Phoenicia

Phoenicia was an ancient civilization located in the coastal region of the eastern Mediterranean, in what is now modern-day Lebanon, western Syria, and northern Israel. The Phoenician civilization emerged around 1500 BCE and flourished until it was gradually "absorbed" into larger empires, such as the Persian and Hellenistic Empires, in the first millennium BCE.

## The Unofficial Empire

There is no single list that does justice to the vast unofficial commercial empire of the Phoenician merchant princes. The most important cities were Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Byblos, Arwad in the Levant, and later Carthage in Africa, but there are many more. Try the list of important cities at the Phoenicia Wiki page. A different list exists as an entire category. Try other Wiki languages: they will give you new places again. Don’t forget to open the colonies subcategory, there are even more cities & ports. Phoenicians didn’t always permanently settle or officially rule all these places, but traded there and influenced them. Often, the original Phoenician name of their ports is lost to us.

A map of Phoenician trade routes covers the entire Mediterranean, except Italy & Greece. The line extends off the map along the coast of Africa, which the Phoenicians explored and circumnavigated.

While the mainstream denies that Phoenicians settled in Britain, it admits that Britain was already inside their sphere of influence by 800 BC. Faraway lands like the Canaries and India are said to have been visited by them. I don’t think the Phoenician discovery of America is true as theorized, but there’s probably a reason that the guy who was allowed to break the secret that the earth isn’t flat was named twice (!) after the region Galilee in the Phoenician hinterland.

Trading in antiquity officially meant colonization: This Mediterranean map appears dotted with Phoenician and Greek colonies & trading posts, even though it shows a late period and many entries are omitted. It seems neatly divided between Greek (red) & Phoenician (yellow), but this distinction doesn’t account for aristocratic ties. Greek rulers were likely on good terms with, if not descendants of Phoenician merchant princes. We will find many Phoenician “themes” in Ancient Greece.

As “mainstream” proof, ther’s this Belarusian Wiki map that shows earlier Phoenician colonization reaching deep into Greece. Many Wiki pages silently link to this file, rather than to the PhoenicianGreek split. You see it whenever you click to “show” the section “Phoenician cities and colonies”. The cities on the Belarusian map in modern-day Turkey, Greece, Albania are (counter-clockwise): Myriandrus, Finike (!), Rhodes, Lemnos, Thasos, Thera, Milos, Kythira, Ithaca and Phoenice (!). They’re not included on the first map, even though they all have a Phoenician history attested on some Wiki page – except for Albanian Phoenice, which is spelled exactly like Ancient Phoenicia.

We’ll encounter many more places named “Phoenicia” later, and also make maps of our own, which will look a bit different. I’ll give you a preview here, we’ll analyze it later.

As for the Eastern parts of the world: Phoenician coastal cities of the Levant were also the gateway to inland Mesopotamian trade routes, via Syrian cities likely controlled by similar merchant prince clans. If you look at trade routes along the Euphrates into Mesopotamia, and take into account that Sargon II already relied for his construction projects on timber from Phoenicia, traded via cities like Syrian Charchemish, and that the Lion Weights from Assyrian Nimrud had Phoenician inscriptions, then I hope you can see that the merchant empire centered on Phoenicia spanned the entire antique world. You’ll say that Northern Europe was not part of it, but we’ll see that it likely was as well.

## Wealth & Impunity

How did this empire come to be centered on the Levant? We can understand a lot of it with the mainstream explanations already: Phoenicia had 3 natural comparative advantages: a narrow coast, prime timber, poisonous snails.

### The Coast

The Phoenician coast was only a narrow strip, cut off the hinterland by the Mount Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges. This meant sustaining large populations on the limited farmland would be difficult if not for traded supplies. It was also very hard to attack these coastal cities without a large navy. On top of that, most Phoenician cities were at their core fortresses built on peninsulas or islands, some even with sweet-water wells bored into the ground, so even if the coastal part of such a stronghold was sacked, the island fortress could withstand almost any siege. If an enemy didn’t come with a better navy than that of the Phoenicians – and we’ll see that such an enemy didn’t exist for a long time – the elites could even continue with their daily trade, or bail out and sail away on their ships.

What does this mean in our spook context? The island fortresses were likely not the main protection. Controlling all global branches of power was. The fortresses are still symbolic though. If aristocrats enjoy total impunity from armed conflict, the idea to start wars, and foist them even upon one’s own onshore population just for profit, might occur with greater frequency.

### The Timber

Why did the Phoenicians have the best, even for some time the only navy? Their secret was the wood: The forests of Mount Lebanon provided prime cedar timber. The cedar on the Lebanese flag may look a bit chubby, but that’s only because they didn’t put up a human for size comparison: Cedars were, and are, impressive majestic trees. 5000 years ago, they were already used to build palaces & temples. But these straight, tall, hard-wooded trees were also perfect to build formidable seaworthy ships, both warships & merchant ships, the first & best in the Fertile Crescent, and perhaps worldwide.

Kemet, for all its might, couldn’t build such ships with local timber, because they lacked proper wood. Kemite barges were built with Phoenician cedars, as were their temples & palaces.

