PEOPLE OF THE PURPLE SEA Review

• Published in: New York Times
• Main Authors: Aphrodite.'', KENAN T. ERIM, Kenan T. Erim, an archeologist and professor of classics at New York University, is the author of ''Aphrodisias: City of Venus
• Format: Book Review
• Language: English
• Published: New York, N.Y New York Times Company 04.06.1989
• Edition: Late Edition (East Coast)
• Subjects: ERIM, KENAN T; MOSCATI, SABATINO (DR)
• ISSN: 0362-4331

Their origins are seen by some in the second or third millennium B.C. and by others in the Early Iron Age (about 1200 B.C.). In some contexts, such as the Old Testament, the term ''Canaanite'' was applied to them. The word ''Phoenician,'' as Mr. [Sabatino Moscati] points out, was tied to the common noun phoinix, meaning purple-red and referring to the industry of dyeing fabrics purple, an art typically assigned to these people. There can be no doubt that they were intrepid navigators, the ancient mariners par excellence. Industrious and trade-minded, they plied the waters in and around the Mediterranean, explored African lands and even went up to the British Isles and Ireland. Their political and economic control of the western Mediterranean, especially after they founded Carthage, is clearly illustrated by new archeological discoveries in the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Sardinia. And that dominance is certified by the fear and hostility they drew eventually from Rome, which became manifest in the historical record of Roman slanders against them.