Along with their famous purple dyes, Phoenician sailors traded textiles, wood, glass, metals, incense, papyrus, and carved ivory. In fact, the word “Bible,” from the Greek biblion, or book, came from the city of Byblos. It was a center of the trade of papyrus, a common writing material in the ancient world.

What were the products that Phoenicia imported and exported?

The Phoenicians imported metals, especially copper from Cyprus, silver and iron from Spain, and gold from Ethiopia (and possibly Anatolia). This raw material was transformed into ornate vessels and art objects in Phoenician workshops and then exported.

What are the two main resources of Phoenicia?

The main natural resources of the Phoenician cities in the eastern Mediterranean were the prized cedars of Lebanon and murex shells used to make the purple dye.

Who ruled Phoenicia?

Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Phoenicia in 539 BCE, and divided Phoenicia into four vassal kingdoms: Sidon, Tyre, Arwad, and Byblos. Alexander the Great conquered Phoenicia beginning with Tyre in 332 BCE.

Why did Phoenicia fall?

By 572 B.C.E., the Phoenicians fell under the harsh rule of the Assyrians. They continued to trade, but encountered tough competition from Greece over trade routes. As the 4th century B.C.E. approached, the Phoenicians’ two most important cities, Sidon and Tyre, were destroyed by the Persians and Alexander the Great.

What did the Phoenicians import and export?

What did Phoenicians import and export They exported timber, food, gems, dyes, imported foodstuffs,precious metals however their main effort was in carriage trade -carrying goods and slaves between other peoples and creaming offprofits.

Why did the Phoenicians give gifts as gifts?

Luxury goods given as gifts may also have been a deliberate attempt by the Phoenicians to create a demand for more such items and help the Phoenicians acquire the local resources they coveted. Goods could be collected as a form of tribute in return for military protection or under compulsion.

What kind of wood did the Phoenicians use?

According to the historian George Rawlinson, Phoenician cedar wood was used by King Solomon for his celebrated temple, by Herod in Zerubbabel’s Temple, and by the Ephesians for the roof of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

What kind of boats did the Phoenicians use?

There are models of boats among the Phoenician remains which have a very archaic character, 2 and may give us some idea of the vessels in which the Phoenicians of the remoter times braved the perils of the deep. They have a keel, not ill shaped, a rounded hull, bulwarks, a beak, and a high seat for the steersman.