Updated: 2023.01.07

𐤑𐤄𐤃𐤍𐤉𐤌‎ & 𐤑𐤓𐤉𐤌, Exonym: 𐤐𐤍𐤉𐤒𐤎

Semitic: Tzidōnians & Tzōrians, Exonym: "Phoenicians"

Exonyms Invented By Anti-Ta•na״khꞋ Art-Archaelogists: "Sea Peoples", "Minoans" & "Natufians"

BCE 5th Century, Ἡρόδοτος Description of Eastern Mediterranean coastlands from Syria in the North to Egypt; including the 4 Pulossian (Philistine/​Palestina;) colonies

PhoiꞋnix—Mycenaean Greek exonym for the then-ancient Semitic endonyms: Tzidōnians  & Tzōrians   conflated & corrupted to Phoenician(s), later Punic(s). The famous general of the Carthoginian colony of "Phoenicians", who routed the early Roman Republic, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋 (BCE 247–c182; see Ma•kab•imꞋ), was a Tzōrian ("Phoenician").

The Greek exonym, Φοίνιξ, isn't documented until the early BCE 8^th century, by the Greek-speaking Turk of the western coast of modern Turkey, Ὅμηρος.

The Mycenaean Greek term , to the unique Tzōrian (Tyrian; of Tyre) dye  color for which the Sea People indigenous to ancient 𐤑𐤓, ferociously guarding their secret-formula dye monopoly, were internationally famous.

qq

Probable faraway-land inspira­tion for Red Phoenix Firebird (Gold­en Pheasant / Phoenix Bird, Chryso­lo­phus pictus, China)

Table of Nations from Ta•na״khꞋ (bᵊReish•itꞋ 10–36). Circa BCE 2629, emergence of written language: NōꞋakh first codifies lore of then-ancient Flood (cBCE 5500)

Except for being a maritime conglomerate, the Phoenicians seem otherwise typical Semitic-Aramaic citydoms of A•dãm•ãhꞋ.

Ἡρόδοτος Book 2.??? "They have also another sacred bird called the phoenix which I myself have never seen, except in pictures. Indeed it is a great rarity, even in Egypt, only coming there (according to the accounts of the people of Heliopolis) once in five hundred years, when the old phoenix dies. Its size and appearance, if it is like the pictures, are as follow:- The plumage is partly red, partly golden, while the general make and size are almost exactly that of the eagle. They tell a story of what this bird does, which does not seem to me to be credible: that he comes all the way from Arabia, and brings the parent bird, all plastered over with myrrh, to the temple of the Sun, and there buries the body. In order to bring him, they say, he first forms a ball of myrrh as big as he finds that he can carry; then he hollows out the ball, and puts his parent inside, after which he covers over the opening with fresh myrrh, and the ball is then of exactly the same weight as at first; so he brings it to Egypt, plastered over as I have said, and deposits it in the temple of the Sun. Such is the story they tell of the doings of this bird." https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D2&force=y 2.73.1-4 2022.07.29

Whether the "Phoenicians" (a Greek word) were (Semitic) "Kᵊna•an•iꞋs" or descended from Mycenaean Greeks is still disputed among scholars, based on confused evidence. All concrete indications point to one of the early Mycenaean Greek tribes (Pulossians Dorians, Carians or Ionians), probably the Carians; while Semitic-Kᵊna•an•iꞋ theories depend on 1. avoiding early Mycenaean-Greek colonization of Aramea with syncretic culture mutual assimilation, 2. non-Kᵊna•an•iꞋ, Ugaritic cuneiform tablets that merged Mesopotamian cuneiform writing with the Semitic Middle Hebrew (Kᵊna•an•iꞋ alephbeit; and 3. the subsequent Phoenician adoption, use and spread (not authorship) of the Paleo-Hebrew-Aramaic Middle-Semitic (Kᵊna•an•iꞋ) alephbeit. As the Phoenicians were the predominant Mediterranean international traders, it isn't surprising that the alephbeit the Phoenicians found most useful became widely propagated through their international maritime trading circles. The Phoenicians were one of the Mycenaean-Greek maritime tribes who colonized the Syrian coast between what is today Lebanon and Turkey (Anatolia).

