Lesson: Phoenician Sailors
Pedagogical goals: To help familiarize students with the way of life and cultural achievements of the Phoenicians; create conditions for the development of skills to characterize the concept of “colony” in the history of the Ancient World, to define the Phoenician alphabet as a special writing system; promote the development of the ability to work with a map.
Main content of the topic, concepts and terms : Location and natural conditions of Phenicia. Formation of city-states in Phenicia. Cities: Tire, Byblos, Sidon. The Phoenicians were the best sailors of the Ancient World. International trade of the Phoenicians, formation of colonies. Inventions and discoveries of Phoenician artisans: obtaining purple paint, making glass. Invention of the alphabet. Incense, purple paint, colony, alphabet.
During the classes.
1. Organizational moment. Greeting students. Checking readiness for the lesson.
2. Knowledge control.
Chronology knowledge test: (chronological dictation)
1. Formation of a unified state in Egypt (3000 BC)
2. Reign of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC)
3. Conquests of Thutmose (1500 BC)
4. The appearance of the first people on Earth (2 million years ago)
5. The appearance of Homo sapiens (40 thousand years ago)
6. The emergence of crafts (10 thousand years ago)
7. The appearance of writing (5 thousand years ago)
8. Beginning of metal processing (9 thousand years ago)
3. Statement of the educational task. The teacher suggests looking at the map and finding the cities on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea: Tire, Byblos, Sidon; read the name of the country you will meet in this lesson.
4. Assimilation of new knowledge and methods of action. Location and natural conditions of Phenicia. Formation of city-states ( teacher's story using a map).
Problematic question:
Using a map and a story, determine how the geographical conditions of the country influenced the occupations of the people? Compare the activities of the Phoenicians with the activities of the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia, indicate common features and the differences are on the board
Phenicia is fenced off from Western Asia by a mountain range. The coast here is rocky, and the strip fertile land very narrow, almost unsuitable for farming. The country is so small that the map says: Phoenicia does not fit on land and seems to float in sea water.
The country's main wealth came from the sea.
Sailing on a ship along the coast, we would see beautiful cities located almost on the shore: Byblos, Sidon and Tyre. Trade caravans moved from north to south and back along narrow roads along the coast.
In general, the climate was favorable. Summer lasted from the end of April to the end of October, but winter was short - only three months. During this time, cold rains fell on the residents every now and then. The air temperature in summer reached 27-31 o C; In winter, cold weather set in, sometimes reaching 7 degrees below zero, but more often the air was moderately cool - approximately +5 o C. The most unpleasant natural phenomenon was dry winds, which posed a serious threat to agriculture.
There was relatively little fertile soil in Phenicia, so field cultivation developed poorly, but gardening was widespread.
Cities and villages were located along the coastline, which was associated with the main activities of the Phoenicians - navigation, crafts and trade. The names of the main Phoenician cities reflect the geographical conditions of the country.
So, in the north there was a city that the Greeks called Byblos, which translated meant mountain. The largest of the Phoenician cities was named Tire by the Greeks, which corresponds to - rock. Third Big city was called Sidon, which means fishing town.
The main occupations of the population of Phenicia were trade, crafts, navigation and fishing; These economic features were determined by the natural conditions and climate of the country.
Ancient cities of Phenicia.
It is still difficult for scientists to recreate the appearance of cities; it is only known that they were surrounded by several rows of massive walls; There were also tall towers. Shields were nailed to the walls, which covered the loopholes from where the archers hit the enemy. Strangers who entered the city found themselves in a maze of houses and crooked streets that led to temples and market squares.
(Additional) Phoenician cities were centers of trade in Western Asia. Of the products of their own production, the Phoenicians sold, first of all, dried fish, olive oil, cedar forest used to build ships. Phenicia was also a center of transit trade. Its famous merchant seafarers established connections with various countries and peoples.
Craft.
Crafts have been developing in Phoenician cities since ancient times. The good reputation of foundry workers, builders, and weavers has spread far beyond the borders of their native places.
Shipbuilding.
In Phenicia, unlike Egypt and Southern Mesopotamia, cedar and oak forests grew. What did it matter? (The Phoenicians made strong ships from logs and set off on long voyages). Merchants brought woolen fabrics, glassware and other products for sale. An ancient legend says that the inventors of glass were the Phoenicians.
Glass.
One day, a Phoenician merchant ship carrying a cargo of soda landed on a sandy shore. The merchants decided to have lunch, lit a fire, took out their pots, but did not find stones to put on. Then, instead of stones, they used pieces of rock soda taken from ships. The fire was strong, the soda melted and mixed with sand and shells: streams of clear liquid flowed from the fire. This liquid was glass.
It is difficult to say how reliable this story is. However, it is known that glass can actually be welded from soda, sand and shells (lime). And the Phoenicians, indeed, were among the first to learn how to make transparent glass.
Glass of various types - from dark and opaque to colorless and transparent - began to be produced in Phenicia. Where was it used? In ancient times, glass was not inserted into window frames as it is now. Various decorations and vessels were made from it, which were very valuable; The walls of houses were also decorated with glass.
Exercise: scientists believe that the creation of glass can be compared in importance and significance with the discovery of metals, with the invention of pottery, and with the advent of weaving. Are the scientists right? (Like fabric and pottery, glass does not exist in finished form in nature. His invention is one of the largest in the history of mankind. And today glass plays big role in everyday life, every house has window glass and a variety of glass objects.)
Purple paint.
In many Phoenician cities, especially Tire and Sidon, there is widespread mining purple paint, highly valued in countries ancient world. How was this dye discovered?
Student's story: They say that once a Phoenician shepherd was tending his flock not far from the sea coast. His dog chewed up a sea snail and returned to its owner with its muzzle painted purple. The shepherd thought that the dog had somehow wounded his face and began to wipe off the imaginary blood with a piece of fur, but did not find any wound; the fur acquired a beautiful scarlet color.
Phoenician artisans learned to dye woolen fabrics with purple dye. Modern chemical dyes did not exist in ancient times. The paint could be either mineral (extracted from the earth), or of plant or animal origin. How was purple dye obtained? The Phoenicians dived to the bottom of the sea and pulled out small shells with snails. Only a few drops of thick liquid could be extracted from each. This was the purple dye famous in ancient times. If the paint was mixed thinly, the fabric acquired a pink or scarlet color; if it was thicker, it became lilac-red. Fabrics painted with purple paint sparkled in the sun; they did not fade or fade when washed. The price of purple fabrics was enormous, so only very rich people bought them: kings, priests and military leaders.
