#phoenicia

[mapsontheweb]

Phoenicia - 501 BC

by Difficult_Airport_86/reddit

[tsalmu]

Phoenician Bowl with encircling Serpent Bernardini Tomb (Palestrina, Italy) c. 700 BCE The National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia Rome, Italy

[illustratus]

The sister cities of Tyre and Sidon, Phoenicia by Sasha Beliaev

[gwydpolls]

Time Travel Question 16: Ancient History VII and Earlier

These Questions are the result of suggestions from the previous iteration.

This category may include suggestions made too late to fall into the correct grouping.

Please add new suggestions below if you have them for future consideration.

I am particularly in need of more specific non-European suggestions in particular, but all suggestions are welcome.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Pendant made of glass paste found in the archaeological site of the 4th-century BC Iberian town of Turó del Montgrós (el Brull, Central Catalonia).

It is in the shape of a bearded man's head and only the left side of the face is preserved. Another fragment recovered at the site corresponds to the rear. At the top of the artefacts that are found complete there is a small ring to thread the pendant on a necklace.

These types of objects were produced by Phoenician and Punic populations and were highly prized in the Mediterranean. They were probably used as amulets to protect their owners from misfortune and to bring good luck. The indigenous people of what nowadays are the Catalan Countries had been in close contact with the Phoenicians and Punics since the early Iron Age, and they remained their main foreign influence in much of the territory until the arrival of Romans centuries later.

Source: Archaeological Museum of Catalonia.

[ancientstuff]

Pretty amazing find. I don't think I've posted many articles on Phoenician anything here, so this is extra good.

[bi-numi-aliyani]

Two myths from ancient Ugarit: Anat Binds the Dragon and Ashtart the Huntress

An early eighth century BCE stamp seal discovered at Tel Hazor depicting a hero-deity slaying a seven-headed serpent. [Source: Uehlinger, Christoph. “Mastering the Seven-Headed Serpent: A Stamp Seal from Hazor Provides a Missing Link Between Cuneiform and Biblical Mythology.” Near Eastern Archaeology 87, no. 1 (March 1, 2024): 14–19. https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-258353.]

Hey folks, these are my versions of some fragmentary myths from the ancient Ugaritic corpus. A lot of what I used to fill in the blanks is based on other Ugaritic literature and I'm sure those with a lot more experience than me reading them will notice them pretty quickly.

The first text, KTU 1.83, has been subject to quite some discussion among scholars in the past. I present it here to feature ��Maiden Anat's slaying of the monstrous serpent Lotan (cf. Biblical “Leviathan”) and the Sea-God 𒀭Yam's other cohorts as She recalls in Tablet 3 of Ba'al. I primarily used the "provisional" translation of this text provided in Religious Texts From Ugarit (2nd edition, 2002, pp. 368–69) by Nathaniel Wyatt with credit as well to Wayne T. Pitard's edition titled “The Binding of Yamm” (J. Near East. Stud. 57(4):261–80, Oct. 1998) and Simon B. Parker's translation as “The Binding of a Monster” in Ugaritic Narrative Poetry (1997, pp. 192–93).

Next is KTU 1.92, somewhat more coherently narrating a hunt of 𒀭Lady Ashtart and 𒀭Lord Ba'al's passion for Her. My interpretation of this text has some more draw from general Semitic mythology and symbolism. Wyatt (pp. 370–74) is again my main source with further reference to Baruch Margalit's interpretation of the obverse text (Part I) as “A [sic] Ugaritic Theophagy” (Aula Orientalis 7:67–80, 1989).

I hope you enjoy these take on ancient stories of the Goddesses and Gods of Canaan 💛

Anat Binds the Dragon

When Lotan the Shifting Serpent burst forth with one lip to Heaven and one lip to Earth,

it was unleashed by 𒀭Desire, Beloved of 𒀭El, the 𒀭Rogue, the Bullock of 𒀭El,

by 𒀭Fire, the Bitch of 𒀭El, 𒀭Flame, Daughter of 𒀭El,

they came out from the Arsa;

with its fangs it thrashed the Sea to foam,

with its forked tongue it kissed the Heavens,

with its forked tail it thrashed the Sea to foam.

