The Phoenician Diaspora

The Phoenician Diaspora
Author: Philip C. Schmitz
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 159
Release: 2012-04-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1575066858

In this approachable and articulate study, Philip C. Schmitz offers close interpretations of six ancient texts, four previously published Phoenician and Punic inscriptions and two Phoenician inscriptions published for the first time. The author selected the previously known texts because readings of their letters and interpretation of their grammar and syntax are not yet well established. Each of the selected texts stands as an original source concerning Phoenician settlement in the western Mediterranean, Phoenician activity in Egypt, or the economic life and religious beliefs and practices of ancient Carthage. Chapter 1 rapidly surveys the history of Phoenician-Punic epigraphy and offers a limited inventory of recent publications of epigraphic texts. Chapter 2 undertakes a new reading and translation of the Phoenician stele from Nora, Sardinia (CIS I 144). Chapter 3 edits and translates the larger Phoenician inscriptions from Abu Simbel, in Egypt (CIS I 112). Chapter 4 concerns the paleographic analysis of selected Phoenician graffiti from Tell el-Maskhuta. Chapter 5 publishes an overlooked dipinto inscription on an amphora excavated at Carthage. (An appendix by Joann Freed contextualizes the amphora.) Chapter 6 takes a text-critical look at CIS I 6068, an enigmatic Punic inscription on lead, thought since its discovery to be a curse text. Schmitz argues that it is not a curse but a quittance for debt. Chapter 7 is a new reading and translation of CIS I 6000bis, a Punic epitaph from the Hellenistic period of Carthage. Among the features of this book that may interest students and scholars are: new translations and interpretations of important inscriptions the translation and interpretation of which have been disputed; previously unpublished photographs of inscriptions, illustrating difficult readings; author’s hand drawings of difficult readings; and grammatical analysis with reference to other known texts and standard reference works.

In Search of the Phoenicians

In Search of the Phoenicians
Author: Josephine Quinn
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2017-12-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1400889111

Who were the ancient Phoenicians, and did they actually exist? The Phoenicians traveled the Mediterranean long before the Greeks and Romans, trading, establishing settlements, and refining the art of navigation. But who these legendary sailors really were has long remained a mystery. In Search of the Phoenicians makes the startling claim that the “Phoenicians” never actually existed. Taking readers from the ancient world to today, this monumental book argues that the notion of these sailors as a coherent people with a shared identity, history, and culture is a product of modern nationalist ideologies—and a notion very much at odds with the ancient sources. Josephine Quinn shows how the belief in this historical mirage has blinded us to the compelling identities and communities these people really constructed for themselves in the ancient Mediterranean, based not on ethnicity or nationhood but on cities, family, colonial ties, and religious practices. She traces how the idea of “being Phoenician” first emerged in support of the imperial ambitions of Carthage and then Rome, and only crystallized as a component of modern national identities in contexts as far-flung as Ireland and Lebanon. In Search of the Phoenicians delves into the ancient literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and artistic evidence for the construction of identities by and for the Phoenicians, ranging from the Levant to the Atlantic, and from the Bronze Age to late antiquity and beyond. A momentous scholarly achievement, this book also explores the prose, poetry, plays, painting, and polemic that have enshrined these fabled seafarers in nationalist histories from sixteenth-century England to twenty-first century Tunisia.

The Phoenician Diaspora

The Phoenician Diaspora
Author: Philip C. Schmitz
Publisher: Eisenbrauns
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2012
Genre: Inscriptions, Phoenician
ISBN: 9781575062266

