History of Money, Banking, and Trade
A historical look at the development and evolution of money, banking, and trade. From the ancient civilizations to the present.
History of Money, Banking, and Trade
Episode 31. Trade Secrets of the Ancient Phoenicians
Dive into the complexities and wonders of Phoenician civilization in this captivating episode! We uncover how this ancient society, known primarily for their trade and maritime skills, set the stage for the economic structures we know today. With a fascinating backdrop along the coasts of modern Lebanon, the Phoenicians leveraged their prime geographical location to dominate sea trade, connecting various cultures and facilitating the exchange of goods like never before.
Discover how the coveted Tyrian purple dye became synonymous with wealth, and learn about the Phoenicians’ innovations in textiles and shipbuilding that allowed them to venture into uncharted waters. We explore how their decentralized city-states functioned competitively, yet cohesively, creating a formidable network of commerce.
As we traverse through their historical significance, we touch on their remarkable ability to blend cultural influences and language, leading to advancements such as the Phoenician alphabet—an invaluable contribution to written communication across civilizations.
Engage with the story of how the Phoenicians expanded their reach as traders into North Africa, Sicily, and even Spain, marking them as pioneers in ancient colonization efforts. Whether you're a history buff or simply curious about the origins of trade, this episode promises insights into how the Phoenicians shaped our world. Join us, and be part of the discussion by subscribing, sharing, and leaving a review!
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Welcome podcast listener. I am Mike D, and this is the History of Money, banking and Trade podcast. My goal is to expand your knowledge of the history and evolution of trade, along with money, banking and credit, from ancient civilizations all the way to the present. I truly hope you find these episodes to be informative and entertaining. Now, I'm not a historian, but I am a fan of history, so I have to be honest, these next few episodes are going to be a bit of a challenge, because much of what you're going to hear is not first-hand information. Much of the information, as it relates to the Phoenicians and then Carthage has been lost to time. In other instances, much of the information will come from sources that may not have the subject matter's best interests in mind, such as the Greek competitors or the Israelite neighbors and a Roman state that was negatively affected by the Punic Wars, neighbors and a Roman state that was negatively affected by the Punic Wars and then other times. It would be based on information that was written centuries later. In fact, the name Phoenician was a Greek invention. Their fragile papyrus records largely perished, leaving their history in the less than generous hands of the Greeks, leaving their history in the less than generous hands of the Greeks. But this still does not take away from the fact that the Phoenician civilization brought so many great inventions to the ancient world, of which we can still feel to this day. First things first. We don't even know what the Phoenicians called themselves. We get the name Phoenicia because that was a name given to them by the Greeks and afterwards adopted from the Romans. The name Phoenicians means the palm tree people, which is a pretty strange name because it doesn't really offer much insight as to who they were, because palm trees were everywhere in the Levant.
Speaker 1:In this particular case, we are referring to the area of about 380 miles or about 611 kilometers on the coastal region of modern-day Lebanon, with the northern parts extending to the parts of southern Syria, approximately 50 kilometers or 31 miles north of Tripolis to the ancient island of Arwad. To the south, the border would have extended into northern Israel around the area of Acre. Around the area of Acre and to give you an idea, it would have been approximately the same as that of Portugal, if you want to picture the approximate land size. Unlike Portugal, the width was much narrower, as it would have only varied from about 10 miles or 16 kilometers to about 30 miles or nearly 50 kilometers, so it was essentially just a small strip of land. Even though there wasn't much land per se, it still offered a varied characteristic which played a major role in the various societies and culture, which played a major role in the various societies and culture. The region was home to large mountains with wooded hills and even a rich alluvial plain and, of course, since it was primarily based on coastal settlements, it was home to sandy shorelines and island settlements off the main coast. Additionally, numerous streams would have flowed down from the mountains to the shore, the main coast. Additionally, numerous streams would have flowed down from the mountains to the shore, which would have resulted in wide swampland which might have been easily utilized for the purposes of irrigation. The soil was extremely rich, varying from bright red to deep black and producing extensive crop yields. Since the area was diverse, each city-state offered its own unique way of life, which included its economy and trade.
Speaker 1:The mountain ranges in the Levant not only affected the people in the region, but it also played a major part in the history of the Near East and even Egypt. In ancient times. The whole mountain was thickly wooded, which meant that places like Egypt and Mesopotamia were very much interested in trade, considering they didn't have easy access to timber. Also, this heavily wooded mountainous region, which had an elevation that was quite high it could reach anywhere from up to 8,000 feet, which was about 2,500 meters which meant that it was pretty difficult to pass, considering it was a rocky mountain and oftentimes just covered in snow. So the effect in early times was to basically render the area of Phoenicia as kind of protected from people from the Near East, from hostile armies, especially if they're coming from places like Assyria or Babylonia, or even Sumer, if you want to go back far enough. But if you're talking Sumer, if you're talking about Sargon of Akkad, technically the people of Phoenicia weren't really settled in the region, probably at that particular time anyway, but the natives would have been probably protected from him anyway.
