "Sidonian Community Tomb") is a unique document of its kind in the Hellenistic world. Renewed explorations of Tomb 2 (552) exposed a neighboring burial chamber (560) hewn initially in the Hellenistic period and reused in the Roman period.
The Hellenistic period hypogea of Maresha were long-term family sepulchres – cut in the soft chalk for the burial of the city residents along several generations. The tombs served this purpose throughout the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, until the destruction of the city by the Hasmoneans, c. 111 BCE. Some of the tombs, located in the Northern and Eastern necropoleis were reused in the Roman period.
The architectural plans of the hypogea probably reached Maresha from elsewhere in the Hellenistic world. The hypogea resemble the architectural and artistic style of Ptolemaic period's tombs (mostly from the 3rd century BCE) in the Shatbi necropolis of Alexandria in Egypt.
The epigraphic evidence reflects the multi-ethnic composition of the city, combining Idumaeans, Phoenicians, Greeks, some Egyptians and possibly a few Judeans. These ethnic elements produced the outstanding social and cultural fabric of the city during the Hellenistic period.
The article presents and discusses the architecture of the rock-cut burial chambers in light of similar hypogea known from the Hellenistic world, the spatial distribution of the tombs, the outstanding wall paintings and their parallels, some objects found in the tombs and some significant inscriptions.