Civ: Phoenicians

[Lion.Kanzen]

Nice. But should be more nice paste the info here. And source of course after.

[Zophim]

I've edited my post above to include sources.

[Lion.Kanzen]

yeah, is more easy to read, only the basic content , to read whole page. thank you. and we Save the info for future reades and seachers.

[Atenmeses52]

I have a proposition for the Phoenicians:

I think that we should include some features of nearby city-states (Mari, Ebla, Ugarit) that weren't necessarily 100% Phoenician but rather were ruled by other local Canaanite tribes.

For details, see this documentary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5oY_lIoOWk

Also, as for the heroes:
I agree that Hiram would be a great choice!

Also

Pygmalion (or Pu'mayyaton)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_of_Tyre

and

Abdi-Milkutti

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdi-Milkutti

both of them seem to be among the greatest leaders of their Phoenician City States

Edited December 17, 2013 by Atenmeses52

[Lion.Kanzen]

The Canaanite peoples and the Hebrews had temples with libraries apparently.

 

[...]The texts were all found in the level corresponding to the last period of the city (XIV-XII centuries B.C.). The precise places of their discovery are: the Library, attached to the temple of Baal, and the Royal Palace or Great Palace. In the former, texts of a predominantly mythological and epical nature were found, while those in the latter are of an administrative nature. Other texts were found in the archive of the Small Palace or Southern Palace as well as in private archives, belonging to cult and divination personnel who kept their own records, and in the archive of the Palace Outside the Walls (Ras Ibn Hani). Such texts were incised on clay tablets and are basically written in the language of exchange.

basically written in the language of international exchange of the time (Akkadian) and in the city's own language (Ugaritic).

(Ugaritic). Of lesser importance and number are those that bear witness to other writing systems, corresponding to as many different languages.

 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43075402

 

------

UGARITIC , a Northwest Semitic language spoken and written in northern Syria during the second millennium b.c.e. Documents written in this tongue have been discovered at Ras Shamra, site of the ancient *Ugarit, and at nearby Ras ibn Hani.

 

The texts were written on clay tablets in a unique cuneiform alphabetic script. This represented a revolutionary adaptation of the Mesopotamian writing method, which was in its original form syllabic and logographic and required hundreds of symbols; thus there were separate symbols for ba and ab, ik and ki, etc. The Ugaritic repertoire consisted, in contrast, of 27 basic consonants. An additional sign for samekh and two supplementary alefs served to distinguish the three fundamental Semitic vowels in combination with that consonant, i.e., aʾ, iʾ, uʾ. Rare instances have been noted in which these consonant-plus-vowel signs were utilized as pure vowel indicators and in two texts the yod seems to stand for a final vowel; otherwise the Ugaritic method of writing was entirely consonantal. Five small inscriptions show certain unusual features such as minor divergences in the shapes of letters and especially a preference for only 22 consonants as in the traditional Canaanite *alphabet. Three of these texts with the shorter alphabet were found not at Ugarit but in Ereẓ Israel.

The corpus of Ugaritic inscriptions so far published represents a wide range of literary and nonliterary types. The former have attracted the widest attention because of their parallels to biblical poetry and epic prose. Of special interest are the tablets pertaining to the adventures of Baal and his consort Anath which outnumber the other literary works discovered. In many instances, the language and poetic style are – as shown especially by U. Cassuto and H.L. Ginsberg – very close to passages in the Hebrew poetry, e.g., the god of death, Mot, warns Baal not to boast "because you have smitten Lotan [Leviathan] the evil serpent, you have destroyed the crooked serpent, the mighty one of seven heads." The analogy with Isaiah 27:1 is indeed striking.