Speaker 1:The mountains did protect them from potential foreign invading armies, but it also led to challenges in terms of land communication among the natives themselves. The various staircases of the rocky land were extremely difficult to climb and therefore there were portions of which no pack animals were able to pass and therefore much of the early trade from the mountains relied on smaller, easily transported goods. But just as important, these mountains would have experienced nearly perpetual snowcaps, which often melted and then formed streams that turned into rivers that flowed due west down a valley. That flowed due west down a valley. There were numerous limestone formations. The region of Carmel was said to have had more than 2,000 caves, which I presume would have been an ideal place for the prehistoric hunter-gatherers to hunker down on occasion when needed. Another thing, too, is just circling back to transporting small goods. I remember years ago when I was an undergrad I believe I was an undergrad, I don't think I was in grad school but I remember hearing how the people in the Alps, especially the Swiss in particular, became great at making cheese and chocolates and watches, in part because they lived in a mountainous region and they had to specialize in smaller, easily transported goods. So I think you kind of had a similar situation here with the early Phoenicians that were kind of really moving goods in around the mountainous regions before they really went out to the sea.
Speaker 1:The climate of Phoenicia varied considerably, whether it was the coastal climate or the climate of the more elevated regions. It played a major role in the production of various commodities, including the vegetables, the trees, including the shrubs and the fruit trees, the types of land animals or birds and the marine animals, including the fish and, more importantly, the shellfish, which will all be affected by this vast climate that doesn't take up much space land-wise if you think about it and, to be clear, northern Phoenicia is noticeably cooler than southern Phoenicia, as in the south the heat in the summer can be intense. The north and the south gets a nice cool breeze in the summer that typically comes from the snow-capped mountains. Both the north and the south have mild winters. By the coastline that may get a snowfall, but it's very rare. It's because of this. Orange, lemon, fig and date palms flourish in the open air. In the highlands you'll find cedar, aleppo, pine, oak, walnuts, poplar and carob trees. For the purposes of trade, the most valuable of its native tree population was its cedar, as it was the best building material. Assyrian kings treasured its timber and set up vast trade networks to bring it back to Nineveh and other Assyrian cities. In addition, cleopatra's ships are said to have been derived from Cyprus forests. Ships are said to have been derived from Cypress Forest.
Speaker 1:Back in 1995, one of the members of Wu-Tang Clan, who went by the stage name of Rayquan the Chef, released a solo album when they were kind of kicking around ideas on how to market his debut solo album, he came up with the genius idea he was going to make a cassette tape purple, which was very unique, as I don't think anybody had ever done that before. When they asked Raekwon why purple, he said he wanted it to stand out. He wanted purple because that color represented royalty, represented royalty. Well, why is purple associated with royalty? Well, interestingly enough, it can be traced back to the sea and in particular the shellfish of Phoenicia. The reason being was the shellfish had a defense mechanism, whereas if it was threatened it would produce a purple dye. Well, the Phoenicians kind of picked up on this and used it as a dye and as textile fabrics. These beautiful fabrics were expensive to produce and thus were extremely unique and highly sought after by the wealthiest of people in the known world at the time. In turn, the royals almost immediately picked up on this and, as a result, it became a color of choice. The end result was this shellfish off the coast of Phoenicia would produce what became known as Tyrrhenian purple, or it was also known as royal purple or imperial purple, and basically what it was is if you were a royal or if you were someone that was extremely wealthy, you would wear purple to display your wealth.
Speaker 1:Prior to the Phoenician settling the Levant, a different culture had settled the region, but this was further south, much closer to Africa. A race quite distinct from that of the Phoenicians was settled from an early date on the southern portion of West Asian coast where it verges towards Africa. The people that became known as the Phoenicians had belonged to groups of nations known as Semitic people. The Semitic people were the Akkadians, the Syrians, the Babylonians, the Aramaeans, the Syrians, the Arabians, the Moabites and the Hebrews. Ultimately, these people were known as Semitic peoples because their languages had derived from the same language tree. If you drill down even further, you'll see that they came from the Canaanite group of languages, which included the Phoenician, the Hebrew and the Moabite languages. Many, if not most, semitic languages, including the Phoenician languages, are extinct.
Speaker 1:This right here adds many challenges to deciphering certain histories. This right here adds many challenges to deciphering certain histories, whether it's the Phoenicians or other ancient cultures. But it's also quite common that in many of these extinct cultures, their languages are also extinct. So there's quite a bit of speculation regarding the history of certain peoples, especially when their history comes down from other cultures that may not have their best interests in mind.
Speaker 1:Herodotus claimed that the original settlements of the Phoenician people were upon the Persian Gulf before migrating to the Levant. Where exactly is not known. Some say they came from modern day Yemen or Bahrain, or even Somalia. One clue to the Bahrain origin has to do with the name Tyre, because the name closely resembles to Tylos, which was an ancient name for Bahrain. The Persian Gulf would offer a lot of similarities in terms of lifestyles, as of the Levant. So when the Phoenician migrants arrived, which would have come in drips and drabs over an extended period of time, they would have arrived in the Levantine coast and probably found it nearly empty. So it probably would have been pretty easy to occupy. Or maybe there were some inhabitants and they just wrestled it away, or maybe they just lived peacefully as neighbors. Just wrestled away, or maybe they just lived peacefully as neighbors.
Speaker 1:These early arrivers had no sense of central governing authority, so each settlement would have been distinct from the others as far as governments go. It should be noted that these people were of a particular ethnic group that came into the region. So this wasn't the case where you had a bunch of people moving into a particular region that had different languages, different ideas, different cultural norms, and from that they formed a whole new culture. These were pretty much unified people, as it were, that were already coming into the region. The biggest thing that really happened was when they settled into their own little towns or villages. From there they set up their own separate governments. In other words, when the people came in, they didn't necessarily set up a central government that would have governed over the different cities from the different places. It's very similar to how the Greeks were kind of situated, where each Greek city had its own separate government, and Phoenicia will kind of really be set up very similarly.
