HISTORY · OPEN COLLECTION

Phoenicians

Coastal Canaanite cities passed through the upheavals of the Late Bronze Age and reorganised their networks. Local institutions and memories continued into the Iron Age, alongside expanding maritime connections.

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Before you begin · Phoenicia

A coast inhabited before the Phoenicians

Phoenician cities grew on a Neolithic and Canaanite past connected with the sea and the lands of the Levant.

Since the Neolithic
The settlement of Byblos
The occupation of the coast precedes by millennia the names and the later Phoenician networks.
III–II millennia BCE
Cities of the Levant
Canaanite ports articulate exchanges and political relations with Egypt and other neighbouring regions.
1st millennium BCE
Phoenician networks
Independent cities and new establishments connect Mediterranean coasts through navigation, craftsmanship and writing.

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Prehistoric origins

Byblos has been inhabited since the Neolithic. Its successive constructions allow following a community that changed many times without completely abandoning the place. Situated on the coast of present-day Lebanon, it connected a terrestrial environment with maritime routes. Before alphabets and distant expeditions, there were generations that organised dwellings, production and relations with their neighbours.

The earliest cultures

During the Bronze Age, Byblos, Sidon and Tyre formed part of the Levantine Canaanite urban networks. Each city had its authorities and cults. Exchanges, especially with Egypt, linked their ports with other centres of the eastern Mediterranean. The circulation of raw materials and objects also put in contact techniques and images that local artisans reinterpreted.

How this history is formed

When passing into the Iron Age, these cities developed the networks we usually call Phoenician. Their navigators founded establishments and maintained relations along numerous coasts; the alphabet participated in that circulation of knowledge. There was no Phoenician state governing all those places. The museum brings together stories linked by language, practices and contacts, while preserving the differences between cities and communities.

From the past to the museum you are about to explore

The objects of the journey allow recognising cultural exchanges and local decisions behind the sailing routes.

Interpreting these traces. 'Phoenician' is an external designation; sharing practices did not turn Byblos, Sidon, Tyre and their establishments into a single country.

Sources for further exploration

Explore the earliest cultures

Phoenicia

≈1200 BCE · WESTERN ASIA

Access to the museum brings together the atlas and the background of Phoenicia. Afterwards, seven areas order the historical context, culture, architecture, characters and society, treasures and furnishings, beliefs and curiosities, and five historical doorways towards other museums. Each file preserves narrative layers, cautions and differentiated sources.

The room combines a specific visual catalog with an audited thematic dossier. Separates facts, interpretations and cautions; the 3D volumes continue to be replaceable markers until models with provenance and license are incorporated.

Levantine coast, especially Byblos, Sidon and Tyre, and their routes in the eastern Mediterranean

The coastal Canaanite cities weathered the Late Bronze Age crisis, reorganised their networks and entered the Iron Age preserving local institutions and memories.

‘Phoenician’ is a later exonym and never designated a single state; Byblos, Sidon and Tyre had their own trajectories and alliances.

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01 · COLLECTION

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Consult the maps and initial context sheets to situate this museum in time and territory; then choose the areas that interest you most.

01 · INITIAL ATLAS · NODES AND ROUTES

Map of Phoenicia

Discover the cities of the Levantine coast and their routes across the Mediterranean.

Phoenicians

The settlement of Byblos

Cities of the Levant

Phoenician networks

Prehistoric origins

The earliest cultures

How this history is formed

From the past to the museum you are about to explore

Phoenicia

Levantine coast, especially Byblos, Sidon and Tyre, and their routes in the eastern Mediterranean

The museum, section by section

Museum Access

Origins and context

Culture, music and words

Architecture and places

People and their stories

Treasures and evidence

Beliefs and curiosities

Connected cultures

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books

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Objects with a story