NewsLetter4 - WikiLeaks...1. Mare Nostrum representation Meeting. Beirut 19.10.2010 2. WP4 heritage...

EUROMED HERITAGE IV MARE NOSTRUM JANUARY 2011 NewsLetter 4 1

NewsLetter4

January2011

www.eh4-marenostrum.net [email protected]

Le Louvre, Phoenician collection.

http://www.eh4-marenostrum.net/

mailto:[email protected]


1. Editorial and Summary

By Carlo Alberto Garzonio, DiCR,

Italia.

Dear Mare Nostrum Partners and

Associates,

Dear Mare Nostrum Friends,

With the fourth MN News Letter we

are entering the third year of Mare

Nostrum activities and our project

Partners and Associates are actually

crossing an intensive and productive

project period.

This News Letter is particularly

aiming to be a synthetic mirror,

witnessing the multitude of running or

completed activities, also including

our first dedicated thematic section

“The Phoenician Peace Challenge”,

combined with the First Mare

Nostrum Malta Conference

“Phoenician Routes in the

Mediterranean”, scheduled on April

14 2011, during our transnational

meeting in Malta.

We keep inviting you all, along the

next stops of our Phoenician

Mediterranean Heritage Trail, in Tas-

Silg, Carthage, Syracuse, Tartous,

Rhodes, Tyre.

Florence January 2011

2. Stories from the Mare

Nostrum World

Mare Nostrum travelling POSTER EXHIBITION p.3

MELKART MN handicraft pamphlet, Tyre

p.5

Mare Nostrum STICKERS collection p.7

3. Project activities and

Products

Tyre Mare Nostrum 3

rd

TRANSNATIONAL MEETING. p.8

Second MN LEAFLET. P.12

The Mare Nostrum KEY STAKEHOLDERS ANALYSIS TOOL. p.13

“Community architecture”

VADEMECUM of participatory planning in

Mediterranean region. p.14

Mare Nostrum BASE LINE STUDY

"Guide for Mediterranean Heritage Transnational Projects". p.15

Mare Nostrum BASE LINE STUDY

"Sustainable Tourism". p.16

4. Mare Nostrum people and

friends

From TYRE. p.17

Malta MN PAIR MEETING. Between Integrated Heritage Malta, DELARPA, MN

project manager. p.18

“IN ITINERE evaluation report 2010” of the project. p.18

5. Pictures from Mare

Nostrum Heritage Sites

RHODES p.20

6. Calendar of meetings and

events

NEW SCHEDULE of Mare Nostrum Events, Steering Committee meetings and

Transnational meetings. p.22

7. Thematic section:

“The Phoenician Peace

Challenge”

p.23

Le Louvre, Phoenician collection

First Mare Nostrum Conference

“Phoenician Routes in the Mediterranean sea”

14 April 2011 09:00

Auberge de France, Birgu (Vittoriosa) Valletta Malta


2. Stories from the Mare Nostrum World

Mare Nostrum travelling POSTER EXHIBITION

Mare Nostrum Poster n° 1, “Project Targets and Challenges”, the introduction poster of the travelling exhibition.


The Mare Nostrum Poster Exhibition is a dissemination

activity coordinated by the lead partner, using contributions of all partners and associates. It is a travelling, flexible and progressive presentation of the project activities and products. It is travelling through the Mediterranean historic port-city partners following the project events and meetings.

Posters are produced according

to the following project thematic

sections. Each thematic includes

several posters that are added

step by step as activities are

performed and results delivered.

Poster 1. Introduction to Mare Nostrum

project.

Poster 2. Phoenician routes and partner

sites.

Poster 3. Rhodes (Greece)

Poster 4. Tyre (Lebanon)

Poster 5. Tartous (Syria)

Poster 6. Carthage (Tunisia)

Poster 7. Tas-Silg (Malta)

Poster 8. Siracuse (Italy)

Poster 9. WP2 activities and results



Posters 12. WP5 activities and results

Poster 13. Photos on traditional handicraft

Poster 14. The project products

The first Mare Nostrum Poster Exhibition was held in Tyre on October 2010, the Second Mare Nostrum Poster Exhibition was held in Rhodes on January 2011. The third Mare Nostrum Poster Exhibition will be held in Malta on April 2011.

Tyre Mare Nostrum Poster Exhibition, October 2010.

Rhodes Mare Nostrum Poster Exhibition, January 2011.


MELKART MN handicraft pamphlet The USJ/MAJAL Mare Nostrum Team, elaborated the first handicraft pamphlet dedicated to promote heritage trails through traditional activities in the Mare Nostrum port-city partners. The first pamphlet is delivered for the Mare Nostrum city of Tyre and is used as reference for the pamphlets that will be produced for all six MN partner cities.

MELKART Tyre traditional activities heritage trail.


MELKART Tyre traditional activities heritage trail.


Mare Nostrum collection stickers

Several adhesive Mare Nostrum stickers have been printed and are distributed from October 2010, in each Mare Nostrum event. Ten of these are reproducing pictures from Mare Nostrum sites and can be collected by the participants in the events.

The ten Mare Nostrum collection stickers.