Speaker 1:Now, going back to Herodotus, now of course he had his own story. As he said, their rise was the result of the Phoenicians fleeing a catastrophic earthquake. This would have meant that at first they would have made their way north and settled around the Assyrian lake Remember they came from like the Persian Gulf area and then subsequently they would have either left or they were pushed out to the west, to the shores of the Mediterranean and in an area that we would refer to as the Levant. From there, herodotus claims that they built a city which they called Sidon on an account of an abundance of the fish for which the Phoenicians called the fish Sidon. However, despite Herodotus' story, they did do a genetic study on bones of people that they had presumed to be Phoenician. The study seems to point to Lebanon as their origin.
Speaker 1:In addition, it may be the case that they were an offshoot of the Canaanite peoples that found their way to the Levant. In fact, archaeologist Jonathan Tubb said that the Ammonites, moabites, israelites and Phoenicians each derived their own unique culture, but were all ethnically Canaanites. In addition, canaanites were not some monoliths. It meant forging their own unique identity while sharing some cultural similarities with some ethnic-speaking groups of the Levant, similarities with some ethnic speaking groups of the Levant. As for the Levant, as a reminder, the Levant is an area that is historically a region in the eastern Mediterranean. So think Syria, lebanon, jordan, parts of Israel and parts of Palestine. So, despite early speculation by Herodotus, it appears that these people were coming from basically their backyard, not some faraway place like Bahrain.
Speaker 1:Now, it's worth noting that the idea of inheriting their culture from the Canaanites makes sense in that they all dressed modestly and had extreme gender roles for men and women. Whereas men and women were supposed to adhere to gender norms. Men were free to do most things, as they could be judges, merchants and senior officials. However, most were poor laborers or farmers. Boys between the ages of 11 and 13 were typically to begin their apprenticeship in trade. Payments were often in kind, whether it was food or other commodities, but money could also be used as payments. Only the nobles could participate in the courts, while the normal males couldn't vote. He could own property, enter various commercial or personal contracts and participate in trade. In certain circumstances, men were known to sell their wives or children into slavery to pay off debts.
Speaker 1:I always wonder what the psyche must be for the kids or the wives that were sold off, or even the men, for that matter. How do they feel? Do they have feelings? Are they some kind of psychopath that just doesn't care? These are different societies. People process things differently. It's just kind of the norm. I do know that when I took psychology when I was a freshman in college, that when a traumatic experience happens to a kid or a baby, the person gets hardwired a lot differently and they carry these things through the rest of their lives. Society was a lot different 2,000, 3,000 years ago, so I don't know how this would have affected the kids that were sold into slavery. I don't know how they would have grown up. The one thing we do know is societies were a lot more violent back then, so maybe that's part of it I'm not really sure, but this was somewhat normal and this was a way to get out of debt, and this is the reason why they would have to have these jubilees and clean slate programs to basically get rid of everyone's debt, because so many people would end up in debt bondage and it would basically disrupt societies.
Speaker 1:Now, as far as women goes, in these Canaanite societies, they had basically no rights. In fact, they were considered property of their fathers and then, when they were married, they were considered property of their husbands. The type of jobs that they would have held were usually weavers or embroiderers usually weavers or embroiderers, but like most women of the Levant, they could also work the farms or even in construction and even the mines. However, their main job was to maintain the household and raise the kids. Despite all their expectations, they could never own property or enter into contracts, or even live alone, even if they were widowed, let alone reach a position of authority in power.
Speaker 1:It's pretty obvious, but they also had to remain virgins, but men they can visit prostitutes. But I never understood how you can square that circle. How is it that women had to be virgins but men can visit prostitutes? Something doesn't really add up there, unless the virgins are local Phoenician women and the prostitutes are foreign women, or slaves, not really sure, but that's for a whole other podcast. In addition, the marriages were usually arranged. Upper class women could learn to read, and that was the extent of their freedom. However, lower class men and women were usually illiterate for the most part, but they would know basic arithmetic.
Speaker 1:All in all, I would say women in the Canaanite Levant were probably treated as bad as any women in any ancient society at the time. If I were a woman and I had my choice, I would have much preferred to grow up in Assyria, where they had many more freedoms, or even Egypt, for that matter. So it's needless to say that much of the early technology and social developments and cultural norms would have derived from the Canaanites. In the end, it's difficult to say at what time their first settlements took place, but it may have been somewhere around 1600 to 1350 BCE. It appears that their early settlements would have coincided with the time period of the Egyptian Dark Ages when Egypt had a decline in power which would have set in place after the death of Ramesses II, and this kind of would have made a lot of sense, because what that would have meant is, if Egypt was kind of at a low point in its hegemony, that would have meant that the local external pressures would have been removed from Egypt and that would have allowed the city states on the Levant to develop themselves. Or maybe they would have developed anyway, and it's just a pure coincidence.
