The Phoenicians were a Semitic-speaking civilization based in a collection of city-states along the coast of the modern Levant (Lebanon).

Their major cities included Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos.

They were renowned as the greatest sailors and maritime traders of the ancient Mediterranean.

Phoenicians established a vast network of trading colonies across the Mediterranean, the most famous of which was Carthage.

Their most valuable trade goods were a rare and expensive purple dye extracted from murex snails, and high-quality cedar wood.

The Phoenicians' most significant contribution to history was the creation of a simple, 22-character phonetic alphabet.

This alphabet was adopted and adapted by the Greeks, and it is the ancestor of all modern Western alphabets.

They were skilled shipbuilders, constructing sturdy merchant ships and naval vessels.

Herodotus credits the Phoenicians with having circumnavigated Africa.

They served as cultural intermediaries, spreading goods, ideas, and technologies throughout the Mediterranean basin.