Mesopotamia had some mountains providing wood, but in late antiquity came to increasingly rely on Phoenician cedar as well. An entire series of Assyrian friezes at the Louvre shows transportation of cedarwood for Sargon II. Phoenicia-based merchant princes thus had a near-monopoly in the Fertile Crescent on a good that required no production at all. They traded their cedar timber to other regions, and their craftsmen built formidable cedar-planked ships to expand on these prime customer connections, to trade other wares, many of them luxury goods.

That doesn’t mean that empires traded at arm’s length, as in some brainwashing textbooks. Especially Kemet had a very special relationship with the neighboring Levantine coast, and may have built up the city-states there. But it explains why the main colonization move came from Phoenicia geographically, and not from the more ancient empires. In our context, this means that kings would come to the merchant princes begging for timber. Mount Lebanon was a goldmine with regrowing, yet destructible gold. If aristocrats profit from building and re-building, they might also have an increased incentive for destructive wars. And having farreaching seaworthy ships, in fact the only navy of its kind globally, means that this aristocracy could harvest & seed information at will.

### The Snails

The main other highly expensive export good for which Phoenicia officially had a near-monopoly was Tyrian Purple, but it did require production. The purple used to dye the cloth was obtained from the glands of the murex snail, who uses the slime to paralyze its prey. Exposed to sunlight, it turns into various colors, eventually purple & black, and stinks. The factories were often removed a little from the cities. It was likely invented on Crete in 2000 BC, but quickly adopted by the Phoenicians who were trading along the Mediterranean islands. Mounds of crushed murex shells were found near Sidon & Tyre, Sarepta, Carthage, Mogador and everywhere Phoenician. An anecdote alleges the color would still be vivid after 180 years (though that phrase looks like paid product placement). The price was accordingly high: Diocletian’s financial reform in 301 CE set the upper limit for one pound of purple-dyed silk to 150,000 denarii, roughly 3 times its weight in gold.

This factors in the silk, traded from China. Regular purple wool would “only” be 50,000 denarii. What does this mean in our context? The importance of Tyrian purple might be exaggerated. The merchant princes’ power was that they had a chokehold on all international trade, most importantly metals & ores. Even in the luxury category, purple cloth was likely just the tip of the iceberg. Lots of different luxury goods were traded. All aristocrats from the known world depended on merchant families, not only for their economies, but for their personal lifestyle. I think this was not a marginal aspect, but the top of an exploitation pyramid: Local rulers would milk wealth from their subjects, and merchant overlords would then milk the wealth from local rulers, through silly luxury items. And remember, all top merchants were aristocrats themselves, able to offer family ties as well as wares. Luxury items might have been the admission ticket to foreign dynasties.

## The Trail into Europe

This is just the official setup according to mainstream history. Can we explain a silent takeover of the entire world with that, by Levantine merchants & financiers? We’ve come disturbingly close. I haven’t discovered a written-down recipe for these takeovers, but Miles has found countless times that there was seemingly no opposition. My theory is therefore that most local rulers traded their countries’ independence away, willingly. The question how this went becomes a lot easier, if the takeover party is ultra-rich & ultra-powerful. I think Fertile Crescent merchant princes were rich enough to just buy Europe from local rulers. These European rulers weren’t cavemen or barbarians though, or stupid. In fact, I think they were very smart to accept the deal.

Imagine a clan of local Bronze Age rulers, who successfully traded resources with imperial grand merchants, and are suddenly offered to marry into the global overlord family tree, as a minor branch. They could even keep their country, if only they’d rule it in a joint operation. Would they hesitate for a moment? Sure, foreign merchant corporations would set up camp, and periodically the country would be marked up for some manufactured crisis by the overlord committee. Ultimately, it would be integrated into some empire ruled by 100% Levantine families. But by then the local clan would be on the right side of the Great Hoax, and enjoy the carefree benefit from it all. They’d have gotten their spook education in the imperial capital, and identify as spooks themselves, rather than with their spooked subjects, whom they’d always loathed anyway.

Egyptian rulers took offspring of subordinate kings into their capital to educate them. In Part II we’ve also seen many foreign princelings, experts, and even soldiers in the Mesopotamian capitals. Did the Phoenicians in the Levantine middle run the same strategy? Likely, but we can’t tell: Although the Phoenicians invented the alphabet, conveniently no written records remain from their merchant empire, and all Greek & Roman histories about them have been lost or banished. [Although I assume they exist somewhere: the Vatican archives, maybe?] What’s officially left are a few short royal inscriptions and votive steles, which pretty much consist of only names. But as Miles has taught us, we can get very, very far just by comparing the names.

We will start now exploring spooky trails from Phoenicia into European history. We will see that almost all European shores were colonized by the Phoenicians, or later empires that were built on theirs. Similar trails would lead into Mesopotamia, Persia, Russia. We’ll have to leave them unexplored for now. (Two important trails into European institutions that we’ll skip here are those into Christianity and into the Knights Templar, both of which often used Phoenician cities as bases.) Before we start, let me clarify what I think this colonization meant: Some islands were settled first by Phoenicians, but that’s the exception. Most places were already inhabited by early Neolithic times. Most often, Phoenician merchants would set up small trade posts, which existed side-by-side with indigenous settlements.

