Treasure hunt begins in England

Chapter 944 Phoenicia

From the northern part of Syria, continue westward into the coastal area, and continue south along the Mediterranean Sea to the area near today's Lebanon, which is the birthplace of Phoenician civilization.

The word "Phoenician" originally means purple, which originated from a kind of purple pigment produced here. This kind of purple material extracted from conch was once considered by Westerners to be more expensive than gold for thousands of years.

From a geographical point of view, the territory of Phoenicia stretches from Suksu in the north, Acre in the south, Mount Lebanon in the east, and the Mediterranean Sea in the west.The original inhabitants were the Hulites. Since about 3000 BC, the Canaanites moved in and assimilated the original local residents.

Unlike many nations, the Phoenicians did not establish a unified kingdom, but they established a series of city-states along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, mainly including Byblos, Tire, Beirut, Sidon, etc.

In addition, they used their navigation skills to travel almost all over the Mediterranean region. They also established some colonial cities in the western Mediterranean, the most famous of which is Carthage in North Africa.

Because they are widely distributed along the Mediterranean coast, the Phoenicians have different names in different places. For example, they are called "Canaanites" in the Canaan area of ​​Syria.In addition, they correspond to "Phoenicia" in Greek, and the Romans called them "Punics".

Historically, this nation was known throughout the Mediterranean world for its seafaring and commerce.Due to the needs of commercial and trade activities, they began to improve the characters they used.

The Phoenicians abandoned the more complicated cuneiform system and the more complex pictograph system, and chose a new alphabet, which is the Phoenician alphabet, which is one of the earliest alphabets in the world.

The history of Phoenicia can be roughly divided into two parts. The first stage is called the Egyptian era, about 2800 BC-1200 BC; the second stage is the prosperous period of Phoenicia, 1200 BC-800 BC Year.

In the first stage, Phoenicia was mainly controlled by Egypt politically. The first city-state developed in the Egyptian era was Jebal in the north of Phoenicia.In 2000 BC, the city of Sidon developed, and in 1200 BC, the city of Tire became powerful.

In the second stage, due to the weakness of Egypt and Crete, Phoenicia was able to dominate the Mediterranean.Controlled the route to the Indian Ocean, and the Phoenicians also controlled the route north through Syria to Assyria and Armenia;
The other went east through Syria to Babylon, Persia, and Central Asia.During this period, the Phoenicians transported a large amount of ivory, ebony, cotton cloth, bright iron, etc.Amber was then exported to the mouth of the Po River in present-day Germany and Italy, as well as tin to the Mediterranean coast.

As we all know, both North Africa and the Near East are relatively barren places. Except for the Mediterranean coast, other places are deserts and Gobi, which are difficult to survive and are not suitable for survival.

So in desperation, the Phoenicians could only choose to colonize the trading bases established on the route.Many modern cities, such as Marseille, were founded on Phoenician colonies.

Some of these colonies developed and expanded in the future history. The more famous one is Carthage, which later had many wars with ancient Rome. Until today, many people believe that the Phoenicians are the ancestors of some Tunisians.

However, there is no eternal dynasty in the world. Around 800 BC, Phoenicia began to decline and became a vassal of foreign countries. Its commercial advantages gradually declined, and it was replaced by Greek city-states.

Around 500 BC, the Greeks gained the upper hand in the Eastern Mediterranean.In 332 BC, the city of Tire fell, and the names of the Phoenicians no longer appear in history books.

According to archaeological data, the farthest colony built by the Phoenicians was established in Cadiz, Spain in 1100 BC, which was used to transport tin from the sea and start the slave trade at the same time.

In addition, their regular routes even extended to the Canary Islands outside the Mediterranean Sea for the transportation of important tin mines mined here.

But the discovery of such a Phoenician cemetery in southern Africa by Liang En and the others is still shocking, because even for such a seafaring nation, it is really too far away.

Fortunately, there is a stone tablet here that can solve most of Liang En's doubts: "This monument commemorates the life of Abd-Dalaf, the son of Abd-Shamash from Tyre—"

This stone tablet introduced in detail the identity of the deceased, his origin and why he was buried here. According to the text on the stone tablet, the deceased was a nobleman and an excellent captain.

His hometown Tire (or translated Tyre, also known as Sur) is also a very famous city, located on a small island in southern Lebanon, about 12 miles north of the Lebanese-Israeli border.

Tire was a city built on the mainland and adjacent offshore islands, founded around 2700 BC by settlers from Sidon.

Good location The city quickly became competitive and eventually surpassed its sister city, Sidon, as a center of Phoenician fishing and trading.

The most famous record about this city is that in the 9th century BC, colonists from Tire established Carthage in North Africa. Like Sidon, Tire was mentioned many times in the Bible.

According to the records in the Bible, the relationship between Tire and Israel is relatively friendly. In fact, King Hiram of Tire also provided building materials for Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.

Because of its wealth and strategic location, Tire was repeatedly attacked by powerful local forces.Once ruled by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians.

But in the end, the city was destroyed by Alexander's siege, which lasted about seven months. In this siege of Tyre, in order to defeat the stubborn defenders, Alexander completely demolished the main city on the mainland and used the demolished rubble Paved out a passage leading to the island.

After occupying the city at a huge price, Alexander responded to the bravery and fearlessness of the citizens of Tyre with blood and brutality. 1 people were ordered to be executed, and another 3 people were sold into slavery.

Although Tire was rebuilt under subsequent Egyptian and Roman rule, it never recovered from the actions of Alexander the Great.

This captain was dispatched when Tire was still prosperous, and he was an elite of that sea-based city-state, so he was able to shoulder the heavy responsibility of captain.

He and his companions were commissioned by the Egyptian pharaoh Necho to organize a fleet of 40 ships to embark on an expedition so long that they could not carry enough supplies.

In this case, they had to do everything possible to supplement their supplies, and sometimes even had to stay in a certain place for several months to grow crops, and they could not set sail again until the crops were harvested.

In addition, as part of the expedition, they also carried out a series of hydrological and geographical surveys, and even followed the river many times to explore inland areas.

After all, apart from taking risks, this fleet also has an important job to obtain goods, which is also a good game of the Phoenicians, but because there are not many people in the whole area, they sometimes have to manually obtain goods by themselves.

It's just that this kind of work is obviously not likely to be smooth sailing.For example, the present deceased was unfortunately killed during another expedition deep into the inland.

(End of this chapter)