Phoenicia and Its Special Relationship with Israel

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The Phoenicians were the nearest people to the ancient Israelites in every respect. They spoke the same language and wrote in the same script. Even their religion was similar, at least during the First Temple period. The Phoenicians and the Israelites built Jerusalem together, as well as several other cities, and they went on joint trading expeditions. By marriage, Phoenician royal houses and those of Israel and Judea were related. The clearest sign of the close relationship between the two peoples must have been the fact that they never went to war against each other (in complete contrast to the Israelites’ relationship with all their other neighbors).

The Phoenicians were the late Canaanites of the first millennium B.C.E. (Iron Age through Roman period), descendants 042of the Canaanites of the second millennium B.C.E. (Middle Bronze Age through Late Bronze Age). “Phoenicians” was the name given to this people by the Greeks, but the Phoenicians continued to refer to themselves as Canaanites or by the names of their principal cities. During the second millennium B.C.E., the Canaanites controlled Palestine, Transjordan and Syria—from Ugarit down to the Egyptian border—and they developed a rich culture. Around 1200 B.C.E., they were forced out of these countries by the Arameans and the Neo-Hittites in the north, the Israelites and the Sea Peoples (Philistines, Sikils and Sherden, etc.) in the south, and by the Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites in the east. Between about 1200 and 1050 B.C.E., they retained control of a greatly reduced area—the narrow coastal strip of Lebanon between Arwad, Tyre and Akko. Most of the population lived in five main cities: Arwad, Byblos, Berytus, Sidon and Tyre.

From about the end of the 11th century B.C.E. onward, the Phoenicians began to expand once again from these centers—but this time to the west. First, they reached Cyprus, whence they proceeded to the coasts of Sicily, Sardinia and Malta and subsequently to southern Spain and northern Africa. These western settlers soon established a huge commercial empire that lasted about a millennium.

Apart from the relatively few references to the Phoenicians in the Bible and in some ancient royal inscriptions, principally of Assyrian kings, our only information about the Phoenicians comes from Greek sources, most of which are hostile in tone (since the Greeks and Phoenicians competed for control of the Mediterranean for more than 500 years). The Phoenicians themselves left behind some written sources, but these consist mostly of dedicatory inscriptions and contain almost no important historical facts.

The Phoenicians inherited all the earlier rich Canaanite culture that had been developed during the entire second millennium B.C.E.—in contrast to the other peoples who settled in the region and who in the beginning were but simple nomads.

Yet the Phoenicians succeeded in creating a material culture of their own in many respects. The major elements of the Phoenician architectural style were alternating courses of headers and stretchers built of long, well-dressed blocks; walls constructed of ashlar piers with fieldstones in the spaces between them; proto-Aeolic capitals, Hathor capitals and Papyrus capitals; recessed openings (both doors 043and windows); ornamented window balustrades; and ornamented orthostats.

This Phoenician architecture was adopted and imitated by all the peoples of Palestine—Israelites, Judahites, Philistines and all the peoples of the eastern Jordan. Each of them modified aspects of it, adding some characteristic features of their own. All faithfully followed this style in the public buildings and palaces of their capitals and main towns until the Assyrian conquest at the end of the eighth century B.C.E. The Assyrian conquest of the Israelite monarchy brought an abrupt end to the Phoenician building style. Only in Phoenicia—that is, in the narrow coastal strip running from Lebanon to western Galilee, the Carmel, and the Sharon down to Jaffa and Ashkelon—did this architectural style continue uninterruptedly through the entire Assyrian (700–530 B.C.E.) and Persian periods (530–300 B.C.E.) and perhaps even into the early Hellenistic period (300–100 B.C.E.).

The number of excavated sanctuaries attributed to the Phoenicians is surprisingly small. Most of those are dated to the Persian period, rather than to the earlier Iron Age (1200–600 B.C.E.), when the Phoenicians were at the peak of their entrepreneurial power. Of the sanctuaries dated to the Iron Age, those discovered at Kition on Cyprus are the best known.

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In recent years, a few small prayer chapels have also been discovered, each consisting of one relatively small room. These, too, follow an old Canaanite pattern, an example of which is at Hazor in Israel. In these rooms, there was usually the statue of the god or goddess or sometimes a line of stone stelae. Chapels of this type were found in various Palestinian excavations, such as near the city gate at Tell Dan. Many more chapels have been found in the Phoenician settlements along the coast, as well as overseas.

We learn about the cult practiced in Phoenician sanctuaries through Biblical and Greek references, as well as Phoenician inscriptions, all found in excavations. The longest one, an ostracon (potsherd with writing) found at Akko, probably at the site of a sanctuary, is an order issued by the city authorities to the guild of metalworkers to present a precious metal basin.