Speaker 1:Now, as the various Phoenician city-states had developed, the people were long-distance traders and because of it they kind of developed a certain reputation, because they became somewhat wealthy right, and this is kind of the norm throughout history If you are a culture that develops certain skill sets and this skill set translates into making money, there's going to be a certain level of admiration and jealousy from other cultures, and you can kind of see this in Herodotus' writings. So one of the things he kind of claimed was that he saw a large mountain turned topsy-turvy by the Phoenicians in their search of gold, by the Phoenicians in their search of gold. Now that statement was probably a primer to get at some kind of dig, that these were greedy people who can't be trusted. It's the same kind of nonsense they say about Jewish people all the time. Right, they won't come out and they'll use Jewish slurs, but what they do is they use dog whistles to basically say that. And they do that about black people, black Americans, all the time. And I think you're kind of seeing that. About the Phoenicians right, they're not going to come out there and say these are greedy slime balls, but they'll say certain things to make it seem that way. And Herodotus seemed like he did a lot of writing that kind of really got at that, and it wasn't just him, it was a lot of other writers too did very similar things. However, the counterpoint to this is, you know, with Herodotus and some of these writers saying how these people are just awful and can't be trusted.
Speaker 1:If these people were so bad, it does seem kind of odd that eventually, the Egyptians, who were not exactly the most tolerant of outsiders, well, they allowed the Phoenicians to settle in their southern capital, memphis, and to build temples and set up trade from there. The fact is is the people were kind of stuck between many different and powerful empires, whether it was the Egyptians to the south, or the Mesopotamians to the east, and as such, it probably became clear to them that they were just too small to fend off or conquer these empires. So instead, a more practical approach for them was to act as an intermediary between these great kingdoms, whereas they would get their trades and they would send goods from one region to the next, while making a nice profit in the meantime. The trade aspect is the main reason for these episodes, as they may have been the first people that were particularly known for their long distance trade, unlike other cultures and their abilities to raise armies and conquer territories. Unlike places like Assyria and Babylon, they were not a nation of soldiers. They developed into a culture of businessmen and sailors. In fact, they were the first of the city-states that would be known as the great Longestan Straiters, the great sea powers.
Speaker 1:Just like the people of Rhodes, the Venetians, the Genoese, the English and the Dutch, they were the ones that built the original model. Like the Greeks that followed, the Venetians were not a centralized, one nation state. Instead, they were many small city-states, each independent of each other, but they shared many cultural ideas. Other, but they shared many cultural ideas and, like the Greeks, from time to time certain city states exercised a sort of hegemony over a certain number of inferior, smaller cities, but there was no organized confederacy. But I also want to make it clear it wasn't like the Greeks where there was outright war. This was more of a hegemony. You know, you're going to kind of really follow my lead type of situation. This wasn't organized military war going at each other's throats. In addition, they weren't strong enough or big enough that if an outside agitator came in that they can organize into sort of a confederacy and fight off an agitator such as the persians. If an outsider came in and they were, they were just too weak and not big enough to fight off anybody, so they wouldn't be able to form up and, you know, form like a voltron and become stronger. It wasn't going to happen. So all in all, it appears that the number of city-states was around 25, with Sidon potentially being kind of like the OG, or should I say OC, as in the original city, not the original gangster, as Ice-T once said.
Speaker 1:Another thing that may not be the first thing that one would think about is the fact that the region of the Levant was often plagued by droughts and other climate-related conditions. But by focusing on the sea and trade. They can kind of hedge against a poor growing season by importing food from other regions that had a surplus. In fact, the issue of climate change may be the reason why the late Bronze Age collapse happened in the first place. The climate may have forced the infamous Sea Peoples to move into and overtake many of the cities on or near the Mediterranean coast. In fact, the climate may have been disrupted by the eruption of the volcano Hekla 3 in Iceland as a possible contributory factor. This massive eruption threw so much volcanic debris into the atmosphere that it may have caused a global cooling that could have lasted for up to 20 years. This would have certainly caused massive societal disruptions, resulting in widespread famines and droughts. Thus, people would have had to move or starve, and desperate people will do desperate things when they are forced to move into new places. But in the end, no one really knows what caused the late Bronze Age collapse or even who the people were that participated in it.
Speaker 1:But really, what I'm kind of getting at is, the thing is with the people of the Levant, the Phoenicians is because they decided that they would be long distance traders. They could hedge against any kind of climate disruptions traders. They could hedge against any kind of climate disruptions, so they wouldn't have to rely on farming and growing crops. They can just import it from other places that had surpluses and they would have exchanged whatever they needed. So typically it would have been other commodities, such as metals or finished goods or whatever they demanded at that particular time. Because the one thing the Phoenicians learned quite quickly was they were able to find the goods and fit the market, so they were able to really do a good job at matching up the buyer and seller and finding out what the buyer really wanted.
Speaker 1:Now it has been hypothesized that Sidon was the original settlement or the original city, and that would make a lot of sense because Sidon had a great natural harbor. In addition, it even possessed another harbor on the southern side of the city, on the southern side of the peninsula, and therefore that would have made a great refuge for its ships. However, the second harbor wasn't as large and it wasn't as safe, I guess, as the main harbor, but the fact of the matter is, is it allowed for like kind of like an overflow, and therefore it allowed for the city of Sidon to expand trade even more if needed. So it just allowed for more capacity. As such, sidon may have been the first city-state that exercised some sort of hegemony over its neighboring states. In fact, sidon's trading ships were found by the earliest Greek navigators in all parts of the Mediterranean into which they themselves ventured and were known to push themselves into regions where no Greek dared to go.