What are the inventions of the Phoenicians? (Transparent glass, purple paint)
Read a textbook about colonies, p. 72, p. 3(find the Phoenician colonies on the map and mark them on contour map)
Slavers.
The Phoenicians were skilled craftsmen and brave sailors, but they had a bad reputation as greedy and cunning slave traders: they happened to steal children.
Imagine, Phoenician merchants landed on the shore and laid out their goods. Here are magnificent purple fabrics, glass beads and bottles of incense, here are products made of gold, amber and ivory... A crowd has gathered around: some are buying, and some are just staring at the beautiful and strange goods. And there are a lot of kids here. “Oh, what nice boys! – says the merchant, turning to two friends. “Here’s a honey cake for you.” I like you both, you look so much like my sons. I’ll give you my belt... - The merchant pretends to take off his belt. - However, no, on the ship I have something better: would you like to get a small dagger?” The boys willingly go with the Phoenician to the ship. The remaining merchants instantly collect their goods, raise the anchor and the ship sails away. Mothers run in horror along the shore, screaming, tearing out their hair. But they will never see their sons again. Somewhere in a foreign, distant land, the Phoenicians will sell the boys into slavery.
The oldest alphabet.
Phoenician merchants needed to keep records to trade successfully. They became acquainted with the Egyptian letter and grabbed their heads: no, such a letter does not suit us! What are the difficulties of Egyptian writing?
The Phoenicians became acquainted with cuneiform writing, and they also found it complex. How?
Then the Phoenicians created their own writing - they created new system letters.
What are the advantages of the Phoenician script over the writing of Egypt or Mesopotamia?
Reading paragraph 4 § 15 p.73.
What is the disadvantage of the Phoenician alphabet?
C.74 – lettering: “g” - gimel (Phoenician for “camel”) Does this letter look like this animal? What about the camel's hump?
“D” - dalet (Phoenician for “door”) - resembled the entrance to a tent.
“M” - meme (Phoenician for “water”) - resembled waves.
Conclusion: The similarity of Russian letters with Phoenician ones is not accidental: the Greek alphabet was created on the basis of the Phoenician alphabet, and on its basis the Russian and many others.
Generalization: all Phoenician letters - consonants, vowel sounds were skipped when writing. The lack of vowels made reading difficult.
What is the meaning of the Phoenician alphabet?
5. Consolidation of knowledge and methods of action.
Testing:
1. Which ancient state was located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea?
( Egypt, Lydia, Media, Phenicia)
2. The secret of making what substance did the ancient Phoenicians know?
(Gunpowder, paper, glass, porcelain)
3.How many letters are in the Phoenician alphabet?
4 . The fruits of which tree did the Phoenicians eat?
(Ficus, palms, olives, feijoa)
5. What was the main occupation of the Phoenicians?
( Navigation, trade; agriculture; warfare; winemaking)
6. What city did the Phoenicians found in North Africa?
(Troy, Alexandria, Thebes, Carthage)
7. What did the Greeks borrow from the Phoenicians?
(Maps, compass, alphabet, glass)
8. From what did the ancient Phoenicians get the famous purple color used for dyeing expensive fabrics?
(From olives, from rare minerals, from sea shells, from plant juice)
9. For each question, select the appropriate answer.
a) Settlements founded in places where ships were moored.
b) A written sign corresponding to a sound.
c) Fragrant, aromatic substances used for cosmetic purposes.
d) Robbery, which was practiced by the Phoenicians.
( Incense, colony, piracy, letter, sound)
10. For each question, select the appropriate answer.
a) A substance used to make utensils.
b) The first letter of the Phoenician alphabet.
c) Purple-red color.
d) Product obtained from olives.
(Aleph, oil, glass, alpha, purple)
6. Homework.
§ 15, tasks in the workbook.
Before coming to us in the form in which we now know it, glass has traveled a long journey of several thousand years.
The homes of our ancestors, ancient people, did not have glass at all. Light penetrated through narrow passages in rocks or rocky caves.
But the invention of glass is not the privilege of man. Samples of this material were shown to people... by nature. Natural glasses were formed from lava that poured out during... The glass was cloudy and dark in color. Today we know it as obsidian.
Glass inventors
The history of this material is so distant in time that it has changed more than once in the light of archaeological discoveries and is still considered controversial. Egypt, the Mediterranean, Africa and Ancient Mesopotamia claim leadership in glass making.
Examples of Egyptian glass are glass glazes on the faience tiles of the Jesser pyramid, which was created in the 27th century BC. e. There are even earlier examples - faience jewelry about 5,000 years old. 
At first, the Egyptians' glass came out with a cloudy bluish or greenish tint, depending on where the sand was mined for its production and what impurities it contained. People learned to make colorless glass much later, probably in the 1st century AD: they began to use manganese for bleaching.
In Mesopotamia, archaeologists have found a glass cylinder seal that is approximately 4,500 years old. Vessels for incense are one of the frequent finds of scientists during excavations of the territory of the Old Babylonian kingdom.
Ancient glass production
More and more researchers are inclined to believe that glass arose independently in several places at once. How this happened is still a mystery. Glass was such a valuable material that it was kept in the strictest confidence. Only a little information has reached us.
So, the Egyptians melted sand and soda in clay vessels over an open flame. When the ingredients were sintered, they were thrown into ice water for cracking. The resulting pieces - frits - were ground into dust and then melted again. The technology was called fritting and was used for several centuries.
Another interesting fact is that the first glass products were entirely shaped - seals, tiny vessels, beads. This is due to the inability of ancient people to make flat glass - they simply blew various shapes from the glass mass. 
Flat, colorless glass appeared en masse in European countries only in the 13th century. However, during excavations in Pompeii, scientists discovered samples of flat glass, which means the technology has been known for a long time.
How did glass conquer the world?
The first glass window appeared in a Greek bathhouse in Pompeii. Its size was one meter by one and a half meters. A little later, small windows appear in the feast halls of the Greek nobility. Moreover, only from the south side. But this is for men. At that time, there were no windows at all in the female half of the home.
