Phoenicians: Lebanon's Epic Heritage

I bought this book to read in advance of a trip to the ruins of Carthage in Tunisia this summer, planning to skim it over as a background to the teip. Well, that didn’t happen… I read the entire book in a few days as I was captivated by the unwritten (until now) story of the Phoenician people, closely related to Hebrew peoples, that were master traders, ship builders, and sailors who explored far beyond the confines of the Mediterranean Sea for millennia, giving us the alphabet, perhaps the earliest form of democracy in a large society, and fueling the bronze age… not to mention providing personnel and materials to build pyramids in Egypt, Solomon’s temple, and likely the palace at Knossos in Crete. The author handily incorporates ancient documents and recent archaeological findings into an engaging story that is easy to read, and hard to put down. This a great primer for people interested in the back story of early Mediterranean empires and the resilience of a relatively small and obscure but dedicated people whose decisions and actions echo through history to the present day.

Similar to a recent book, Humanly Possible, by Sarah Bakewell, this book is inspiring and grounding. I am so glad to have found it after over a decade loosely piecing together the history of this region myself in my spare time. I recommend it highly for anyone seeking understanding and wisdom from studying the provenance of civilization, particularly as we know it in a “western” context.

Having read Phoenician Secrets: Exploring the Ancient Mediterranean when it came out, I immediately bought this book and started reading it. Having many similarities from the previous version of the book, I appreciate the fresh new take on the fascinating history of the Phoenicians. Being a big fan of ancient history, the Phoenicians interest me most because of their contributions to Egypt and the rest of the world. Thanks to author's detailed accounts, my visit to the Louvre Museum was more complete when I visited the very limited Phoenician exhibit. it was truly exhilarating to be in the same room with their antiquities after reading these two books!

For many in the western world, everything starts in Greece. They forget that before the Greeks, who created an amazing civilisation, many other civilisations flourished. This book shows nicely the contribution of the Phoenicians people to humanity. Greeks and Phoenicians are not alone in making history and our humanity is the result of the interactions between all people. Phoenicians believed in trade as opposed to war and conquest. I wish all the big powers in the world of today follow their example.

I so appreciated this book. I have been a casual reader of ancient history and the mystery of the Phoenicans has always troubled me. Who were they, where did they go, were are their writings etc. I mean we heard about their ship wrecks and recovered relics and I could never understand why we didn't know more about them. Thank you for the education.

I read the previous version of this book around ten years ago. My perception is that the timeline in the current version is tighter and better sequenced. I enjoy the additional maps, pictures, and illustrations. The book now covers lightly some of the controversies with the Phoenician religion and more current Lebanese tragedies. I became interested in the Phoenicians and Minoans around 15 years ago after I found from genetic tests my matrilineal line was Jewish. I later got the records from Hungary showing I am descended from Levites and Kohens. On my paternal side, my grandfather was born on the Black Sea coast where Jason, the Argonauts, and Hercules passed by long ago. My Y chromosome haplotype is E-V13 which is at maximum in the Balkans and shows up in Neolithic Farmer DNA – Cardial ware. My ancestors were related to the first European farmers originally from Anatolia and that settled in Crete. Manetho – the Egyptian priest - claimed Moses was a heretical Egyptian priest. This survives because Josephus counters the argument in “Against Apion”. I suspect much of the Old Testament is biased toward the kingdom of Judah. It was mainly put together in exile in Babylon and soon after according to recent scholarship. I also read in Robert Graves's books, “The Greek Myths” and “The Hebrew Myths” how the oral tradition, Samaritan tradition, and Sanchuniathon differed from what survives in the Jewish written tradition. I know Robert Graves interpretations are outdated. He does reference original sources and the accounts of Pausanias and others that are still valid. Modern Israeli archaeology also differs greatly from the Old Testament account. Seeing that Ancient Phoenician was an intelligible dialect to Hebrew, perhaps some of my heritage could be learned from studying other Canaanites. Unfortunately, almost nothing survives of Phoenician records. There are some tales from Ugarit that have precursors of biblical stories like Dan’el and the Baal cycle. Most books on Phoenician history are almost all dry lists of artifacts and dates referenced from Greek and Old Testament sources. I was happy to find Sanford Holst’s websites and books. I find the timeline in the book convincing and meaningful. Early Egyptian pre-dynastic artwork had some knives that had Mesopotamian art on them. Mercantile contact with the Phoenicians from Pre-Dynastic Egypt to the fall of Carthage is reasonable – especially the evidence of using cedar in pharaonic buildings. I differ on the book’s interpretation of Minoan Civilization slightly in that I feel the Luwian influence was greater. I know that Linear A accounting records had Semitic words for “total” and others. I think Fred Woudhuizen’s hypothesis is correct. Minoan culture was most likely a fusion of a military Luwian ruling class, Phoenician merchant class, and indigenous farmers. Hopefully more records are discovered in Luwian and Minoan sites to finally decide. Developing writing – for the first time in ancient civilizations - takes surplus labor supported by taxes and a ruling elite to hire scholars and linguists. They will use a language for elites and to show off to other elites and mercantile specialists. This minimizes vernacular languages and emphasizes languages of trade and power. What made Phoenicians different from surrounding Canaanites was maritime commerce and trade – which you emphasize. Many of the Mahajanapadas of India – in the Buddha’s time and before – were arranged like the oligarchic/democratic systems you describe for the Phoenicians. The Rothschilds, Sassoons, and Antwerp diamond merchants ran their businesses with similar principles and practices to what is described in the book. Overall, the book is a quick and enjoyable read. It gives a good layman’s view of Phoenician culture and history.