They would have brought craftsmen & settlers along to staff those trade posts, and for large colonization ventures. But I think they usually did not replace the local populations. Some locals would have welcomed the trade, others not, depending on whose jobs were first replaced by cheap imports. But I think indigenous populations continued to develop in a natural way, mingling slowly with the newcomers. All regions maintained their own language & culture, even when Phoenician script was changed to suit it. One exception is the Late Bronze Age Collapse [Sea Peoples], where many settlers were herded around, existing settlements razed, culture & language replaced almost completely. We’ll have to research it another time.

So, whenever someone writes that this or that people are descendants of “the Phoenicians”, it looks false to us. The descendants of Phoenicians are **only the elites**. Whether the merchant princes obliterated local elites, or rather let them hop onto the back seat, can be anyone’s guess. I’d say it’s more of the latter, since we’ll see that new puns were invented for local languages.

### The Trail into Spain

I’ll start with the Phoenician trail into Spain, not because it’s the most ancient, but because it’s the most obvious. If this doesn’t convince you that the influence of ultra-rich aristocrats from the Levant on our all history is perhaps a little underestimated, then nothing will. Many ancient cities said to be founded by Phoenicians are not on any list. Since Europeans had no script in ancient times, and Phoenician records were “lost”, historians start with the Romans, as everything before was local prehistory.

Archaeologists do find Phoenician pottery everywhere, but debate whether it was produced locally or merely imported. They only admit Phoenician settlements once they excavate a necropolis. The tourist industry wants to cash in on the ancient heritage and started to spill the beans, so some Spanish cities got a Phoenician footnote in Wikipedia. You can’t always know whom to believe, but when I tried to collect all those Spanish cities that were attested to be founded, settled or conquered by Phoenicians at some point in time, I noticed a pattern. Try and look at the map. Do you see the pattern?

Of course the pattern is that the entire Iberian coastline and all adjacent islands & territories were covered with Phoenician colonies. There’s hardly any city that was not founded or settled by Phoenicians at some point, and these are just the admitted ones, that I found, without North Africa. The term Carthaginian Iberia doesn’t even capture it, as it started long before the Carthaginians. A better name might be Tartessos, the “semi-mythical” Phoenician kingdom in Spain. Of course there were local Iberians before, during & after, but Phoenician merchants controlled all import & export.

If you say a little trade’s no harm, think about what it does to modern-day developing countries when global enterprises run by foreign financiers own the economy. Local rulers may publicly rant against “the foreigners”, but we usually know who they secretly answer to. What did people in ancient times think of the trade conducted in Spain? A famous anecdote by Diodorus of Sicily about the silver of the Pyrenees is probably a good measure. (Note that he comes from a Phoenician-Greek colony himself, where his name appears on a prominent tombstone.)

* *[DIODORUS V:35:4] Now the natives were ignorant of the use of the silver, and the Phoenicians, as they pursued their commercial enterprises and learned of what had taken place, purchased the silver in exchange for other wares of little if any worth. And this was the reason why the Phoenicians, as they transported this silver to Greece and Asia and to all other peoples, acquired great wealth. So far indeed did the merchants go in their greed that, in case their boats were fully laden and there still remained a great amount of silver, they would hammer the lead off the anchors and have the silver perform the service of the lead. And the result was that the Phoenicians, as in the course of many years they prospered greatly, thanks to commerce of this kind, sent forth many colonies, some to Sicily and its neighbouring islands, and others to Libya, Sardinia, and Iberia.*

So, if you want to get a feeling for the scale of this colonization, just poke here & there into the links we collected, as proof for our map. You don’t need to read it all, please treat it as a reference.

### Phoenician Colonies in Spain

We already mentioned the islands Corsica & Sardinia, which were colonized by the Phoenicians, and used to island-hop towards Spain. On Sardinia, a Phoenician inscription was found near Nora. Phoenician settlements were set up in Cagliari, Chia, Sant’Antioco, Monte Sirai, Tharros, Bosa. Even Porto Torres is said by some to be of Carthaginian origin. Corsica came officially under Carthaginian-Etruscan rule after the Battle of Alalia, modern Aléria. On the mainland, the small French village of Èze has a church which houses a Kemite Ankh, said to be brought there by the Phoenicians, who had erected a temple at the site. On the mainland, Toulon may have been founded by Phoenicians, and even produced purple dye. Marseille was, according to mainstream research, founded by Greek Phocaean colonists, but some list it as a Phoenician colony, especially since the Punic Marseille sacrificial tariff was found there.

Narbonne is said to have been founded by the Phoenicians, though Romans re-established it. Phoenician-style wares are found throughout the Gulf of Lion, so that area was hooked on Phoenician and Greek trade by the 5th century BC. The harbor or Empúries is said to have been originally developed and used by the Phoenicians. Folk etymology has it that Barcelona was founded by the Carthaginian Barcid family. The world-famous “strategist” Hamilcar Barca, like countless death-fakers, died nearby falling off his horse or drowning in a river. It was probably his well-prepared retirement. Tarragona is said to have been founded and given its name by the Phoenicians as Tarqon.