Glass experienced its greatest flourishing in Ancient Rome. It is here that the window appears in the form in which we now know it - placed in a metal frame. Most often made of bronze. At the same time, the first “ladies'” mirrors appeared, intended for women from among the Roman nobility.
Glass experienced a much greater flourishing in the Middle Ages in Venice. Moreover, it is manufactured in the most different types- like window glass, mirrors and fine glassware. It was Venice in the 16th – 17th centuries that became almost the world’s glass producer.
At the same time in houses ordinary people glass remained an unaffordable luxury. The role of window glass here is an ordinary bull's bladder, which was stretched over small wooden frames. 
In Russia, glass began to be widely used during the reign of the Romanov dynasty. It was then that they began to decorate entrances in the form of colored stained glass windows and even the facades of buildings. The first glass factory was built in the middle of the 17th century in Voskresensk. Here they begin to make glassware from glass and decorate the palaces of the nobility with colored glass.
At Russian Emperor Peter I there are already six glass factories operating in Russia. However, among ordinary people, window glass is still replaced by oiled paper and bubbles.
Divers had to dive to the bottom of the sea and risk their lives to collect shells. And what a heavy, suffocating stench stood in the workshops! The workers here walked through the garbage, slept among the garbage, immediately fell ill and died. Ancient authors more than once complained about the stench emanating from workshops where fabrics were dyed purple. “The numerous dyeing establishments make the city unpleasant to live in,” Strabo complained. Because of the disgusting smell, we had to dye the fabrics outside. The dyehouses were located near the seashore, away from residential areas.
However, the Phoenicians themselves could have remarked philosophically on this matter: “Money has no smell.” These stinking purple fabrics, as they seemed to artisans and foreign guests, brought fabulous profits to the merchants. After all, their quality was very high. They could be washed and worn for a long time - the paint did not fade or fade in the sun.
According to legend, Alexander the Great found in Susa, in the palace of the Persian king, ten tons of purple fabrics made almost two centuries ago and not faded at all since then. These fabrics were purchased for 130 talents (one talent was then equal to 34 or 41 kilograms of precious metals).
This price for purple fabric was explained by its high cost and shortage of dye. From one kilogram of raw dye, only 60 grams of coloring matter remained after evaporation. And to dye one kilogram of wool, approximately 200 grams of purple dye were required, that is, more than three kilograms of raw dye. It remains to add that the body of the mollusk weighs only a few grams and contains a negligible amount of secretion. To obtain one pound of dye, about 60 thousand snails were mined. That is why purple fabrics, unlike Phoenician glass, have always remained luxury items, available only to a few lucky people.
Tyrian purple was literally worth its weight in gold. Its price only grew over time. So, at the beginning of our era, during the reign of Emperor Augustus, a kilogram of wool, twice dyed purple, cost approximately 2 thousand denarii, and the cheapest fabric cost 200 denarii. Under Emperor Diocletian in 301 AD, Tyrian purple wool of the highest quality rose in price to 50 thousand denarii, and the price of a pound of purple silk reached 150 thousand denarii. A huge amount!
If we resort to conversion to modern currency, then, according to Horst Klengel, a pound of purple-dyed silk cost 28 thousand dollars. Of course, silk imported from China was the most expensive fabric sold by Tyrian dyers. Cheaper were both dyed wool (usually brought from Syria) and fine linen, a fine linen brought from Egypt. However, their cost was still high.
Purple clothing has long been the privilege of kings and emperors, priests and dignitaries. The senators of Rome and the rich of the East wore purple. The purple cloth has always been a badge of honor, a symbol supreme power.
Purple robes are mentioned more than once in the Old Testament: “Let them make sacred robes Aaron, your brother... Let them take gold, blue and purple and scarlet wool and fine linen" (Ex. 28:4 - 5), "purple clothes that were on the kings of Midian" (Judges 8:26), "clothes for and they were hyacinth and purple” (Jer. 10:9), “and Mordecai went out from the king... in a robe of fine linen and purple” (Esther 8:15).
Purple fabrics were used to decorate temples and palaces: “And they will cleanse the altar from the ashes and cover it with purple clothing... And they will take purple clothing and cover the laver and its base” (Num. 4:13 - 14), “And they made a curtain ( in the Jerusalem Temple - A.V.) from cotton, purple and crimson fabric" (2 Chron. 3, 14).
Many Roman and Greek authors mentioned purple in their works. Pliny spoke of the fashion for the color purple in Rome. Horace in his satire ridiculed a rich upstart who, for the sake of vanity, ordered purple handkerchiefs to be wiped off the table. “Pathetic swagger of wealth!” To outline the next object of his satire, Horace briefly remarks:
Here is Priscus, for example, he has three rings
If he wears it, he will appear with his left hand bare.
It changes its purple every hour..."
(Translated by M. Dmitriev)
Ovid in “The Science of Love” even advises fashionistas to moderate their appetites: “I don’t want expensive trimmed fabrics, I don’t want woolen garments dyed with the crimson of Tyrian shellfish. Because for more low price you can have so many clothes of different colors.”
The glory of purple fabrics did not fade even in the Middle Ages. Charlemagne also imported similar fabrics.
By the way, purple was used not only for dyeing fabrics, but also for making cosmetics, special inks, and also pur-puriss paint used by painters. In addition to purple, its composition included diatomaceous earth - microscopic flint shells of unicellular diatoms, as well as clay, grains of quartz and spar.
Pliny the Elder gives the following recipe for using this paint: “Painters, first applying sandik (bright red paint. - A.V.), then applying purpuriss mixed with egg on it, they achieve the brightness of minia (cinnabar. – A.V.). If they prefer to achieve the brightness of purple, then they first apply azure, then apply purpurisse mixed with egg on it” (translated by G.A. Taronyan).
...Nowadays, the mining of purple has long ceased. They learned to make it artificially. It turns out even better than the Phoenicians, but this in no way detracts from their merits. After all, they managed to make a dye without having any idea about any chemical formulas or laws.
At present, in Lebanon there is little reminiscent of the Phoenician purple fishery. Most The shells that once accumulated - waste from the production of dyers - have long been washed away by the sea. Only in Saida a pile of shells remained.
4.4. In skillful hands, sand turns into gold
The Phoenicians were also not the first to learn how to make glass, but they introduced important innovations in the technology of its production. In Phenicia this craft reached perfection. Glass products from local craftsmen were in great demand. Ancient authors were even convinced that glass was invented by the Phoenicians, and this mistake is very significant.
