Perils of the High Seas: The Phoenicians, for @Shaka's LMAC Contest #28

This week @shaka offered participants a photo of Lagos, Portugal. I was aware, when I saw the photo, of the significant role this city played in the European slave trade. I chose not to focus on that. There is a more colorful and less distressing story to be told about Lagos. It is the story of Phoenician traders. And that is the story I chose to tell in my collage.

Mariners

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The ship in my collage is engulfed by the sea. This is the fate surely suffered by many Phoenician mariners. These traders braved waters shunned by others of their time. Sailors were afraid to travel beyond the Pillars of Hercules,which are the two promontories that border the Strait of Gibraltar. Many believe Gibraltar marked the edge of the world. But the Phoenicians, driven by the desire to trade, braved the high seas.

The Phoenicians' ships, driven by sail and oar, traveled across the Mediterranean, and down the coast of Africa to the shores of Morocco. Here they found gold, which they exchanged for exquisitely crafted jewelry and pottery.

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Not only did they trade goods, but they spread culture. They were famous for their purple dye (Tyrian purple), and for their trees, Cedars of Lebanon. These were highly prized in parts of the ancient world where trees were in short supply.. The ready availability of this wood to the Phoenicians was a great asset in building their sturdy ships.

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Chickens

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While the earliest ancestor of the chicken has been traced to East Asia, it is believed that the animal was introduced to the Levant in the fourth to second centuries, BCE. It was the Phoenicians, historians believe, who were responsible for carrying chickens across the Mediterranean. The use of chickens in Europe may be traced by unearthed chicken bones, which were discovered in colonies established by Phoenicians.

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Alphabet

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It was Phoenicians who invented the first alphabet...not one based on hieroglyphics, or pictographs. But a true alphabet. This no doubt was helpful to them as they carried on their trade.

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The Phoenicians not only traveled south on the Atlantic. They also traveled north to trade. It is believed their furthest destination was Ireland. Artifacts unearthed in the British Isles offer evidence of the Phoenicians' reach.

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Phoenician traders are wearing the legendary Tyrian purple in this picture. The dye was extracted from myrex shellfish and was first produced in the Phoenician city of Tyre.

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Infanticide?

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Historians of the ancient world refer to the Phoenician practice of ritual infanticide, particularly in Carthage, but also in other Phoenician colonies. Archeological evidence seems to indicate that this was indeed a practice. However, some modern analysts believe that the burned bones of children discovered in Phoenicians colonies merely represent the presence of cemeteries. These burial areas, called Tophets, are located throughout the archeological ruins of Phoenician colonies. Did the Phoenicians sacrifice their babies in religious ritual? Most historians believe it was so. Some historians believe this not to be true.

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Evidence of Phoenician occupation may be found throughout the Mediterranean, and also on the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Cadiz, in Spain, was one of their important ports, as was Lagos, in Portugal. Here is the picture of Lagos that @shaka offered for us to work with this week:

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One of the most important colonies founded by the Phoenicians was Carthage. When the Phoenicians were defeated by Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C., Carthage went on to become a great empire in its own right. Hannibal was probably the most famous Carthaginian in history.

My Collage

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I had trouble with this. Once I decided to go the historic route, it became clear there are not a lot of copyright-free pictures of Phoenicians. The boat, the human figures, the water, houses, the fence... these I created from a collection of impressions. The chickens were taken from Paint 3D. For a while there were elephants, but these didn't work out.

One iteration started with a woman, a cow, a mouse, and a lot of elephants:

This wasn't going well at all. So I stopped that. I kept the woman but settled her, and discarded the other creatures.

The idea for the houses came from the picture of an archeological site: Phoenician Settlement of Sa Cleta, Ibiza, which showed box-like structures. You can check the link. The copyright status is not clear so I won't post a picture here. I drew the houses using the Paint program.

The GIF was accomplished, and final touches, by using GIMP applications.
The outcome wasn't ideal, but the collage does tell a story.

Thank you @shaka, for the adventure in history and imagination. Always a time for fun.

Everyone reading this should check out the contest this week. You will be amazed at what some of the entrants came up with. True artistry.

Thank you for reading, and spending time with me

Steem on!