Offshore, the Balearic Islands were colonized by the Phoenicians in “very early times”, the town Mahón on Menorca was called Mago after the Magonid family, Sa Caleta on Ibiza was a Phoenician port, as was Pollença on Mallorca. The name Baleares may be derived from Phoenician “Baal”. On the mainland, Sagunto was conquered by the Carthaginians, starting the fake Punic Wars. Alicante was founded by Carthaginians as Akra Leuke. Famous Phoenician statues are from there. Elche (Helike) is said to have been founded by the Greeks, then occupied by the Carthaginians.

Guardamar is close to the Phoenician colonies Herna and La Fonteta. Peña Negra near Crevillente, had an ancient settlement, partly Phoenician & indigenous. The dating varies from 900– 600 BC to 3000–700 BC. Something Kemite was aboard, evidenced by horus pendants & scarab seals. The Phoenicians set up a center for pottery mass production. A Phoenician ship was found off the coast at Isla Grosa near La Manga carrying tin, lead & ivory, so the Mar Menor was also frequented by the Phoenician traders.

Cartagena was founded by... you guessed it: the Carthaginians! Two more preserved Phoenician ships have been found at Mazarron. Villaricos was founded by the Phoenicians as Baria. It had an entire necropolis. Almería was also settled by Phoenicians, and from here onwards, the Phoenicians are said to have been crowding the coastline, with a great concentration of early settlements. Adra was founded by Phoenicians as Abdera, important enough to mint its own coins. Almuñécar was founded by Phoenicians as Sexi. Cute name, but it was a major industry port. Between Almuñécar and Málaga, an entire Phoenician necropolis has been unearthed, so the area was definitely settled long-term by Phoenician merchants.

Málaga itself was founded by the Phoenicians as Malaka, the Semitic root MLK meaning king. Marbella was likely founded by Phoenicians, though only Phoenician artifacts were unearthedt. At the Strait of Gibraltar, modern San Roque, with a protected harbor inside a bay, was founded by Phoenicians as Carteia, the QRT root for city, as in Carthage. Nearby Algeciras was also a Phoenician port.

Just on the opposite African shore, Carthaginians had founded modern Ceuta and Tétouan on the Mediterranean side, and Tangier, Asilah and Lixus on the Atlantic side. This means no one could ever pass the Strait of Gibraltar without approval from the Phoenician merchant princes. Moving past Gibraltar, Cádiz was founded in pre-Carthaginian times by Phoenicians from Tyre in 1104 BC as Gadeira, on an offshore island. A namesake city could be Levantine Gadara. Other settlements were erected around the bay. Famous Phoenician sarcophagi were found there, and the Phoenician circumnavigations of Europe and Africa are stated to have started in Cádiz. The coat of arms shows the Pillars of Hercules, claimed to be actual pillars in a local Phoenician temple.

Cádiz traded with the fabled Phoenician city Tartessos, a source of silver, whose location is still debated. It might be identical to one of the Tarshis hsmentioned in the Bible. Medina-Sidonia is thought to have been founded as Asidon by Phoenicians from Sidon. A little up North, the city Lebrija was also founded by Phoenicians. Modern Huelva was founded by the Phoenicians as Onoba. Portuguese Portimão was founded as Portis Hanibalis by... you guessed it: the Carthaginians!

Faro was a settlement of the Phoenicians. Lagos may have been founded by Phoenicians in 900 BC. Celts start ed to use Phoenician script. Sagres, Europe’s most south-western point, had a sanctuary erected by the Phoenicians. Pessegueiro Island was first settled by the Carthaginians. As for Sines, the Punics are thought to have also had a presence in the area. Near Alcácer do Sal, a full Phoenician trade settlement was excavated at Abul. The Portuguese city Setúbal was founded by the Phoenicians, and you can still see it from the name, likely derived from Set-Baal. It has a great natural harbor.

The center of modern Portgal’s capital Lisbon stands on the site of an ancient Phoenician trading post called Alis Ubbo, said to be an important stop on the Phoenician tin trade routes to Britain. The nearby coastal town Estoril was also visited by the Phoenicians. Nazaré is said to have been settled by Phoenicians, with today’s locals thought to be their descandants. They still paint a “watchful eye” on their prows.

On Spanish territory again, the natural harbor of Vigo was used by Phoenicians and locals. Nearby Alcabre has a famous altar in Punic style. An entire paper has been written about it. The harbor of Pontevedra was also frequented by Phoenicians. Especially islands off the shore of Pontevedra are said to have been used as stops by the Phoenicians. In Cambados, salines were harvested by the Phoenicians. A famous lighthouse was also there. Phoenicians are said to have sailedpast Cabo Fisterra, and built an altar for sun worship there. A Coruña is again named with the QRN “horn” word. It has a lighthouse which some tales ascribe to the Phoenicians. The town itself was also “possibly founded by the Phoenicians”. Punta de Estaca de Bares features the ruins of a Phoenician salt fish factory and a Phoenician port.

Here the trail fizzles out. The Iberian North coast seems to have been less frequented, though Pliny mentions Oviedo as a source for lead. At the end of the Bronze Age, Northern Spain already traded extensively with both Britain and the Mediterranean, and the era already shows “a high degree of cultural similarity exhibited by the coastal communities”, achieved by extensive trade. But the Phoenicians did not merely sail around Iberia. For wine growing, they traveled into the interior, along the rivers Tagus, Douro, Baetis, and Iberus. Since the merchants were only interested in resource extraction, they left little traces behind. However, Phoenician pottery and winemaking equipment have been found in Valdepeñas. It’s marked on the map with a wineglass.