In fact, it all began in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Back in the 4th millennium BC, the Egyptians learned to make glaze, which is close in composition to ancient glass. From sand, plant ash, saltpeter and chalk, they obtained cloudy, opaque glass, and then formed small vessels from it, which were in great demand.
The earliest examples of real glass - beads and other jewelry - appear in Egypt around 2500 BC. Glass vessels - small bowls - have been known in northern Mesopotamia and Egypt since about 1500 BC. From this time on, widespread production of this material began.
Glassmaking in Mesopotamia is experiencing a real boom. Cuneiform tablets have been preserved that describe the glass making process. The finished glass sparkled in various shades, but was not transparent. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, apparently, there, in Mesopotamia, they learned to make hollow objects from glass. Glass was also made in Egypt in the 16th – 13th centuries BC. High Quality.
The Phoenicians used the experience accumulated by the masters of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and soon began to play a leading role. The temporary decline experienced by the leading powers of the Ancient East at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC helped the Phoenicians conquer the market.
It all started from poverty. Phenicia was deprived of mineral resources. A little alumina and that's it. Only forest, stone, sand and sea water. It would seem that there is no opportunity to develop our industry. You can only resell what you bought from your neighbors. However, the Phoenicians managed to establish the production of goods that were in extraordinary demand everywhere. They extracted valuable paint from shells; They began to make... glass from sand.
In mountainous Lebanon, the sand is rich in quartz. And quartz is a crystalline modification of silicon dioxide (silica); this same substance is the most important component of glass. Regular window glass contains more than 70 percent silica, while lead glass contains about 60 percent.
The sand that was mined at the foot of Mount Carmel was especially famous for its quality. According to Pliny the Elder, there “is a swamp called Candebia.” The Bel River flows from here. It is “muddy, with a deep bottom, the grains of sand in it can only be seen at low tide; Rolled by the waves and thus cleansed of dirt, they begin to sparkle. It is believed that then they are inhaled by sea acidity... This area of the coast is no more than five hundred steps, and for many centuries it was the only source for the production of glass.” Tacitus in his “History” also mentions that at the mouth of the Bel River “sand is mined, from which, if boiled with soda, glass is obtained; This place is very small, but no matter how much sand they take, its reserves do not dry out” (translated by G.S. Knabe).
Phoenician glass vases found in Tire
After checking these stories, archaeologists found that the sand of the Bel River contained 14.5 - 18 percent lime (calcium carbonate), 3.6 - 5.3 percent alumina (aluminum oxide) and about 1.5 percent magnesium carbonate. A mixture of this sand and soda produces strong glass.So, the Phoenicians took ordinary sand, which their country was rich in, and mixed it with sodium bicarbonate - baking soda. It was mined in Egyptian soda lakes or obtained from the ash remaining after the combustion of algae and steppe grass. An alkaline earth component was added to this mixture - limestone, marble or chalk - and then the whole thing was heated to about 700 - 800 degrees. This is how a bubbly, viscous, quickly solidified mass arose, from which glass beads were made or, for example, elegant, transparent vessels were blown.
The Phoenicians were not content with simply imitating the Egyptians. Over time, showing incredible creativity and perseverance, they learned to make a transparent glassy mass. One can only guess how much time and labor it cost them.
The inhabitants of Sidon were the first to engage in glassmaking in Phenicia. This happened relatively late - in the 8th century BC. By that time, Egyptian suppliers had dominated the markets for almost a thousand years.
However, Pliny the Elder attributes the invention of glass to the Phoenicians - the crew of one ship. It allegedly came from Egypt with a load of soda. In the area of Acre, the sailors moored to the shore to have lunch. However, it was not possible to find a single stone nearby on which the cauldron could be placed. Then someone took several pieces of soda from the ship. When they “melted from the fire, mixing with the sand on the shore,” then “transparent streams of new liquid flowed - this was the origin of glass.” Many consider this story to be fiction. However, according to a number of researchers, there is nothing incredible about it - except that the location is indicated incorrectly. It could have happened near Mount Carmel, and the exact time of the invention of glass is unknown.
At first, the Phoenicians made ornamental vessels, jewelry, and trinkets from glass. Over time, they diversified the production process and began to produce glass of various types - from dark and cloudy to colorless and transparent. They knew how to give transparent glass any color; it did not become cloudy because of this.
In its composition, this glass was close to modern glass, but differed in the ratio of components. Then it contained more alkali and iron oxide, less silica and lime. This reduced the melting point, but deteriorated the quality. The composition of Phoenician glass was approximately as follows: 60–70 percent silica, 14–20 percent soda, 5–10 percent lime and various metal oxides. Some glasses, especially opaque red ones, contain a lot of lead.
Demand gave birth to supply. IN largest cities Phenicia - Tire and Sidon - grew glass factories. Over time, prices for glass decreased, and it turned from a luxury item into an antique consumer goods. If the biblical Job equated glass with gold, saying that wisdom cannot be paid with either gold or glass (Job 28:17), then over time glassware replaced both metal and ceramic. The Phoenicians flooded the entire Mediterranean with glass vessels and bottles, beads and tiles.
This craft experienced its greatest flourishing already in the Roman era, when the method of glass blowing was probably discovered in Sidon. This happened in the 1st century BC. The masters of Beruta and Sarepta were also famous for their ability to blow glass. In Rome and Gaul, this craft also became widespread, since many specialists from Sidon moved there.
Several blown glass vessels have survived, marked with the mark of the master Ennion of Sidon, who worked in Italy in the early or mid-1st century AD. For a long time these vessels were considered the earliest examples. However, in 1970, during excavations in Jerusalem, a warehouse with cast and blown glass vessels was discovered. They were made in 50 - 40 BC. Apparently, glass blowing appeared in Phenicia a little earlier.
According to Pliny the Elder, even mirrors were invented in Sidon. They were mostly round, convex (they were also made from blown glass), with a thin metal backing made of tin or lead. They were inserted into a metal frame. Similar mirrors were made until the 16th century, when the Venetians invented tin-mercury amalgam.
It was the famous Venetian manufactory that continued the traditions of Sidonian craftsmen. In the Middle Ages, its successes led to a decline in demand for Lebanese glass. And yet, even during the era of the Crusades, glass produced in Tire or Sidon was in great demand.