In this approachable and articulate study, Philip C. Schmitz offers close interpretations of six ancient texts, four previously published Phoenician and Punic inscriptions and two Phoenician inscriptions published for the first time. The author selected the previously known texts because readings of their letters and interpretation of their grammar and syntax are not yet well established. Each of the selected texts stands as an original source concerning Phoenician settlement in the western Mediterranean, Phoenician activity in Egypt, or the economic life and religious beliefs and practices of ancient Carthage. Chapter 1 rapidly surveys the history of Phoenician-Punic epigraphy and offers a limited inventory of recent publications of epigraphic texts. Chapter 2 undertakes a new reading and translation of the Phoenician stele from Nora, Sardinia (CIS I 144). Chapter 3 edits and translates the larger Phoenician inscriptions from Abu Simbel, in Egypt (CIS I 112). Chapter 4 concerns the paleographic analysis of selected Phoenician graffiti from Tell el-Maskhuta. Chapter 5 publishes an overlooked dipinto inscription on an amphora excavated at Carthage. (An appendix by Joann Freed contextualizes the amphora.) Chapter 6 takes a text-critical look at CIS I 6068, an enigmatic Punic inscription on lead, thought since its discovery to be a curse text. Schmitz argues that it is not a curse but a quittance for debt. Chapter 7 is a new reading and translation of CIS I 6000bis, a Punic epitaph from the Hellenistic period of Carthage. Among the features of this book that may interest students and scholars are: new translations and interpretations of important inscriptions the translation and interpretation of which have been disputed; previously unpublished photographs of inscriptions, illustrating difficult readings; author's hand drawings of difficult readings; and grammatical analysis with reference to other known texts and standard reference works.

Ancient Phoenicia

Ancient Phoenicia
Author: Mark Woolmer
Publisher: Bristol Classical Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011-06-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781853997341

The Phoenicians played a fundamental role in shaping the history of the Mediterranean. Lauded by Homer as unrivalled navigators and traders, they are known to have founded colonies across the length of North Africa and into Southern Spain, yet as a people they have often remained an enigma. This introduction aims to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding this ancient culture. Presenting the latest research and archaeological discoveries, it explores the social, political, economic and ecological changes that occurred in Phoenicia between the Early Bronze Age and the start of the Hellenistic era. Phoenician government and society, agriculture and economy, trade and colonisation, warfare, religion, and art and architecture are all discussed in order to illustrate the character and achievements of this vibrant civilisation, which was able to maintain its unique identity and culture in the face of external threats from states such as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and Persia.

The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean

The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean
Author: Carolina López-Ruiz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 787
Release: 2022
Genre: History
ISBN: 0197654428

The Phoenicians created the Mediterranean world as we know it--yet they remain a poorly understood group. In this Handbook, the first of its kind in English, readers will find expert essays covering the history, culture, and areas of settlement throughout the Phoenician and Punic world.

A Companion to Greeks Across the Ancient World

A Companion to Greeks Across the Ancient World
Author: Franco De Angelis
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 640
Release: 2020-05-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1118341376

An innovative, up-to-date treatment of ancient Greek mobility and migration from 1000 BCE to 30 BCE A Companion to Greeks Across the Ancient World explores the mobility and migration of Greeks who left their homelands in the ten centuries between the Early Iron Age and the Hellenistic period. While most academic literature centers on the Greeks of the Aegean basin area, this unique volume provides a systematic examination of the history of the other half of the ancient Greek world. Contributions from leading scholars and historians discuss where migrants settled, their new communities, and their connections and interactions with both Aegean Greeks and non-Greeks. Divided into three parts, the book first covers ancient and modern approaches and the study of the ancient Greeks outside their homelands, including various intellectual, national, and linguistic traditions. Regional case studies form the core of the text, taking a microhistory approach to examine Greeks in the Near Eastern Empires, Greek-Celtic interactions in Central Europe, Greek-established states in Central Asia, and many others throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia. The closing section of the text discusses wider themes such as the relations between the Greek homeland and the edges of Greek civilization. Reflecting contemporary research and fresh perspectives on ancient Greek culture contact, this volume: Discusses the development and intersection of mobility, migration, and diaspora studies Examines the various forms of ancient Greek mobility and their outcomes Highlights contributions to cultural development in the Greek and non-Greek world Examines wider themes and the various forms of ancient Greek mobility and their outcomes Includes an overview of ancient terminology and concepts, modern translations, numerous maps, and full references A Companion to Greeks Across the Ancient World is a valuable resource for students, instructors, and researchers of Classical antiquity, as well as non-specialists with interest in ancient Greek mobilities, migrations, and diasporas.