Works attributed to Ὅμηρος, not knowing the name of the maritime people, nicknamed them by their Tyrian dye-color, "Phoenix" (Hebrew arᵊgãm•ãnꞋ) to the Sea People of 𐤑𐤓, simply referred to the A•dãmian (Semitic) inhabitants of Tzidōn & Tzōr as the dyers of "Phoenix-red"; i.e. "Phoenicians".

Modern scholars estimate Tyrian purple-red between a (more likely) Merlot-Burgundy-like modern-guess of Tyrian-purple (          ), the wine-color attractive for its evoking wealth and luxury, and the other a more "crimson"-compatible, raspberry-like modern-guess "Tyrian-red" (          ).

"because of the Greeks who called the land Phoiniki - Φοινίκη). This term had been borrowed from Ancient Egyptian Fnkhw "Syrians." Due to phonetic similarity, the Greek word for Phoenician was synonymous with the color purple or crimson, φοῖνιξ (phoînix), through its close association with the famous dye Tyrian purple. The dye was used in ancient textile trade, and highly desired. The Phoenicians became known as the 'Purple People'. … Historian Gerhard Herm asserts that, because the Phoenicians' legendary sailing abilities are not well attested before the invasions of the Sea Peoples around 1200 B.C.E., that these Sea Peoples would have merged with the local population to produce the Phoenicians, who he says gained these abilities rather suddenly at that time. There is also archaeological evidence that the Philistines, often thought of as related to the Sea Peoples, were culturally linked to Mycenaean Greeks, who were also known to be great sailors even in this period. … The Phoenician alphabet was developed around 1200 B.C.E. from an earlier Semitic prototype that also gave rise to the Ugaritic alphabet. It was used mainly for commercial notes. The Greek alphabet, that forms the basis of all European alphabets, was derived from the Phoenician one. " \’\’Phoenician Civilization\’\’ https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Phoenician_Civilization 2022.06.27.

"[BCE 5th century Athenian "scientific historian" and "political realist] Greek historian Thucydides, who theorized: For in early times the Hellenes and the barbarians of the coast and islands ... was tempted to turn to piracy, under the conduct of their most powerful men ... [T]hey would fall upon a town unprotected by walls ... and would plunder it ... no disgrace being yet attached to such an achievement, but even some glory.[130]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Peoples 2022.06.27.

The unidentified Sea People indigenous to 𐤑𐤓 (in modern Lebanon) stylized their national identity namesake with a bird head; figureheads emblazoned on both the bow and stern of their ships. Along with their (probably Phoenix-dyed) feathered (or simulated-feathered) headdresses, these combined to suggest their legendary fabled Phoenix (& gold) Firebird of this Phoeni­cian "Sea Peoples"—the best-known of whom were the "Philistines"  (Πύλος-tines).qqq "the Grave Circle at Pylos (originally considered a tholos tomb by Lord William Taylour), exhibits burial practices which originate from the Minoan Civilization on Crete… The two new tholoi [beehive tombs], although not yet published, have yielded a gold pendant depicting the Egyptian goddess Hathor " Macquire, Kelly. \’\’Pylos.\’\’ World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 2020.10.06. Web. 2022.06.01. https://www.worldhistory.org/Pylos/

Phoenix Date Palm, Phoenix birds of Kallistae. See Griffon Warrior of Pylos, 640 note

Hathor goddess cBCE664-525 EgyptianMuscom Cairo 350x400.png
Knossos Crete Minoan BCE 1550-1450 bull rhyton 26cmh HeraklionArchMus 0250x400.png