Today, the remains of glass furnaces built in the Roman or Byzantine era can still be found on the coast between the modern cities of Sur (Tire) and Saida. In Sarepta, the sea, having retreated from the shore, exposed the remains of ancient ovens. Among the ruins of ancient Tire, archaeologists found the ruins of ovens. The glass remaining in the kilns has a pleasant greenish color, quite clean, but not transparent.
4.5. What gave birth to luxury?
Let's say a few words about other Phoenician craftsmen who made ivory figurines, vessels made of gold, bronze or silver, carved wooden furniture, dark red ceramic vases, bowls, necklaces, bracelets, and weapons.
Homer also praised the skillful metal trinkets made by Phenician craftsmen. Cups made of precious metals, often decorated with Phoenician inscriptions, are found in various parts of the Mediterranean. Their appearance is remarkable. They showcase popular motifs from a variety of cultures of the time, mixing them in a whimsical manner. Thus, on a Phoenician silver bowl of the 7th century BC, found in Cyprus - its diameter is only 20 centimeters - many human figures are depicted. These are Assyrian, Greek and Egyptian soldiers storming the walls of the city; Egyptians cutting down trees with Aegean double axes. You can see nearby egyptian gods, winged scarabs, stylized Phoenician palm. The same beautiful, multi-figured Phoenician bowls were found in Italy. Their artistic merits were accurately assessed by Donald Harden: “All these bowls show the amazing sense of composition of the Phoenician artists. Although the borders show a lot of detail, they do not crowd each other at all.” Noteworthy is the abundance of Egyptian motifs in the works of Phoenician artists. Such motives begin to be perceived quite early as one’s own. Thus, back in the Bronze Age, Phoenician craftsmen carved ivory products reminiscent of Egyptian ones. The plates made from this material depict sphinxes, lotus flowers, women in Egyptian wigs, and attributes of Egyptian deities.
These bronze female figurines by Phoenician craftsmen were found in Aleppo, Baalbek and Homs
This work by a Phoenician master, found in the palace of the Assyrian kings in Kalakh, is reminiscent of the work of Egyptian craftsmen. The plate is carved from ivory
Phoenician stamp seals are often made in the shape of scarabs. They are cut out of carnelian and other stones, set into rings, and hung on necklaces or bracelets. By the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, stamp seals gradually replaced cylindrical ones, since with their help it was possible to leave an impression not only on clay - the once most widespread written material in Western Asia - but also on other materials. In Phenicia, these seals resemble works of Egyptian art not only in their form, but also in the subjects of the images.There is nothing accidental about this. The very position of Phenicia and especially the successes of local merchants made this country a mediator between the cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, the Aegean region and the Western Mediterranean. Phenicia united East and West, North and South, borrowed all the best from them and synthesized its original art, in which Egyptian, Assyrian, and Greek features formed one whole.
To summarize, we can say that the phrase that was so popular among sociologists at the beginning of the last century best applies to Phoenician artisans and merchants: “Great fortunes arose by satisfying the most refined needs.” The economic history of Phenicia suddenly brings to mind the phrase of the German economist Werner Sombart: “Luxury gave birth to capitalism.”
A cow and calf is a masterpiece of Phoenician art. Ivory
Phoenician Sphinx. Megiddo (ivory, 13th century BC)
5. TIME OF THEIR COLONIES
5.1. Path to the endless sea
What is Phenicia? A piece of land. A scattering of sand. A pile of rocks. A trap from which there seems to be no way out. Armies come here from almost all directions of the world to plunder the Phoenician cities. Only one road is free from enemies - the road to the west. Sea road. She goes into the distance, into infinity. Along its edges - on the shores and islands - there are many empty lands where you can build new cities, trade with a profit, and not be afraid of either the Egyptian or the Assyrian king.
And when the Phoenicians acquired fast ships, they began to leave their homeland in detachments and communities and move to overseas countries. There they founded their colonies, since their small country could not feed them. Most of the Phoenician colonists left the city of Tyre. Each new disaster that befell the homeland gave rise to new wave emigration. According to Quintus Curtius Rufus, the farmers of Phenicia, “exhausted frequent earthquakes...were forced, with arms in hand, to look for new colonies for themselves in a foreign land” - to seek happiness outside their homeland.
Where there are disasters, there is poverty. Where there is poverty, there is inescapable trouble. People run from her to the ends of the earth. At the turn of the 1st millennium BC, property inequality increased in Phenicia. The situation inside the tiny city-states is escalating. None of them is able to either restore order or unite the country. Their rulers - especially the kings of Tyre - can only ease the tension among their subjects. They send their ruined fellow citizens to overseas colonies, fearing their unrest, especially since they also had to fear a slave uprising.
The time when colonization began - the 12th century BC - is by no means accidental. In more early period almost all maritime trade was in the hands of the Cretans and Achaeans. After the collapse of Mycenaean society, trade between East and West was in the hands of the Phoenicians. During the era of the great migration of the Sea Peoples, their country largely escaped destruction.
Now there was no need to fear competition for a long time. Having weakened at the end of the New Kingdom, Egypt ceased to be a maritime power for almost 500 years. Ugarit was destroyed. The Sea Peoples participated in maritime trade, but without much success. Under such favorable conditions, the Phoenicians began to create trading posts and colonies on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The first of them appeared in Cyprus in the 12th century BC. In the same century, around 1101 BC, the first Phoenician colony in North Africa arose - the city of Utica, located northwest of the modern city of Tunis.
In the 12th – 11th centuries BC, the Phoenicians established their colonies along the entire Mediterranean coast: in Asia Minor, Cyprus and Rhodes, Greece and Egypt, Malta and Sicily. The Phoenicians founded colonies in the most famous harbors of the Mediterranean: Cadiz (Spain), Valletta (Malta), Bizerte (Tunisia), Cagliari (Sardinia), Palermo (Sicily). Around 1100 BC, Phoenician merchants settled in Rhodes. At the same time, they settled on Thasos, rich in gold and iron, on Thera, Kiethera, Crete and Melos, and possibly in Thrace.
Melos, according to Stephen of Byzantium, even in its name kept the memory of its discoverers: “The Phoenicians were its first inhabitants; the island was then called Byblis, since they came from Byblos.” Indeed, this island was originally called Mimblis, and this name may come from the word Bib-lis. Mimblys then became Mymallis and finally Melos.
