Phoenicians: Lebanon's Epic Heritage

This is the most complete history of the Phoenicians to date, including new research contributed by leading scholars of the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians of Lebanon became masters of rich sea trade, brought us the alphabet, purple cloth, Carthage and Hannibal. That much everyone knows. But there was much more to their story. Their cities of Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, and Byblos were intimately involved with the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians in many of the epic events of the Mediterranean. Egyptian records show Phoenician cedar being brought to the Nile while the Great Pyramid was being built. These sea-traders supplied the Minoans on Crete, and competed with the Mycenaeans of Greece. Phoenician cities survived the Sea Peoples' destruction, then spread westward to plant colonies as far as Spain and Morocco. Their great colony at Carthage became a metropolis of over 500,000 people. Yet their lands in Lebanon fell to Alexander the Great, and Carthage fell to the early Romans in fiery battles. The author presents detailed research and sources behind this work in on-going academic papers. This book is a more readable form of that information, freshened with many maps and pictures. It shows the Phoenicians as resourceful people who emerged from the cedars of Lebanon, experienced the desperation of numerous defeats and the euphoria of many triumphs, and whose descendants and accomplishments still live today. Sanford Holst is widely regarded as one of the leading experts on the Phoenician people. Antoine Khoury Harb is a highly respected professor of history and archaeology in Lebanon.