14th century B.C Ugarit was obliged to pay tribute and to supply its overlord with troops. When invading “Sea Peoples” * began ravaging Anatolia (central Turkey) and northern Syria, Ugarit’s troops and fleet were requisitioned by the Hittites. As a result, Ugarit itself was defenseless and was completely destroyed in about 1200 B.C

---

Beginning in our first season of excavations at Ras Shamra in 1929, we noted in our excavation diary the presence of a fine, powdery, homogeneous soil, pale yellow or more frequently whitish in color, which was characteristic of Ugarit’s last level. This layer had no internal stratification and in places was two meters [about six feet] thick. In this dry and powdery soil lay the remains of the buildings devastated by the earthquakes and by the fires of Ugarit’s last days. From the eastern edge of Ras Shamra’s extended hill, near the temple of Baal and Dagon, to the western limits at the seacoast where the palace, public buildings and luxurious private houses were located, everything was covered by this whitish-yellow dust layer. It is irrefutable evidence that Ugarit’s last days were hot and dry.

[Lion.Kanzen]

6 minutes ago, Lion.Kanzen said:

The Canaanite peoples and the Hebrews had temples with libraries apparently.

 

[...]The texts were all found in the level corresponding to the last period of the city (XIV-XII centuries B.C.). The precise places of their discovery are: the Library, attached to the temple of Baal, and the Royal Palace or Great Palace. In the former, texts of a predominantly mythological and epical nature were found, while those in the latter are of an administrative nature. Other texts were found in the archive of the Small Palace or Southern Palace as well as in private archives, belonging to cult and divination personnel who kept their own records, and in the archive of the Palace Outside the Walls (Ras Ibn Hani). Such texts were incised on clay tablets and are basically written in the language of exchange.

basically written in the language of international exchange of the time (Akkadian) and in the city's own language (Ugaritic).

(Ugaritic). Of lesser importance and number are those that bear witness to other writing systems, corresponding to as many different languages.

 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43075402

 

------

UGARITIC , a Northwest Semitic language spoken and written in northern Syria during the second millennium b.c.e. Documents written in this tongue have been discovered at Ras Shamra, site of the ancient *Ugarit, and at nearby Ras ibn Hani.

 

The texts were written on clay tablets in a unique cuneiform alphabetic script. This represented a revolutionary adaptation of the Mesopotamian writing method, which was in its original form syllabic and logographic and required hundreds of symbols; thus there were separate symbols for ba and ab, ik and ki, etc. The Ugaritic repertoire consisted, in contrast, of 27 basic consonants. An additional sign for samekh and two supplementary alefs served to distinguish the three fundamental Semitic vowels in combination with that consonant, i.e., aʾ, iʾ, uʾ. Rare instances have been noted in which these consonant-plus-vowel signs were utilized as pure vowel indicators and in two texts the yod seems to stand for a final vowel; otherwise the Ugaritic method of writing was entirely consonantal. Five small inscriptions show certain unusual features such as minor divergences in the shapes of letters and especially a preference for only 22 consonants as in the traditional Canaanite *alphabet. Three of these texts with the shorter alphabet were found not at Ugarit but in Ereẓ Israel.

The corpus of Ugaritic inscriptions so far published represents a wide range of literary and nonliterary types. The former have attracted the widest attention because of their parallels to biblical poetry and epic prose. Of special interest are the tablets pertaining to the adventures of Baal and his consort Anath which outnumber the other literary works discovered. In many instances, the language and poetic style are – as shown especially by U. Cassuto and H.L. Ginsberg – very close to passages in the Hebrew poetry, e.g., the god of death, Mot, warns Baal not to boast "because you have smitten Lotan [Leviathan] the evil serpent, you have destroyed the crooked serpent, the mighty one of seven heads." The analogy with Isaiah 27:1 is indeed striking.

