Term for an ancient stretch of land that extended as a coastal strip along the Mediterranean and encompassed parts of today's two states of Lebanon and Syria. The Semitic people of the Phoenicians (also Phoenicians or Phoenicians) migrated here towards the end of the 3rd millennium. In the Bible, the area is described by the Israelites as the "land of the red purple" (Greek Phoinike = purple) because of the purple snail secretion used there for colouring textiles. In the Bible, the inhabitants are referred to as Canaanites or by the name of their cities, especially as Sidonites. The Phoenicians who settled in North Africa (Carthage) were called Punic by the Romans.
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