The study of ancient civilizations is one of the most interesting parts of history to me, especially Ancient Phoenicia. Also, look at my page Free Ancient Phoenicia Lapbook For Kids Who Love Hands-on History I’ve enjoyed teaching about Ancient Civilizations and their contributions that have led to some of the great inventions and resources that we still use today.
In this lesson, kids can learn about the ancient Phoenicians and the alphabet that they developed as well as creating their own clay tablet with Phoenician writing.
Phoenicia was actually a group of city-states. It was established in the area that we now know as Syria, Lebanon, and northern Israel.
These city states began forming around 3200 BC and around 1500 BC, Two of it’s most well-known city states were Tyre and Sidon.
In Scripture, Phoenicia is the area known as Canaan.
The Phoenicians were an ocean people.
ANCIENT PHOENICIA RESOURCES & BOOKS FOR KIDS
Then, look at a few of these resources.
7 Ancient Phoenicia (Modern Day Lebanon, Syria & Northern Israel) Books or Set In Ancient Phoenicia
Add some of these fun resources to your unit study or study for the day of Ancient Civilizations.
Children can try their hand at re-creating ancient Israelite culture—along with the cultures of their neighbors, the Philistines and Phoenicians—in a way that will provide perspective on current events. The book covers a key period from the Israelites’ settlement in Canaan in 1200 B.C.E. to their return from exile in Babylonia in 538 B.C.E. This part of the Middle East—no larger than modern-day Michigan—was the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. More than 35 projects include stomping grapes into juice, building a model Phoenician trading ship, making a Philistine headdress, and writing on a broken clay pot. Israelites', Phoenicians', and Philistines' writing and languages, the way they built their homes, the food they ate, the clothes they wore, and the work they did, and of course, their many interesting stories.
Included in this study are over 35 projects, games, recipes, links, and the history of fourteen empires! Generally, each empire's materials can be covered in 1-3 days
The book includes the following pockets:
- What Is History?
- Ancient Mesopotamia
- Ancient Egypt
- Ancient Greece
- Ancient Rome
- Ancient China
- Ancient Aztec World
This resource contains teacher support pages, reproducible student pages, and an answer key.
Explore the Old City of Aleppo: Come with Tamim to a World Heritage Site
A gorgeously written, hopeful middle grade novel in verse about a young girl who must leave Syria to move to the United States, perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds and Aisha Saeed.
Jude never thought she’d be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live
in Cincinnati with relatives.
In his signature style of grand storytelling, James A. Michener transports us back thousands of years to the Holy Land. Through the discoveries of modern archaeologists excavating the site of Tell Makor, Michener vividly re-creates life in an ancient city and traces the profound history of the Jewish people—from the persecution of the early Hebrews, the rise of Christianity, and the Crusades to the founding of Israel and the modern conflict in the Middle East. An epic tale of love, strength, and faith, The Source is a richly written saga that encompasses the history of Western civilization and the great religious and cultural ideas that have shaped our world.
In this book, your child will learn to identify on the map where the ancient world of Phoenicia was located. He/she will also learn how unique Phoenicia was compared to the present-day countries in the sense that it was made up of city-states. The most important of these city-states are Sidon and Tyre, both of which will be explained in this book. Grab a copy today.
Phoenicia was a very popular place for trading and manufacturing. They worshiped many gods and goddesses.
About the Phoenicians
One was their god of the sea- Yamm, and they put horses heads on their mighty ships to honor him. They were known for the manufacturing of the powerful ships, for glass-making, and for the making of their famous purple dye.
The name Phoenicia comes from the Greek word for purple. In fact, they were sometimes called the “purple people” because the dye they made would stain their skin purple.
The famous historian Herodotus gives Phoenicia the credit for the invention of the alphabet.
They supposedly brought the alphabet to Greece sometime before the 8th century BC.
Most of the western languages that we know today came from the Phoenician alphabet.
And the Phoenician city of Byblos where papyrus was manufactured and traded gave the Bible its name- through the Greek words Ta Biblia, “the books”.
The Phoenician Alphabet
The Phoenician alphabet that was later passed on to other countries and cultures developed around the 15th century BC. Before that, the Phoenicians used a form of cuneiform writing.
The alphabet spread so rapidly and to so many places because the Phoenicians were such avid traders and sailed around trading with many different peoples.
Most of the writings that have been discovered from the Phoenicians have to do with trade and business.
The alphabet had twenty-two letters. It was read from right to left in diagonal lines. The shapes of the letters came from an earlier Egyptian form of hieroglyphics.
Their shapes came from the meanings of the symbols. For example, the first letter- aleph– means ox. And it’s shape looks a little like the head of an ox.
All of the letters in the Phoenician alphabet are consonants. The vowel sounds were added in when the language was spoken.
The Phoenician alphabet was different from other systems of writing that came before because instead of having a symbol to represent every word, the symbols actually represented letters that were put together to make words.
Occasionally- but not always- the Phoenicians put a straight line in between words to separate them.
This is what the Phoenician alphabet looked like.
Clay Tablet With Phoenician Writing
Although the Phoenicians often wrote on papyrus, they also occasionally wrote on stone tablets or gold panels and later on parchment and wax tablets.
When they wrote in clay, they used a stylus to inscribe the letters into the clay. In our activity, we’re going to use clay to write on and a wooden dowel as our stylus. So we’ll create a clay tablet with Phoenician writing.
Materials Needed:
- Clay- You can use a variety of clay types, but you want a clay that is going to dry and maintain its shape- not just crumble like playdough. Modeling clay works well or a homemade clay that will dry out well without crumbling.
- Wooden dowel or toothpick to write with
- Phoenician alphabet chart – (You can grab it at the bottom by adding your email and downloading it instantly.)
Procedure:
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HOW TO GET THE FREE PRINTABLE PHOENICIAN ALPHABET CHART
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Written by Leah from As We Walk Along the Road
- Ancient Phoenicia Minibook = Modern Day Lebanon
- Hands-on History Activities for Learning about Ancient Civilizations
- Hands-On Ancient Greece Study: Politics and Pottery
- Amazing Hands-on History Activities for 14 Ancient Empires (free notebook cover too)