Long lists of cult items appear in the Phoenician inscriptions from Kition, which mention dozens of metal objects, mostly of copper. Lists of tariffs found at Marseilles, France, which probably originated in one of the nearby Punic colonies and were intended for the temple of Ba’al-Zaphon, include the prices of the various animals brought there and resemble similar Biblical lists (Leviticus 1-7).

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Two major types of ceramic figurines appear in all Phoenician assemblages: (1) an adult male, represented as a king sitting on a throne or standing, or as a warrior on a horse; and (2) a fertility goddess, sometimes pregnant, supporting her breasts, at other times either holding or nursing a child. Sometimes the child is depicted separately.

Additionally, clay models of sanctuaries, usually depicting a one-room chapel, have been found in Phoenician settlements. Beside the official religion, there existed a popular cult based on masks, pendants, vases and figurines of the Egyptian god Bes, which were intended to ward off bad luck and disease.

During the Iron Age, the Phoenicians typically burned their dead and placed the ashes into clay urns, which were then buried. Above the urns, they placed stone stelae that were inscribed with the names of the deceased, as well as the names of the deities to whom the dead were dedicated. These cemeteries, usually called by the Biblical name tophet, have been uncovered in the Phoenicians’ western Punic colonies, such as at Carthage,^a and also in the heartland of Phoenicia, recently at Tyre.

The Phoenicians later started to bury their dead in rock-cut tombs of various types and even half-cut and half-built graves. Clay vessels and other personal belongings have been found buried with the deceased in tombs.

Above all, the Phoenicians were renowned as master craftsmen, and there was a market for their luxury goods across the ancient Mediterranean world. From the ninth to the early sixth centuries B.C.E., the Phoenicians produced decorated objects—especially those associated with cosmetics—made 047of limestone, alabaster, shell, glass, faience, metals and other materials.

Phoenician ivory carvings, the finest expression of the Phoenician school, have been found at many Palestinian sites. Although these ivories often originated in Phoenicia, the local artisans in Palestine adopted and imitated these objects and produced them at the local centers of all the nations of the country. At the end of the eighth century B.C.E., but mainly in the seventh century under Assyrian domination, these began to disappear from the entire eastern Mediterranean coastal region. Perhaps the cause was a lack of raw material. In any case, at that time artisans began using cheaper materials, such as bone, stone and alabaster. The change in materials appears to have caused a change in production quality and an increased use of simple designs.

The most common Phoenician decorated objects of the period are the cosmetic palettes made of hard limestone in imitation of marble. Some were plain, 048but the majority was decorated with concentric circles with dots in their centers or with net designs in various shapes. Other common decorated objects include flat alabaster cosmetic palettes, probably used to mix paints or powders, and decorated Tridacna squamosa shells, originating in the Red Sea. One end of the alabaster cosmetic palettes was usually engraved in the shape of a goddess’s head. Similarly, at the edge of each shell, a female human head was en-graved. While the reverse depicts her garment and jewelry, the inside was left plain except for the decorated edges.

Akin to other aspects of Phoenician culture, the production of these objects ceased at the end of the Iron Age.

Among the later Phoenician products common to coastal sites were coins, some from Sidon and Tyre, with others having been struck in Dor, Samaria, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Gaza.

The heartland of Phoenicia was subjugated in turn by the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian and Hellenistic empires, but their western colonies continued to enjoy autonomy until the second century B.C.E. The Phoenicians’ commercial empire was brought to an end by the Romans who came into conflict with the Phoenicians—whom they described as “Punics”—in a series of wars that became known as the Punic Wars. The Carthaginians had no standing army (they employed mercenaries) and relied on their fleet for defense. The Punic Wars culminated in the Roman destruction of the Punic capital, Carthage, in 146 B.C.E., thereby ending a millennium of Phoenician influence, success and power.

Throughout their existence, the Phoenicians encountered numerous groups. With some of these groups, they competed, and with others, they warred. With almost all, they traded—exporting their culture and their goods throughout the Mediterranean world. Yet their relationship with the Israelites was distinct from all the others. It should not surprise us that when the kingdom of Israel fell, the Phoenicians suffered, too. The loss of their close neighbor and ally disrupted the growth and strength of the Phoenician empire.

With a commercial empire that lasted a millennium, the Phoenicians were major players in the ancient Mediterranean world. Spreading their culture and goods, they came into contact with many different groups, but their relationship with the Israelites was distinct. Join Ephraim Stern as he explores the Phoenicians’ identity and interactions with their close neighbor and ally, Israel.