Speaker 1:And, like I said prior, much of what we get from the historical perspective comes from outsiders, such as the Greeks and the Assyrians and the Egyptians come from outsiders, such as the Greeks and the Assyrians and the Egyptians. So, for example, we get an account from an Assyrian king, tekelath-plasser I, from around 1100 BCE, who had launched a siege of Sidon for its vast cedar timber. In addition, we get an account of a senior Egyptian official who worked out of the temple of Amon-Ra, who went to Sidon and Byblos for a trade deal so that he can get the Egyptians to procure cedar wood for its royal barge. To be clear, this was a trade deal. This was not the case of a powerful neighbor seeking tribute for protection. This wasn't somebody coming in and strong-arming somebody. This was an actual trade deal. The prince of Sidon made it clear that the Egyptians were to pay first before they would get their timber in the deal.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure if this shows how great the Phoenicians were at getting trade deals done or if this was just a case that this was a period of decline for the Egyptians. Oh, and the Egyptian official seems to indicate that Tiglath-Pileser may have overstated his siege of Sidon, as it may not have been as impressive as he made it appear, as this Egyptian official kind of makes it sound like the Assyrians are kind of just puffing up their chest and making it sound like they came in and they just took what they wanted as needed. But from the point of view of the Egyptian official, he basically said hey, these Assyrians, they showed up for this quote unquote siege. Really, both sides kind of just struck a deal real quick, nobody was really harmed, both sides got what they wanted. In the end a deal was struck. So this was also a time period, like I said, where Egypt was kind of going through its dark ages. So therefore, economically they probably would have been a little bit weaker and therefore didn't have the means to generate as much demand as they would have in the past. So therefore Sidon would have had to look towards other trading partners and therefore what they did? Is they kind of pivoted away from Egypt at this point and started to focus more on trading with its neighbors and started to focus on more trade deals with its Syrian neighbors?
Speaker 1:I kind of get the impression that the people of Sidon were quite restless and always looked to explore and even settle other places, just like the other Phoenicians. For that matter, they may have been the first of the Phoenicians to reach Cyprus. Eventually they made their way to North Africa, which was near the founding of Carthage. Now, it's quite possible that it was the Sidonians that were the first to settle Carthage, but it's most likely not the case. So it's probably actually the people of Tyre. But it is possible that the people of Sidon was there first. But we'll talk about Carthage a little bit later in this episode or in the next episode, and then we'll get into Carthage in more depth, because we'll generate an episode or two based on Carthage alone. So we'll talk about that and, really honestly, the accepted hypothesis is that it was the people of Tyre, not Sidon, that founded the city, but it is quite possible that the people of Sidon were actually there first. We're not really 100% sure, so that the people of Sidon were actually there first, we're not really 100% sure. Unfortunately for us, there are very few remains, as much of it has been built over by modern cities. However, towards the south there is an extensive necropolis, so that can give us some clues as to the original settlements settlements About 20 miles or 32 kilometers south of Sidon was an even more impressive city of Tyre.
Speaker 1:Like Sidon, tyre had two harbors, a northern and southern harbor. With Tyre stood an impressive temple of Baal, but more important than the palace or the temple was the open space for the transaction of business within the walls towards the east. Keep in mind that Tyre, while probably the biggest city in Phoenicia, was relatively small in comparison to cities like Babylon or Nineveh, as Tyre had maybe 40,000 inhabitants by the time Alexander the Great came knocking, but the city nonetheless was condensed as houses were built side by side. Tyre's rise came about during the earliest parts of the Iron Age, so we're talking 900 BCE. For example, tyre's earliest rise could really be pinpointed to a strong king that they had named Hiram I, who was on the throne from 969 to 936 BCE. Well, it sounds like he was the one that really pushed for the expansion of trade into the Mediterranean and expanded trade with Israel, with Israel getting more access to the coast, while Tyre was also able to get more access to overland trade routes that went farther into Asia, which meant that they could get more access to certain spices and metals such as gold and silver. The issue with Israel was they had their own political problems that made them an unstable trade partner in the long run. So the people of Tyre eventually shifted inward and looked towards other Phoenician cities as their main trade partners. Tyre will ultimately be known for their dyes that they used in fabrics, and it'll be known as the Tyran purple.
Speaker 1:Tyre also followed the steps of her elder sister, sidon, and by the time Ithobal takes the throne in 887 BCE, tyre starts to expand its trading outposts and colonies into Libya and North Africa, halfway between Byblos and Aridas. Then there was Alpaca, which was sort of a Delphi, a collection of temples rather than a town. It was also dedicated especially to the worship of a Syrian goddess, ashtoreth or Venus, sometimes called Balthus or Baltus, whose orgies were so disgraceful that they were forbidden by Constantine. At present there are no remains on the ancient site except one or two ruins of Oedipus' decidedly Roman in character. South of Acho or Carmel was the town of Dor, now known as Dantara. This was where Assyrian monarch Tiglath-Plasser II installed a governor around 732 BCE. This would be an important location for trade, as it was one of the places where the shellfish was abundant. These were the shellfish that produced the highly desirable purple dye.
Speaker 1:The most southern Phoenician city was Joppa. If you ever saw the 1981 version of the original Clash of Titans, thetis transported Perseus to an abandoned apotheater in Joppa. In Joppa, this settlement was located on the sea and apparently had a decent harbor for which trade was carried in and out of town. Another thing was this town was in relatively close proximity to Jerusalem, so therefore it made for great trading partners between the Phoenicians and the Jews, with the timber that was cut in Lebanon used for the construction of the temples and the royal palace, and the wheat and barley that was grown in and around Jerusalem was sent back to Joppa.
