The Phoenicians

As the inventors of the alphabet, which they bequeathed to the modern world via the Greeks and Romans, the Phoenicians are assured of a lasting place in the history of civilization. But theirs was also one of the main formative elements of Mediterranean culture in the first millennium BC. From a precarious foothold on the Levant coast the Phoenicians founded a series of colonies to the west, and a commercial empire which extended throughout the Mediterranean to Spain, while their voyages of exploration took them well beyond the Pillars of Hercules. Dr Donald Harden, Director of the London Museum, assisted in excavations at Carthage and has visited many other Phoenician sites in Sicily, Sardinia, and North Africa. In this book, he gives a general picture of the Phoenicians at the time when they were a force to be reckoned with in the Mediterranean.