3. Activities and Products of our partners

Tyre Mare Nostrum 3rd

Transnational Meeting.

PERFORMED ACTIVITIES IN TYRE

1. Mare Nostrum representation Meeting. Beirut 19.10.2010

2. WP4 heritage survey activities in historical centre of Tyre. 17-20.10.2010

3. Mare Nostrum Technical Secretariat Meeting. Tyre 19.10.2010

4. Local Key Stakeholders meetings. Tyre 18.10.2010

5. Steering committee and monitoring committee meeting. Tyre 20.10.2010

6. Scientific committee meeting. Tyre 20.10.2010

7. Guided visits of Archaeological sites. Tyre 20.10.2010

8. Guided visits of Tyre historical centre and on going projects. 21.10.2010

9. Round table about touristic strategies. Tyre 21.10.2010

10. Mare Nostrum Posters and Photo Exhibition. Tyre 18-21.10.2010

11. Press conference. Tyre 21.10.2010

MN Partners in Université Saint-Joseph, Beirut.


Mare Nostrum. Tyre stakeholders round table 18.10.2010

In the local Key Stakeholders brainstorming round table, held in Beit al-Mamlouk, Tyre, participated 14 selected stakeholders.

The picture emerging from this MN brainstorming session is quite challenging but clear, putting the

Governance questions as the first priority and the Capacity Building as the second one.

Both these priorities are essential and prior to any planning process, should integration and sustainability

be concretely targeted and matched: In order to make feasible and efficient the Mare Nostrum perspectives

for Heritages trails and Sustainable Tourism Development, should directly be included measures for a

shared decision making and communication between institutions, as well as improve skills of public

servants and policy makers.

Mare Nostrum Tyre Transnational meeting 20.10.2010.


During the MN Transnational meeting in Tyre, the Dipartimento Costruzioni e Restauro DiCR scientific

team performed activities of MN Work Package 4, related to instrumental surveys of building façades of the

archaeological promenade, between the historical centre and the archaeological area.

The report of this WP4 activity, including description of the methodology, the instruments used and the

results, will be published on the Mare Nostrum web-site www.eh4-marenostrum.net

DiCR scientific team working in Tyre historical center.



Mare Nostrum Tyre round table about touristic strategies, 21.10.2010.

Mare Nostrum Tyre Press Conference.


Second Mare Nostrum Leaflet

A second presentation leaflet exposing the Mare Nostrum project and outlining challenges and activities, is disseminated by October

2010.


Key Stakeholders analysis tool

"MARE NOSTRUM" EH4 150-825 STAKEHOLDERS' INTEREST ANALYSIS For understanding the various interested parties =

to: reform the Local Key Stakeholders Groups (LKSG) to: support the WP4 AND WP5 work

to: organize local Key Stakeholders Round Tables

This tool is included in the URBACT Toolkit: http://urbact.eu/fileadmin/general_library/URBACT_LSG_Toolkit_EN.pdf

Issue: Cultural Heritage awareness raising & tourism related activities

Partner name, site name: DELARPA-Développement de l’artisanat et du patrimoine. Tunisia. Carthage, Tunis, Béja

Stakeholders Interests and how affected by the issue

Capacity and motivation to bring about change

Possible actions to address stakeholders interests

Primary stakeholders

Cultural associations and NGOs

Join networks with similar activities

Sensitizing and popularization of development project objectives

Synergy actions in the fields of heritage

Populations and local

residents

Owner heritage spaces and

confederate local urban heritage

enthusiasm for membership of a

community

organise open door events in field

of local heritage

Youth Groups and Youth organizations

Curiosity and search for answers to historical geography (Cultural) questions

Enthusiasm of youths on identity issues and their energy in participatory projects

Events/meetings/interactive activities

Artistic galleries The growth of visitors number can increase galleries visibility and prosperity

Art galleries are often meeting places for people from different professional and social class

Photo awards and expositions on heritage issues

Journalists in cultural issues Diversification of culture material

and sources involving participants in Euro-Mediterranean process

Ability to broadcast information

through their networks

Conferences and meetings

Craftsmen and craftswomen Get ideas for a new-traditional and design product

Belief to be organized on handcraft consortium which would begin on a Mediterranean

level. That may helps to better promote and commercialize their products.

shows and exhibitions in Handicrafts craft store reflect the particular owner's skills and

talents

Travel and event agencies

Provide helpful information and include new products generating

a specified heritage products

attract more opportunities to diversify their business including

cultural tourism niche

Organize events around shared Mediterranean heritage theme

and very close of modern man: common Mediterranean dishes.

