Overview

Though the Phoenicians were among the most influential peoples of ancient times, becoming merchants and explorers who settled the western Mediterranean and beyond, there was—strictly speaking—no such place as "Phoenicia." Rather, the homeland of the Phoenicians was a coastal strip centered on what is today Lebanon, a chain of city-states dominated by Tyre and Sidon. As for the name Phoenicia, it comes from the Greek Phoinike, which shares roots with the word phoenix—a term that to the ancient Greeks connoted blood-red or purple. The latter was the color of a natural dye developed by the Phoenicians, who became so closely associated with it that their name reflected the fact.

Background

Today virtually all clothing dye comes from synthetic sources, but this is...