𒀭Anat snared the Dragon on high,

She bound it in the heights of Lebanon.

Towards the desert shall You be scattered, O 𒀭Yam!

To the multitudes shall You be crushed, O 𒀭Nahar!

You shall not see: You shall foam up!

𒀭Anat will destroy You, O 𒀭Yam, Beloved of 𒀭El,

slay You, O 𒀭Nahar, the Great God.

She snared the Dragon and vanquished it,

destroyed the Shifting Serpent, the Tyrant of Seven Heads;

She destroys 𒀭Desire, Beloved of 𒀭El,

annihilates the 𒀭Rogue, the Bullock of 𒀭El;

She destroys 𒀭Fire, the Bitch of 𒀭El,

slays 𒀭Flame, Daughter of 𒀭El;

𒀭Batulatu-Anat battles for the Silver,

She takes possession of the Gold.

Ashtart the Huntress

Scribal note: Of Thabil

Part I. “The Hunt of Ashtart”

 𒀭Ashtart went out on a hunt,

 She went out into the wild grazeland.

 She polished the tip of Her Spear,

 the Stars and the Crescent of the Moon favored Her bounty.

 And behold! The hills began to shake,

 the abysmal waters boiled up,

 as a herd of antelope dashed off to the Marsh,

 the swamp where buffalo graze.

 She unsheathed Her Spear.

 𒀭Ashtart sat and hid in the Marsh,

 at Her right She placed Her Dog Crusher,

 at Her left Boomer.

 She lifted up Her Eyes and looked:

 a drowsing Hind She espied,

 a Bull eating in the pond She saw!

 Her Spear She grasped in Her Hand,

 Her Lance in Her Right Hand.

 She hurled the Spear at the Bull;

 She felled 𒀭Ba'al, Servant of 𒀭El.

 As She went home She thought:

 She would feed Him to 𒀭El the Bull, Her Father,

 She would feed Him to the Sons of 𒀭Ashirat for dinner.

 She would feed Him to 𒀭Yarikh's indomitable gullet,

 She would serve the dinner to 𒀭Kothar-wa-Khasis, 𒀭Heyan the Ambidextrous.

 Thereafter, when 𒀭Ashtart arrived at Her House,

 She set away Her Implements of the Hunt.

Part II. “Ba'al and Ashtart”

 𒀭Ashtart asked after the Guardian of the Vineyard

 for She sought 𒀭El the Bull, Her Father, Master of the Vineyard.

 Clad in a Veil of Linen,

 donning an Aegis of Cypress, Lady 𒀭Ashtart,

 the Kilt She wore catching the Splendor of the Male Stars,

 Her Sash the Magnificence of the Female Stars.

 Once the Maiden had changed,

 𒀭Ba'al longed after Her;

 the Valiant One wondered of Her Beauty!

 𒀭Aliyan-Ba'al desired to know Her by heart.

 He was glad to see Lady 𒀭Ashtart, but She was frightened by the Son of 𒀭Dagan.

 He heard Her cry peal across the Valley and the Coast,

 past the Two Surs, beyond Sidon and Gebal,

 echoing off Caphtor and Keilah,

 Sapon and Nanaya brought low, Lalu and Inbubu brought high,

 She lifted up Her Voice to the Guardian of the Vineyard,

𒀭Ba'al-Hadad called out:

 “Seventy-seven times You have caught My Eye,

 “eighty-eight pierced My Heart!”

But the Guardian answered Him:

 “The City is guarded against Your Flesh.

 “Do not return to the Court of the Sons of 𒀭El!”

 Thereafter, 𒀭Ba'al went up to Sapon, His Holy Stronghold,

 crushed the Heart of 𒀭Ba'al-Zebul for want of the comfort of the living.

 But lo! His Eyes lit up, He beheld His Lady with vessels of wine,

 𒀭Ashtart the Heifer made feast with the Rider on the Clouds,

 a supper of honeycomb and wine and all kinds of fish;

 She opened the City Gates for 𒀭Ba'al the Victorious,

 Standard raised in triumph for the Rider on the Clouds.