Handcraft shops owners

Strengthen commercial capacity and market positioning

Their daily contact with the customer, often a tourist eager

for cultural discovery

Suggest good places of handcraft shop

Tourist Guides Take advantage of training opportunities offered by the project

Intellectual and professional predisposition

Benefit of training cycle and products generated by MN

Secondary stakeholders

Tourism local authority

Strategy that enhances heritage as potential of cultural tourism

Ability of act as a public institution

Communicate MN outputs product gradually to Heritage

local authority

Heritage local authority

Institute between the public and the vestige-monument or object- a new type of relation

Extensive experience in the field of management and communication of heritage

Communicate MN outputs product gradually to Heritage local authority

Handcraft local authority

Promote handicraft potential value, and refined talent of artisans of traditional handicraft to local and international visitors

Ability of act as a public institution

Communicate MN outputs product gradually to handcraft local authority

DELARPA, Mare Nostrum associate, Key Stakeholders Interests Analysis.

http://urbact.eu/en/header-main/documents-and-resources/documents


Community architecture. Vademecum

of Participatory Planning in the Mediterranean (Extract from the MN publication)

…. The methodology of participatory planning was developed and used in a “Western” context, at least initially, in European or American cities, to negotiate the resolution of conflicts and tensions between groups within specific sectors or to start worthy processes of shared experiences that would lead to changes in urban, social and political constraints. This approach has also been developing thanks to an overall improvement in lifestyles, and a greater awareness of and better access to welfare services. Generally speaking, the changing socio-economic conditions enabled us to take a more integrated approach to the complex question of territorial management as well as to the management of cultural and social processes.

In the Mediterranean area at the moment, there are few examples of the use of the participatory approach in the tourism sector. This is mainly

because in this part of the world, as most of the literature agrees, democratic structures have not been developed and there remains an overall situation of authoritarianism. This, however, does not put an end to the expansion of this approach in the area. We should point out, however, that many of the initiatives are proposed up-down by international bodies and organizations as tools for promoting the region and a socio-economic reawakening (UN, EU, IMF, WTO, etc.). This leaves some doubt about the real incidence of such practices among the population and their affect on the territory. How much is the participatory approach a need expressed at the local level or how much is it a method proposed from the outside? ….

Rosita Di Peri and Raffaella Giordana

Cover and plans of Rhodes and Tyre, extracted by the MN publication “Vademecum of Partecipatory Planning in the Mediterranean”

2010.

This MN Vademecum is published and distributed to MN Partners and Associates.

You can have a copy e-mailing to: [email protected]



MN Base Line Study

GUIDE for Mediterranean Heritage Transnational Projects

Dossier on latest initiatives for an exchange and synergy platform, a MARENOSTRUM contribution for Euromed Heritage world.

Tyre 19-21.10.2010 EH4 MN150-825 Michele CoppolaGuide for Mediterranean Heritage Transnational Projects

DiCR(Dipartimento di Costruzioni e Restauro)

University of Florence

GUIDE forGUIDE for

Mediterranean Heritage

Transnational Projects

MARENOSTRUM does not remain isolated but is

part of a cooperation policy where the

Mediterranean countries have participated for

many years, in the field of valorisation and

preservation of cultural heritage. To perform an

integrated action with previous initiatives in the

Mediterranean, to avoid unnecessary duplication,

to improve, correct and implement what has

already been done, MARENOSTRUM intends to

link its activities and goals and enhance possible

synergies to the recent and on-going projects in

the target countries and other successful actions.

The field of MARENOSTRUM action is large and

complex, involving a large social and cultural

basin in which the communication and contact

between countries are the elements of greater

strength to improve synergies and collaboration.

Working on a project as complex and distributed

on local actions, cannot disengage from an

ongoing look at the initiatives already undertaken

within the transnational cooperation on the

Mediterranean cultural heritage. Just thinking

globally we can aim our integrated local action in

line with the dynamics and the main sense of

transnational Euromed Heritage programs.

MARENOSTRUM developed this dossier,

addressed to the Euromed Heritage program

world, including tenths of materials on

transnational initiatives in the Mediterranean, an

overview on the criteria of other transnational

actions on these issues, to provide a platform for

information, a tool of control, exchange and

improvement. We are sure that it will be useful

also to other EH4 projects partnerships.

Michele Coppola

This MN base line study is published on a CD rom

and distributed to MN Partners and Associates.

You can have a copy e-mailing to:

[email protected]



MN Base Line Study

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

A 30 YEARS POLICY DEVELOPMENT

Charters, Recommendations, Codes for EH4 projects.

Tyre 19-21.10.2010 EH4 MN150-825 Michele CoppolaSUSTAINABLE TOURISM

SUSTAINABLE

TOURISM

SUSTAINABLE

TOURISM

DiCR(Dipartimento di Costruzioni e Restauro)

University of Florence

The connection between the promotion of tourism and cultural heritage preservation is an essential aspect of economic development, especially today and especially in the Mediterranean, where culture and environment treasures are a key feature of the attractiveness to tourists.

The proposal of new dynamics to promote and safeguard tangible and intangible heritage, in line with the aims of the Euromed Heritage Program, is implemented by the point of view of sustainability, to achieve integrated development activities related to heritage cultural management, from the monuments and archaeological sites till the craft.

One of the major objectives of MARENOSTRUM is to improve the socio-cultural symbiosis between tourism activity and tangible and intangible heritage resources, with the participation of many sectors. Specific aims are to enhance the economic development ensuring the quality of tourism and to reduce the marginalization of archaeological sites and promote craft of quality.

This documentary research supporting the activities of MARENOSTRUM includes a complete overview on the sustainable tourism issues. With a special look to the policy makers involved, a synthesis on sustainable tourism documents of the last 30 years is proposed, with the aim to evidence the instruments and the most recent principles for a correct action planning.

