Carthage 3

This reading talked about how the Phoenicians were originally kind of servants to the larger kingdoms around them like the Egyptians, but around 1000 BC their overseers suffered something of a drop in power, and so the Phoenicians became more independent. Hiram of Tyre was mentioned, the king who made an agreement with Solomon to help build the temple. This also opened further trade agreements. There was a clause, possibly in the second agreement, that sounded like it could easily lead to religious adultery in Israel. Prosperity typically leads to indolence and a lack of reliance on God, but it was interesting to see a more concrete way it could have happened. Solomon was originally building the temple for God, and then probably figured that having good neighborly relations was a good thing in addition to being lucrative, but in doing so he relaxed his guard against religious corruption.

Phoenician independence didn't seem to last long because the Assyrians came along. The Assyrians were greedy for silver because they used it for their coins, so they demanded a lot of it in tribute from the Phoenicians. This may have led to greater trade expansion in the mediterranean, all the way to Spain. It must have been really difficult to maintain political power across the entire mediterranean in the 9th century BC, but somehow the Phoenicians, or at least the Tyrians, did it. One way the king maintained power was by establishing new gods, Melquart and Astarte. Through rituals, the king more or less claimed to be the avatar of Melquart on earth. The temples of this god were used to collect taxes as well as maintain awe of the king.

Phoenicians set up posts all along the mediterranean coast, which was very satisfying to read about and made me want to play Europa Universalis. Although, that game starts 2000 years after all of this takes place. Anyway, Phoenicians traded a lot in metals. Copper ingots were made and traded in Cyprus and Sardinia, and someone described Spain as running with rivers of silver, which is suspected to be an exaggeration. Regardless, the phoenicians established the very significant colony of Gades in Spain, which is modern Cadiz. Phoenicians also traded in Greece, where they achieved a reputation of masterful craftsmanship. Tyrian goods are mentioned as being almost divine in their beauty in the works of Homer. Greece didn't have the natural resources of Spain and some islands, but their pottery became a sought-after commodity.

I learned a few new words. Elision can mean the blurring together of two concepts, used here regarding the king and the god Melquart. Faience and majolica refer to tin-glazed pottery, though the latter can also mean painted lead-glazed relief-moulded pottery from the 19th century. Confusing.

Carthage 2

I got home late from a party, but I did read about ten more pages about Carthage. It mainly talked about how Punic culture was a fusion of Greek, Phoenician, and the native peoples. I had forgotten that the Carthaginians were originally from Phoenicia (present day--the coast of Lebanon), and it surprised me that they apparently maintained Levantine traditions. For example, their names were frequently related to the Caananite gods of Baal and Astarte.

Commodore Perry and Carthage 1

I finally finished the book, Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun. The most amazing thing to me was that the Americans must have seemed incredibly rude to the Japanese, entering shops without removing their shoes, and I can't even imagine how they ate with chopsticks. It's also amusing to imagine their reaction to Japanese food, which has a very particular and non-European taste. Oh, I was also surprised to read that they thought westerners were barbarians for eating beef, because the Japanese themselves only used cows for farmwork until the late 19th century. The Japanese who dealt with them really tried hard to avoid granting concessions, giving them the minimum, and yet in the end the caution of the Japanese was rendered irrelevant, and people flowed into Japan freely. Obviously it helped that the new emperor embraced European culture. It was amazing to me that after 1881(?) the emperor started wearing Western clothes.

Next I started "Carthage must be destroyed". So far it has given me a bad taste, despite being well-written. Carthage and its history is primarily defined in opposition to the significantly more famous Roman history. I didn't even know where Carthage was, despite having heard the name (apparently it's in Tunisia). Ah, actually I guess I did know because some people from college went on an archaeological trip there. Anyway, a lot of the history about Carthage is only available via quotations of quotations of the original historian's work. That's a lot of filter there. Granted, it's quite an old story. Carthage was destroyed in 146 BC, signalling the end of the third Punic war. Finally, I learned about the phrase "fides punica"--faith of the Carthaginians, meaning very much untrustworthy.