عربي

 From their foundation in the third millennium BC, coastal Canaanite cities included a mix of people from different origins and races, each with their own dialect and customs.

The Canaanites never had any form of unity. As it is the case with most parts of the old world, the Canaanites did not consider themselves as a nation. This continued until after the invasions of the Sea Peoples, around 1200 BC, which ruined, in certain circumstances, the urban civilization in the region, resulting in destruction along with demographic changes, and bringing immigrants from foreign origins.

Cities acted completely as independent states, protected by walls, with their own agricultural systems providing their subsistence needs. Each city was ruled by a king, aided by a consultative council mainly composed by members of the aristocracy. Even though the hereditary code was applied, there is no evidence that it was the only form of power transfer.

During the first millennium BC, executive power in the “Phoenician” cities was restricted to the king and a senate, formed by leading members of the aristocracy. In some cases, like in Carthage, this power was held by two “Suffects” (Judges), a senate, a domestic security council and a people’s assembly.

Some inscriptions show that the king detained both civic and religious authorities. One of these inscriptions was the one left by Tabnit, king of Sidon during the end of the 6th century BC. He wrote: “I, Tabnit, priest of Astarte, king of Sidon, the son of Eshmun’azar, priest of Astarte, king of Sidon, am lying in this sarcophagus…”

After the downfall provoked by the Sea Peoples’ raids, the 10th century witnessed the birth of a new civilization. One of its most distinctive features was the spreading of the alphabet, a new writing system that radically differed from the syllabic system of the Mesopotamian cuneiform script and the pictographic system of the Egyptian hieroglyphic script. Tyrians and Sidonians played a major role in diffusion of this new system in the Greek world, from which it was later on transmitted to the Romans.

During the first millennium BC, new cities, colonies and trade stations were established along the Mediterranean coasts and islands. Carthage was one of the most significant settlements. Canaanite-Phoenician cities welcomed peoples from around the old world, since their populations, especially those who were well-off, did not have the tendency for racism and xenophobia. They adopted the conqueror’s manners, were open to change, and their civilization turned into a cultural melting pot, adapting themselves to the Egyptian’s, Persian’s, Greek’s and Roman’s ways and customs.

Phoenician cities went at that time through a golden age, selling their products across the Mediterranean. Conifer’s wood and oils were some of the most expensive items that conquerors could flaunt about appropriating them in their inscriptions and Annals. Some Carthaginian merchants reached the shores of Western Africa and traded with its inhabitants. They brought back African gold, ivory and exotic animals, exchanged with shoddy goods, like glass and beads, that amazed the local populations.

Cities often escaped destruction by striking a truce with conquerors, and paying a ransom. For instance, when the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I (1115-1077 BC) occupied Arwad, the cities of Byblos and Sidon sent to the king envoys carrying ransoms. The same scenario took place during the days of Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BC). This king led his army along the Mediterranean eastern coast without encountering any resistance. During this campaign, the cities paid ransoms of gold, silver, tin, copper along with many other goods, and the “King received their tribute and they embraced [his] feet”.

Despite the rough troubled periods that hit the region during the first millennium BC, many Canaanite-Phoenician city-states concluded alliances that allowed them, at one level, to confront each other, and at another level, to confront superpowers that sought to conquer the region. Their alliance with some of the Syrian cities against the Assyrian King Sennacherib (715-681 BC) led to their vast destruction. These ruined Canaanite-Phoenician cities then abandoned their alliance with Tyre and placed 60 ships at the king’s disposal, enabling him to lay siege to it and conquer it.

A similar incident happened during the days of Esarhaddon (680-669 BC) when the king of Sidon struck an alliance with the king of Cilicia and revolted against the Assyrians, which led to the destruction and burning of Sidon by the Assyrian army. Similarly, Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC) took over Sidon and Arwad and besieged Tyre and conquered it.

During the Persian era, between the sixth and fourth centuries BC, the Persian Empire was restructured and “Phoenician” cities formed the Fifth Satrapy (Province) along with Syria and Cyprus. The Persians’ need of the “Phoenician” fleets in their wars against the Egyptians and the Greeks led them to award those cities some independence and the right to mint their own coinage. These cities consequently had economic and architectural prosperity. In Sidon, were built a royal palace and garden, along with a temple dedicated for its god Eshmun. A palace and a citadel were also built in Byblos.

2009 - ISSUE 89