Michele Coppola

This MN base line study is published on a CD rom

and distributed to MN Partners and Associates.

You can have a copy e-mailing to:

[email protected]



4. Mare Nostrum people and friends

Interview with Mr. Charafeddine, manager of CLAC public library of Tyre

Since its recent opening the library is the main cultural and educational facility for Tyre historical neighbourhoods. It has been founded and equipped thanks to the support of the French PACA Region. The library offers in a nice and warm environment free wi-fi (appreciated also by the tourists), book collections and magazines for all ages, and accurate information about cultural activities not only in Tyre bat in whole Lebanon that Mr. Charafeddine constantly updates.

The CLAC is therefore a place to visit not only for the city residents but for the visitor as well. Its location facing the ruins of the Crusaders’ Basilica and along the archaeological trail make it a site of interest also for architectural reasons, as the building is one of the main residences recently restored in Tyre.

Interview with the owner of the historical handcraft glassworks of Khroubi

This visit was organised by Mr. Al Hadi of the NGO “Seeds- social economic empowerment for development and sustainability”.

Our guest belongs to the last family that still crafts glass the way Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans did. They continue an activity and hold skills and knowledge that were once widely present in the area, but now are about to disappear. They collect used glass, melt it in old English-made ovens, and blow it to be shaped in traditional very simple and elegant forms. Their production is present in Beirut’s most exclusive shops and at Lebanon Artisan’s Hall on the waterfront of Beirut, but the only occasionally sell in Tyre (in fact we did not find a single piece of their work in Tyre’s shops, although they are present on some restaurant’s tables and in some hotel halls). People go to them for purchase – and their shop is organised as an extensive show of products. But to get there, you have to know, as nothing in Tyre indicates this historical and artistic activity, a possible main touristic attraction for the visitor that might here watch production and buy products, is it successfully happens with similar activities in Murano (Venice).

Interview with Mr. Hadeed, manager of the typical fish restaurant “le Petit Phoenicien” in Tyre

Mr. Hadeed manages his restaurant since about twenty years, after an adventurous seaman’s life all over the world. He proposes local fish plates based on the availability in the facing fishermen’s harbour. His restaurant is positively suggested by guides and blogs. He therefore sees a constant although irregular flux of tourists visiting his terrace. They mainly are self-organised travellers seeking a local flavour in a typical Tyrean site. His location is therefore well placed, as it coincides with the arrival point of collective busses and taxis from the North and from Syria, at the natural gateway to the centre, near to the Souks.

He sees a critical issue in the narrowing of the Christian community – to which he belongs – as its disappearance would mean the loss of the historical plural identity of Tyre, but might also discourage tourism from the north and abroad.


Malta pair meeting Integrated Heritage

Malta, DELARPA, MN project manager.

Ray Bondin, Abdellatif Taboubi and Giorgio Risicaris, during

Malta pair meeting, December 2010.

This pair meeting was planned to intensify synergies and comparison issues between two Mare Nostrum Associates of the central Mediterranean area, “Integrated Heritage Malta” IHM and DELARPA “Développement de l’artisanat et du patrimoine”, Tunisia. Next transnational meetings planned in Carthage and Malta have been discussed as well as the MN Phoenician cycle of conferences to launch. The Maltese Tas-Silg MN heritage site and Marsaxlokk port-city have been visited and compared to the Carthage MN heritage site in Tunisia.

In Itinere Evaluation Report

The purpose of this In Itinere Evaluation of the project is to verify that each specific action designed in the previous planning phase has been correctly and efficiently carried out and to monitor that the expected outputs are being produced according to the project design. An ongoing evaluation is generally concerned with the following points: - objectives and expected results;

- monitoring the quality of activities carried out;

- added value of the community intervention; - envisaging alternative options for improving the

project impact. Checking the activities that are being carried out so far aims at maintaining a high level of control over the entire project, thus to directly and promptly correct the actions that are causing deviations from the schedule plan. More specifically, the procedure of the In Itinere Evaluation has the following objectives: - assessment whether the overall plan or

programme has been properly designed to

compare the problems observed in the participating regions; - assessment whether the plan or programme has

envisaged suitable and sustainable strategy axes and priorities in order to achieve the foreseen objectives; - assessment whether the activities have been

appropriately and accurately carried out so far; - analysing the sufficiency of the implementation

and monitoring arrangement mechanisms and contributing to design appropriate corrective actions in case of distortions or gaps in the realization of the expected outputs; - controlling and quantifying the results obtained

so far and developing a basis for monitoring and evaluation of future activities. In this way, both the planning and monitoring phases are linked together by a constant interaction and a mutual relationship. The two previously planned components affect each other and allow to redesign the activities in case the results achieved are not in line with the expected outputs.


Charts extracted from the In Itinere MN Report.

This MN In Itinere Evaluation Report is distributed to MN partners and Associates.

They can have a copy e-mailing to: [email protected]



5. Pictures from Mare Nostrum Heritage

Sites. Rhodes

House of Europe in Rhodes premises. Tourist enterprises in the old harbor.

