Rethinking the Phoenician World | Greek Archaeology Episode 15

#Phoenician #Greek #Bronze Age"As we explore the theme of multiculturalism and interconnectivity in the Aegean world more, it is inevitable that I discuss the Phoenicians. These enigmatic Levantine people have suffered under the caricatures that Homer painted of them as maritime trinket traders, a view that remained popular even into the early 21st century. In this episode I unpack what we know of the Phoenicians: who they were, their territory, their culture and, most importantly, their impact on the re-establishment of an interconnected world, filled with trade routes after the Late Bronze Age Collapse.

I'll look at few sites such as Tharros, Carthage, Sidon & Tyre as case studies and explore what Phoenician settlements often looked like.

Overview of topics in this episode:

Understanding the cultural, social and political organisation of the Phoenicians

Key sites like Tharros, Carthage, Sidon & Tyre and the motivations behind Phoenician settlement

Rethinking Orientalism and breaking down heavy regionalised structuralist perspectives

Understanding the Greeks & the East, and how Phoenician interaction shaped Greek identity

The site of Al Mina in northern Syria and the question of whether it can be considered a Greek colony

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Phoenicians and their culture in the comments below!

Sources & Bibliography:

Reinberger, K. L., Reitsema, L. J., Kyle, B., Vassallo, S., Kamenov, G., & Krigbaum, J. 202: Isotopic evidence for geographic heterogeneity in Ancient Greek military forces. PLOS ONE, 16(5).

Greco, E. 2011: On the origins of the Western Greek poleis, Ancient West & East 10, 233-242

Hall, J. 2009: Ethnicity and Cultural exchange. Raaflaub, K. A. and van Wees, H. Companion to Archaic Greece, A. Wiley. 604-17.

Hodos, T. 2009: Colonial Engagements in the Global Mediterranean Iron Age. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 19.2: 221-41.

Niemeyer, H.G. 2006: The Phoenicians in the Mediterranean. Between expansion and colonisation: a non-Greek model of overseas settlement and presence in G. R. Tsetskhladze (ed.) Greek colonisation. An account of Greek colonies and other settlements overseas, pgs. 143-168

Pratt C. 2015: Minor Transnationalism in the Ancient Mediterranean? The Case of Phoenicians on Crete in the Early Iron Age.” Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies 18.3[2009]: 305-335

Whitley, J. 2020: Near Eastern Art in the Iron Age Mediterranean. In A Companion to Ancient Near Eastern Art, A.C. Gunter (Ed.)

Vacek, A. 2012: Greek and related pottery from Al Mina. A case study of production, consumption and distribution of Greek pottery in the Eastern Mediterranean from the 9th to the end of the 7th century BC. (PhD thesis). Oxford University, UK., 285-286"