[karagin22]

[temple-of-inanna]

Goddess Ishtar on an Akkadian Empire seal, 2350–2150 BCE. She is equipped with weapons on her back, has a horned helmet, places her foot in a dominant posture upon a lion secured by a leash and is accompanied by the star of Shamash. 𒌋𒁯👸🏻⚔️❤️🌿⋆⁺‧₊₊‧⁺⋆𒌋𒁯👸🏻⚔️❤️🌿⋆⁺‧₊₊‧⁺⋆𒌋𒁯👸🏻⚔️❤️🌿⋆⁺‧₊₊‧⁺⋆

source: wikipedia

[jeannereames]

Unfortunately, true

Although in the case of Carthage, some of the problem is a lack of evidence. The other problem is the issue of languages: what's taught. A lot easier to find classes on Latin than Akkadian, if you want to study Neo-Assyria, say. ;-)

[mapsontheweb]

Phoenicia - 501 BC.

by MadameYua

[tsalmu]

Divorce-Writ of King Ammistamru II Ugarit, Syria c. 1250 BCE A tablet documenting the divorce of King Ammistamru II of Ugarit fromhattusa the daughter of the Amorite king Benteshina, sealed by the Hittite King Ammistamru. The king stands to the right, holding a spear, next to the "Weather God" who holds a club. They are both facing a long-robed female goddess (Arima, the chief Hittite sun-goddess) who stands at the left. Source: Virtual Museum of Syria

[inspofromancientworld]

Carthage and its Ancient Origins

By Artist, Henry William Pickersgill - Engraved by D. H. Robinson - William Jordan - Autobiography, Volume 3, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65129435

Letitia Elizabeth Landon, more commonly known as L.E.L., lived from 1802-1838, was an English poet and novelist. She learned to read early and at age 5, attended a school taught by Frances Arabella Rowden, who was a poet herself and encouraged it in her pupils. In 1809, her family moved to the countryside so her education was taken over by her older cousin Elizabeth, who found that L.E.L. was above her level. She was close to her brother, two years younger than her, and began publishing when she was 18 to help pay for his university education. He became a minister and decided to repay her by spreading lies about her. Her poetry was well received by the public, with her initials becoming 'speedily…a signature of magical interest and curiosity' as one critic wrote. She took advantage of the trend of annually produced gift books to expand her career. During her career, she also wrote prose, publishing several novels in addition to her many poems and books of poetry. In 1835, John Forester, her fiancé at the time, became aware of rumors her supposed sexual activity and demanded she refute them. She told him to refute them himself. He did and she broke off their engagement, not wanting to be married to someone who didn't trust her. In 1836, she met George Maclean at a dinner party and saw him as a way to get out of England and they married that next year. In August 1838, they arrived in Cape Coast, Africa. In October 1838, she died of what was likely Stokes-Adams Syndrome which causes fainting due to cardiac irregularities that leads to inadequate blood flow, fainting, and possibly death and is exacerbated by stress and she had the medication for it near her.

By damian entwistle - originally posted to Flickr as tunis carthage museum representation of city, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9049084

Her poem Carthage, she addresses the fallen city of the Phoenicians that was the capital of the Punic empire. The Punic empire dominated Mediterranean trade in the first millennium BCE, prior to the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BCE, leading to the fall of the Punic empire. In her poem, Landon asks '[d]ust, the wide world's king,/where are now the glorious hours/Of a nation's gathered powers?' She points out that the fall of the Punic Empire was '[l]ike the setting of a star,/In the fathomless afar;/Time's eternal wing/Hath around those ruins cast/The dark presence of the past.'

You can read the poem here.

[goodnitesteve]

Hi y’all,

My name is Steve and I’m a photographer living in nyc. I used to spend all my time on tumblr before facebook and instagram took over that landscape.

Today, I’m returning, against the turmoil. Look forward to sharing some writing and photography, maybe a bit of collage.

These were shot on temu film at the Phoenicia Diner. I was only allotted eight shots. I got five. I used a Minolta SRT 101 and a 58mm lens. The limitations are certainly in the film. I got them developed at Lustre Digital on ave A in the east village and I scanned them on my own with a Fujifilm X-T20.