A Short History of the Phoenicians

A Short History of the Phoenicians
Author: Mark Woolmer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2017-04-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1786732173

The Phoenicians present a tantalizing face to the ancient historian. Latin sources suggest they once had an extensive literature of history, law, philosophy and religion; but all now is lost. Offering new insights based on recent archaeological discoveries in their heartland of modern-day Lebanon, Mark Woolmer presents a fresh appraisal of this fascinating, yet elusive, Semitic people. Discussing material culture, language and alphabet, religion (including sacred prostitution of women and boys to the goddess Astarte), funerary custom and trade and expansion into the Punic west, he explores Phoenicia in all its paradoxical complexity. Viewed in antiquity as sage scribes and intrepid mariners who pushed back the boundaries of the known world, and as skilled engineers who built monumental harbour cities like Tyre and Sidon, the Phoenicians were also considered (especially by their rivals, the Romans) to be profiteers cruelly trading in human lives. The author shows them above all to have been masters of the sea: this was a civilization that circumnavigated Africa two thousand years before Vasco da Gama did it in 1498.

A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, 2 Volume Set

A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, 2 Volume Set
Author: Bruno Jacobs
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 1747
Release: 2021-08-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1119174287

A COMPANION TO THE ACHAEMENID PERSIAN EMPIRE A comprehensive review of the political, cultural, social, economic and religious history of the Achaemenid Empirem Often called the first world empire, the Achaemenid Empire is rooted in older Near Eastern traditions. A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire offers a perspective in which the history of the empire is embedded in the preceding and subsequent epochs. In this way, the traditions that shaped the Achaemenid Empire become as visible as the powerful impact it had on further historical development. But the work does not only break new ground in this respect, but also in the fact that, in addition to written testimonies of all kinds, it also considers material tradition as an equal factor in historical reconstruction. This comprehensive two-volume set features contributions by internationally-recognized experts that offer balanced coverage of the whole of the empire from Anatolia and Egypt across western Asia to northern India and Central Asia. Comprehensive in scope, the Companion provides readers with a panoramic view of the diversity, richness, and complexity of the Achaemenid Empire, dealing with all the many aspects of history, event history, administration, economy, society, communication, art, science and religion, illustrating the multifaceted nature of the first true empire. A unique historical account presented in its multiregional dimensions, this important resource deals with many aspects of history, administration, economy, society, communication, art, science and religion it deals with topics that have only recently attracted interest such as court life, leisure activities, gender roles, and more examines a variety of available sources to consider those predecessors who influenced Achaemenid structure, ideology, and self-expression contains the study of Nachleben and the history of perception up to the present day offers a spectrum of opinions in disputed fields of research, such as the interpretation of the imagery of Achaemenid art, or questions of religion includes extensive bibliographies in each chapter for use as starting points for further research devotes special interest to the east of the empire, which is often neglected in comparison to the western territories Part of the acclaimed Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World series, A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire is an indispensable work for students, instructors, and scholars of Persian and ancient world history, particularly the First Persian Empire.

Painting the Mediterranean Phoenician

Painting the Mediterranean Phoenician
Author: Dalit Regev
Publisher: Equinox Publishing (UK)
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2021-02-11
Genre: Mediterranean Region
ISBN: 9781781798256

Painting the Mediterranean Phoenician focuses on the Canaanite-Phoenician economic systems that predominated in and determined Mediterranean history. Phoenician trade networks were sophisticated and elaborate operations that required a highly developed society and institutions in order to spread and be maintained. By tracking the manufacture, use, and shipment routes of Phoenician products, primarily those traded in amphorae and bottles but also fine-ware and their associated assemblages, a new map of Mediterranean connectivity and interrelations emerges, whose routes, operations and cultural affiliation lasted a long time. The Phoenician trade-nets are presented geographically, with special attention paid to the traceable product networks involving wine, salted fish, or perfumed oils.

The Phoenicians and the West

The Phoenicians and the West
Author: Maria Eugenia Aubet
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 458
Release: 2001-09-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521795432

Between the eighth and sixth centuries BC, the Phoenicians established the first trading system in the Mediterranean basin, from their homeland, in what is now Lebanon, to colonies in Cyprus, Tunisia, Sicily, Sardinia and southern Spain. The Phoenician state was able to maintain its independence, despite the territorial expansion of the Assyrians, in return for tribute provided by its western colonies. Archaeological research over the past decades, and still ongoing, has transformed our understanding of these colonies and their relationship to local communities. This updated version of Maria Eugenia Aubet's highly praised book, The Phoenicians and the West, originally published in English in 1993, incorporates more recent research findings, an expanded bibliography, and an appendix on radiometric dating. It will be welcomed by scholars and students of Mediterranean history and archaeology, and anyone interested in early trading systems.