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==Phoenician art and culture==

The Phoenicians were famous artists and Homer in the Odyssey praises their craft persons and artisans <ref>Homer, Odyssey, iii, 67</ref>. They utilized traditional Canaanite styles and designs. Like many other urban cultures they were receptive to new ideas and artistic styles, for example, they adopted the Egyptian-style of sarcophagi. There is as such no single distinctive Phoenician artistic style, but they did develop new skills and transmitted the art of other peoples across the Levant. Artistic works made in cities such as Sidon were exported all over the Mediterranean to Carthaginian outposts and they influenced local artists. The Phoenicians played a very important role in the development of the First Jewish Temple, built by King Solomon, artisans sent by the King of Tyre helped in its construction. The cities of Phoenicia played a critical role in the artistic development of the Levant and beyond<ref> Moscati, p 14</ref>.

==The Phoenician Alphabet==

Perhaps the most important cultural innovation of the Phoenicians was the development of the alphabet around 1000 BC. It appears that the Canaanites had developed the first phonetic alphabet and it was used by several peoples such as the Moabites. Based on the evidence it would appear that the Phoenicians contributed to the development of this alphabet and it appears that they used it widely in their commercial enterprises. They helped to popularize the use of the alphabet and many cultures including the Greeks and Hebrews adopted it. Over time, many national languages used their writing system. This alphabet was one of the most important inventions in all of human history. It was different from hieroglyphs, used by many societies in the Levant as it was not based on signs, but on the sounds of speech that people made. The consonants were combined with vowels to form words and sentences and allowed individuals to engage in much more complex communications than previously. This allowed bureaucrats and others to keep more effective records and made governments more efficient. Ordinary people, such as traders could learn the alphabet and become literate, which revolutionized many aspects of life. The impact of this system for writing was to have a profound impact on the Greeks, they adopted it, as they emerged from their Dark Ages. Scholars believe that the Hebrew alphabet is a regional variant of the one used in Phoenicia. Today, the script developed and transmitted by the inhabitants of cities such as Sidon, Tyre and Byblos, forms the basis for most of the globe’s alphabets<ref>Diringer, David, and H. Freeman. A History of the Alphabet (London, Unwin Brothers, 1977), p. 8, 89, 112</ref>.