## The Phoenician Colony Spain

The name Hispania itself is officially speculated to be Phoenician, often explained as ai-shephani, “coast of rabbits”. Strange etymologies likely this often hide a pun, and the fact that countries may be named after rich financiers, like America. Biblical scribes are named Shephan like the rabbit, and real-world scribes were just such financiers. Shephan was also a Phoenician and a Carthaginian name, so the might be a merchant clan to uncover. Spain’s modern Hebrew name Sepharad, which the Sephardim are named after, was a Biblical place outside Israel, as was Sepharvim, from which an Assyrian ruler migrated people into Israel. Iberian ports might have been colonized from such a place as well. Lots of Semitic names have become common in Spain, some even with the Phoenician Baal-suffix such as Abitbol, Botbol, Tebol. Most were carried there by common-folk workers & craftsmen. But with them came the merchant princes, and stayed. So, there was a point in history in which the entire trade of the Iberian peninsula may have been monopolized by merchant families from the Levant. Officially, the Phoenician empire collapsed and vanished, when “the Romans” took over. We say it’s still there. And if today many Semitic names appear among the Spanish ultra-rich, we think we now have an inkling how that came to be.

## The Trail into Greece

For most regions, detecting the trail is more difficult. The kingdoms outside the Fertile Crescent had not yet developed script. That means the silent invasion happened in their prehistoric times. For Greece, we have the problem that not even the tourist industry wishes to admit Phoenician heritage. Greek’s history is old indeed, and even their derivations of the Phoenician alphabet were developed early, the earliest being Mycean Greek from 1600 BC, from Crete. Naturally, Crete has some half-admitted Phoenician colonies, was an important trade hub, and the earliest records are “mostly lists and inventories”. And “Tyrian” Purple was invented on Crete in 2000 BC, then copied in Tyre. So the history of Larger Greece already starts with Phoenician influences.

### Heracles, Melqart, Cryptocrat

Of the few things that remain from Ancient Phoenician culture, one “deity” is a particularly strong clue that their elites were also cryptocrats: Melqart. That name is not a god, but again just a silly pun: It means “cryptocrat”, and is linked to Greek Heracles. We’ll show you why. For some reason, Phoenician elites particularly loved the Greek “Heracles” theme. And Heracles appears in places where you’d rather expect Phoenician colonialists: The Pillars of Hercules, located in Phoenicianfounded Cádiz, are attested a Phoenician connection. The lighthouse called Tower of Hercules at A Coruña was according to folklore built by the Phoenicians.

The “Dorian” invasion of Ancient Greece was explained by classical historians as a conquest by the Heracleidae, children of Heracles. Hercules is even said to have visited Britain, preceding Brutus of Troy. But wasn’t Heracles Greek? Apparently he was also a Phoenician symbol, named “Melqart”:  Heracles is unanimously equated to the Phoenician god Melqart. He’s even called Hercules-Melqart, as if it was one deity. Herodot claims to have confirmed this by a visit to the Phoenician temples. And the bilingual Cippi of Melqart, dated 200 BC, directly translates the Phoenician god Melqart in Greek as Heracles (MLQRT, and ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΑ). It’s usually explained away as “interpretatio graeca”: The Greeks would project their own myths onto other people’s deities. So they might have declared Melqart to be Heracles because… because… Hey, why actually? Why would Heracles be Melqart?

Depictions & tales of Heracles make him appear as an archetypal barbarian warrior: half-naked, clad in fur, with a giant club, slaying monsters & beasts. Melqart is… a blank slate. Everything Phoenician has vanished, so we know nothing of him. The name Melqart is explained as MelekQart: “King of the City”. But the feral barbarian Heracles doesn’t exactly look like a king of the city, does he? He doesn’t even look like someone you’d want to meet in your city, or come near it.

While there aren’t any Phoenician depictions or tales of Melqart left, I could find quite a number of statues from Cyprus, very close to Phoenicia, influenced by Phoenician culture and listed with Phoenician colonies. These statues are alternately called Heracles & Melqart, as Cyprus was between Greece & Phoenicia. There are good images here, here, here, here, here, here. There’s even two on Wikipedia. It’s great artwork! But why would that skinny guy with the sly smile be Heracles, or Melqart? He looks nothing like the brutish barbarian, or like a King of the City. But the clue here is the lion: The cap of lion hide over his head, the lion paws knotted on his breast, and sometimes a lion cub in his hand (which you also see in Khorsabad). That’s all we need to know: The lion is a Phoenician pun, and we already know this pun: It’s **Samson’s pun**! Remember: lion-bee = KPR-DBR = cover-command = hidden-ruler. But we don’t find these word roots in Heracles or Melqart. What happened?

For Heracles, the pun got simply translated into Greek: The name “Heracles” is usually explained as Hera-kleos ( Ἥρα-κλέος), “Hera’s glory”. But I have a much better explanation in our context: Hera-kouleos (Ἥρα-κουλεός), a “covered-demigod”. Aa a heros was not a hero in the modern sense, but a human demigod worshiped in Ancient Greece, we have our “hidden lord” once again.

