Phoenicians and Greeks

The Phoenicians were a civilisation from the coast of the Levant, in the Near East. They came from city-states, such as Tyre, Sidon, and Biblos.

The Phoenicians had many jobs: metal workers and glass-makers for example. But they were best known for being navigators and traders. They sailed across the Mediterranean Sea and traded with many people. They founded colonies across North Africa and on the Iberian Peninsula. 

On the Iberian Peninsula, the Phoenicians founded Gadir (today: Cadiz) and Malaka (today: Málaga). 

The Phoenicians had their own alphabet, which eventually became our alphabet. 

The Greeks game from Greece, around the Aegean Sea. Like the Phoenicians, they came from city states, like Athens, Sparta and Korinth. 

The Greeks are most famous for being thinkers and politicians. Athens is where democracy was invented. But the Greeks were also great warriors, writers, athletes, sculptors, and architects. 

They took the Phoenicians’ idea and started to sail around the Mediterranean Sea to trade and found colonies, such as Rhodes (today: Rosas). The Greeks had their own currency and they traded with the Phoenicians. Their art and society were very important and influenced other cultures such as the Romans.