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Mediterranean Civilizations
Chapter 2, Section 4
City of Tyre
• While the great empire of Hammurabi was rising and falling, the people of a poor city on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea were getting rich by gathering snails.
• Snails that washed up the shore produced rich purple dye.• Highly valued by wealthy people throughout
the Mediterranean region• Ships from Tyre sold the dye at extremely
high prices became a wealthy and active city
City of Tyre
The Phoenicians: Sailors of the Mediterranean
• Tyre major city in region called Phoenicia
• Outlook was toward the west, the Mediterranean Sea and surrounding growing cities
• Had settled in a land with dense forests of cedar trees– Sold the wood along with snails to
neighbors
The Phoenicians: Sailors of the Mediterranean
• As trade grew, the Phoenicians looked to the sea to increase their profits– Became world’s largest trading empire– 1100 B.C. – 800 B.C. = great sea power
• Ships sailed all over the Mediterranean Sea
• Sailed out into the story Atlantic– Sailors came back and shared stories of sea
monsters to keep competitors away from Atlantic
The Phoenicians: Sailors of the Mediterranean
• Trade brought rich goods from lands around the Mediterranean Sea to the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon.
• Bazaars swelled with foods brought from faraway places– Figs, olives, honey, spices–Merchants sold strange animals
giraffes and warthogs from Africa; bears from Europe
The Phoenician Alphabet: One Sound, One Letter
• Needed simple writing because they had so much trade• Cuneiform = too complicated
• Found a way to write using 22 symbols• Phoenician alphabet set of symbols
that represented the sounds of the language• Forms the basic alphabet that people in the
USA and other countries use today• Each of the 22 letters stood for one
consonant sound.
The Phoenician Alphabet: One Sound, One Letter
• Easier to learn than cuneiform• Many more people could learn to
write besides scribes
The Rise of the Israelites
• Hebrews (later known as Israelites) small band of people settled along the shores of the Mediterranean• Made a deep impact on our civilization
even though they never built a large empire
• Traced beginnings to Mesopotamia• For hundreds of years, lived as
shepherds and merchants who grazed their flocks outside Sumerian cities
The Rise of the Israelites• According to the Bible, Abraham led his
people to a belief in one God monotheism• God promised Abraham that his people
would have their own land if they would follow his word
• 1900 B.C. Abraham led the Israelites from Mesopotamia to a new home in Canaan– 1800 B.C. famine spread across Canaan
• Time when there is so little food that many people starve
• Caused the Israelites to flee south to Egypt
The Rise of the Israelites
• Lived well in Egypt for about 600 years
• Enslaved when an Egyptian king grew jealous of their wealth and suspicious of their power
Return to Canaan
• Moses, an Israelite hero, led the enslaved people out of Egypt
• Wandered the desert of Sinai for the next 40 years– God have the Israelites the Ten
Commandments
• Returned to Canaan and eventually began to build their own cities
Conquest of Canaan
• Israelites faced opposition as they moved further north into Canaan
• Conquered Canaan after several fierce wars
• Two kings led them to victory– Saul first king of the Israelites– David next king who united the 12
tribes into a single nation; established his capital at the city of Jerusalem
Conquest of Canaan
• Solomon, David’s son, inherited the kingdom– Grew prosperous through trade– Developed a sea trade with neighboring
lands• First voyage = brought back more than 13
tons of gold
Conquest of Canaan
• Solomon transformed Jerusalem into a magnificent capital.
• Most prized monument = temple in the center of the city became the central place of worship for the Israelites
Jerusalem Temple
Conquest of Canaan
• Solomon’s building projects were very expensive.
• Country faced hard times and after his death, divided into 2 kingdoms– Northern = Israel– Southern = Judah
• Assyria, the dangerous neighbor, was gaining power in the divided kingdom.
Conquest of Canaan
• 722 B.C. Assyrians seized the kingdom of Israel– Punished the Israelites by exiling
thousands to distant parts of the empire• Exile force a people to live in another
country
• About 135 years later, Judah fell to the Chaldeans and they were exiled as well.
