Phoenicians
Phoenicians(Gk. Phoinikes, Lat. Poeni), a people (rather than a nation) occupying the coast of the Levant; they are thus described only in the classical sources and etymologically their name is Greek; their own name for themselves is unknown, although the Bible classes them as Canaanites (for the Greek tradition on Chna see Hecataeus in Stephanus Byzantius; also Philo of Byblos). The royal Assyrian inscriptions (9th–7th cent. bc) refer to the cities of Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, etc., as (in the form of ethnics) do the Phoenician inscriptions; but they are silent about ‘Phoenicia’ and ‘Phoenicians’, which were classical constructs.
A common view derives Phoinikes from the Greek phoinios, phoinos, meaning ‘red’. The Phoenicians were so designated (runs this view) from their copper skin, and/or their expertise in the purple industry; other theories relate their name to the copper trade, the palm-tree and...
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