Phoenicians among Others
By Denise Demetriou ISBN: 978-0197634851 Oxford University Press (2023) - £29.99
The Phoenicians rightly deserve recognition for their role in the creation of the interconnected world of the Iron Age after the Late Bronze Age Collapse. The spread of the Phoenicians from the Aegean to the Atlantic, creating a complex network of trade routes as they went, has been studied for decades. The ancient world would be a very different place if they had not done as they did.
However, after the rise of the Achaemenid Persian Empire and the Greek poleis, Phoenicians seem to largely disappear from the historical record. They certainly no longer appear to be the far-ranging traders and settlers of the past.
Yet to Denise Demetriou, the Phoenicians continued to be an important force in the development of the ancient world. It has long been recognized that Phoenicians dwelt amongsuch communities in later centuries. According to the publisher, “provides the first history of Phoenician immigrants in the ancient Mediterranean from the fourth to the first centuries BCE”.