The Hellenistic walls in Rhodes. The fortifications in the harbor.


Fortifications and the passenger harbor

Pedestrian dock on the harbor. Boat shop.

The old port in front of the historical center.


6. Calendar of meetings and events

NEW SCHEDULE of Mare Nostrum Events, Steering Committee meetings and Transnational meetings

Events and meetings in Agenda, January 2011 – April 2011.

Rhodes, MN Round Table of local key stakeholders, 20 January 2011.

Rhodes, MN Steering Committee Meeting, 21 January 2011

Malta, Tas Silg, MN Fourth Transnational meeting, 11-14 April 2011.

Le Louvre, Phoenician collection.

2011-2012 20/01/2011 21/01/2011 11/04/2011 12-13/04/2011 14/04/2011 June 2011

September 2011

November 2011

February 2012

April 2012

July 2012

MN Event

Steering/ Monitoring

Committe RHODES MALTA SYRACUSE CARTHAGE TARTOUS TYRE FLORENCE RHODES

Scientific

Committee MALTA CARTHAGE TYRE RHODES

Transnational

Meeting MALTA CARTHAGE TYRE RHODES

Poster Exhibition RHODES MALTA SYRACUSE CARTHAGE TARTOUS TYRE FLORENCE RHODES

Photo Exhibition RHODES MALTA SYRACUSE CARTHAGE TARTOUS TYRE FLORENCE RHODES

Local Key Stakeholders

Meeting RHODES MALTA SYRACUSE CARTHAGE TARTOUS TYRE

MN

Conferences MALTA CARTHAGE TYRE


7. Thematic section

“The Phoenician Peace Challenge”

Phoenicia, the hinge between East and West

The Phoenician expansion in Mediterranean basin and the activation of the caravan route, connecting the Arabian peninsula, mark a change from the Late Bronze Age trade routes after the invasions of the Sea Peoples. But the role of the Phoenician cities in those long-distance trade is also an element of continuity between the second and first millennium BC, during the great empires of the Near East. Phoenicia was an element such

as a hinge connecting the East and West, supplying goods in the Near East and spreading westwards oriental products. Through this network, the Phoenicians were placed as carriers of ideas and men around the Mediterranean, becoming the architects of a peaceful and continuous dialogue, balance and coexistence among different and distant cultures.

1 - The study of trade in the Phoenician history

Information about the Phoenicians, their origins and their cities are not many. For this reason, approaching the history of this people and his movements in the Mediterranean during the first millennium BC, the study of the trade network may be essential. The Phoenician trade, in the middle of long-distance flows of goods, was essentially an external exchange (import and export), although the distinction between internal and external trade in the Ancient Orient was not always clear, since political entities did not always coincide with cultural ones, which were often very blurred. From the development of the first cities of the fourth millennium BC until the birth of the great empires of the Iron Age, the long-range contacts in the Near East have changed because of social needs, cultural interaction and diversified distribution of resources in the territory. The main

elements of the geographical context, the Arabian Desert, the river plains of Mesopotamia, the system of valleys Wadi Arabah-Jordan-Orontes, the mountainous areas of Turkey, Lebanon and Iran, the Syrian-Palestinian coast, have influenced the establishment of multi-centric economy. The exchange system was set on the interaction of different distribution models and networks of relationships developed by the different cultures involved. During the first millennium BC the field is expanded from Spain to Central Asia, from southern Arabia to India. The exchanges took place through highly mobile groups, involving distant and different contexts. In this system of contacts and traded commodities, the Phoenicians have assumed a primary role, which has gradually changed over the centuries.

2 - Resources and trade routes in the Near East, between the Bronze Age and

the first millennium BC

In the Near East, the management of the surplus, the foundation for commerce, has grown from a centralized public forms of the first Mesopotamian cities, to a more structured organization of trade with the rising of the proto-state cultures. During the Bronze Age, the growing need for metal

favored more structured international relations, with an increasingly important role of intermediaries. After the crisis of the thirteenth century BC, with the transition to the Iron Age and the political reorganization of the Near East, new nation-states took form in the territories of Syria


and Palestine. The Phoenician city-states, the heirs of the Canaanite and Cipro-Syrian commercial traditions, played a key role. The emergence of the great empires in the political multi- centrism and the Greek and Phoenician

expansion in the Mediterranean, promoted the globalization of trade. Communications networks were formed by water and land routes and integrated, according to direct and indirect trade, depending on the availability of local resources.

Map of the main trade routes in the Near East, during the Ist

millennium BC, from the

Indian Ocean and from central Asia.

There were some basic directions of exchange.

In Mesopotamia, the rivers of Tigris and

Euphrates were creating a corridor from North

to South. The Euphrates valley also served as

a link between the Mediterranean and the

Persian Gulf, connected with the Indian Ocean.

The east-west axis was close to the northern

mountain ranges and a caravan route across

northern Mesopotamia and Syria, was linked

with Iran. The Iranian plateau was crossed by

two caravan routes to the North (later called the

"Silk Road") and South. The Arabian desert

was a real physical limit and during the Bronze

Age, Arabia and Yemen were linked to the

Near East by Egypt, through the Red Sea. At

the beginning of the first millennium BC, the

domestication of camelids led to the

proliferation of new caravan routes, which in

the tenth century BC increased the flow of

trade between the Syrian-Palestinian coast and

the caravan kingdoms of southern Arabia.

