Hellenistic Phoenicia

The Phoenicians have long been known for their trading, colonizing, and seafaring skills, but their history has too often seemed to stop short at the time of Alexander the Great. Alexander's destruction of the city of Tyre, however, only marked a new stage in Phoenician history, not its end. During the next three centuries this numerically small people had to live in a violent world dominated by Greeks and Macedonians. Their cities were destroyed, their land was reduced in size, and then divided up among mutually hostile kings. Yet they survived and enjoyed long periods of peace in which they evidently prospered. This is the first full account of Hellenistic Phoenicia. Within the basic chronological framework of their political history, the study pursues the themes of trade and economic history and the Hellenization of the Phoenicians' culture. The adaptation of the Phoenicians to life in the Hellenistic world shows a number of features common to that world as a whole, but also some which are distinctive to the Phoenicians themselves. A final chapter considers the changes in their role in the world outside their homeland.

Table of Contents:
The time of troubles, 360 - 287 BC; the Ptolemaic peace, 287 - 225 BC; conquest, 225 - 193 BC; the Seleukid peace, 193 - 129 BC; autonomy and independence, 129 - 64 BC; the Roman takeover, 64 - 15 BC; Phoenicians overseas.

Review :
`After Alexander the Great sacked Tyre in 332 B.C. the Phoenicians practically drop out of history. John D. Grainger makes a scholarly and diligent effort to recover them in the first full-length modern study of the long Phoenician twillight under Greco-Macedonian rule. ' The Historian, Autumn 1993 `substantial merits of this book. It abounds in acute observations and, far more than many books of which the same might be said, fills a real gap, contributing substantially to a growing body of new work on the "other" side of the Hellenistic world. ' F.W. Walbank, The Classical Review, Oxford University Press 1992 `This book is a most welcome contribution to the study of the Phoenicians...There is not doubt at all that Grainger's book is a solid piece of scholarly work. Besides, Grainger writes in a very clear style which is free from jargon. His reasoning is very cogent and his methodological approach is very sane... Grainger has definitely made a contribution to the area of Phoenician studies, especially to those scholars interested in the Phoenicians of the Levant during the Hellenistic period. He has written in such lucid English, that even the layman can enjoy this scholarly book. ' Anthony J. Frendo, published review, no source. `It abounds in acute observations and, far more than many books of which the same might be said, fills a real gap, contributing substantially to a growing body of new work on the 'other' side of the Hellenistic world. ' F.W. Walbank, Peterhouse, Cambridge, The Classical Review `Thus G. provides a good survey and discussion of the limited evidence regarding the political histories of the cities of Hellenistic Phoenicia in the Hellenistic period. Grainger does a good job of bringing the scattered evidence for his subject together and raises interesting questions. ' Nigel Pollard, University of Michigan, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 4.1 (1993) `John Granger ... here makes sense of a difficult and neglected topic ... Grainger has used every conceivable scrap of evidence - literary, epigraphical, numismatic, and archaeological ... this is sound scholarship. ' Thomas Kelly, University of Minnesota, History, Spring 1993 `Graingr is good on use of literary sources and good on numismatics. His maps, and comments on archaeological remains, are illuminating. The discussion of the relevance of epigraphical texts to the understanding of Phoenician trade ... is very clear and balanced. This is par excellence, then, an academic monograph for the nineties. ' Paul McKechnie, Prudentia, Vol. XXIV, No. 2, November 1992 `Many will find of considerable interest the examination of Central Places theory in the light of the Hellenistic data ' L L Grabbe, `After Alexander the Great sacked Tyre in 332BC the Phoenicians practically drop out of history. John D Grainger makes a scholarly and diligent effort to recover them in the first full-length modern study of the long Phoenician twilight under Greco-Macedonian rule. ' Doyne Dawson, The Historian, Gall 93, vol 56