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Who were the
Phoenicians?
The Phoenicians were regarded as
'rulers of the sea' (Ezekiel 26:16 cited by McGrail 2001 pg 129).
Occupying what is now modern day Lebanon and the coastal parts of Syria and
Palestine from circa 1,200 BC for approximately one thousand years.
This civilisation, though often overlooked by the modern world, is credited
with many discoveries including the alphabet, insurance and remarkable
trading and seafaring abilities including the discovery of the pole star.
The Phoenician sphere of influence spread throughout the Mediterranean and
their trading activities reached as far as Cornwall for tin, and Indian and
China for spices and precious goods.
In 600 BC Egyptian King Necho II
commissioned the Phoenicians to carry out the first circumnavigation of
Africa. Previously considered impossible, Phoenician mariners embraced
this challenge as documented in 440BC by Greek historian Herodotus in The
Histories (4.42).
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The vessels were built in Egypt and
launched in the red sea to sail towards the Cape of Good Hope. It is
recorded that the sailors stopped to plant crops along the coast and waited
for harvests. The voyage is believed to have taken almost three years
to complete with the journey ending in the Mediterranean. |
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Herodotus' account of the
circumnavigation
Despite inventing the alphabet, what the Phoenicians did write down was on
perishable papyrus and we are reliant on later historians for information on
this civilisation. Greek historian Herodotus recorded the story of the
Phoenicians voyage over 200 years after its completion in The Histories
4.42. While many believed in the achievement, Herodotus doubted
the Phoenicians claim that when they sailed west around the southern end of
Africa they had the sun on their right. In fact, to later readers, the
Phoenicians accurate observation of the sun's position in the Southern
Hemisphere is now considered by many as evidence that the voyage did take
place:
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Libya is washed on
all sides by the sea except where it joins Asia, as was first demonstrated,
so far as our knowledge goes, by the Egyptian king Necho, who, after calling
off the construction of the canal between the Nile and the Arabian gulf,
sent out a fleet manned by a Phoenician crew with orders to sail west about
and return to Egypt and the Mediterranean by the way of the Straits of
Gibraltar. The Phoenicians sailed from the Arabian gulf into the
southern ocean, and every autumn put in at some convenient spot on the
Libyan coast, sowed a patch of ground, and waited for next year's harvest.
Then, having got in their grain, they put to sea again, and after two full
years rounded the Pillars of Heracles in the course of the third, and
returned to Egypt. These men made a statement which I do not myself
believe, though others may, to the effect that as they sailed on a westerly
course round the southern end of Libya, they had the sun on their right - to
northward of them. This is how Libya was first discovered by sea.
Herodotus, The
Histories 4.42 [tr. Aubrey de Selincourt]
http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/hist01.htm
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Phoenician
Resources:
A useful resource for more information on Phoenician
studies can be found on www.phoenicia.org.
This site (A bequest unearthed, Phoenicia, Encyclopedia Phoeniciana) also
includes information on the Phoenician Ship Expedition. Click here
to view the site.
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Phoenician Colonies &
Trading Posts