How the Phoenicians rose and where they came from are unknown to people today. Phoenicians were first seen in the history books that can be seen today. They have been on the land called "Phoenician Coast" on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, where they have established many prosperous commercial cities. At that time, the largest city established by the Phoenicians was Tyre, and some people said it was Sur in Lebanon today. Tyre is so rich that ancient writers used many beautiful words to exaggerate it, such as "silver piled up in the street like dirt, gold piled up in the street like sand" and so on. However, the Phoenicians did not establish a unified country. Every Phoenician city is a country, and residents elect their own kings and respect their protectors. Phoenicians are very clever. Backed by the towering lebanon mountains, we can only survive in the vast sea. Without the conditions to develop agriculture, they developed handicrafts and commerce. They are clever handicraft artists and businessmen, who travel everywhere.

They not only sell their own exquisite handicrafts, such as glass vases, jewelry, metal utensils and weapons. It also sells local specialties: grains, alcohol, textiles, carpets and precious stones from the Far East and India, lead, gold and iron from the Black Sea coast, copper, cypress and corn from Cyprus, and various handicrafts from Greece. In addition, wine and oil from Sicily, wine from Balearic Islands and wax from Corsica, ivory and slaves brought back from the African continent, gold and silver brought back from Spain, and even tin from Britain were collected in the hands of Phoenicians and then sold through their hands. With the development of commerce, Phoenicians established many commercial stations or colonies along the Mediterranean coast, which became the most prosperous place in the local economy. Many commercial post stations later became famous commercial cities, such as Marseille in France today. Some cities are still powerful city-states, and Carthage (now Tunisia) in North Africa is its largest colony. Once made the Romans tremble with fear. Trade type

According to legend, Hairen appeared in Canaan around 3000 BC-although scholars have different views on its origin and existence: some people think that Hairen may come from Greece, while others question its existence. However, more records show that under the influence of "sea people", Canaan society quickly moved to the road of maritime trade, and they quickly established close trade relations with Mediterranean countries. Wood, parchment, precious metals, steel, olive oil, silk, dyes and glass were their main commodities at that time.

trade center

With the development of trade, the population of Canaan is expanding. Around 2500 BC, three port cities serving navigation appeared in Lebanon, Syria and Israel today: Biblus, Saida and Tyre. All three cities have developed docks, berths, ship locks and supporting warehouses.

Tyre is one of the largest and most prosperous cities, paying more attention to culture than Bruce. The goods imported there are Egyptian and Greek parchments, which the Canaanites used to record important events. Archaeologists believe that Byblos is the etymology of the word Bible, and that it is related to books, and the earliest books of mankind are likely to appear here. The level of cultural development at that time has been confirmed by archaeologists from an unearthed sarcophagus: about BC 1200, the Canaanites have invented 22 letters, which is the source of 26 English letters today.

In Greek, Canaan is called Phoenicia. The name Phoenicia is still used by many people, but Canaan seems to have been forgotten. Until BC 1 100, the whole Mediterranean was ruled by Phoenicians, who uploaded the most prosperous Babylonian civilization and Assyrian civilization to Greece through the sea. However, because most Phoenician characters are recorded on scrolls, these scrolls have been oxidized without a trace in the long historical night.

Archaeological achievements

BC 1 100, Phoenicians entered the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar and sailed along the coast of Spain.

Only unearthed cultural relics can tell the truth. Fortunately, after the research and discovery of archaeologists from many countries, we have been able to see some truths at that time: Claud Doumet Sakhar, a Lebanese archaeologist who started archaeological excavation from 1998, found weapons in a site in Saida, and it was confirmed by isotope tests that their smelting time was about 1950 BC, and the origin of iron ore was not there. It can be seen that maritime transportation has played a very important role at that time.

Not long ago, archaeologists from the Spanish National Museum found the wooden blocks of the Phoenician shipwreck in a bay in Carthage (now Tunisia), an overseas colony of Phoenicians. These wooden blocks show that the wooden boat is quite strong because of its complex tenons, and its hull is eight or nine meters long. It can carry heavy goods, such as ore. In order to prevent ore from damaging the hull, Phoenicians filled the cabin with some twigs. Phoenician anchor is very interesting. This is a wooden anchor filled with lead. In addition, phoenicians began to use barges to unload goods from big ships at that time.

Although the Phoenicians established colonies in many places along the Mediterranean coast-there were almost Phoenician communities along the southern coast of Spain in BC 1800, they did not migrate inland, but their interest was only at sea. Some archaeologists have suggested that Phoenician ships may have crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic Ocean around 1 100 BC, and then sailed along the Spanish coast or the west coast of Africa. Spanish archaeologist Francisco Giles is one of those who hold this view. One of his evidences is a mural on a high mountain off the coast of Andalusia, Spain. This mural was created around 2000 BC and has the shape of a ship, which is very characteristic of a Phoenician ship. He estimated that the local aborigines were surprised when they first saw such boats, so they painted them on rocks.