Hope to connect with some fun artists and kind people

[cincinnatusvirtue]

Photos from Ancient Carthage (814BC-146BC)

Ancient Carthage was a city state in the time of antiquity that exists in present day Tunis, Tunisia in North Africa.  It was founded around the year 814BC by Phoenician (Punic) settlers who emanated from the Levant, in modern day Lebanon, Syria & Israel.  The Phoenicians were a civilization that spoke a Semitic language & engaged in a society that primarily was interested in trade & commerce throughout the Mediterranean Sea.  

The Phoenicians settled in trade colonies throughout the Mediterranean basin in not only their West Asian homeland but Europe & North Africa all the way to modern day Spain & Morocco.  Their best-known trade colony was Carthage or “Qart-hadast”  which meant “New City” in their language.  This was strategically located where modern Tunis sits.  It was located on a strip of land that allowed shelter from storms on the North African coast & was well placed near the center of the Mediterranean Sea & its trade routes crisscrossing between the east & west.  The settlers who established Carthage were Phoenicians colonists from the city of Tyre in modern Lebanon, one of the three major city-states of Phoenicia alongside Sidon & Byblos.

These Phoenician colonists reached Tunisia around 814 BC & like their other settlements in Libya & elsewhere they had to deal with the native populations, in this case the Berber or Amazigh peoples who inhabited North Africa from Morocco to Libya.  Originally a daughter city under the rule from Tyre, they gained autonomy when Tyre & the rest of Phoenicia fell under the control of the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 650 BC. From that point on Carthage became not only an independent city-state but established a mostly sea-trade based empire or thalassocracy.  It became a flourishing metropolis & dominated the Western Mediterranean for centuries.

Carthage was a monarchy until about 480 BC before becoming a republic & their sea-based commercial empire presaged the later Italian sea-based republics of Venice & Genoa over a thousand years later.  Their complex system of governance, language (Punic or Western Phoenician dialect), religion & other cultural aspects are still only partially understood in the modern era due to biased contemporary foreign sources & little surviving local record.

At their peak they controlled North Africa’s coast from Libya in the east to Morocco in the west.  Much of Spain, the Balearic Islands, Malta, half of Sicily, all of Sardinia & Corsica.  They fought wars with the Berbers who lived inland in North Africa along with the Greek city-states that settled in Sicily & southern Italy & likewise engaged in trade with these peoples.  The Phoenician settlers (Carthaginians) were often not numerous enough to make up their whole military strength. Though the Phoenicians dominated their navy while their land-based military consisted of mercenaries from the Berbers of North Africa, Greek hoplites, Sardinians, Italo-Sicilians, Corsicans & the Celts & Iberians of Spain and the Balearic Islands to complement their own elite Phoenician infantry, the Sacred Band of Carthage.  

Eventually over the course of the three Punic Wars with the emerging Roman Republic, Carthage lost its power & prestige.  Though it produced several military leaders of tactical & strategic renowned, the most famous being Hannibal Barca (247BC-181BC) who crossed the Alps & invaded Italy from the north inflicting several defeats on the Roman army on their native Italian soil but he was never able to take Rome itself.  Eventually attrition & the threat of a Roman counterattack against Carthage itself forced Hannibal to leave for his North African home.  He was eventually defeated by the Romans & finally in the Third & final Punic War, Rome destroyed ancient Carthage in 146 BC, it is said they tilled the surrounding fields in salt so that no new crops could grow & the threat of Carthage would never rise again.  The Romans eventually rebuilt Carthage & included the city as their own within the Africa province of their empire.  It flourished again as a center of Roman trade but eventually fell to Germanic invaders such as the Vandals before being retaken by the Byzantine Empire in the 6th Century AD before falling again to the Arab Muslim invaders in the 7th century as Islam spread across North Africa.  Medieval Carthage continued as a residential town but eventually the modern city of Tunis began encircling its original Punic & later Roman ruins... 

[ancientstuff]

Interesting article on the Phoenicians and trade in the Mediterranean.