BCE 12^th century, Ra-moses 3^rd Medinat Havu

The four primary Ægæan-Phoenician (Hellenist Greek maritime colonies on the NW Mediterranean coast likely retained earlier Aramaic names reflected in their (pre-Qū•mᵊr•ãnꞋ) Middle-Semitic/​Phoenician alephbeit, were 𐤑𐤓, 𐤑𐤃𐤍 , 𐤂𐤁𐤋 (all in modern Lebanon), and 𐤀𐤓𐤅𐤃 an island 3 km (≈2 mi) off the SW coast of Syria from Tartus, the country's 2^nd largest port. This confederation of Phoenician maritime trader colonies were all fiercely distinct and independent from the neighboring inland states. The name "Phoenician", used to describe these people in the BCE 1^st millennium, is Greek!  Their original name is unknown, as even "Minoa(n)" derived from the name of a mythical Cycladic island king. Further, this Maritime thalassocracy named a number of the Cyclades Islands and port cities around the rim of the Mediterranean. Most likely, they were named after their island capital: Καλλίστη , which would Anglicize to "Kal•listꞋans" (Most-beautifuls, Beautifulest-ines)—or, far more likely, named after their original ancestral home in Mycenæ, Greece: Πύλος-tines!!!

19^th century CE European archaeologists couldn't sort out the individual islander fleets forming this ancient maritime Confederation of Cycladic Islanders (CAI), so they simply lumped them together as "Sea Peoples". These same 19^th century CE European archaeologists concocted a name for the predominant maritime fleet of Cycladic islanders from Καλλίστη based on a mythical king—Minos—supposedly of Knossos (the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on the largest island at the center of the Mediterranean, Minoa= Crete); ergo, Minoans, who originally descended from Πύλος harbor, Mycenæ, in the Peloponnese peninsular of Greece.The Πύλος-tines ("Minoans") became orphaned from their island home of Καλλίστη by the eruption of cBCE —which forced them to colonize Mediterranean coastlands to survive.

Philistine captives of Rameses 3 showing head­dresses (mortuary temple Medinet Habu, Thebes; britannica.com)

The Phoenix Firebird was also stylized in the well-known "Tyrian-red feathered"  headdress that distinguished adult males of the Πύλος-tine Phoeni­cian Sea Peoples). "[D]istinctive costumes have allowed scholars to identify [the combatants in the Medinet Habu engravings] variously as Nubians, Libyans, and Sea Peoples. The latter were identified with the Philistines (a people known from the Hebrew Bible as having inhabited the area that is now [Lebanon and the southern coastal plain of Israel]), for both sported plumes of feathers in their head-dresses" 

Contrary to popular scholarly misassumptions, the lion-head figureheads affixed to the prows of some of the Helladic oared fighting-galleys in Rameses 3^rd wall engravings at Medinet Habu identify his own fighting-galleys.  While it is unlikely that any of the wooden figureheads from any of the fighting-galleys of either side have survived the intervening ages, the figureheads on the prows of the Sea Peoples' fighting-galleys (and γαῦλοι cargo ships) were allmost certainly Phoenix Firebirds.

qq

These colonizers of the eastern basin seacoasts of the Mediterranean were originally from Πύλος (Pulos, modern Pylos), Mycenaea, Greece—via Καλλίστη, i.e. Minoa.

These Minoan "Sea People" became geographically orphaned cBCE when the core of their island was blown away in the biggest eruption in recorded antiquity. Preliminary indications alerted residents to abandon the island before the eruption (building ruins contained no bodies; also meaning Mōsh•ëhꞋ would have known when to leave Mi•tzᵊraꞋyim).

attempted, with only partial success, to settle in the Egyptian Delta and, with great success, colonized the Mediterranean coast from modern Turkey south through Lebanon. Thus, the Phoenicians, long predated the birth of Yi•shᵊmã•eilꞋ.

