HIS101H5 Lecture 7: 7 The Mediterranean
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HIS101H5 Full Course Notes
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There was considerable cultural unity in the mediterranean: greece, alexander the great, the roman empire. Part of a larger group called the canaanites. The phoenicians made contact with and was open with other civilizations. Bronze figurine of horus greek god with phoenician writing. Phoenicians spread to the west, establishing trading posts. Ethnically mixed canaanites and from other mediterranean stock. The phoenicians specialized in luxury goods ivory, gold, silver, jewelry, etc. Especially famous for trading cedar wood, which others needed for building: resistant to rot ship-building, construction. Also famous for dye extracted from murex shells tyrian purple dye: an expensive color taking 10,000 shells to produce one gram of dye, never faded or ran when fixed into fabric. Also created the alphabet and greeks especially learned from them. Byblos ancient phoenician city -> greek word for papyrus -> english bible. Phoenicians did not invent writing but contributed phoenician alphabet: invented phonetic alphabet each symbol stand for sound.