The cultural and commercial contacts with the Nile Valley through the Sinai and by sea, were intense and constant since the third millennium BC. The coastal sea routes touched the traffic nodes closer to Phoenicia (Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete) and then the Aegean Sea and the North

African coast. The identification of the Phoenician trade with colonization, shifts the focus to the West, leaving the contact between sea network and land network and the role of the Phoenicians along the caravan routes, which instead had to be particularly high.

3 - The Phoenician expansion in the western Mediterranean

The field of nautical techniques had already a remarkable development in the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age, thanks to the continuous exchange of information between the main shipbuilding centers of Egypt and of the Canaanite, which fostered innovation and refinement of knowledge and techniques consolidated in the first millennium BC with the Phoenician ships. The reputation of the Phoenicians as skilled navigators was universally recognized by the contemporary peoples. The

navigation in the Mediterranean was not a novelty Phoenician. In the ancient Mediterranean, especially before the Punic wars, ethnic groups were not divided by oppositions of principle, but lived together in a regional balance, which changed according to situations, with a redistributive trade. The Phoenicians were adapted differently to economic trends of regional trade (from the Aegean to Spain), even in river contexts (Nile, Euphrates). Between the eighth and seventh century, Greeks and Phoenicians


began to move westward, in Italy and the southern Mediterranean, intensifying the exchange between the main western populations (Etruscans, Sardis, Iberians) and Eastern cultures.

The link between trade and colonization is one of the main issues in the current debate. The reality was much more heterogeneous and it is difficult to distinguish the colonization actions from the commercial ones, or to identify the priorities in the arrival of the Greeks and Phoenicians in some Mediterranean areas (Italy, Spain). There are many hypotheses about the reasons for Phoenician westward expansion, political issues but also economic pressure. Some scholars point out, as a precondition, the cultural predisposition to the expansion of settlements along the coast, between the Nile delta and the Gulf of Iskenderun. The prosperity of the Phoenicians was linked to the control of trade in metals, the role of intermediaries with the eastern empires and the production of luxury craft. Compared to these three sectors of activity, the likely reduction of land due to pressure from Assyrian, the population growth and the increasing demand for

raw materials (especially metals) may have represented a series of concomitant causes for the expansion. One of the aims of the Phoenicians was to obtain minerals, without participating in the extraction phases. From this point of view we can understand the high density of Phoenician sites in areas with considerable mineral resources (Cyprus, Sardinia, Andalusia). For other sites such as Utica, Carthage itself, or Sicily, is much more difficult to trace the reasons for landing. The creation of stable port settlements for mediation in foreign lands has not only economic reasons but is part of a wider sphere of anthropological and cultural interactions between resident peoples and foreign merchants. In the debate on public or private status of the Phoenician expansion initiatives, the most likely hypothesis is that of an initial role of the homeland sovereigns in a state trade, followed (between ninth and eighth centuries) by a growing long distance trade of the private aristocracy, with offices scattered along the whole Mediterranean coasts.


4 - Geography of Phoenician network and phases of the expansion

According to sources, the Phoenician expansion in the Southern Mediterranean (mainly determined by the initiative of Tyre) can be schematized in two stages: A first set of foundations, dating from the twelfth century BC, as Cadiz, Utica and Lixus, which probably remained unstable for a long time, since the founds are not before the eighth century; a second step, fully verified by archaeological data, ranks in the late ninth century, with a more stable occupation of the Mediterranean coasts (Kition in Cyprus 820 BC, Carthage in 814 BC, the sites of Crete and Dodecanese). Taking advantage of the large number of islands in the eastern Mediterranean, that reduce the distances, starting from Phoenicia, the first stop of navigation was inevitably Cyprus. It continued to the coast of Asia Minor, Crete and the Aegean Islands. Moving to the west, the stages are longer and the navigation was forced toward the island of Malta, the starting

point to the western Sicily and the east coasts of Maghreb (gulf of Utica and Carthage). The crossing of the sea to the west of Sicily required a detour to Sardinia. The short-steps trail ended and a stretch of open sea began. The Phoenician ability to exploit the sea currents and prevailing winds (east-west) in the North Western Mediterranean, enabled them to go to the Balearic Islands and Spain. Along the North African coast, also accessible via coastal routes through Egypt and Libya, the Phoenician navigation went far to the west of Carthage, touching Algeria, the Atlantic coast of Andalusia (Huelva, Cádiz), Madeira, the Canaries, until the Moroccan coast of Mogador. For all of these settlements, the Phoenician occupation is attested at least since the seventh century BC and the archaeological investigations are far from considered concluded.