Phoenician DNA & Genetics

qq

"[T]here is no measurable [genetic] Levantine or African influence in the Minoans and Mycenaeans," 

Mycenæan Anatolian Greeks make up the ancient or modern ethnic Greek populations who lived in Anatolia from 1200s BCE (at the latest) (wiki) cite "Anatolia - Greek colonies on the Anatolian coasts, c. 1180–547 bce". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2015-06-19. "Before the Greek migrations that followed the end of the Bronze Age (c. 1200 BCE), probably the only Greek-speaking communities on the west coast of Anatolia were Mycenaean settlements at Iasus and Müskebi on the Halicarnassus peninsula and walled Mycenaean colonies at Miletus and Colophon." Ency Brit quote stipulates Mycenæan Greeks

Greek: G & J2
Semitic J1 & J2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Y-chromosome_DNA_haplogroup

"We do not suggest that the Phoenicians spread only or predominantly J2 and PCS1+ through PCS6+ lineages. They are likely to have spread many lineages from multiple haplogroups, but the lineages we highlight are the most highly differentiated ones providing the most readily detectable signals. … we found that haplogroup J2, in general, and six Y-STR haplotypes, in particular, exhibited a Phoenician signature that contributed > 6% to the modern Phoenician-influenced populations examined. Our methodology can be applied to any historically documented expansion in which contact and noncontact sites can be identified."

"Here we show that Minoans and Mycenaeans were genetically similar, having at least three-quarters of their ancestry from the first Neolithic farmers of western Anatolia and the Aegean1,2, and most of the remainder from ancient populations related to those of the Caucasus3 and Iran4,5. However, the Mycenaeans differed from Minoans in deriving additional ancestry from an ultimate source related to the hunter–gatherers of eastern Europe and Siberia6,7,8, introduced via a proximal source related to the inhabitants of either the Eurasian steppe1,6,9 or Armenia4,9." Lazaridis, I., Mittnik, A., Patterson, N. et al. Genetic origins of the Minoans and Mycenaeans. Nature 548, 214–218 (2017). Web. 2022.06.24. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23310

"PCS2+ and PCS4+ providing a Phoenician Colonization Signal" Finocchio, A., Trombetta, B., Messina, F. et al. A finely resolved phylogeny of Y chromosome Hg J illuminates the processes of Phoenician and Greek colonizations in the Mediterranean. Sci Rep 8, 7465 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-25912-9 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-25912-9

"According to a 2017 study published by the American Journal of Human Genetics, present-day Lebanese derive most of their ancestry from a Kᵊna•an•iꞋ-related population, which therefore implies substantial genetic continuity in the Levant since at least the Bronze Age.[64][65] More specifically, according to geneticist Chris Tyler-Smith and his team at the Sanger Institute in Britain, who compared "sampled ancient DNA from five Kᵊna•an•iꞋ people who lived 3,750 and 3,650 years ago" to modern people, revealed that 93 percent of the genetic ancestry of people in Lebanon came from the Kᵊna•an•iꞋs (the other 7 percent was of a Eurasian steppe population).[66][67] "In a 2020 study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, researchers have shown that there is substantial genetic continuity in Lebanon since the Bronze Age interrupted by three significant admixture events during the Iron Age, Hellenistic, and Ottoman period, each contributing 3–11 percent of non-local ancestry to the admixed population.[68] " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenicia#Etymology

The Minoans were widely known as the maritime nation, or Sea People. It is no coincidence that the rise of these Greeks, originally from Pulos, Mycenae, flooded and colonized all of the shores of the eastern Mediterranean Basin consequent to the Καλλίστη  eruption.

Phoenix Tyrian dye red b80049 אַרְגָּמָן Phoenix firebird of that color

Map: Israel ca. B.C.E. 1000

"According to biblical tradition (Deuteronomy 2:23; Jeremiah 47:4), the Philistines came from Caphtor (possibly Crete, although there is no archaeological evidence of a Philistine occupation of the island). The first records of the Philistines are inscriptions and reliefs in the mortuary temple of Ramses III at Madinat Habu, where they appear under the name prst, as one of the Sea Peoples that invaded Egypt about 1190 bce after ravaging Anatolia, Cyprus, and Syria. After being repulsed by the Egyptians, they settled—possibly with Egypt’s permission—on the coastal plain of Palestine from Joppa (modern Tel Aviv–Yafo) southward to Gaza. The area contained the five cities (the Pentapolis) of the Philistine confederacy (Gaza, Ashkelon [Ascalon], Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron) and was known as Philistia, or the Land of the Philistines. It was from this designation that the whole of the country was later called Palestine by the Greeks. … The Philistines’ local monopoly on smithing iron (I Samuel 13:19), a skill they probably acquired in Anatolia, was likely a factor in their military dominance during this period. … At sites occupied by the Philistines at an early period, a distinctive type of pottery, a variety of the 13th-century Mycenaean styles, has been found." https://www.britannica.com/topic/Philistine-people 2022.05.23