Speaker 1:The most northern of all Phoenician cities was in a fertile territory of Ramatha, which offered its own unique culture from the rest of Phoenicia. Ramatha, which offered its own unique culture from the rest of Phoenicia. This region was in such a remote location that it was protected from conquest by Egypt and Assyria. However, despite its seclusion from Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was in a place that enabled it to have an extensive trade with Cyprus and southern Asian minor kingdoms. In fact, on a clear day, one could see the shores of Cyprus. The next region which really offered its own unique culture was that of the region of Aridas. This region was about 50 miles or 80 kilometers in length. It wasn't as secluded as Ramata. It appears that this region had some of the early Egyptian influence and was easier reached by the Assyrians.
Speaker 1:The next region was that of Gabal, or Byblos. The region encompassed an area of about 80 miles or 130 kilometers. Byblos was a seaport located at the base of the Lebanese mountains. The city had access to fresh water sources and copper. Now, from what I understand, this area was most resembled those of the Hebrew people. The word Bible, in fact, comes from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos, as the city of Byblos was the center for the import and export of papyrus, a material used for writing. The Greeks associated papyrus with Byblos and the word Byblos developed into the Greek word for Biblia, which became books.
Speaker 1:The next region was the area of Tyre and Sidon. This region was really where the heart and soul of the trade and industry took root in the Phoenician culture. The reason being was this was where the great seamen had originated, as they were one of the earliest adopters of the long and treacherous voyages. Probably just as important and very underrated in my opinion was they had the ability to deal with the wild tribes of the many different kinds. In other words, it's one thing to be brave enough to take on the open sea, it's another thing to be able to deal with the people once you come ashore, to establish peaceful communications and be able to trade with very foreign people that had very foreign languages and very foreign customs. The other towns and regions would often furnish sailors to man the Sidon or Tyran fleets or provide the merchandise for their cargoes, but it was Sidon and Tyre which took the initiative and conducted the trade. They essentially viewed the setting sun as the limit, as they were the ones that sailed all the way to the Pillars of Hercules and eventually even further, the Pillars of Hercules being where Spain was closest to Africa, in other words the Straits of Gibraltar. The last and probably least important of the Phoenician regions was the southern one, extending 60 miles, or about 100 kilometers, from Carmel to Joppa. It is flat, without many features. In a way, its distinctive feature is that it was the crossroads of Syria and Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Speaker 1:As I've outlined, phoenicia was split into several independent city-states that acted as its own mini-country, but they shared a similar culture. Each city-state had its own government that was run by a hereditary monarchy. If there were no male heirs, the husband of the closest female would be named king. The king would have been seen as a representative of the gods. The kings were overseeing small cities and didn't raise revenue through direct taxation. Instead, they would have relied on an in-kind taxation policy by directly acquiring merchant goods. Now, at some point around the 6th century BCE, tyre moved away from a monarchy and instead was ruled by a pair of judges. To become a judge, one had to come from the most powerful noble families. In fact, this will be the same system that Carthage will use later on. The Phoenician cities avoided making formal alliances with each other. The Phoenician cities avoided making formal alliances with each other. However, it appears that they certainly made informal agreements with each other, though Within each city, there were certain social classes in various influential families that held sway in business and in politics.
Speaker 1:In most cases, the governments were run by a class of priests and nobles. To be a priest one had to be born in a noble family and undergo years of training. Priests had access to places that even nobles couldn't go. The nobles sort of remind me of the barons of the medieval Europeans, whereas they supplied the soldiers and the food. So the kings needed to make sure they were on their good side, because things could kind of go sideways if a rift developed.
Speaker 1:As you can imagine, being a noble was usually achieved because you were born into the right family. However, because of the international trade aspect, it wasn't uncommon for a commoner to rise into a nobility like rank through fortune made in sea and overland trade. Now I know this may sound shocking, but in Phoenicia the upper classes had more rights than the rest of the population and therefore the laws were not applied equally. In fact, the upper classes could just pay a fine instead of facing criminal punishment. Or if you were a big enough, weasel and were wealthy, you could simply deflect punishment to the guy's wife, children or, of course, slaves. In addition, if one had accumulated enough debt, a man could send his kids or wife or slave off to work the debt off Without going into too much of a tangent.
Speaker 1:The Phoenicians were pretty much about an eye for an eye in their punishments, an example being if someone killed someone's slave, then you would have a slave killed. Rape, on the other hand, was different. If a man raped a woman, he was forced to marry her and pay a fine to her father. Instead of facing a punishment, they generally preferred to either impose a fine or some sort of work punishment or execution instead of imprisoning people for an extended period of time. Usually, the ones that were jailed were those awaiting trial. In the end, there was no unified confederation. There was never a high council that mediated any disputes or directed the cities to support one kingdom over another if the great powers were at war.
Speaker 1:What ultimately separated the Phoenician city-states and regions, apart from basically every other culture and society at the time, was their stated preference of maritime trade over agricultural production. Also, due to their relatively small size, they weren't going to be a great land power either, so they kind of needed to rely on isolation as a protection mechanism. They weren't going to expand to the south because they didn't have the military strength of Philistia and certainly not Egypt. They couldn't expand north because they were no match for the nomadic herdsmen in the mountains near the Syrian and Anatolian border. So in reality, they knew this. So instead of looking north or south or east for possibilities, they looked at the unmanned open Mediterranean. So instead of dealing with the fellow man, they would need to deal with Mother Nature and the unpredictable open seas for expansion.