5 - Phoenician settlement characteristics and contact with people

A key aspect in the long-distance trade routes is the interaction between different cultures and the consequent emergence of trade-oriented entities in the interface areas. This aspect was at the base of the Phoenician settlements in the Mediterranean, places of business contact with people along the coasts, characterized by common territorial morphologies. The choice of new docks was never random. The Phoenicians were very cautious. They tried to get as close as possible to local people, respecting the regional balances and keeping the safe distance afforded by small coastal islands (like those of Tyre and Arvad in the homeland), bays in the major islands, peninsulas ends, mouths of rivers and gulfs. Cadiz, Mozia (Sicily), Sulcis (Sardinia), Rachgoun (Algeria) and Mogador (Morocco), are famous examples of coastal islands. Settlements on coastal peninsulas were Tharros and Nora (Sardinia). The mouths of rivers had a strong attraction on the Phoenicians, because of the

easy mooring and contact with the inland territories. Many of the settlements in Andalusia have these characteristics, but also Utica (Libya), Bithiah (Sardinia) and Lixos (Morocco).

The first Phoenician settlements were temporary camps, where the exchange took place through barter and which could evolve into emporion, a more stable form of coastal trade settlement, very common in the Mediterranean. Centered around a shrine, the Phoenician emporion were the scene of continuous contact between ethnic groups, where the population was always mixed and unstable. Many Phoenician emporia has developed into real urban centers, with the continuity in the trading function. Carthage itself probably has been originated by a similar dynamic. The available data are insufficient to draw a picture of the general characteristics of the Phoenician settlements in the West.


The presence of warehouses in the port areas, evidences that they were not only simple trading ports, but also active centers of production and residence. Of course, around the Phoenicians settlements, was created a commercial space, a craft and technology space, a religious space, but there are no reports of farms for the systematic exploitation of the earth, unlike in the Greek colonial world, though some scholars suppose the

Phoenician import of olive cultivation in Andalusia. The Phoenicians never entered into conflict with the resident population but they tended to establish a peaceful coexistence and cultural integration. This attitude changed with the rise of Carthage, which showed an imperialist character, opposite to that of the Phoenician homeland.

6 - The traded objects and their tracks

The exchange of commonly used goods or valuable ones, took place along primary arteries, often established over the centuries. Metals and minerals were the base of trade. Anatolia and

Oman were the main suppliers of copper until the second millennium BC, then Cyprus became the main source of this metal in the Eastern Mediterranean ("ox-hide shaped" Cypriot ingots).


The tin came from the Iranian-Afghan area, but if the origin of tin from the Atlantic was proved, the Phoenicians would have played a crucial role as suppliers in Eastern world. The wood, essential in the economy of the Phoenicians, was a much traded object, especially the one coming from Lebanon mountains. There were many networks for the exchange of valuable materials.

The gold came from western Turkey, Arabia, Iran, Nubia and Egypt, which in the Late Bronze Age became the largest exporter in the entire Near East. For silver, this record was held by the Anatolia and Upper Euphrates. Lapis lazuli came

from central Asia and Afghanistan, mother of pearl and shells came from the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, some types of light-colored stones (alabaster, calcite) and dark (diorite, olivine) arrived in Mesopotamia from Asia and the Persian Gulf, and in Syria and Palestine from Egypt. The ivory came in Mesopotamia from India through the Persian Gulf, while Syria and Palestine used the native animals (Asian elephants and hippos) until their extinction (the first millennium BC), which made Egypt the main coordinator of the distribution of African ivory. Among the traded objects were also luxury goods and exotic animals.

The Phoenicians got monkeys and crocodiles in Egypt, scented wood, precious stones and peacocks in the "land of Ophir". The Phoenician, such as Mesopotamia, was exporting its food (oil, wheat, barley and wine) in the Near East and Egypt, but there is still no evidence of exports in the western Mediterranean. The knowledge level about the Phoenician pottery is not advanced and the study of amphoras is at an early stage, but it is possible to distinguish products manufactured in the Near East coast, Cyprus, the central Mediterranean or in Spain. The plate is the most

found Phoenician pottery. It has become a useful tool for dating with relative chronologies for East and West, based on changes of parameters such as the width of the edge. The object of Phoenician trade changed over time but the organization remained the same until the rise of Carthage in the sixth century. The circulation of objects was always accompanied by movements of people and ideas. However, in the western emporia, workshops of Phoenician craftsmen began to develop, putting their items on the market, adding to those from the Near East.


7 - The Phoenicians and the Orientalizing

An interesting deepening concerns the role of the Phoenicians in the "Orientalizing" phenomenon, which features, from the eighth century BC, the spread of oriental models in the luxury handcraft of the aristocracy in the Mediterranean and Near East. A clear reading of the origin areas is difficult because of the multipolarity of the production centers and mobility of the oriental craftsmen, resulting in a diversification of models and artistic techniques. It was a more complex phenomenon than just trade, and involved elements of tradition and fashion, according to cultural paths in which it is impossible to distinguish the role of the Phoenicians and the Greeks. Certainly northern Syria (Gulf of Iskenderun) had a key role as a

producer and collector of luxury handicraft, in the middle of a strong network between Euboea, Cyprus and Phoenicia, much frequented by the Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon. Cyprus, Rhodes and Crete were early involved in the reception and dissemination of this phenomenon, which also reached Italy and Andalusia. Scholars agree that the Phoenicians played a central role in this phenomenon, spreading products, models, crafts and techniques. This is quite evident for gold, ivory, shells, and specially in Egyptianising artifacts, for which a Phoenician production has been proved, inspired by Egyptian models or monuments, including reproduction (not always correct) of hieroglyphic inscriptions.

