Phoenicians: Trade across the Mediterranean
How skilled were the Phoenicians? What did they trade, and with whom? Read on to learn more.
Hey you, welcome back. Last time you learned, I wrote about the Phoenicians in general. Today I’ll walk you through Phoenician trade. So, stay put and eat popcorns.
Phoenician colonization is considered to have lasted from the 10th to the 6th century BC. Colonization was driven by the establishment of trade, as the survival of densely populated Phoenician poleis depended on the exchange of goods. Their homeland did not provide sufficient resources for survival due to the already mentioned lack of fertile land. However, Phoenicia had something else to offer – forests.
Trade and materials
Namely, the Phoenicians exported cedar and cypress from Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos to Egypt. They had highly developed woodworking and shipbuilding industries based on timber. Due to the fact that trade took place by sea (because of efficiency and speed), the Phoenicians built merchant ships, warships, and fishing boats, using oak and cedar for the interior and pine and fir for the outer structure. Unlike ships, buildings were constructed of stone, brick, and wood as well. This shows how skilled Phoenician carpenters and craftsmen were. Therefore, Egypt supplied itself with cedar from Phoenicia, especially from Byblos, using it to build ships, tombs, and more. In return, Egypt may have provided textiles, papyrus, pottery, gold, and shells, although not all of these have been preserved.
Among agricultural products, Phoenicians traded in grapevines, flax, figs, dates, olives, and olive oil, among others. Among animals, they bred horses, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, poultry, and ostriches, whose eggs were used to make vessels. They also produced honey. In addition, they traded stone, ceramics made from clay found along the Lebanese coast, and glass objects such as amulets, scarabs, pendants, beads, and vessels. These items have been found in Francavilla Marittima in Calabria, in Cumae near Naples, in the Etruscan city of Veii near Rome, and in other locations across the Mediterranean. At first, they imitated Egyptian production, but from the 7th century BC onward, they developed their own distinctive style.
Moreover, metal was imported, as Phoenicia lacked metal resources. Metals were brought in from Asia and Cyprus (copper), from Ethiopia (gold and silver), from the Apennine Peninsula, Sardinia, and the Iberian Peninsula, and from Galicia (tin). Ivory was imported from India and Syria. It was worked following Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Syrian, Hittite, and Assyrian techniques, and these objects are dated from the 9th to the 7th century BC. Phoenicians also produced silver and gold cups, remains of which have been found in the Assyrian Empire, on Cyprus, in Greece, on Crete, on the Apennine Peninsula, and in Etruscan tombs.
The Phoenicians were also skilled in textile production – some very skilled fellas, weren't they? Textile centers were based in Tyre and Sidon. There was produced purple dye from the mucus of the spiny dye-murex sea snail (Murex brandaris and Murex trunculus). The yellow mucus extracted from the snail was dried in the sun, during which it first turned green, then blue, then red, and finally acquired a purple or crimson hue. Due to the intense unpleasant smell released by the flesh of the dead murex during the dye-production process, textile workshops were usually located away from residential areas. The dye was intended for rulers and symbolized prestige and sovereignty. In addition to woolen garments, weavers also produced carpets.
Trade Routes
Trade took place in the east from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, and in the west from the Levant to Gibraltar. Accordingly, colonies were established along trade routes. Braudel describes three sailing routes from the eastern to the western Mediterranean:
The first route ran northward along the Greek islands and mainland Greece to Corfu, crossed the Strait of Otranto, continued along the Apennine coast through the Strait of Messina, and across the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Iberian Peninsula. Some ports included Nora in Sardinia, Cádiz on the southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Mozia on the island of San Pantaleo off the Sicilian coast, and others.
The second route followed the African coast from Egypt through Libya to Gibraltar. Along this route, the Phoenicians had ports in regions with which they maintained good relations, for example in the Nile Delta, along the coast of Cyrenaica and the Maghreb, Utica at the mouth of the Bagradas River (today the Medjerda in Tunisia), the island of Mogador off the Moroccan coast, and others.
The third route ran through the central Mediterranean, following an imaginary line from Cyprus to Crete, then to Malta, from where sailors reached Sicily, followed by Sardinia and the Balearic Islands.
Although methods of navigation have changed drastically since ancient times, something has remained the same. Trade is still conducted across oceans, seas, and rivers.
Did you make it to the end? Congratulations, you did! So, what do you think? How much has trade advanced compared to ancient times?
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Sources:
Parkins, H. (ed), Smith, C. (ed), Traders and artisans in archaic central Italy, London: New York: Routledge, 1998
Braudel, F., Memory and the Mediterranean, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001
Graham, A. J., Collected papers on Greek colonization, Leiden: Boston: Köln: Brill, 2001
Morley, N., Trade in classical antiquity, New York: Cambridge Univerity Press, 2007
Elayi, J., The history of Phoenicia, Lockwood Press, 2018
Sader, H., The history and archaeology of Phoenicia, Atlanta: SBL Press, 2019
Britannica Editors. "Phoenician." Encyclopedia Britannica, December 6, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Phoenician.