Phoenicia

Phoenicia developed along the eastern Mediterranean coast after the Bronze Age collapse, centred on independent cities such as Byblos, Sidon and Tyre. Its merchants and sailors created far-reaching commercial networks, while local craftsmanship, religious cults and alphabetic writing influenced communities across the Mediterranean.

Phoenician cities later passed under Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian and Hellenistic domination without losing their distinctive urban and maritime traditions. The surviving temples, myths and place names of Lebanon form an important ancient layer in Colin Thubron’s The Hills of Adonis.