The Phoenicians lived along the Mediterranean coast in what is now Lebanon. They were not a powerful people but relied on trade as their society was trade-based. They had few natural resources and were limited in their trading routes by hostile neighbors, so they took to the sea to trade. The Phoenicians mastered seafaring and built major ports like Tyre, allowing them to trade goods like lumber, silverwork, ivory and slaves throughout the Mediterranean world. They also founded colonies along the coasts. The Phoenicians developed important innovations like glass blowing, purple dye, and most notably the alphabet that modern writing is based on.

1. Later Peoples of the Fertile
Crescent: Sea Peoples
Social Studies for 10th E.G.B. | Teacher: Mauricio Torres
Chapter 3, Section 1 (page 72 in your books)

2. The Phoenicians
 At the western end of the Fertile Crescent, along the
Mediterranean Sea, was a land known as Phoenicia.
They were not powerful, but they were a trade-
based society.

3. Geography
 Today, it lies on
modern day
Lebanon.
 Mountains to the
north and
east, ocean to the
west.
 They had few resources, and their trading routes were
limited due to hostile neighbors.
 They were forced to trade through the sea.

4. Trade
 To able to trade, they had to learn
and master seamanship (being
sailors).
 They built the harbor Tyre, which
is still used today!
 Phoenicians traded all around the
Mediterranean:
Egypt, Greece, Italy, Sicily and
Spain.
 They also founded other colonies
along the coast, like Carthage.

5. Trade
 Phoenicia grew wealthy from trade.
 They traded: lumber, silverwork, ivory and slaves.

6. Innovations
 The Phoenicians developed:
 Glass blowing: the art of heating and shaping glass.
 Purple dye: an ink made from a type of shellfish.
 But their most important development was the
alphabet! The one we still use today is based on the
one invented by the Phoenician’s
 Alphabet: a set of letters that can be combined to form
words.

7. Ask Yourself
 Recall:
 What were the three most important innovations of the
Phoenicians?
 Identify:
 What was the reason why they relied so much on trade?
 Draw Conclusions:
 Why were the Phoenicians such good sailors?
 Why were their colonies only along the Mediterranean
coastline?

8. Write in… Phoenician!
 Use the second column from
the left as a guide to write
your own name in ancient
Phoenician.
 Practice in class and when
you go home, improve the
art and bring it back next
class so it can be posted in
your classroom!

9. Excercise
 Look for the meaning of the words written in italic
or with a different color in order to understand the
unit better.
 This might be helpful in a test!

10. Bibliography
 Burstein, S. M., & Shek, R. (2012). World History
(Teacher´s Edition) (1st Edition ed.). (H.
McDougal, Ed.) Orlando, Florida, US.: Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
 Ellis, E. G., & Esler, A. (2009). World History. (P.
Hall, Ed.) Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, US:
Pearson Education INC.
 Images taken from www.google.com