Speaker 1:The nearest and probably first region to attract Venetian colonies was the island of Cyprus. Was the island of Cyprus, the whole island probably looked a lot different when they first got there, as it was almost certainly full of trees and timber, consisting of pine and cedar, of which may have been even greater in size to those found in Lebanon. But it wasn't just timber. There were deposits of metals, including gold, gold and silver, but only in smaller quantities. Iron was abundant, but the chief supply of metal was copper, especially in the northern part of the island. In fact, cyprus got its name from copper deposits. As such, this is the region that has provided the most Phoenician remains for scholars and archaeologists. There was also an abundance of wheat, and they produced their own wine. Now, even though these were sea people, it appears that they didn't confine themselves to the coast, as they also moved and settled into the interior portions of the island in large numbers. However, the vast amount of the population was in close proximity to the coastline of the island. Eventually, cyprus was Hellenized, but this took centuries to happen. So one could only presume that for hundreds of years, cyprus was the epic center of Phoenician trade and culture.
Speaker 1:In a weird twist, the earliest inhabitants of Rhodes were people referred to as Heliades, whom the Phoenicians expelled. The Phoenicians themselves were later they'd expelled by the Carians and the Carians by the Greeks, the Carians and the Carians by the Greeks. The island of Rhodes is about a fourth the size of Cyprus. It also possesses excellent harbors, which they will pick up the mantle where the Phoenicians left off with regards to their shipbuilding and sea power. I'll probably devote an episode to Rhodes when I get into the Greek episodes.
Speaker 1:The Phoenicians also had settlements or even outright colonies on many of the smaller islands in the Aegean Sea. In fact, at one point the Phoenicians may have had some sort of influence on every island in the Aegean. Each island had its own set of natural resources that the Phoenicians were able to extract, whether it was gold, silver, lead, marble, millstone, honey and, of course, timber. According to Herodotus, the Phoenicians also established extensive mining operations on some of the islands. In the end, the Phoenicians also established extensive mining operations on some of the islands. In the end, the Phoenicians were able to take these resources and trade them with other kingdoms, thus acting as ancient middlemen from the Aegean. Thus the reason why they had somewhat of a kind of a shaky or nasty reputation, amongst other places, and, to be quite honest, I don't think it's a very fair characteristic, because these aren't some rent-seeking middlemen. These are people that are actually adding value, because no other cultures or people are actually going out and taking the risks to travel the open seas and going these long distances or even traveling the long distances over land and potentially getting robbed. So it's definitely not the typical middleman that a lot of people have issues with. In other words, I can understand when you have people that are just extracting rents and not adding value to the process and as far as I'm concerned, with the Phoenicians had at this time. In the end, it wasn't the colonization of the Aegean, but instead it was Africa where the Phoenicians would probably be most known for.
Speaker 1:We aren't 100% sure, but it appears that it was after the late Bronze Age collapse, possibly around the 11th century BCE, that colonization of North Africa by the Phoenicians started to take root, the first being Utica, which was a bit west of Carthage, at the mouth of the Bagratas River. From there, the Phoenicians were able to grow olive trees and thus trade its oil, along with its natural silver deposits. The soil was also fertile and they had access to steady water from its nearby rivers. In the same bay with Utica, but a bit further to the south and near its inner recess, was another city that was founded nearly three centuries after Utica, of which it turned out to be the most important of all the Phoenician colonies, that being of Carthage. This location was so advantageous that, even after the fall of these cities, the city of Tunis lived on To this day. The Tunis metropolitan area is about 2.5 million people. The reason why this region had survived for thousands of years was the good soil, the natural topography that made the region easily defensible, and its great harbors.
Speaker 1:Now, it's important to understand that the Phoenicians had colonized many locations on the coast of Northern Africa. However, for this particular podcast, I really didn't want to go into all of them, because it could just kind of drag on and on, and I just figured it would get a little bit monotonous at that point. So it's just best really to talk about the two main ones being Utica and Carthage, and just kind of move on from there, because most of the little colonies or settlements were basically little villages that were used for quick trade, so it's really not that important to name them all. So, in addition to North Africa, the Phoenicians ventured into Sicily and set up permanent settlements there. Sicily offered the Phoenicians access to more vineyards on the land in addition to seaports, offered the Phoenicians access to more vineyards on the land in addition to seaports. Sicily also offered the Phoenicians quick access directly to the coast of North Africa, so they can kind of go back and forth. And any islands that laid in between were also colonized, such as Malta. Now, malta just happened to have one of the world's best natural harbors as well. So when the Phoenicians arrived, they must have known right away that it would become a permanent settlement to conduct trade from. But Malta was far from perfect, as it didn't have many natural resources, especially when comparing it to the other islands. It was basically treeless, but it did have access to a decent amount of honey. So essentially, if needed, the Phoenicians could easily island hop from Africa to Italy, and really, except for Malta. It didn't hurt knowing that many of these islands were rich in natural resources.
Speaker 1:The Phoenicians also set up settlements in the south of Spain. These settlements were rich in metals. The mountain range above Malacca was rich in gold mines, other regions in southern Spain were rich in salt pans, and other regions produced an abundance of silver. But the region was also rich in copper, iron, lead and even tin. In addition, the soil was very productive, as it produced a natural abundance of wheat, along with oil and wine, in addition to the timber that the region produced. From the southern coast of Spain, the Phoenicians were able to trade along the west coast of Africa, which would bring them ivory and even ape populations into the region. Also, the Phoenicians set up settlements in modern Cadiz, which was a natural location for the Phoenicians to trade with the Northern Atlantic, which would have included the peoples of the northwestern coast of Spain, and Gaul, which would be modern France, and up into the British Isles and points beyond into the Baltic, which would have allowed the Phoenicians to trade with Germanic tribes.