14th century B.C Ugarit was obliged to pay tribute and to supply its overlord with troops. When invading “Sea Peoples” * began ravaging Anatolia (central Turkey) and northern Syria, Ugarit’s troops and fleet were requisitioned by the Hittites. As a result, Ugarit itself was defenseless and was completely destroyed in about 1200 B.C

---

Beginning in our first season of excavations at Ras Shamra in 1929, we noted in our excavation diary the presence of a fine, powdery, homogeneous soil, pale yellow or more frequently whitish in color, which was characteristic of Ugarit’s last level. This layer had no internal stratification and in places was two meters [about six feet] thick. In this dry and powdery soil lay the remains of the buildings devastated by the earthquakes and by the fires of Ugarit’s last days. From the eastern edge of Ras Shamra’s extended hill, near the temple of Baal and Dagon, to the western limits at the seacoast where the palace, public buildings and luxurious private houses were located, everything was covered by this whitish-yellow dust layer. It is irrefutable evidence that Ugarit’s last days were hot and dry.

Its ruins are often called Ras Shamra because of the promontory where they are located.

 

Ugarit had close connections with the Hittite Empire, sent tribute to Egypt on occasion, and maintained trade and diplomatic connections with Cyprus (then called Alashiya), documented in archives recovered from the site and corroborated by Mycenaean and Cypriot pottery found there. The polity was at its height from c. 1450 BC until its destruction in c. 1185 BC; this destruction was possibly caused by the mysterious Sea Peoples or by internal strife. The kingdom would be one of many dismantled during the Bronze Age Collapse.

 

[...]

The last Bronze Age king of Ugarit, Ammurapi (circa 1215 to 1180 BC), was a contemporary of the last known Hittite king, Suppiluliuma II. The exact dates of his reign are unknown. However, a letter from the king is preserved, in which Ammurapi stresses the seriousness of the crisis facing many Near Eastern states due to attacks. Ammurapi pleads for help to the king of Alashiya, highlighting the desperate situation facing Ugarit:

 

My father, behold, the enemy ships were coming (here); my cities (?) were burned, and they did evil things in my country. Does not my father know that all my troops and chariots (?) are in the Land of Hatti, and all my ships are in the Land of Lukka...? Thus the country abandons itself. Let my father know: the seven ships of the enemy that came here did us much harm.

 

Eshuwara, the chief governor of Cyprus, replied:

 

As for the matter concerning those enemies: (it was) the people of their country (and) their own ships (who) did this! And (it was) the people of your country (who) committed this (these) transgression(s)..... I am writing to inform and protect you - be careful!

 

The ruler of Carchemish sent troops to help Ugarit, but Ugarit had been sacked. A letter sent after the destruction of Ugarit said:

 

When your messenger arrived, the army was humiliated and the city plundered. Our food on the threshing floors was burned and the vineyards were also destroyed. Our city is plundered. Let it be known to you! Let it be known to you!

 

By excavating the higher levels of the city's ruins, archaeologists can study various attributes of the Ugaritic civilization just prior to its destruction and compare artifacts with those of nearby cultures to help establish dates. Ugarit also contained many caches of cuneiform tablets, actual libraries that contained a wealth of information. The destruction levels of the ruins contained Late Helladic IIIB pottery, but not LH IIIC (see Mycenaean period). Therefore, the date of the destruction of Ugarit is important for dating the LH IIIC phase in mainland Greece. Since an Egyptian sword with the name of Pharaoh Merneptah was found in the destruction levels, 1190 BC was taken as the date for the beginning of LH IIIC. A cuneiform tablet found in 1986 shows that Ugarit was destroyed after the death of Merneptah (1203 BC). It is generally accepted that Ugarit had already been destroyed in the eighth year of Ramesses III (1178 BC). Recent radiocarbon work, combined with other historical dates and the eclipse of January 21, 1192, indicates a date of destruction between 1192 and 1190 BC.

 

Whether Ugarit was destroyed before or after Hattusa, the Hittite capital, is debated. The destruction was followed by a lull in settlement. Many other Mediterranean cultures were in deep disarray at the same time. Apparently, some of the disorder was caused by invasions by the mysterious Sea Peoples.

https://academia-lab.com/enciclopedia/ugarit/