For Melqart, the pun got translated as well, but into Phoenician synonyms. Wikipedia gives Melqart’s Phoenician spelling as MLK-QRT, to explain the “King of the City”. But that is wrong. He was never spelled with K, or at least I have never seen it like that. The correct spelling is MLQRT (מלקרת(, you can check it on the Cippi of Melqart. Now what does that mean? QRT means “city”, they’re right about that. But it’s mostly a small city, or a village. What’s another Semitic root for village? It’s KPR, which also means cover. You can probably see where this is going. We have found our “cover” already. Now where’s the second part of our lion-bee pun? Melqart’s prefix is ML. We find that word in Hebrew as MLH, but the H is later vowelization. The Phoenicians would have written it ML. What does ML mean? What does it mean as Hebrew MLH? It means word. Another word for word is DBR. Which also means ruler. It’s the same old pun again: ML-QRT = word-village = DBR-KPR = cover-command = “hidden ruler”.

The spooks recycled the same lame old puns across nations & centuries: **Samson’s pun is Melqart’s pun is Heracles’ pun**! The hidden rulers spooked Ancient Phoenicia as Melqart, and Ancient Greece as Heracles. We have 2 deities whose names mean “cryptocrat”. We’ll see later how popular this pun was when we analyze antique coins with aristocrats posing with a lion skin.

## Phoenician Colonies in Greece

Our list for Spain was likely incomplete. This list will be more incomplete, and not as conclusive: we will include all places in Greece settled by Phoenicians according to archaeologists or historians, places with mythical colonization by Phoenician prince Cadmus, brother of Europe, or places that have Phoenician names. And we included places named “Phoenicia” in Greek. For Anatolian Finike, it’s admitted that its name is derived from Phoenicia, but not for all the other Greek “Phoenicias”.

We’ll list the places along 3 routes: up the Anatolian coast, through the Cyclades, and along the Peloponnese. Again, you don’t have to read it all. It’s just proof & reference.

### **1st** route is along the Anatolian coast up to Greek Thrace & Chalkidiki:

Anatolian Finike was named Phoenikus (Φοινικοῦς) in Greek. It is “said to have been founded by Phoenicians in the 5th century BC, and thus named after its founders”. Rhodos was according to myth settled by Phoenicians under Cadmus. The hero Iphiklos put an end to the Phoenician domination of the island. Excavations confirm trading with Phoenicia, Crete, Cyprus,Kemet& Greece. Classical historians attest a Phoenician presence at Ialysos on Rhodes. Lindos on Rhodes was a major trading center between Greeks and Phoenicians. Rhodos is officially named after Phoenician words for snake or pomegranate. It might be really named after Phoenician Arados, called Ruad Island, like Rhodes Island. There’s even a pun connecting the 2: The roses on Rhodos  coins are a pun on rhodon, Greek for rose (ῥόδον). That the word also exists in Semitic languages, as the WRD root (ורד(, which could be a pun for Arados. The roses on British coats of arms, and names like Roosevelt, might be derived from these 2 city-states.

Halki was settled by Phoenicians and said to be named after a Phoenician word for purple. On the island Kalymnos, the first inhabitants were the Carians, followed by the Phoenicians. Marathos is named like the Phoenician city Marathos, Amrit in Phoenician.

The Fournoi Korseon archipelago was according to Thucydides frequently raided by Phoenicians. The island Samos was settled first by the Phoenicians. Strabo derives its name from Phoenician. On the island Erythrae, according to excavations, “a Phoenician presence is noted”. The island Tenedos next to Ancient Troy was one of the many Greek places called “Phoenice”. Ancient Troy itself has a very Phoenician theme to it. We’ll explore it when we get to Rome.

The island Lemnos has a Phoenician name: It’s derived from the Semitic LBN for “white”. Lemnos was also a center for the cult of the Cabeiri, mysterious gods of unspecified number & gender, worshiped in a foreign language, whose names were not published. “Cabir” is obviously Phoenician and means “great”. Eusebius peddled horror stories about them, but I guess the mystery of these “gods” is simply that they didn’t want nosy people around their temples.

The city Abdera on the mainland has a Phoenician namesake city in Spain. The island Thasos was colonized by Phoenicians, “attracted probably by its gold mines”. Probably. On the peninsula Chalkidiki, the area around Lake Volvi has been in the possession of Phoenicians. Lake Koronia shows the QRN root for horn, Mygdonia the MGD root for tower, as in Megiddo and Mogador. Chalkidiki was colonized from an originally Phoenician settlement on Chalkis. Pella, in Macedonia, has a namesake city in Phoenicia. We’ll cover them in the Macedonia section.

### 2nd route, from the Cyclades to Attica:

The island Astypalaia was settled by Dorians upon older traces of Phoenician settlements. The island Anafi, just like its larger neighbor Thera, was according to the Cadmus myth colonized by Phoenicians under Membliaros (Μεμβλίαρος), and allegedly even named after him. The island Thera, modern Santorini, had a site founded by Phoenicians. The island Ios was influenced by Minoan and Mycenean civilization, and also settled by the Phoenicians. It was originally named Phoinike (Φοινίκη), after and by the Phoenicians. The island Folegandros was used as a port by the Phoenicians, and named “phelekgundari” by them, meaning “rocky earth” (perhaps from phelek & gundur).

