1200-500 B. C.E.
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While the Israelite tribes were being forged into a united kingdom, the people who occupied the coast of the Mediterranean to the north were developing their own distinctive civilization. Historians refer to a major element of the ancient population of Syria-Pales-tine as Phoenicians", though they referred to themselves as “Can’ani”—Canaanites. Despite the sparse written record and the disturbance of the archaeological record by frequent migrations and invasions, enough of their history survives to reveal major transformations.
When the eastern Mediterranean entered a period of violent upheaval and mass migrations around 1200 b. c.e. (discussed earlier), many Canaanite settlements were destroyed. Aramaeans"—nomadic pastoralists similar to the early Israelites—migrated into the interior portions of Syria. Farther south, Israelites settled in the interior of present-day Israel as herders and farmers. At the same time, the Philistines occupied the coast and introduced iron-based metallurgy to this part of the world.
By 1100 B. C.E. Canaanite territory had shrunk to a narrow strip of present-day Lebanon between the mountains and the sea (see Map 4.4). The inhabitants of this densely populated area adopted new political forms and turned to seaborne commerce and new kinds of manufacture for their survival. Sometime after 1000 B. C.E. the Canaanites encountered the Greeks, who referred to them as Phoinikes, or Phoenicians. The term may mean “red men” and refer to the color of their skin, or it may refer to the highly valued purple dye they extracted from the murex snail (see Environment and Technology: Ancient Textiles and Dyes).
Rivers and rocky spurs of Mount Lebanon sliced the coastal plain into a series of small city-states, chief among them Byblos", Berytus", Sidon", and Tyre. A thriving trade in raw materials (cedar and pine, metals, incense, papyrus), foodstuffs (wine, spices, salted fish), and crafted luxury goods (textiles, carved ivory, glass) brought considerable wealth to the Phoenician city-states and gave them an important role in international politics.
Phoenician (fi-NEE-shun) Aramaean (ah-ruh-MAY-uhn)
Byblos (BIB-loss) Berytus (buh-RIE-tuhs) Sidon (SIE-duhn)
Ancient Peruvian Textiles The weaving of Chavin was famous for its color and symbolic imagery. Artisans both wove designs into the fabric and used paint or dyes to decorate plain fabric. This early Chavin painted fabric was used in a burial. Notice how the face suggests a jaguar and the headdress includes the image of a serpent. (Private collection)
World History