Speaker 1:Now, generally, when looking at a typical timeline, it usually took a few weeks, or possibly even a month or two, to complete the transfer of goods from ship to marketplace. So, for example, the ships which left the Phoenician city in April or May would return about June or July, unload and then make themselves ready for a second voyage. But sometimes the cargo wasn't ready to unload for one reason or another and the ship could remain in the foreign port for up to a year, with all these resources coming into and out of Phoenician's hands through trade. Well, this meant a few things. For one, they would become wealthy middlemen because they were the ones that took the initiative and bravery to traverse many of these deadly seas. Another thing is this allowed them to use these commodities they acquired to produce finished goods, particularly the manufacture of textile fabrics. As such, they were able to produce goods made of wool, linen, yarn, cotton and, later periods, silk. To give you an idea how massive this international trade empire was, they would get wool from Syria, which would have come from the merchants of Damascus. They would have also procured wool from Arabia. Linen yarn would have been imported from Egypt, where it was largely manufactured. Silk would have been brought from Tyre by the Persian merchants. Apparently, since silk was rare and very expensive, the Phoenicians may have mixed it with materials like linen or cotton.
Speaker 1:It's not clear if the Phoenicians produced the best products, but they appear to have had a great reputation in the ancient world. The reason being was they were able to produce the best and brightest colors, in part because of their legendary shellfish, the murex and the bucks in them. Another thing was they mastered the art of embroidery. I get the sense that ancient people saw their colors and embroidery as almost the ancient equivalent of the hottest designer, with their well-known logos that anyone who was anyone would want to show off the fact that they could afford a piece of fine Phoenician clothing.
Speaker 1:Now, getting back to their famous colors, these shellfish were not exactly easy pickings. Colors these shellfish were not exactly easy pickings. The Mediterranean has minimal tides at best. Therefore, it does not uncover its shores at low water like the low tides of the ocean, which makes it for easy pickings for humans and other predators alike. To make matters even harder, the shellfish, for the most part, prefer deeper waters. To make matters even harder, the shellfish, for the most part, preferred deeper waters.
Speaker 1:In order to accomplish this, they would need a very long rope with baskets on the end, with an opening that yielded easily to pressure from the outside but, more importantly, resisted pressure from the inside and then made escape when, once the trap was entered, all but impossible. In other words, these had to be sophisticated traps. These baskets were typically baited with mussels or frogs, and they would generally be set in the evening and then drawn up to the surface the very next day, of which they needed to be carefully extracted, either while the shellfish was still alive or as soon as possible after death, as otherwise the quality of the dye was weakened. Now, the process for dyeing is a bit unclear at this point, but apparently the way they did it was the dye would be applied directly to certain items of clothing, and it may have been steeped in dye for a number of hours, and then it was removed and then dried and then possibly re-steeped again, whereas the best clothes were said to have been steeped twice. Purple was the color that was most associated with this dye, but it could also range from a blue to a crimson red.
Speaker 1:Another industry greatly affected by the Phoenicians was the manufacture of glass. The story goes that the discovery of glass was made when a dead sailor washed the shore. With the sailor was a cargo of natrium. Now, apparently, when the people on the shore wanted to light a fire on the beach to make their food. They couldn't find stones to prop up their utensils, so instead they used a box of natrium there. The natrium melted with the sand, causing glass to form. Now this story may or may not be true, because glass was already manufactured in Egypt many centuries before. So this story may not kind of align with how the facts kind of really played out. There may have been an accidental discovery of glass in Phoenicia, but the discovery of glass was probably more likely to be Egyptian. But either way, the Phoenicians perfected the mass production of glass, in part because Tyre had great sand to produce glass.
Speaker 1:The glass produced by the Phoenicians was of three kinds First, transparent, colorless glass, which the eye could see through. Secondly, translucent, colored glass, which light could pass. And thirdly, opaque glass, scarcely distinguishable from porcelain. Transparent glass was often employed for mirrors. Other glass was used in ornaments, as well as jugs for perfumes, and they would also do like Fugazi stuff, where they would use it to pass off as like fake gemstones. So it sounds like the modern people wearing fake jewelry to pass off as the real thing. But I want to be clear here this isn't modern glassmaking operations. Whereas they run liquid glass into molds.
Speaker 1:The Phoenicians also manufactured goods out of metals such as bronze and copper, which were used to make tools and hunting and fishing goods, along with weapons of war, including daggers, battle axes and helmets and shields. In fact, some of the swords that they made were found in Sardinia. Besides copper and bronze, the Phoenicians seemed to have had other metallurgy skills, including lead and iron, but that was in a more limited fashion. Iron came from Spain, whereas lead came to the Phoenicians by way of Sicily and by Spain. So if it wasn't for their far-off colonies and trade, they most likely would not have had the ability to produce these durable metals.
Speaker 1:In the end, all this trade and wealth was due to their ability to make durable ships and then be brave enough to take to the open seas. On top of that, they had to have the ability to navigate the sea to reach far off places, and then they had to learn how to communicate and deal with people that had very foreign customs and foreign languages. To make trade happen. The Phoenicians were the only society that had the capabilities and willpower to do so. So stay tuned as we will get into more details in the next episodes of the Phoenician City-States. The world's first true sea power. If you like what you hear and want to donate to the show, you can visit us at patreoncom slash history of money banking trade or you can visit us at our website at moneybankingtradecom. Also, you can help out the show a ton by leaving a five-star review. Thank you very much. Talk to you soon.
