Phoenician people

Phoenicia knʿn / kanaʿan  (Phoenician) Φοινίκη / Phoiníkē  (Greek)
2500 BC–539 BC
Map of Phoenicia and its Mediterranean trade routes
Capital		Byblos (2500-1000 BC) Tyre (900-550 BC)
Languages		Phoenician, Punic
Religion		Canaanite religion
Government		City-states ruled by kings
Well-known kings of Phoenician cities
•	c. 1000 BC	Ahiram
•	969 – 936 BC	Hiram I
•	820 – 774 BC	Pygmalion of Tyre
Historical era		Classical antiquity
•	Established	2500 BC
•	Tyre in South Lebanon, under the reign of Hiram I, becomes the dominant city-state	969 BC
•	Dido founds Carthage (legendary)	814 BC
•	Cyrus the Great conquers Phoenicia	539 BC
Preceded by Succeeded by Canaanites Hittite Empire Egyptian Empire Iberomaurusian Achaemenid Phoenicia Ancient Carthage

Coordinates: 34°07′25″N 35°39′04″E / 34.12361°N 35.65111°E / 34.12361; 35.65111

Phoenicia (UK: /fɪˈnɪʃə/ or US: /fəˈniːʃə/; from the Ancient Greek: Φοινίκη, Phoiníkē meaning "purple country") was a thalassocratic ancient Semitic civilization that originated in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the west of the Fertile Crescent. Scholars generally agree that it included the coastal areas of today's Lebanon, northern Israel and southern Syria reaching as far north as Arwad, but there is some dispute as to how far south it went, the furthest suggested area being Ashkelon. Its colonies later reached the Western Mediterranean (most notably Carthage) and even the Atlantic Ocean. The civilization spread across the Mediterranean between 1500 BC and 300 BC.