Knowledge Affairs – Special

British historian Josephine Quinn revisits the concept of the Phoenician nation and questions its established and accepted premises in her controversial book, published in Arabic translation under the title “The Phoenicians: The Invention of a Nation.” In her view, the Phoenicians were neither a nation nor a people conscious of themselves as such. This is a striking conclusion that challenges what has long been historically known and widely accepted.

The author argues that long before the Greeks and Romans, the Phoenicians sailed extensively across the Mediterranean, trading and establishing settlements. They introduced improvements to the art of navigation and became associated with valuable cultural crafts, yet the identity of these legendary seafarers remains a mystery.

The book delves into ancient literature, inscriptions, coins, and ancient artistic evidence in search of the identities adopted by the Phoenicians, from the Levant to the Atlantic and from the Bronze Age through Late Antiquity and beyond. The book, and the author, ultimately conclude that the Phoenicians did not exist as a nation or ethnic group, and that portraying them as a cohesive people with a shared identity, history, and culture emerged within the context of modern nationalist ideologies, a development that, in the author’s view, conflicts with ancient sources.

The book further argues that belief in this historical mirage has obscured clearly identifiable communities and identities that the Phoenicians developed across the ancient Mediterranean—not on the basis of ethnicity or nationhood, but around the city, family, religious practices, and colonial ties. Over nearly two thousand years, the book traces the idea of “Phoenician affiliation,” which first emerged to support the imperial ambitions of Carthage and then Rome, before later reinforcing the idea of nationhood in England and Ireland, and finally contributing to state-building in Lebanon.

The book consists of three parts entitled: “The Phoenicians: A Mirage,” “Many Worlds,” and “Imperial Identities.” These three parts contain nine chapters: “No Camels in Lebanon,” “Sons of Tyre,” “People of the Sea,” “Cultural Politics,” “The Tophet Circuit,” “A Mediterranean of Melqart,” “The First Phoenician,” “A New Phoenician World,” and “Phoenician Islands.”

A Striking Conclusion:

From the very beginning, as reflected in its opening and its title, “The Phoenicians: The Invention of a Nation” (The World of Knowledge Series – Kuwait), written by British historian Josephine Quinn and translated by Mustafa Qasim, argues that the Phoenicians were neither a nation nor a people conscious of themselves as such. This is a striking conclusion that challenges what is commonly known and widely accepted. But if this was indeed the case, when and where did the Phoenicians become a “nation” in the commonly understood sense? The translator raises this question in the introduction and answers it, drawing on his agreement with the author’s argument, by stating that the revival of the Phoenicians as a nation and a people occurred only after Phoenician history had completely come to an end: following the fall of Tyre to Alexander the Great in 332 BC and Carthage to the Romans in 146 BC, through waves of enthusiasm expressed by intellectuals in various places who claimed Phoenician affiliation for their peoples, beginning with the Hellenistic and Roman Mediterranean, passing through emerging states in early modern Europe, and eventually reaching contemporary nation-states in the Mediterranean basin.

Tyre, Carthage, Rome:

History records that the Phoenicians originated along the coast of Mount Lebanon and, beginning at least in the 19th century BC, established new settlements extending from nearby Cyprus to the Atlantic coast of Spain, long before the Greeks began their westward migrations. The most famous Phoenician settlement in the West was Carthage, founded by the Tyrian princess Dido. It went on to become a major power in its own right and competed with Rome for dominance in the West, coming close to defeating it during the era of Hannibal Barca. The Greek historian Polybius, who witnessed its ultimate destruction at the hands of the Romans in 146 BC, regarded it as the richest city in the world of its time.

Despite this, the history and culture of the Phoenicians did not receive sufficient attention from historians and archaeologists specializing in the classical era, who showed greater interest in the glory of Greece and the greatness of Rome. The author suggests that this may have been due to practical considerations, including the need to learn ancient languages, which—if studied at all—usually takes place within Near Eastern or Oriental studies departments. In addition, material remains are often studied within biblical archaeology or prehistoric archaeology. Furthermore, the absence of surviving Phoenician literature places the Phoenicians outside the main field of interest of many classical scholars, who are trained primarily in Greek and Latin texts.

Thus, this provocative research book seeks to encourage scholars to reconsider a historical narrative that has been repeated for more than two thousand years concerning an ancient civilization and its legacy. It raises a question that could potentially lead to debate over the existence and characterization of other civilizations as well, making history one of the most dynamic fields for raising questions about humanity.