Finisia

Finisia (au Foinike kutoka Kigiriki Φοινίκη: phoiníkē; kwa Kimisri tau(i)-fenchu, idebu-fenchu) ilikuwa jina lililotumika kwa kanda ya pwani ya mashariki ya Bahari Mediteranea katika nchi za leo Israel, Lebanon na Syria.

Wamisri wa Kale waliwaita watu wa Finisia "fenchu",  iliyomaanisha "seremala". Wamisri walinunua ubao kwa ujenzi na kwa vifaa kutoka misitu ya Lebanoni na biashara hii ilikuwa mikononi mwa miji ya Finisia.

Wenyewe hawakujiita "Wafinisia", bali walijiita kufuatana na miji yao walipotoka.

Wafinisia waliongea Kifinisia ambacho ni lugha ya Kisemiti na kuishi katika dola-miji wakifanya biashara ya baharini kote katika Mediteranea na hata nje yake. 

Eneo la Finisia lilianza takriban kwa mji wa Dor upande wa kusini kupitia Tiro, Sidoni, Beirut, Byblos na  Arwad hadi Tartus upande wa kaskazini. 
 
Walianzisha miji ya koloni katika eneo la Mediteranea na koloni mashuhuri lilikuwa Karthago, mji uliokuwepo karibu na Tunis katika Tunisia ya leo. 

Waroma wa Kale waliwaaita "Puni" wakatwaa eneo lao lote mwaka 63 KK na tangu wakati ule Finisia ikawa sehemu ya jimbo la Syria ndani ya Dola la Roma.

Historia 
Mtaalamu Mgiriki Herodot aliandika ya kwamba miji ya kwanza yalipatikana Finisia tangu mwaka 2750 KK. 

Kumbukumbu za Kimisri zinaonyesha ya kwamba watawala wa "fenchu" yaani Finisia walijulikana tayari mnamo mwaka 2000 KK. 

Mnamo karne ya 15 KK zilianzishwa dola-miji za Sidoni, Tiro na Byblos zilizoendelea kuunda miji koloni kote kwenye pwani za Mediteranea. 

Mnamo 875 KK miji ya Finisia ililazimishwa kulipa kodi ya ulinzi kwa milki ya Ashuru. 

Mwaka 573 KK mji wa Tyros ulitekwa na jeshi la mfalme Nebukadreza_II wa Babeli baada ya kushambuliwa kwa miaka 13. 

Mwaka 539 KK mfalme Koreshi II wa Uajemi aliteka miji yote ya Finisia bila mapigano ikawa sehemu ya milki yake. Chini ya milki ya Uajemi miji ya Finisia ilistawi kibiashara; manowari zao zilikuwa mkono wa jeshi la bahari la Waajemi. 

Aleksander Mashuhuri alipovamia milki ya Uajemi mji wa Tyrus ulikataa kusalimu amri ukashambuliwa na Wagiriki na kuharibiwa kabisa. Katika milki za waandamizi wa Aleksander umuhimu wa Finisia na biashara yake ilipungua.

Lakini makoloni ya miji ya Finisia, hasa milki ya Karthago,  yaliendelea kuwa na nguvu katika Mediteranea ya Magharibi hadi ushindi wa Dola la Roma juu yao.

Utamaduni wa Finisia uliathiriwa na milki za Mesopotamia, Misri ya Kale na eneo la Mediteranea ya Mashariki. Kutokana na biashara yao watu wa Finisia waliwasiliana na majirani wote wakapokea athira kutoka kila upande na kuzibeba penginepo. 

Mwandiko wa Kifinisia ulisambaa na kuwa msingi wa alfabeti za Ulaya (Kigiriki, Kilatini, Kikirili) na pia miandiko ya abjadi ya Kiarabu na Kiebrania.

Tanbihi

Vyanzo
Assyria: Khorsabad (Room10c). http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/galleries/middle_east/room_10c_assyria_khorsabad.aspx . (2 May 2009
Boardman, J. 1964. The Greeks Overseas. London: Thames and Hudson Limited
Bondi, S. F. 1988. "The Course of History." In The Phoenicians, edited by Sabatino Moscati, 38–45. Milan: Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri.
Cunliffe, B. 2008. Europe Between the Oceans; 9000 BC-AD 1000. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Elayi, J. 2013. Histoire de la Phénicie. Paris: Perrin
Gordon, C. H. 1966. Ugarit and Minoan Crete. New York: W.W. Norton & Company
Habel, N.C. 1964. Yahweh Versus Baal: A Conflict of Religious Cultures. New York: Bookman Associates
Heard, C. Yahwism and Baalism in Israel & Judah   (3 May 2009).
Herodotus. 440 BC. The Histories. Translated by Andrea L. Purvis. New York: Pantheon Books
Homer. 6th century BC (perhaps 700 BC). The Odyssey. Translated by Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.
Markoe, G. E. 2000. Peoples of the Past: Phoenicians. Los Angeles: University of California Press
Mikalson, J.D. 2005. Ancient Greek Religion. Malden: Blackwell publishing
Moscati, S. 1965. The World of the Phoenicians. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., Publishers
Ovid. 1st century AD. Metamorphoses. Translated by Rolfe Humphries. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Rawlinson, George, 1989, "History of Phoenicia"; Google Archives
Ribichini, S. 1988. "Beliefs and Religious Life." In The Phoenicians, edited by Sabatino Moscati, 104–125. Milan: Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri.
Ringgren, H. 1917. Religions of the Ancient Near East. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press
1999. Canaan and Ancient Israel. http://www.museum.upenn.edu/Canaan/index.html 
Urquhart, David, "Mount Lebanon"; Google Archives

Marejeo
Carayon, Nicolas, Les ports phéniciens et puniques, PhD Thesis, 2008, Strasbourg, France.
Aubet, Maria Eugenia, The Phoenicians and the West: Politics, Colonies and Trade, tr. Mary Turton (Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2001: review)
The History of Phoenicia, first published in 1889 by George Rawlinson is available under Project Gutenberg at: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=2331 Rawlinson's 19th-century text needs updating for modern improvements in historical understanding.
 , for a critical examination of the evidence of Phoenician trade with the South West of the U.K.
 
 Thiollet, Jean-Pierre, Je m'appelle Byblos, foreword by Guy Gay-Para, H & D, Paris, 2005. ISBN 2-914266-04-9

Viungo vya nje
 
 BBC Radio4 - In Our Time: The Phonecians (audio archive)
 The quest for the Phoenicians in South Lebanon 
 The Phoenician Ship Expedition
 Phoenician Encyclopedic reference: Timeline, Illustrations, Articles
 Phoenician Alphabet

Historia ya Kale
Mediteranea
Historia ya Lebanoni
Maeneo ya Biblia