At that time, the islands of the Aegean Sea lagged significantly behind the Phoenician city-states in their development. Here the Phoenicians could not fear competition from local traders. Colonization proceeded completely differently to the southwest of the metropolis. Here, on the path of the Phoenician merchants, lay Egypt - a country on the coast of which it was not at all easy to establish their trading posts. The Egyptians did not allow visiting merchants to operate in their country. They had to rent housing and obey Egyptian laws.
However, the Phoenicians agreed to such conditions. According to Herodotus, over time a “Tyrian quarter” even formed in Memphis. A temple of “foreign Aphrodite”, that is, Astarte, was also erected in it. In addition, Phoenician pottery is found in various parts of the Nile Delta - where Phoenician ships probably unloaded or their warehouses were located. Of course, Phoenician traders did not play a special role in Egypt. Their colonies flourished only in underdeveloped countries, and Egypt was not one of them.
More famous were the other African colonies of the Phoenicians, which the Roman historian Sallust reported in his “Jugurthine War”: “Subsequently, the Phoenicians, some - to reduce the population in their homeland, others - seeking dominance, prompting the common people and other people greedy for revolutions , founded Hippo, Hadrumet, Lepta and other cities on the sea coast, and they, soon greatly strengthened, became some a stronghold, others an adornment for their founding cities” (translated by V.O. Gorenshtein).
In mainland Italy, where the Greeks subsequently founded many colonies - “Magna Graecia” - there were also never Phoenician settlements, but trade contacts between the Phoenicians and the inhabitants of Italy were quite close. There was probably a Phoenician settlement even in Rome.
Thus, the Phoenicians became the heirs of the Cretan and Mycenaean merchants and sailors. Their cities and trading posts turned into the largest distribution points for Syrian and Assyrian goods, products of Babylonia and Egypt.
It was the Phoenicians who introduced the Dorian Greeks to the culture - rude louts who destroyed the Mycenaean cities. The Phoenicians taught them navigation and instilled in them a taste for luxury, for which they paid with metal and blond, blue-eyed slaves.
Later, the students challenged the teachers. Already in the 8th century BC, judging by archaeological data, Greek merchants began to be active. By this time, the “golden age” of Phenicia was already behind us. The country suffered from oppression by the Assyrian kings.
For now, that time was far away. The prosperity of Phenicia was just beginning. And the “golden age” has only dawned – it has not yet dawned. Without equipping armies, without sending an entire fleet to distant countries, the Phoenicians gradually subjugated the entire Mediterranean to their power, relying only on the cunning of individual shipmen.
The Phoenicians are often compared to the Greeks. Both countries were politically fragmented and consisted of separate city-states; both were maritime powers and colonized the Mediterranean coast. However, Phoenician colonization was fundamentally different from Greek. There was an inextricable connection between Tire and its colonies. The latter formed part of the Tyrian state. The Greek colonies were most often independent of the metropolises.
Otherwise, the Phoenicians chose a place to settle. They did not move deeper into a country that was foreign to them, and did not strive for territorial conquest. Having owned a strip of land in their homeland, they were content with the same piece of land in a foreign land. They only built cities on the shores of bays convenient for their ships, strengthened their settlements and began to trade with the natives. So the shores of the Mediterranean Sea were covered with Phoenician trading posts.
And the endless expanse of water, which kept opening up before them, called them forward. The Phoenicians did not limit themselves to the Mediterranean world. They went beyond the Strait of Gibraltar and paved a sea road to the north - to British Isles. They also sailed south - along the Atlantic coast of Africa, although they did not like this water area because strong tides and stormy temper. For the first time in human history, the Phoenicians sailed around Africa, passing from the Red Sea to Gibraltar. They dared to swim even into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, moving away from the shores. It is known that the Phoenicians visited the Azores and, obviously, Canary Islands.
It is possible that it was from the Phoenicians that the Greeks borrowed the idea of the World Ocean. After all, they sailed into the “outer sea” - into the Atlantic Ocean. “I think,” Yu.B. developed this thought. Tsirkin, “that the voyages of the Phoenicians and Hispano-Phoenicians across the ocean, where they could not find either the opposite shore, or the end, or the beginning, gave rise to the idea of a river flowing into itself, beyond which lies the kingdom of death.”
On the near bank of this river, on the eve of the kingdom of death, the Phoenicians were busily settling in and establishing their colonies. According to Pliny the Elder, the very first colony of the Tyrians in the Western Mediterranean was created beyond Gibraltar on the African coast at the confluence of the Lyx River (modern Luccus) into the Atlantic Ocean. However, this settlement was located away from the trade routes leading to Southern Spain. The next location for the colony was chosen more successfully: the city of Gades (modern Cadiz) arose in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. Thus, for the first time in history, the Phoenicians came from the extreme east of the Mediterranean to the extreme west. By sea it was possible to travel from Tire to Hades in about two and a half months. This path was full of dangers.
Just think about it: the inhabitants of an insignificantly small country - a speck on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea - managed to conquer almost its entire coast and all its islands, establishing colonies everywhere, and with the same ease they got beyond its borders. The inhabitants of a pair of rocky islands equipped expeditions that could only be the envy of their neighbors who reigned over vast countries. In tiny, shell-like ships, they boldly sailed into any part of the Mediterranean Sea and even into the Atlantic Ocean, but at the time when they were just setting sail to the coast of Spain or Libya, the Mediterranean Sea was known to them and their contemporaries worse than us the surface of the Moon. The shores of the sea and its straits were inhabited by monsters sung by Homer - Cyclops, Scylla, Charybdis... When setting sail, the Phoenicians did not know the extent of the sea, nor its depth, nor the dangers awaiting them. They swam forward at random, relying on it like no other people of their time. And luck came to them.
Of course, the shipmen also gained experience over time, and they tried to sail along the coast from one base to another, and many years passed until, settling on unfamiliar shores, they reached the southern tip of Spain, but someone - decisive and brave - sailed this route for the first time, someone dared to seek happiness in a foreign land, not hoping for the help of a large army! And someone paid for it in the biggest way possible – with their lives. We do not know in detail the history of the colonization of the Mediterranean Sea, but we can assume that many people died in its waves before navigation in its waters (which covers two and a half million square kilometers) became reliable.