The first inhabitants of Milos were likely Phoenicians or Carians. On Antiparos, the first inhabitants in historical times are assumed to be Phoenicians from Sidon. The ancient name “Oliaros” is probably of Phoenician origin (perhaps from ayil & haaretz). On Paros, which had marble quarries, “unfinished anthropoid sarcophagi of a Phoenician type” were found, plus a “marble disc with Greek and Phoenician scribbles”. Delos is famous for its Dolphin Mosaics, which betray "minor traces of Punic-Phoenician" influence, and use the Phoenician Tanit symbol. A famous one is the the House of Dolphins of a Phoenician owner from Arados. Dolphins were also on Spanish Abdera coins, inscribed 'bdrt. Dolphin in Aramaic is “mermaid”, BRT-YM (ים ברת(, so it could be a pun with seaside Beirut.

Mykonos was in turn settled by people from different regions: Kemites, Icarians, Phoenicians. The island Syros was settled & named by the Phoenicians. It was spelled Tyros (Τύρος), just like Phoenician Tyre. There’s a Volleyball club named “The Syros Phoenicians”. On the island Andros, the first inhabitants were the Carians, followed by the Phoenicians. The town Thorikos on mainland Attica shows ancient traces of industrial-scale mining & refining. The port was used to import an enormous amount of wood to fire the furnaces, and to export the ores. The site is seen as evidence that metallurgy was brought to Greece by the Phoenicians. At the island Salamis, the satellite island Agios Georgios between Salamis & Athens had in ancient times a colony of Phoenicians, who fished there for shells and produced purple dye.

Ancient Corinth worshiped the goddess Athena with the title Phoinike and introduced a month named Phoinikaios. Corinthian mythology narrates how the prince Melicertes or Palaemon washed up there, names of the Phoenician “deities” Melqart & Baal-Hamon, which in turn pun with “cryptocrat” & “rich lord”. Excavations at Corinth “unearthed large quantities of Phoenician amphorae and luxury items (such as jewelry and metalwork)”. According to Thucydides, the Corinthians were also the first Greeks to acquire ship-building skills. Thebes is again said to have been founded by the mythical Phoenician prince Cadmus. On the island Euboea, the town Chalkis is said to have been first settled by Phoenician purple fishers. The name is said to be derived from the Phoenician word for porphyry shell, “chalki” or “kallis”. The strait of Cape Kafireas is also known to have been frequented by Phoenicians.

### 3rd route, from Crete along the Peloponnese to Epirus:

In Kommos on Crete, a Phoenician-style three-pillar shrine from 800 BC was found, and another one in Cretan Pinias. Archeological finds are evidence of “connections from Kommos to Sardinia, Egypt, Cyprus and the Levant”, all frequented by the Phoenicians. Aradena on Crete is said to have been founded by Phoenicians from Arados, because of its name. Loutro on Crete was in ancient times called Phoenix or Finika (Φοίνιξ or Φοίνικα). The island Kythira had a Phoenician colony with purple production, attested for 1500 BC. Xenophon mentions a Phoenician Bay, Herodot a sanctuary erected by Phoenicians from Ashkelon.

Gytheio on the Peloponnese mainland may have been the center of Phoenician purple dye trade, of quality second only to that of Phoenicia itself. Foinikounta, now garbled but formerly directly named Phoinikus (Φοινικούς), is officially believed to have been founded by Phoenician shellfishers. A nearby town is also named Foiniki (Φοινίκη). Ithaca’s name is speculated to be the same as Phoenician Utica, and many other places, derived from athiq, meaning “old”. I include it here because it’s on the Belorussian map. The island Paxos was first settled by Phoenicians. Finiq in today’s Albania is not officially Phoenician, but again named Phoenicia (Φοινίκη).

## The ŠLM Family of Names

As Solomon and Hiram have almost no family members given, we cannot search there for a Phoenician-Israelite genealogy. The mightiest tool that remains to us are name similarities, because the aristocrats are so fond of their names, they insert them into all historical records, even religious ones. When I looked for names similar to “Solomon”, we noticed something odd…

In Hebrew, Solomon is written ŠLMH (שלמה). The first similarity is that to Jerusalem, written YRWŠLM (ירושלם). The ancient name of Jerusalem is theorized to be Salem, as a city from Abraham's time is called Salem. That would explain why so many towns all over the world were named Salem. Jerusalem is ancient, settled around 4500 BC. Solomon and Jerusalem share the ŠLM word root (שלם), meaning peace, prosperity, completeness, alliance, and related things. We counted 15 ŠLM names in the Bible, indexed by Strong from 8004 Salem(שלמ) to 8022 Shalmaneser (שלמנסר). The last two, ŠLMN (שלמן) and ŠLMNSR (שלמנסר), are interesting, as they are Assyrian kings.

There are five known Assyrian kings called Shalmaneser. The Biblical king is thought to be Shalmaneser V who reigned 727–722 BC. The first Assyrian Shalmaneser was Shalmaneser I who lived 1274–1245 BC and left inscriptions: Among his officials, another name with the ŠLM root appears: Šulmanu-qarrad. What’s “Šulmanu”?