As someone with a personal interest in the Phoenician heritage and people, I believe Mr. Holst has achieved a remarkable feat with this extraordinary history in narrative form. He presents Phoenician history and culture in a rather innovative way, highlighting aspects of Lebanon's identity that have persisted throughout the ages and fundamentally augmenting the proud narrative of the Lebanese people and their accomplishments. He has done for the Lebanese a great service.

I really do not recommend this book specially for its shallow prose and the approach of the author to have a small talk of 360 pages. Also for me, it is an insult to Minoan culture utilize a beautiful picture of a Minoan fresco in the front page of this book, it is decieving. Beyond that, there is no single proof in this book to substantiate the author's claims about the existence of a Phoenician civilization, culture, and society very well stablished since 3,300 BC! There is no single archeological evidence provided. There are few references to books and classical writers, but nothing else. Every claim before the iron age regarding the Phoenicians in this book is highly speculative and based on some antiquity facts, like the cedar vessels for the Egyptcian pharoes found next to the Giza pyramids. Saying that Phoenicians founded cultures like Minoans, Cyprus, and fuelled ancient Egypt civilizations, is the main author's sin. Nanno Marinatos never said that Phoenicians and Minoans were directly related, Ms. Marinatos only found a common culture between the Levant people, ancient Syria people, and ancient Crete, something that Ms. Marinatos called a Koine. The big question here is: what is the author referring by 'Phoenicians'? For sure, Phoenicians were not around when acient Maltese people built their monumental temples, and there is no way that Maltese arquitects participated in the building of the Egypt Giza pyramids! The author failed to explain the human sacrifice in Carthage and in Phoenician's tophets. And the author omitted the grusome fact about the human traffiquing and slevery incentivated by Phoenician traders. Nobody questions the relevance of the Phoenicians in the ancient world. But the exaltation created by the author is completely unnecesary and faulty.

I just love this book: it feels like I'm reading a tale with gripping twists. A true (at least: believable) tale. The way Sanford Holst writes about the Phoenicians is not just entertaining but very inspiring too. The best part is that the dozens of surprising facts and stories I found in the book were perfect to pass it on to my kids.

Excellent, clear history. One of the few accessible narrative histories of this extraordinary culture; a people who endeavoured to stay peaceful and become prosperous in a world of universal violence and achieved it for many centuries.

As an iranian aware and fascinated by my own old persian heritage, I was surprised and delighted to have found this book. Back in my school days of the1970's we just learned that the Phoenicians (فنقی ها) were world known ship-builders living in the cities Tyr (صور) and Sidon (صیدا). Marvellously written and packed with stunning information. An outsanding piece of modern written history.

Excellently researched, however, one thing is not accurate: Pagan societies did not worship "Mother Nature". The Canaanites, Phoenicians etc. worshipped the main couple of deities - the supreme god El and his in no way inferior wife Asherah, the fertility goddess and mother of gods. She was THE goddess of the ancient Middle East. She was not the personification of "Mother Nature". This perception is colored by the New Age/ Wiccan mentality that is modern revisionist and not necessarily based on the original deities. Fertility does not equal "Mother Nature", even though it emcompasses it as the ancient polytheists respected, feared and observed and followed the natural cycles. But this goddess was also the protectress of women and children, the goddess of the sea and the underworld. From the couple of supreme gods came the other gods, Astarte (consort of Baal) and Anat, goddess of love and war, respectively, and other gods. There is no such thing as "nature worship" per se as it is interpreted today, ask any scholar on pre-Abrahamic Middle Eastern polytheism. And the author's expressed notion that these highly organized polytheist societies were somehow, despite their best efforts, backwards spiritually and needed the proper guidance from the later Abrahamic religions (which are entirely based on the supposedly "false" gods of the pagan societies, interestingly...) is highly debatable. Having said that, the author is clearly fascinated by the intriguing and multi-faceted subject of his book and has delivered a scholarly, intelligent and respectful work.

Wonderful in depth history, written with a light touch.