Phoenicians & Lydians
Where in the world?
Who were the Phoenicians?
• A loose union of city
states.
• Each governed by a
different king.
• Hills and mountains
but little fertile land.
• Phoenicians turned to
the sea rather than
inland.
Ships
• Small and fragile by
our standards but
sailors were skilled.
• Propelled by sails &
oars
• Tyre & Sidon are both
world famous
seaports
Empire
Trade
• One natural
resource….wood
Lebanese cedar.
• Many ancient peoples
used this for building.
• Skilled in metal working
(probably learned from
the Egyptians.
• They were also skilled in
glassblowing
Achievements
• The Alphabet
• Needed in order to trade effectively.
• Model for later western alphabets
Phoenician Purple!
• Came from a shell fish called murex which
gave a purple dye….
• Very expensive!
• Became the chosen color of the rich and
famous.
• Kings wore this and it became known as
royal purple
Murex – snails used to produce a
purple dye
Byblos - Phoenician city
Culture & Religion
• They imitated the cultures of
other people.
• They patterned their govt. after
the Egyptians & Babylonians.
• They spread these cultures
throughout the Mediterranean
by trading… cultural
diffusion!
• Religion
• Polytheistic
• Didn’t believe in the afterlife
• Sacrificed their children to their
many gods
Swastika Crosses on the dress of a Phoenician
sun-princess carrying sacred Fire
Polytheists who believed in angry gods called baals.
They did not believe in an afterlife and used human
sacrifice to appease their gods
The Lydians
Apadana - Persepolis
Lydian empire in what is now Turkey
Money
The Lydians were the first people to use coined money to set
prices when trading
Before them traders had to use the barter system
According to Herodotus the Greek
Historian
• After Cyrus the Great conquered Sardis the
capital of Lydia, looting and pillaging began in
the city
• Croesus is believed to have commented to
Cyrus about what the troops were doing
• Cyrus replied that they were looting Croesus’
city
• Croesus responded that the city was no longer
his and they were looting Cyrus’ city
• As the story goes, Cyrus
had Croesus placed on a
pyre to burn him alive
• Cyrus then regretted his
act before it was too late
• He had the pyre
extinguished and later
made Croesus his
adviser