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Pheonicia

Stratiotes

New Member
OK, here's one thing that has me interested.

Some historians have conjectured that Phoenician/African sailors reached the "new world."
The Phoenicians are generally referred to as the Canaanites in the OT-Jezebel was a Phoenician princess. That connection is rather interesting since the destruction of the Canaanite/Phoenician empire stopped exploration. I've read that most ancient peoples (includnig the Hebrews) feared the sea and thus had no desire for exploration.

It is also interesting to contemplate that the old-world discoverer of America was not really Columbus but probably one of the hated Canaanites who made the journey about 2000 years before him.
;)
 
D

DavidsAngel

Guest
That could very well be true. I've found that people knew about the new world. Well many did. Colombus has no idea there was wland between one side of the world and the other. He thought that the word was much smaller than it actually is. It is intresting to not that if he had done a few simple mathmatic equasions he would have figured out that the world was much larger than he thought.

That is very intresting about the Phoenician sailors. It could very well be true. Stratiotes do you have any other information on this?

And, talking about Hebrews. I've never heard that they feared the sea since most were fisherman. I think it's more of God told them to ect, ect, ect.


I guess they think that the world was populated by the seperation at the tower of Babel. And, they had no need to move anywhere else. Ir want anything else. Kinda like "We'll move when the good Lord tells us to" Kinda thing maybe?
 

Stratiotes

New Member
I think I read about the fear of the sea in a commentary that explained the imagery of the sea often used in apocolyptic literature. And, note that Revelation says of the new earth - "there was no sea..." which would be a good thing if you had grown up believing it was frightening or evil.

Another twist is that the Phoenicians are sometimes thought the ancestors of many in northern Africa and several of the early fathers were likely their descendants (Augustine being most prominent). So, those once rejected are invited to the feast...there's a sermon there...
 

MNJacob

Member
There are a couple of reasons why Israel was not a seafaring nation. The first is that the Philistines occupied the coastal area and that influence would have remained even through the Davidic dynasties. The second is simpler and geographic. There is only one natural harbor, at Acco (modern day Haifa).
 
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