The ancient Mediterranean Sea was a great stage for international commerce and the transfer of culture. Controlling the seas meant greater wealth and power, and many kingdoms and empires sought to control overseas commerce in their favor. Even Alexander the Great planned to conquer lands around the Mediterranean to gain control of the sea, but his early death and the division of the empire foiled his plans. Among the contenders to compete for control over the seas were the Phoenicians, sailors from Canaan that spread to every sector of the Mediterranean to establish overseas colonies and expand further to places not known before. Phoenicians greatly influenced the ancient world by inventing galleys and spreading their alphabet to Europe, expanding the boundaries of commerce and promoting the lingual development of ancient civilizations.
The galley, a type of ship known for its long and slender body, dominated maritime activities and naval warfare from its birth until the 18th century. The Phoenicians were the first to modify traditional canoes into a galley to sail further beyond. The Phoenicians called their ships “Gauloi,” which I believe is the origin of the term “galley.”. The invention of the galley greatly benefited the Phoenicians by allowing a longer distance of sails. I believe the Phoenicians were particularly devoted to oversea commerce as they did not hold much of the land to support agriculture. Instead, the galley allowed the Phoenicians to acquire resources from each area of the Mediterranean and make a living out of the profit from commerce. The galleys invented by the Phoenicians were adopted by many Mediterranean cultures. Greek civilizations adopted the galley and employed it as a warship to dominate the sea. Other civilizations of the Mediterranean, such as the Roman Empire, also adopted and modified galleys as their means of transportation and warfare.
The Galley allowed the Phoenicians to venture to different parts of the Mediterranean, from the Levant to Greece, Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, and the northern coast of Africa. Through commerce, the Phoenicians also transferred their alphabet system to their trading partners. Although not used anymore, I personally think the Phoenician alphabets were one of the most influential writing systems in humanity, as they have affected and become the roots of the languages spoken by billions today. Greece is the epitome of a civilization that adopted the Phoenician alphabet. Early Greek alphabets were based on the Phoenician alphabet with slight modifications. The Greek writing system later became the basis of the Latin and the Cyrillic alphabets; the Latin and the Cyrillic alphabets became the main body of the majority of the languages spoken in present Europe and parts of northwestern Asia. On the other hand, the Phoenician alphabet transferred to the Middle East became the Aramaic, and the Aramaic language became the root of present-day Hebrew and Arabic.
Some Phoenicians explored further beyond the Mediterranean, exploring Africa and Europe. In fact, the Phoenicians were the first people to go around Africa and reached the Cape of Good Hope a thousand years earlier than Vasco De Gama. Along the coastline, Phoenicians established colonies and sought to form a trade network that would encompass all of the Mediterranean. One of the colonies was Carthage, which later played major role in the fate of the Mediterranean Sea. What’s more, in excess of 40% of the world’s population speaks languages that have roots in the Phoenician alphabet. The Phoenicians shaped the ancient world by achieving longer distance travels for commerce and sharing their alphabet that later became the roots for hundreds of different languages.