8 - The role of Carthage

The apex and the beginning of the epilogue of the Phoenician presence in the Mediterranean, culminated with the decline of Phoenician homeland under Persian control, the rise of Carthage and the clash with Rome. Let us not forget the possibility that other Western Phoenician cities such as Utica may have initiated policies of expansion. However, in the mid-seventh century, the Carthaginian society was already able to promote the foundation of Ibiza. From the second quarter of the seventh century, Carthage was completely seated in the trade with the western world, being able to coordinate and organize the Phoenician settlements of the West in a great empire. Around the sixth century, took place the rise of the Carthaginian control on the

Phoenician settlements in Sicily and then in Sardinia, which culminated in two key battles with the Greek colonial world: the battle of Himera, in 480 BC against Syracuse and the battle of Alalia, in 540 BC, in alliance with the Etruscans, against the Greeks of Corsica and Marseille. The links with Etruria were very strong, leading to a series of treaties and confirmed by the widespread presence of Etruscan material imported in Carthage. The influence of Carthage also arrived in Corsica and trade are also documented with southern France and Catalonia. After creating a sphere of influence in Andalusia, it seems that the Carthaginians took also control in Madeira, the Azores and the Canary Islands. In the mid-sixth century, a military expansion started in North


Africa, covering Libya, Tunisia and directed to Algeria and Morocco, at first alongside of the settlements of Phoenicia, and later incorporating them. This control did not coincide with a domain on all of North Africa, but rather with the creation of coastal enclaves. The centralization of control of trade, following the military one, which is typical of the great empires, was reversed in Carthage, a mercantile settlement, heir of the Phoenician

maritime trade network, which used these tools to plan his growth policy, going toward the clash with the cities of Magna Graecia and then, against Rome. The Punic Wars represent another break and changing point, from a peaceful, commercial and cultural interaction, till the rise of a central power in a radial structure, destined to affect trade in the Mediterranean

9 - Across the Strait of Gibraltar

The sources say several expeditions made by the Phoenicians in the Atlantic. Among these, a famous episode recounted by Herodotus, is the task given by Pharaoh Neco to some Phoenician sailors, between seventh and sixth centuries. BC, to complete the circumnavigation of Africa starting from the Red Sea, to return back in Egypt from Gibraltar. In the context of Carthaginian expansion there are two expeditions in the Atlantic, that went far beyond the limits reached by the Phoenicians of the homeland: the expedition of Hanno in Gabon and that of Imilcone in North West Europe.

The reasons appear to have been once again economic, related to the metals research (copper, tin, gold in Africa, tin and lead in northern Europe). In both cases it came to the creation of trade contacts, foundation of emporia and colonies, and penetration in the inner territories. The risk of attacks by pirates and rival powers, pushed Carthage to give military protection to shipments, always joined with war fleets, absolutely different from those of the Phoenicians of the homeland, a few centuries earlier.

Michele Coppola


Euromed Heritage IV, “Mare Nostrum”

project, News Letter n°4, 2011.

© Dipartimento Costruzioni e Restauro,

Sezione di Restauro, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy. January 2011.

EH4 MN150-825.

This News letter has been produced with

the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the

sole responsibility of Mare Nostrum partners and can in no way be taken to

reflect the views of the European Union.

Euromed Heritage web site,

www.euromedheritage.net

Mare Nostrum project web site,

www.eh4-marenostrum.net

Mare Nostrum e-mail contact,

[email protected]

Mare Nostrum coordinator

Università degli Studi di Firenze Dipartimento Costruzioni e Restauro,

Sezione di Restauro (Italy).

Mare nostrum partners

Rhodes municipality, Old Town Office (Greece)

Tyre municipality (Lebanon)

USJ/Université Saint Joseph, Faculté

des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines & University of Balamand/MAJAL,

Academic Laboratory for Construction and Reconstruction (Lebanon).

Paralleli, Istituto Euromediterraneo del Nord Ovest (Italy).

Mare Nostrum associates

DELARPA, Développement de l’Artisanat

et du Patrimoine (Tunisia).

University of the Aegean, Laboratory of

Tourism Research and Studies (ETEM) (Greece).

The House of Europe in Rhodes (Greece).

Associazione Culturale Samotracia

(Italy).

Integrated Heritage Management IHM

(Malta).

Direction Générale Antiquités et

Monuments DGAM (Syria)

Read in our next issue, Mare Nostrum News Letter 5 2011.

The papers presented in the First Mare Nostrum Conference of Malta

“Phoenician Routes in the Mediterranean sea”

Thematic section

“Methods for Knowledge and Conservation of Built Heritage”

http://www.euromedheritage.net/



http://www.usj.edu.lb/




Date post:	18-Sep-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	2 times
Download:	0 times

NewsLetter4 - WikiLeaks...1. Mare Nostrum representation Meeting. Beirut 19.10.2010 2. WP4 heritage...

Documents