"Amos 9:7, Jeremiah 47:4, and possibly Genesis 10:14, the Philistines came from Caphtor prior to their penetration of southern Palestine. Deuteronomy 2:23 Amos 9:7, Jeremiah 47:4, and possibly Genesis 10:14, the Philistines came from Caphtor prior to their penetration of southern Palestine. Deuteronomy 2:23… Most scholars consider Caphtor to be the ancient name for *Crete and the surrounding islands (cf. "islands" in LXX, Jer. 47:4). In Jeremiah 47:4 Caphtor is defined as an island. Furthermore, several verses place the origin of the Philistines among the Cretans (Ezek. 25:16; Zeph. 2:5), while elsewhere they are identified as coming from Caphtor." https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/caphtor 2022.05.23

"The name Caphtor is most likely a loan word from the Minoan language to indicate Minoan Cretans." https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Caphtor.html 2022.05.23

"note that that Luke places a harbor named Phoenix on Crete: Acts 27:12)" https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Caphtor.html 2022.05.23

qq

qqqconstellation of Ursa Minor, which for its reported use by the Phoenicians for navigation at sea were also named Phoinikē https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursa_Minor#cite_ref-Albright_1972_7-0 Albright, William F. (1972). "Neglected Factors in the Greek Intellectual Revolution". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 116 (3): 225–42. JSTOR 986117.

qqq"By the late eighth century B.C., the Phoenicians, alongside the Greeks, had founded trading posts around the entire Mediterranean and excavations of many of these centers have added significantly to our understanding of Phoenician culture. Sea traders from Phoenicia and Carthage (a Phoenician colony traditionally founded in 814 B.C.) even ventured beyond the Strait of Gibraltar as far as Britain in search of tin. However, much of our knowledge about the Phoenicians during the Iron Age (ca. 1200–500 B.C.) and later is dependent on the Hebrew Bible, Assyrian records, and Greek and Latin authors. For example, according to the Greek historian Ἡρόδοτος, Phoenician sailors, at the request of the pharaoh Necho II (r. ca. 610–595 B.C.), circumnavigated Africa.
"The main natural resources of the Phoenician cities in the eastern Mediterranean were the prized cedars of Lebanon and murex shells used to make the purple dye. Phoenician artisans were skilled in wood, ivory, and metalworking, as well as textile production. In the Old Testament (2 Chronicles), the master craftsman Hiram of 𐤑𐤓 was commissioned to build and embellish the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. Homer’s Iliad describes a prize at the funeral games of Patroklos as a mixing bowl of chased silver—“a masterpiece of Sidonian craftsmanship” (Book 13). It also mentions that the embroidered robes of Priam’s wife, Hecabe, were “the work of Sidonian women” (Book 6). Phoenician art is in fact an amalgam of many different cultural elements—Aegean, northern Syrian, Cypriot, Assyrian, and Egyptian. The Egyptian influence is often especially prominent in the art but was constantly evolving as the political and economic relations between Egypt and the Phoenician cities fluctuated. Perhaps the most significant contribution of the Phoenicians was an alphabetic writing system that became the root of the Western alphabets when the Greeks adopted it."

Pay it forward! Quote & Cite:

Ben-David, Yirmeyahu. Netzarim Jews World Headquarters, Ra'anana, Israel. www.netzarim.co.il. Phoenicians. Copy & paste URL of this page. Today's date.

© 1996-present by Paqid Yirmeyahu Ben-David,
Google+ registered author & publisher