Savvy traders, intrepid navigators but also bearers of culture, the Phoenicians approached the people of the Mediterranean not as conquerors but as business partners who brought along with their rare dyes and wood the most incredible invention of all: the modern alphabet.

In the early twentieth century, at a time when Lebanon was emerging from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, Corm hoped that by looking back at the Phoenicians, he offered historical examples free from religious divides which all Lebanese people could be proud of.

Today, the Phoenicians intrigue. Perhaps because, ironically, the inventors of the modern alphabet have left so few written records. What we know is most often what the Greeks or the Romans, their commercial and political adversaries, have written about them. At the same time, their impact on the Mediterranean world is being re-evaluated in a less Western centric view.

Based on the latest archeological discoveries, the Phoenician Institute hopes to highlight their contributions to the Mediterranean world.

Photo: The Louvre Museum, Paris.