The Three Ancient Super-Powers: Part 1, The Phoenicians | The Dangerously Truthful Diary of a Sicilian Housewife

Originally posted on The Dangerously Truthful Diary of a Sicilian Housewife.

It may be hard to imagine, these days, that Sicily was once the cradle of European civilisation. Three super-powers battled for supremacy and Sicily was the centre of it all.

Today, I’ll tell you about the Phoenicians, the earliest super-power and Sicily’s first colonists.

Carthaginians and Phoenicians: the first empire

The Phoenicians were the first super-power, from the narrow strip of coastal land now called Lebanon.

Fearless sailors and ingenious traders throughout the known world, the Phoenicians invented money, created an alphabetic script for taking inventory, and built the world’s first import-export economy.

Everyone in the ancient world wanted their red murex shellfish, because wearing clothes in this special colour protected them against the Evil Eye, a terrifying primal force which caused infertility, crop failure and death. Egyptian Pharaohs, Roman Consuls and Greek dictators dared not leave the house without their red clothes on. The name „Phoenician“ comes from the Greek word for red.

This was not all they sold. They also produced fine glass artwork and ceramics, they transported rare food crops, and they sold the best wood in the world for making ships’ masts, from their indigenous Lebanese pines.

Phoenician colonies sprang up all over the Mediterranean. These began as small trading stations, with a warehouse and a few guards who stayed behind to protect the merchandise and trade with the locals. Gradually, they grew into full-scale city-states. Their seminal culture laid the groundwork for much of modern Mediterranean religions, foods, languages, agriculture and art.

Carthage (nowadays called Tunis), benefitted from its central position and eventually became the largest of all the Phoenician city-states. When the Assyrians of modern-day Iraq conquered Phoenicia around 800 B.C., Carthage became the centre of the Phoenician civilisation. Carthage founded colonies of its own, including many in Sicily.

And the evil eye? To this day, some elderly Sicilians sprinkle salt inside their doorways and hide red pouches of…

via The Three Ancient Super-Powers: Part 1, The Phoenicians | The Dangerously Truthful Diary of a Sicilian Housewife.