General Knowledge

Did you know

The Middle East contains shrines belonging to three of the most influential religions of the world Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The term "The Middle East" is a European one, dating back to times when areas of the world were described according to their distance and direction from London or Paris.
Stretching from Egypt in the west to Iran in the east, from Turkey in the north to Yemen in the south, the Middle East has suffered from interference by outside powers.

(Arabic Dancing is known in the west as "Belly Dancing" which is also a European term).

 

History

Lebanon has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Phoenicians were the first well known group of people to live there. They probably moved to the region from the south about 3000BC

 

Phoenicia and the Phoenicians

The origin of the word Phoenicia is not certain. It appears to have developed from the word Canaan, meaning Land of Purple. The name first used for ancient Palestine and Syria. Canaan was an important source of red purple dyed goods. The Greeks probably used their word phoenix which meant red-purple, when referring to the people who traded these red-purple goods to them. Phoinike, or Phoenicia, eventually became the name of Canaan's coastal strip.
The Phoenicians were one of the most famous peoples of ancient world. They were great sailors, navigators and traders. They won distinction in history for two achievements. They were among the first to send out explorers and to establish colonies throughout the Mediterranean Sea area and even beyond the Strait of Gibraltar.
The Greek alphabet developed from that of the Phoenicians, and the Roman and all Western alphabets have been taken from the Greek.

The Phoenicians were seagoing traders from the very beginning of their recorded history.The Egyptians knew about the ships of JEBAIL (BYBLOS) as early as 2900BC. But Phoenicia did not reach its peak as a great sea power until about 1000BC.

The Phoenicians had many gods and goddesses called BAAL (Lord) and BAALAT (Lady). All Phoenicians worshipped the same major gods. Sometimes were known by different names in different cities.

The story of ASTARTE AND HER LOVER ADONIS well known in Phoenicia was carried from there to Greece, where Astarte became the Greek Goddess Aphrodite. The Roman later knew her as Venus.