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i find this strangely cute??

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readin about phoenicians is just getting progressively angrier i dont speak french

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i went to the post office today too :)

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everyone goes on and on about the oxhide copper ingots from the uluburun wreck but do they mention the shell rings? the duck-shaped vessels!!??

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i hate this is Aubet saying phoenicians ate bears? that they ate panthers and wolves??? wtf wtf MARIA

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Now that I’ve finished The History of Phoenicia a few days ago I can return to The Phoenicians and the West, which I think I will try and read cover to cover. 

Regarding The History of Phoenicia, Elayi writes this in her preface:

Up until now, no Phoenician specialist has risked writing a history of Phoenicia focusing both on historical events and the socioeconomic facets of the civilization . . . I wanted to unwind a common thread in this impassable and arcane labyrinth that I have been visiting for more than thirty years now. I think the reader will be able to follow me with the help of the chronological frame of Phoenicia’s history that I have endeavored to weave. I have presented the core of this history, based on the most recent research developments, so as to make it understandable and easily accessible. When several interpretations were possible for the same event, I have opted for the one which, to me, seemed the most plausible. I have pointed out the uncertainties when I was simply unable to get off the fence.

So the book is intended as a broadstrokes overview for the [person] to ground themselves in before engaging in more detailed & complex study (whereupon they will likely discover Elayi’s interpretations are not so simple). I’d like to say it succeeds spectacularly. The History of Phoenicia is cohesive, easy to follow, and a delight to read, much of which I assume is owed to translator Andrew Plummer. 

The one thing I find frustrating is the dearth of information in ‘PART TWO: THE PERIOD OF PHOENICIA’S INDEPENDENCE (1200–883)’. A few of the chapters in this section tend to focus on what other states are doing (such that they are not bothering the Phoenicians), rather than the Phoenicians themselves. My guess is that there simply is a dearth of information Elayi can’t avoid, given most the information we have about Phoenicians comes from other people (inc. occupiers). I don’t really know enough to say that for certain though.

Anyways good to read this broad account of the Phoenician “homeland”. It really does only pay passing mention to the colonies which suits me just fine for now. 

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bro just witnessed 6 phoenician ivories that werent the one of the woman at the window or the lion eating the dude i feel like ive been lifted to another plane

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ok so this is complete speculation w/ no scholarly backup so ignore me

but the Phoenicians have this deity, Ba’al Marqod, whose name derives from the root rqd, meaning ‘skip’ or ‘dance. Tubb says he is associated with dance, but also with earthquakes. 

it strikes me that a god associated with earthquakes and dancing may be thought to produce earthquakes by dancing (i.e. his pounding feet shake the earth). xo this has been unfounded speculation day ✌ 💋

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A much freer, more physical form of dancing is depicted on another Phoenician silver bowl in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Here, the bowl's central medallion shows two highly animated dancers, facing each other, each with one arm raised and the other drawn across the waist.

. . .

It is certainly clear that the whole aspect of this bowl is less severely ritualistic  than the usual procession scenes, and can almost be described as "pastoral." The two central figures appear to dance on a stylized hilltop with cypress trees, and although the outer band shows two processions of females converging on a ritual basin or fountain, there is no seated goddess. Furthermore, there is no indication that the leaders of each procession, who carry an amphora and an alabastron respectively, are priestesses. The other women all carry tambourines, and their physical attitude, which, in each case, shows a slightly bent and raised left leg, and a delicate poise to the right, gives the impression that they are tripping along at quite a pace.

Interspersed with these women are naturalistic elements—trees, birds and geese—and this rural theme is carried on into the second band of decoration, which again includes trees, but here with ibexes, a lion and birds. This bowl testifies to a different form of dancing, much livelier, and and appropriate to what is clearly an outdoor event.

Jonathan N. Tubb, Phoenician Dance (2003)

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Phoenician Painted Ostrich Egg - 8th-6th Century BC

An ancient ostrich egg painted with four Panels divided by cross hatched bands. The scenes include, two lotus buds, a small tree, and an abstract symbol of the goddess Tanit.

The use of the ostrich egg as a vase or decorative object dates back to the earliest Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures. The painted ostrich egg was, however, especially popular among the Phoenician (Punic) people. Examples have been found in tombs at Carthage and at Punic settlements in Spain, Sicily, and Sardinia.

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that’s the name of their boy band

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eternal tyrian mood

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a friendly reminder that i love and support ancient carthage in everything they do

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"Get that wood down here and do it however you like”

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ok this one is funny to me because of just how, mind-bogglingly bold Elayi’s (or the translator’s) phrasing is

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Assyrians + The Mediterranean 

sjsjfjdf THESE GUYS

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when u depressed but still horny