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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

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PHOENICIA, PHOENICIANs

Group of city-states (and their residents) that occupied a strip of the Syrian coastal plain at the foot of the Lebanon Mountains. “Phoenicia” was also spelled “Phenice” or “Phenicia.” At one time these states extended from Carmel in the south to Arvad in the north, a distance of less than 200 miles (321.8 kilometers). Nowhere is the Phoenician plain more than four miles (6.4 kilometers) wide. In these fertile plains rose independent city-states, so Phoenicia was neither a political nor a geographical unity.

Bereft of good natural ports, the Phoenicians were forced to build their own. Fortunately, they had abundant supplies of magnificent cedar on the western slopes of the Lebanon Mountains, which they dominated. Thus they had good ship timber and an important source of revenue in a wood-starved region of the world. Offshore grew some of the finest dye-producing creatures (sea snails) of the Mediterranean, making possible quality textiles and dyestuffs. These two sources of income were supplemented by superior industrial production in metal and glassware and the transport of the goods of other peoples in Phoenician ships. With the passage of time, Phoenician colonies grew up along their trade routes. Prominent among them was Carthage.

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• History

• Cultural and Historical Significance

• Religion

• Phoenicia and the Bible

History

Though peoples of Mediterranean stock occupied Lebanon by about 4000 BC, there was no significant political or cultural development in the area until after 3000 BC, when the Canaanites arrived. Canaanite (Hamitic) culture and ethnic stock were diluted by an Amorite (Semitic) invasion of Phoenicia, Syria, and Palestine about 2000 BC. Subsequently, Semites became dominant in the area.

Long before the Semites arrived, Egyptians established commercial contacts with Phoenicia. During the Old Kingdom (c. 2700–2200 BC), Egyptians seem virtually to have controlled Byblos, about 25 miles (40.2 kilometers) north of Beirut. It was the main port through which Phoenician timber moved to Egypt and Egyptian papyrus and influences entered Phoenicia.

Though Egyptian influence slipped during Egypt’s first intermediate period (2200–2050 BC), it was fully restored during the Middle Kingdom. In fact, some scholars like to speak of much of Phoenicia falling within an Egyptian Middle Empire at this time (2050–1800 BC), but others think that Egypt’s control was only economic. Subsequently, the Hyksos dominated the whole eastern end of the Mediterranean.

During the Egyptian empire period (c. 1580–1100 BC), the Egyptians at first effectively controlled the cities of Phoenicia, even stationing garrisons in them. But during the latter part of the period, Egyptians and Hittites fought for the mastery of Phoenicia. By 1100 BC, both the Egyptian and the Hittite empires had come to an end and Phoenicia entered a period of independence.

During the next two centuries, Tyre built up her power and established a hegemony over the other Phoenician cities. Of special significance in this rise to power were the efforts of Hiram I. At the same time, the Hebrew united monarchy was building, and the two powers reached out to each other in ventures of mutual advantage.

Conditions changed in the ninth century. In 868 BC Ashurnasirpal of Assyria forced the Phoenician states to pay tribute, and their freedom was lost again. But under the Assyrians, the Phoenicians prospered and planted numerous colonies in the west. By the end of the eighth century, Isaiah could wax eloquent about the prosperity of Tyre (Is 23:3-8).

But as time wore on, the Phoenicians grew restless under increasing Assyrian restriction of liberties. About 678 BC Sidon led a revolt against Esar-haddon of Assyria, which turned out to be a total failure. The furious Assyrians killed or captured most of the inhabitants and leveled the city of Sidon, thus intimidating all the Phoenicians. But Assyrian power subsequently diminished, and Tyre became independent about 625 BC. Her greatness largely remained, and Ezekiel penned a remarkable description of her attainments (Ez 27).

After Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC, he turned his attention to Phoenicia, easily conquering the rebuilt Sidon but requiring 13 years to subjugate Tyre. At that time he took only the mainland city of Tyre, however. The island city was safe because Nebuchadnezzar had no fleet. The greatness of Tyre was gone; the mainland city was never rebuilt.

When Cyrus the Great conquered the Babylonian Empire in 539 BC, the Phoenicians were absorbed peacefully. But about two centuries later, they participated in a rebellion against the Persians. When the Persian army stood before Sidon in 352 BC and the inhabitants faced the destruction of their homes and the prospect of being sold into slavery, they set fire to their homes and perished with them. It is said that 40,000 died in the flames. The other Phoenician cities had no heart to continue the rebellion.

When Alexander the Great came through Phoenicia in 332 BC, most of the cities welcomed release from Persian rule and opened their gates to him. Tyre did not, however, and was totally destroyed after a seven-month siege. When the city was rebuilt, it was populated with immigrants from Asia Minor and had little ethnic connection with the earlier period. Phoenician maritime supremacy was forever broken.

Subsequently, Phoenicia came under the control of the Ptolemies (286 BC), the Seleucids (198 BC), and the Romans (64 BC). During the Roman period, Phoenicia was part of the province of Syria and enjoyed new prosperity during the Pax Romana (the Roman peace) of the first two centuries of the Christian era. By that time, it was largely Hellenized and its former Semitic character was gone.

Cultural and Historical Significance

As the finest mariners of the ancient world, the Phoenicians dominated the Mediterranean during the first half of the first millennium BC, as well as the Aegean Sea for much of that time. As intrepid seafarers, they not only shipped products but also transmitted ideas and processes and engaged in much cultural cross-fertilization.

Though there is no evidence that the Phoenicians invented the alphabet, they disseminated it so widely that it became known as the Phoenician alphabet. Especially important was their transmission of it to the Greeks (at least by 750 BC), who then added vowels and passed it on to the Western world.

