Week 8

At the same time that Israel had its kings-Saul, David, Solomon, the Phoenecian people were climbing to the height of their civilization.

The Phoenicians were the Canaanites and lived on the coast of the Mediterranean near Israel.

They had a lot of experience with the sea and were traders of the ancient age.

They went as far west as Spain and North Africa.

One of the Phoenicians most famous goods was a beautiful, purple-red dye. It came from a gland of a sea snail called a murex snail.

Expensive cloth was made from this dye and it was cherished by the Greeks and Romans.

It was smelly to make: the snails were collected in huge nets, and left to rot. Workers would skim a liquid off the top to make the dye.

The city of Tyre became rich form this trade but was also known for its stinky odors.

Phoenicians may have gotten their name from this reddish dye because “Phoinos” means “red” in Greek.

They also made transparent glass.

They also made a 30 letter alphabet. It is the basis of our language today.

Up until this time, cultures used symbols to represent whole word or parts of words. They would have to learn hundred of symbols to communicate in writing.

The Phoenicians along with the Hebrews began to make symbols to represent just one sound.

Their alphabet had just 22 letters, but by combining the letters, you could make thousands of words.“Byblos” is a Phoenician word for book. We know it as The Book!

Two Phoenicians are listed in the Bible: King Hiram of Tyre sold cedar wood to Solomon for the Temple.

The other was the evil Jezebel . King Ahab of Israel married this princess of Tyre.

Ezekiel 26:12,14, 17-prophesied of Phoenicia’s doom.

At this time, Israel divided. Solomon died and his son fought over the kingdom. 10 tribes rebelled against Rehoboam. They are referred to as the North Kingdom. Jeroboam was their king. The other 2 tribes (Benjamin and Judah) were known as the southern kingdom. The name “jews” come from this time.

I Kings 14:22

And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done.

In India, religion and culture was thriving. They believed in 100 of gods. Their religion is called Hinduism.

Queen Esther & Daniel came from this far east area.

In Ancient times, Native Americans also lived somewhere near Hopewell, Ohio. There are mounds from 800 BC.

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