Why did these people die? For the sake of naked profit? It is unlikely that the Phoenicians - this talented people in all respects - set off on their journey with the stubbornness of idiots, thinking only about how, after several years of desperate adventures and disasters, they could sell their goods a little more profitably than their direct competitors. It was not only calculation that drove them forward, but also a variety of feelings: a love of wandering, which had also overcome their ancestors - the Arabian Bedouins, curiosity, a thirst for novelty, excitement, a craving for adventure, adventure, and risky experiences. The descendants of the steppe nomads turned into sea nomads. When it turned out that these travels more than paid off, because in any unfamiliar country it was possible to profitably exchange gold or silver, tin or copper, then romance gradually gave way to commercial calculation.
In recent decades, the possibility of the Phoenicians sailing even to America has been discussed more than once. “Very often attempts have been made to prove the presence of the Phoenicians in America,” wrote Richard Hoennig. – For example, on October 16, 1869, ancient Phoenician inscriptions were allegedly found near La Fayette, and in 1874 the same inscriptions were found in Paraiba (Brazil) ... In 1869, near the Onondaga River (New York State) it was allegedly discovered in on the ground is a huge statue with a heavily erased Phoenician inscription. All these reports turned out to be unreliable." Similar fakes appeared later. For example, in 1940, a certain Walter Strong found “no more and no less than 400 (!) stones with Phoenician writing.”
Before appearing on your screen, this article was converted into optical signals and transmitted at a speed of ~201,000 km/s via fiber optic cable. The cable is based on fibers made of the finest glass, which is 30 times more transparent clean water. The technology was made available by Corning Incorporated. In 1970, using the results of many years of research by scientists around the world, she patented a cable capable of transmitting large amounts of information over long distances.
If you're reading from a smartphone, don't forget to thank Steve Jobs, who asked Corning Inc. in 2006. develop a subtle but durable screen for iPhone. The result - Gorilla Glass - now dominates the market mobile devices. The screens of smartphones with fifth-generation Gorilla Glass do not crack after being dropped in 80% of cases (test devices were dropped from a height of 1.6 meters - the level at which people usually hold the phone - onto a hard surface).
And that's not all. Without glass, the world would be unrecognizable. Thanks to him, glasses, light bulbs and windows became available to humanity. But despite the ubiquity of glass, there is still a debate in the scientific community about the definition of this concept. Some consider glass to be a solid, others - a liquid. Many questions still remain unanswered, such as why one type of glass is stronger than another, or why certain glass mixtures have the optical and structural properties they do. Add to this the existing databases of glass types, one of which contains more than 350,000 currently known types, which makes it possible to create a huge number of different mixtures. The result is a truly exciting area of research that produces amazing new products on a regular basis. Glass has had a huge impact on humanity, and it is safe to say that glass shapes the appearance of our civilization.
“We've been using glass for thousands of years, but we still don't understand what it is,” says Mathieu Bauchy, a glass expert and member of the UCLA research team. Typically, glass is made by heating and then quickly cooling a mixture of several substances. For example, sand (silicon dioxide), lime and soda are used to create flat window glass. Silicon provides transparency, calcium provides strength, and soda reduces the melting point. "Rapid cooling prevents glass from crystallizing," says Steve Martin, a glass scientist at Iowa State University.
It is because of the prevention of crystallization that glass is considered an amorphous substance - and not a solid or liquid. The glass atoms strive to restore the crystalline structure, but cannot because they freeze in place during the manufacturing process. You may have heard that the glass in the windows of ancient cathedrals flows down over time, and therefore becomes thicker at the base. This statement is erroneous: ancient manufacturing technologies simply did not allow making smooth glass. But it is still in motion, albeit very slowly. The results of a study published last year in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society showed that at room temperature, the glass of an ancient cathedral would take about one billion years to move one nanometer of material.
People began making tools from obsidian and other types of volcanic glass at the dawn of civilization, and the first man-made glass was first made in Mesopotamia just over 4,000 years ago. It was probably obtained as a by-product in the manufacture of ceramic glaze. This technology was soon adopted by the ancient Egyptians. Corning Museum of Glass executive director Carol White says the first glass objects were beads, talismans and twigs used to create mosaic glass. Often, minerals were used to give them the appearance of another material.
“By the beginning of the second millennium BC, artisans began to make small vessels like vases. Archaeologists have found cuneiform tablets describing the process, but they were written in a secret language designed to hide production secrets,” adds White.
By the time of the rise of the Roman Empire, glassmaking had become an important branch of the economy. The writer Petronius tells the story of a craftsman who appeared before Emperor Tiberius with a piece of supposedly indestructible glass. “Does anyone else know how to make glass like this?” - Tiberius asked the artisan. “No,” answered the artisan, emphasizing his own importance. Tiberius, without warning, ordered the poor fellow to be beheaded. Although Tiberius' motives are not known for certain, it can be assumed that such an invention could destroy the glass industry of the empire.
The first major innovation in glassmaking occurred in the first century BC, when glass was blown in the vicinity of Jerusalem. Soon the Romans figured out how to make glass more or less transparent: this is how the first glass windows appeared. There has been a significant shift in the perception of glass, as previously it was valued only for its decorative properties. Instead of admiring the glass, people began to look through it. Over the following centuries, the Romans produced glass on an industrial scale, and it eventually spread throughout Eurasia.
At that time, science as such did not exist, and glass was shrouded in an aura of mystery. For example, in the fourth century AD, the Romans created the famous Lycurgus Cup, which changes color from green to red depending on the angle of light. Modern research has shown that the incredible property of the cup is due to the presence of silver and gold nanoparticles.
In the Middle Ages, advanced glassmaking secrets were kept in Europe and Arab countries. During the High Middle Ages, Europeans began producing stained glass. According to Carol White, majestic glass paintings played a huge role in teaching the catechism to an illiterate population. It’s not for nothing that stained glass windows are also called the poor man’s bibles.