The Phoenicians also planted colonies in numerous places in the western Mediterranean, notably during the eighth century BC. Most powerful of these colonies was Carthage, which at its height controlled the western part of north Africa, much of Spain, and numerous Mediterranean islands, and which almost brought Rome to her knees during the third century BC.

Furthermore, the Phoenicians developed advanced techniques in metalworking; some scholars think the Egyptians and possibly even Aegean peoples derived some of their processes from the Phoenicians. Though they may not have invented glass-making, as many ancient authors claim, they certainly contributed much to its development and the spread of its knowledge in the ancient world. The Phoenicians exported quantities of purple dye or dyed cloth and their famous cedars. Cedars of Lebanon found their way not only to Palestine but also to Egypt, Mesopotamia, and faraway Iran.

Of all Phoenician exports, the one most severely censured in Scripture was Baal worship, which found its way into the kingdom of Israel through the marriage of Jezebel to Ahab, and into the kingdom of Judah through the marriage of their daughter Athaliah to Jehoram.

Religion

Less is known about Phoenician religion than that of most other peoples of antiquity. This is primarily because the Phoenicians’ own literature has not been preserved. One cannot be sure that information from ancient Ugarit in nearby Syria correctly reflects religious practices and beliefs of the Phoenician cities. Nor should it be assumed that the religion of Phoenicia’s colonies was transported without modification from the mother country. Unfortunately, what the OT says about Canaanite religion does not differentiate the beliefs or practices of individual Phoenician cities. The following information has been gleaned almost exclusively from Phoenician sources.

Several general names appeared in Phoenician religion. El was both the Semitic word for god and the name of a specific god who was head of the pantheon. Baal simply means “lord,” but it also applies to the son of El. Baalat means “lady,” but it often designated a specific deity as the Baalat of Gebal or Byblos. The Hebrew word melek meant a “king” or “ruler,” but it might form part of a name of a deity such as Melqart (“ruler of the city”), chief god of Tyre.

As in the Greek city-states, Phoenician cities had patron deities that were not necessarily the head of the pantheon. On the female side, there was really only one deity worshiped in all the cities, the mother and fertility goddess Ashtart or Astarte (Hebrew, Ashtoreth), the Babylonian Ishtar. She was regarded as the genetrix of the gods and man as well as of plants. Promiscuity characterized her conduct, and religious prostitution was carried on in her name.

Baalat Gebal, who symbolized fertility and thus corresponded to Astarte, was the preeminent deity of Byblos, but Adonis was also very important. As the young god who died and was resurrected, he was linked to the annual death and rebirth of vegetation.

Astarte was also predominant in the pantheon of Sidon, as is demonstrated by numerous inscriptions, temples built in her honor, and the fact that kings and queens called themselves her priests. The male deity most involved in Sidonian life was Eshmun, thought to correspond to Adonis in function. By the Greeks, he was identified as Asklepios, god of healing.

The chief god of Tyre was Melqart, the baal or lord of Tyre. Since an annual feast of resurrection was celebrated in his honor, he was equated with Eshmun of Sidon and Adonis of Byblos. The Greeks identified Melqart with Heracles or Hercules. When Tyre came to dominate the other Phoenician cities, Melqart rose to a place of prominence in their pantheons. Melqart would have been the Baal introduced to Israel in the days of Ahab, who married Jezebel of Tyre. The main female deity of Tyre was Astarte. Hiram built temples to both Melqart and Astarte at Tyre, and Solomon brought the worship of Astarte (Ashtoreth) to Jerusalem in his day (1 Kgs 11:5). Her shrine remained to plague the Jews until the reform of Josiah late in the seventh century BC (2 Kgs 23:13).

The places for worship of Baal were either high places in the hills (consisting of an altar and a stone pillar representing the Baal, and a tree or pole representing Astarte) or stone enclosures with an altar, a stone pillar, and a tree. Sometimes they were covered temple buildings. Sacrifices consisted of animals and vegetables, and in times of great disaster, of human beings. Great religious festivals were held in observance of the god’s connection with the rhythm of the seasons. When he and nature died, there were mourning, funeral rites, and perhaps self-torture. The spring festival, which celebrated his resurrection and new life in nature and which sought the fertility of nature, commonly was accompanied by sacramental prostitution. The idolatry, human sacrifice, and sexual promiscuity connected with Baal worship brought upon it God’s special condemnation.

Phoenicia and the Bible

Phoenicia first became involved in biblical history shortly after 1000 BC, when David obtained from Hiram I of Tyre some of the much-coveted cedars of Lebanon for construction of his palace. Solomon also bought cedar from Hiram for his palace and the temple. He hired Phoenician craftsmen for building the temple, for constructing fortifications at strategic centers, and for creating a major port facility at Ezion-geber on the Gulf of Aqaba, an arm of the Red Sea. Phoenician architectural design was employed in various Hebrew building projects in Solomon’s day, and Phoenician shipbuilding expertise made possible Solomon’s merchant marine. Phoenician sailors manned the ships after they were launched (see 1 Kgs 9:10-28).

During the first half of the ninth century BC, Phoenician impact on Israel was largely religious. It was then that Jezebel, a princess from Tyre, married Ahab and introduced Baal worship to the northern kingdom. More than a century later, Phoenicia was the subject of prophetic condemnation. Isaiah (before 700 BC, see Is 23) and Ezekiel (about 600 BC, see Ez 26:2-19; 28:1-23) hurled predictions of suffering and destruction at both Tyre and Sidon.

In NT times the apostle Paul spent a week at Tyre with a group of Christians on his return to Jerusalem at the end of his third missionary journey (Acts 21:2-7).

See also Canaanite Deities and Religion.