Phoenicians

=**Phoenicians**=


 * What were the major accomplishments and contributions of your civilization?**
 * Took charge of Mediterranean trade
 * Set up trading posts along Mediterranean
 * Famous for their war ships


 * Created an alphabet, which is the basis of our alphabet today
 * Created new business practices such as bills of sale and contracts
 * Phoenician art was known for its ivory carvings


 * What made your civilization unique?**
 * Sailed the seas and learned to plot voyages by the sun and stars
 * Got metal by trading:
 * Cedar logs
 * Textiles (cloth) dyed purple
 * Glass objects
 * Jewelry
 * Sacrificed children to their gods and kept the burnt remains in pottery urns


 * What historical events or people define your civilization?**
 * Princess Dido was the founder of Carthage
 * 1000 B.C. created the alphabet


 * What historical connections were made between your civilizations and other civilizations?**
 * In 1100 B.C. they reached southern coast of Spain and western coast of Africa
 * Traded with other civilizations

**Princess Dido**

 * Daughter of a king of Tyre
 * Founder of Carthage
 * Asked the ruler of North Africa to build a city. He told her that she could have as much land as an ox-hide would cover. She then cut the hide into many small strips so she could mark off a large area of land.
 * The Phoenicians name for Carthage is Karthadasht which means new city or new capitol
 * Carthage was located on a peninsula in Northern Africa
 * It was a wealthy trading center

**Purple Dye**

 * Phoenicians were known for their purple dye
 * The dye made the city smell awful
 * Made from Murex shells, which dye cloth anywhere from pink to deep purple

Cedar Wood

 * They harvested timber from nearby cedar forest to build ships
 * Traded Cedar logs for metal

**Other interesting Facts**

 * Phoenicia is located between Egypt and Syria
 * They settled in northern part of Canaan
 * Canaan, today, is made up of Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan
 * Is one of the Semitic groups that migrated from the Arabian Peninsula in about 3000 B.C.
 * Their neighbors came from eastern Mediterranean
 * Romans called southern Canaan: Palestine which means "land of the Philistines."
 * There wasn't enough land for farming between mountains of western Syria and Mediterranean Sea
 * By 1200 B.C. they had built string of cities and towns along coast (Tyre, Byblos, Sidon, and Berytus)
 * Sailors and traders set up along Mediterranean a network of trading posts and colonies of Phoenician emigrants

Stephanie Moulton