Phoenicians: Who were they?
March 10th 2007 01:16
Have you heard the story of Dido, the queen that Aeneas left behind so heartlessly? She is a Phoenician princess. Have you heard the story of Pygmalion and Galatea, the sculptor who fell in love with the statue he carved and prayed to Aphrodite that she be given life? He was a Phoencian king. Have you heard of Moloch, the terrible monster-like God to whom young children were sacrificed? He was the main god of Phoenician pantheon and yes, children were routinely sarcificed to him. Have you heard of Europa, the nymph whom Zeus carried away as a bull? She was a Phoenician princess according to the story and more likely, she was a Phoenician goddess. Have you heard the story of Hannibal and how he almost destroyed Rome? He was a Phoenician general who almost overrun the Roman empire.
These are probably the most well-known cultural references that have come down to us from both Western(that is Greek and Roman) and Judaic sources and the Phoenicians remain in the background and animate the shadows of both these traditions. Unlike other shadowy people, we know much more about them because they have left huge imprints of their civilization behind.
They come to the fore after the invasion of the Sea Peoples, except unlike the Philistines, these have occupied the long stretch of Lebanon coast. They built magnificent cities along this narrow coast: Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Amrith, Berytus and later they colonised the whole of Mediterranean Coast and built the city that rivalled Rome in power and prestige, Carthage. Berytus, is of course, the modern Beirut.
They were the pre-eminent sailors, hence they filled in the role of abductors and pirates in legends. They were also known for the purple dye they produced, hence their name Phoenicia.
But, I think the Phoenicians were more influential than that. There is a version of thought that major Greek Gods like Aphrodite and Adonis were actually Phoenician imports. Though not an expert, I think the same too. More importantly, a whole lot of mythology that involves Thebes and Cadmus down to Oedipus and others, has at least a familial link to Phoenicia that survived in the stories themselves. I think that there must be a more intimate link.
The more I know about ancient near-East religions, the more I realise how Judaism (and Christianity) was shaped by its environment. Remember the famous story where Abraham was required to sacrifice his child and God finally spared him. The Old Testament God is called merciful when by your modern sensibilities he looks quite vengeful. I never understood him until I came to know about the wide-spread practice of child sacrifice. Yahweh is merciful because he has spared his followers the necessity of this grim practice in exchange for his protection.
Gods are bringers of new cultures. Just as Dinoysus is worshipped because he introduced vines and Athena because she brought olives, Yahweh is worshipped among other things because he got rid of the actual sacrifice and replaced it with a symbolic one. This is a new cultural invention. But, if you want to know the grimness of what Yaweh replaced, you should read about Moloch and his tophets, the death chambers where little children were burned to death and you would be stuck with a kind of horrible fascination about the civilization which practiced this as a normal ritual
These are probably the most well-known cultural references that have come down to us from both Western(that is Greek and Roman) and Judaic sources and the Phoenicians remain in the background and animate the shadows of both these traditions. Unlike other shadowy people, we know much more about them because they have left huge imprints of their civilization behind.
They come to the fore after the invasion of the Sea Peoples, except unlike the Philistines, these have occupied the long stretch of Lebanon coast. They built magnificent cities along this narrow coast: Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Amrith, Berytus and later they colonised the whole of Mediterranean Coast and built the city that rivalled Rome in power and prestige, Carthage. Berytus, is of course, the modern Beirut.
They were the pre-eminent sailors, hence they filled in the role of abductors and pirates in legends. They were also known for the purple dye they produced, hence their name Phoenicia.
But, I think the Phoenicians were more influential than that. There is a version of thought that major Greek Gods like Aphrodite and Adonis were actually Phoenician imports. Though not an expert, I think the same too. More importantly, a whole lot of mythology that involves Thebes and Cadmus down to Oedipus and others, has at least a familial link to Phoenicia that survived in the stories themselves. I think that there must be a more intimate link.
The more I know about ancient near-East religions, the more I realise how Judaism (and Christianity) was shaped by its environment. Remember the famous story where Abraham was required to sacrifice his child and God finally spared him. The Old Testament God is called merciful when by your modern sensibilities he looks quite vengeful. I never understood him until I came to know about the wide-spread practice of child sacrifice. Yahweh is merciful because he has spared his followers the necessity of this grim practice in exchange for his protection.
Gods are bringers of new cultures. Just as Dinoysus is worshipped because he introduced vines and Athena because she brought olives, Yahweh is worshipped among other things because he got rid of the actual sacrifice and replaced it with a symbolic one. This is a new cultural invention. But, if you want to know the grimness of what Yaweh replaced, you should read about Moloch and his tophets, the death chambers where little children were burned to death and you would be stuck with a kind of horrible fascination about the civilization which practiced this as a normal ritual
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