Shulmanu is explained as a god of “underworld, fertility, and war” – closely related concepts! And all Semitic peoples worshiped him. Then there’s the bold claim that he was found in 2000 BC. But there’s no real record of that god anywhere! The earliest Mesopotamian ŠLM name I found is Suhlamu, an Assyrian king from the list of “kings who lived in tents”, who lived before 2000 BC. That’s the number they cited, but it’s a king, not a god! Another is king Shalim-ahum who reigned ca. 1900 BC. So, my take is that it wasn’t really a god, just an aristocratic name.

Wikipedia says Shulmanu is known from Phoenician Sidon. Is that Phoenician Shulmanu found somewhere? While the ŠLM family even has its own Wikipedia page, few members are listed. A mythology book provides a much better summary of the ŠLM names from all over the Fertile Crescent and beyond. But I found more: There’s a Canaanite deity Shalim. And Salman, a god worshiped in Arabia. The name frequently appears in epigraphic texts dedicated “to Salman”, varied as masculine, feminine, singular, dual, plural, diminutive in Sabean and Qatabanic inscriptions. The heyday of Saba and Qataban came after Solomon opened these trade routes, so here the ŠLM deity appeared after the ŠLM rulers. It’s therefore speculated that Salman was perhaps a deified hero. Are there more links to Phoenicia? Shulmanu is “known from Bronze Age inscriptions at Sidon”. We tracked that down to Louvre exhibit AO 1759, the “Abdmiskar Offering” dated 200-150 BC, found  on the Louvre website, with a larger image here, a transcript here. The given translation is:

* *This is the offering which Abdmiskar made, acting chief of the assembly, second in command, son of Baalsaloh, to his lord Shalman. May he bless him! hmnḥt aš ytn obdmskr rb obr lspt rb šny bn bolṣlḥ ladny lšlmn ybrk המנחת אש יתן עבדמסכר רב עבר לספת רב שני בן בעלצלח לאדני לשלמן יברך*

Unlike Shulmanu, Solomon and the Assyrian kings were historical persons. Are there historical Phoenicians named ŠLM? Yes there are! Phoenician ŠLM name examples are Shelamin and Baal-Shalem. The name Baal-ŠLM even appears in Ugarit texts. A “Collection of Phoenician inscriptions” cites more appearances of Baal-ŠLM. The name appears on ostraca. ŠLM-Baal appears on Neo-Punic inscriptions and on amphorae. Are there even Phoenician kings named Baal-ŠLM? Yes there are! And it’s two kings of Phoenician Sidon, where Shalmanu was worshiped as a god. They’re spelled Baal-ŠLM, which you could vowelize as Solom, Salem, Shalom. The official reading is Baal-Shillem, which looks like a purposeful fudge. The names were found at the Eshmun temple in Sidon, on an inscription dated roughly 400 BC, on the slab under the baby boy with the dove. A transcript can be found here:

* *This statue has been given by Baal-Shillem son of king Baana king of the Sidonians son of king Aber-Amun king of the Sidonians son of king Baal-Shillem king of the Sidonians to the Lord to Eshmun at fountain Ydil. May he be blessed! hsml z ʾš ytn bʿlšlm bn mlk bʿnʾ mlk ṣdnm bn mlk ʿbrʾmn mlk ṣdnm bn mlk bʿlšlm mlk ṣdnm lʾrny lʾšmn bʿn ydl ybrk הסמל ז אש יתן בעלשלם בן מלך בענא מלך צדנם בן מלך עבראמן מלך צדנם בן מלך בעלשלם מלך צדנם לארני לאשמן בען ידל יברך*

We're not claiming that the members of the ŠLM family are literally related. But they prove a wider connection between Ancient Israel and Ancient Phoenicia, and other regions beyond. And the different vowelizations of the very same letters ŠLM prove that the elites don’t want us to see that.

### The Greek ŠLM Family of Names

We cannot provide a genealogy of prehistoric Greek elites, but we can still see some sort of continuity. We just met the ŠLM family of names, which covered the entire Ancient Fertile Crescent, and especially the Levant with Phoenicia. It appears the ŠLM names were also exported to Greece: The mythical Greek king Salmoneus founded the city Salmone, had a brother Cretheus named like the trade hub Crete, and a daughter Tyro named like Phoenician Tyre. He impersonated a god to scam his subjects. Of course, he was struck by lightning immediately. Corrupt aristocrats would never get away with impersonating gods to have themselves worshiped, right? There’s the Greek island Salamis, named after the nymph Salamis, but also connected by some scholars “to the Semitic root Š-L-M” (and by us). The island Salamis is even officially connected to Phoenicia, via the Phoenician colony on the tiny island Agios Georgios.

But there’s also a Greek city Salamis on Cyprus, with burial jars that “indicate a Phoenician presence”, and royal tombs that exhibit “a strong Phoenician influence”. Phoenician colonies were founded near Cypriot Salamis, the city’s coast is facing Phoenicia, and the Phoenician king Abdemon reigned there during the Persian era. We’ll offer another connection between Greek Salamis & Cypriot Salamis in the next section: a merchant prince from the Greek ŠLM family of names.