Although window glass dates back to the Roman era, it was still expensive and difficult to obtain. But everything changes with the construction of the Crystal Palace for the 1851 World Exhibition. The Crystal Palace was an exhibition hall with a glass area of 93,000 square meters. m. - four times more than the UN headquarters in New York, built a century later. “The Crystal Palace showed people the value and beauty of window glass, and it influenced architecture and consumer demand,” says Alan McLenaghan, director of SageGlass, a company specializing in tinted windows and other glass products. The Crystal Palace burned down in 1936, but a few years later window glass became more widely available thanks to the British company Pilkington, whose employees invented a technique for creating heat-polished glass by pouring molten glass melt onto a layer of molten tin.
In the 13th century, long before window glass became common, unknown inventors created the first glasses. The invention helped in the fight against illiteracy and laid the foundation for further improvements in lenses, which made it possible to see things previously unknown. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Venetians borrowed the work of craftsmen from the Middle East and Asia Minor and improved the process of creating transparent glass called “cristallo”. One technique involved carefully melting quartz pebbles along with the ashes of salt-loving plants, which provided the correct ratio of silica, manganese and sodium, which, of course, was not realized at the time. It was vitally important to keep the glassmaking rules secret. Despite the high status that all glass manufacturers had, the punishment for crossing the border of the Venetian Republic was the death penalty. The Venetians were leaders in the glass market for the next 200 years.
Using their own glass, the Venetians also created the first mirrors. There are not enough words to describe all the changes that their appearance entailed. Previously, mirrors were made from polished metal or obsidian; they were very expensive and did not reflect light as effectively. New mirrors made possible the appearance of telescopes and revolutionized art: with their help, the Italian sculptor Filippo Brunelleschi developed linear perspective in 1425. People's self-awareness has changed. Writer Ian Mortimer even suggested that before the advent of glass mirrors, people did not perceive themselves as separate, unique individuals; the concept of individual identity did not exist.
Glass has a wide range of applications. Around 1590, Hans Jansen and his son Zachary invented a microscope with two lenses at the ends of the tube, which gave nine times magnification. Dutchman Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek has taken another step forward. As a relatively educated apprentice to a dry goods merchant, Anthony often used a magnifying glass to count threads on fabric and in the process developed new ways of polishing and grinding lenses, allowing him to magnify images 270 times. In 1670, with the help of his lenses, Leeuwenhoek accidentally discovered the existence of microorganisms: bacteria and protists.
The English scientist Robert Hooke improved the Leeuwenhoek microscope. He is the author of the famous work Micrographia, the first book about the microscopic world with detailed engravings of previously unseen images, such as the textures of a sponge or images of fleas. “Decorated with shiny black armor, of a thin and neat physique,” Hooke wrote about fleas. Peering through a microscope at the bark of a cork tree, whose structure resembled a honeycomb and monastery cells, Hooke coined the term “cell.” These advances shocked science and led, among other things, to the emergence of microbiology and the theory of the microbial origin of disease.
The appearance of glass tubes and pipettes in laboratories around the world made it possible to measure and mix a variety of substances and subject them to all kinds of influences. Glass instruments contributed to the development of chemistry and medicine, and also made possible the development of the steam engine and the internal combustion engine.
While some scientists fiddled with microscopes and beakers, others turned their gaze to the sky. It is not known for certain who invented the telescope, although the first mention of this device was discovered in the Netherlands in 1608. The telescope became famous thanks to Galileo, who improved the existing design and began to study celestial bodies. During observations of the satellites of Jupiter, he came to the conclusion that the geocentric model of the world does not make sense, which caused dissatisfaction Catholic Church. The Inquisition Commission of 1616 concluded that the statement about heliocentrism “is ridiculous and absurd from a philosophical point of view and, moreover, formally heretical, since its expressions largely contradict Holy Scripture" As you can see, glass can lead to sin.
The influence of glass on our lives continues unabated. Looking to the future, researchers hope to make similarly significant breakthroughs by using glass to neutralize nuclear waste, create safe batteries and design biomedical implants. Engineers are developing high-tech touch screens, chameleon glasses, and unbreakable glass.
The next time you see a glass object, think about how strange it is that a material born of earth and fire, bound like a pond by a blanket of ice, constantly in atomic purgatory, makes it so easy to human life and promotes progress. Look carefully, not through the glass as usual, but directly at it, and remember how many phenomena would remain inaccessible to the human eye if we did not have at hand a material that itself is barely noticeable.
“Phoenician merchants sailed across the Mediterranean Sea and carried a cargo of natural soda. Because of the storm, they had to spend the night on the sandy shore. Not finding suitable stones for the fireplace, they took pieces of compressed soda from the ship. The next morning, at the site of the fire, the merchants discovered a transparent ingot shining in the sun. This is how people discovered a way to make glass.” The author of this legend is unknown, but the Roman writer Pliny the Elder first recorded the legend in the 1st century BC.
Then this story was repeatedly retold by authors of later eras. But those who tested the legend in practice did not receive anything similar to glass.
In the end, historians found out that glass was not invented by the Phoenicians. The method of producing glass was discovered much earlier than the time when Phoenician ships began to ply the Mediterranean Sea.
Already in ancient times, near volcanoes, people found natural glass - obsidian, and used it to make tools. And they are “fighting” for the right to be called the birthplace of artificial glass Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. In Mesopotamia, a cylinder seal made of glass was found, which is 4 thousand years old, and in Egypt, archaeologists discovered a greenish glass bead over 5.5 thousand years old.
The composition of ancient glass is simple - sand, lime and alkali. Until the 2nd millennium BC, glass was pasty and uncleared, so glassmakers painted it in various colors using metal oxides. Iron gave a greenish tint, cobalt - blue, and nickel and manganese - purple.
The first objects made of hard glass were beads. They served both as decoration and as a monetary equivalent in trade. In addition, glass was used to make pendants, seals and mosaic plates to decorate furniture.
In the middle of the 1st century BC, a glass-blowing pipe was invented on the Syrian coast. With the end of a long iron tube, the master picked up a lump of hot glass in the furnace and rolled it out on a stone slab. Then a bubble was inflated from the resulting blank, from which the glassmaker molded the product.
Glass manufacturing technologies improved, and it soon became possible to produce glass household utensils in large quantities.
In the 1st century BC, sheet glass, used for glazing buildings, also appeared in Rome. It was thicker and smaller than modern glass. To make a sheet, a hollow cylinder was first blown, the bottom was cut out, and the rest was cut and rolled into a rectangular sheet. The houses of Pompeii, covered with the ashes of Vesuvius in 72 AD, had glass windows inserted into wooden or metal frames.
