Changes

The Phoenicians were a Semitic people who primarily inhabited what is now Lebanon, but they may also have inhabited lived in parts of modern Syria and Isreal. Archaeological evidence indicates that they were related to the Ancient people of the Levant , known as Canaanites, in the Bible.  The Phoenicians emerged in history about 1800 BC, during the Bronze Age. They occupied a narrow strip of coast , and they were surrounded by stronger kingdoms and Empires surrounded them. <ref> Moscati, Sabatino The World of the Phoenicians (NY: Frederick A. Praeger, 1995, p. 34) </ref>. This forced them to become Because they had limited land they became highly urbanized and to become society that relied on seafarers and merchants, to survive. The most important urban centers in Phoenicia were Tyre, Sidon, Arwad, Berytus, and Bybloswere the most important cities in Phoenicia. Initially monarchies  While Phoenicia started as a monarchy over time they , it developed complex a sophisticated and innovative political systemssystem. The cities were often rivals’ but often cooperated on maritime and trading matters and sometimes formed a league of city-states. At times one urban center would dominate the others as was the case with Tyre, which dominated Phoenicia in the 9th century BC.  The wealth of the cities meant that they were predatory kings often targeted by predatory kingsthem. The Phoenicians came under the sway of the Pharaohs until about 1250 BC. The invasions of the Sea-peoples led to the collapse of the Egyptian Empire. This led to the economic and cultural flourishing of the Phoenicians. Based on the archaeological evidence, it seems that there was a great deal of continuity in Phoenician society and culture, but they also absorbed Babylonian and Egyptian influences .<ref> Moscati, p 14</ref>. The urban population in Phoenicia exploded in the 9th and 8th centuries BC. They had already established a number of trading posts from Spain to the Levant, which they then expanded into colonies. In 814 BC, colonists from Tyre settled in what became Carthage, during the reign of King Pygmalion. The kings of Tyre were able to establish an informal empire that included all of the Phoenician colonies in the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians remained the dominant sea power in the Levant even when they became the vassals of the neo-Assyrian Empire. However, the rise of the Persian Empire was to end the golden age of Phoenicia especially after the capture of Tyre in 585 BC, by Cyrus the Great. Despite this, the Phoenicians remained wealthy and remained maritime powers, because they had a great deal of autonomy, even under Persian domination. The decline of the Phoenicians was gradual, and they eventually lost all their autonomy in the aftermath of the conquests of Alexander the Great. They became Hellenized, over the years they lost their cultural and religious identity<ref> Moscati, p 14</ref>.