Phoenicians

For a thousand years (1400 – 400 B.C) a collection of people called Phoenicians played a great part in history. They lived in harbors on the coast of what is now Syria and Lebanon. They were a Semitic people and descended like the Hebrews from the Greek word phonons which in about 2000 B.C and built towns on the word. Phoenicia ion history began in about 1600 B.C. Their most famous town’s foreign rule or influences are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Macedon, and Rome. But for them commerce was more important than politics. Love of profit and adventure guided their study ships they sailed round Africa, passed through the Pillars of Hercules to the Atlantic and reached the shores of Britain. They mined tin in the silly isles. Where ever they went they traded – in timber, salves, spices, amber, and gems, copper.