Phoenicia

A loose confederation of city-states that occupied a strip of coastland along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea in ancient times. Phoenicia roughly corresponds to the regions of modern-day Lebanon and smaller parts of Syria and Israel. The principal city of Phoenicia was initially Sidon, but its importance was later eclipsed by Tyre, originally a Sidonian colony.

The Scriptures indicate that the Sidonians were descendants of Noah through Ham, Canaan, and Sidon. (Ge 10:1, 6, 15, 18, 19) The people called their land Canaan and practiced the Canaanite religion. Later, the Greeks called the area Phoenicia. In the Scriptures, the terms Phoenician, Canaanite, and Sidonian are used at various times in reference to the same region. (Jos 13:6; Jg 1:32; Ac 21:2) In time, the Phoenician alphabet, very similar to that of ancient Hebrew, became the basis for Greek and Latin script. Skilled shipbuilders and navigators, Phoenicians were among the great seafaring traders of the ancient world, sailing to its known extremities.—Eze 27:1-9.

In the course of history, Phoenicia came to be dominated by Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece. Rome conquered the area in 64 B.C.E. In the first century C.E., Phoenicia was part of the Roman province of Syria. The history of Phoenicia and its principal cities underscores the accuracy of Bible prophecy.—Isa 23:1-14; Jer 25:17, 22, 27; Eze 26:3, 4.