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122-564: The Phoenicians founded several trading colonies along the Atlantic coast of what is now Morocco, but the existence of a Phoenician settlement on the site of Chellah has been debated by archeologists. Jean Boube, who led some of the modern excavations at the site, discovered neo- Punic artifacts dating as far back as the 3rd century BC, which suggests there must have been a small trading post here around that time. Later excavations by Boube also found fragments of Phoenician or Punic bowls dating to

244-538: A decumanus maximus or principal roadway, a forum and a triumphal arch . The area around the forum, excavated and visible today, was subjected to many transformations over time and the exact chronology of these is still debated. Inscriptions found on site show that the city had the status of a municipium around the mid-2nd century AD. One of the two main Roman roads in Mauretania Tingitana reached

366-516: A Eurasian steppe population). One 2018 study of mitochondrial lineages in Sardinia concluded that the Phoenicians were "inclusive, multicultural and featured significant female mobility", with evidence of indigenous Sardinians integrating "peacefully and permanently" with Semitic Phoenician settlers. The study also found evidence suggesting that south Europeans may have likewise settled in

488-436: A Hellenization policy, whereby Hellenic culture, religion, and sometimes language were spread or imposed across conquered peoples. However, Hellenisation was not enforced most of the time and was just a language of administration until his death. This was typically implemented through the founding of new cities, the settlement of a Macedonian or Greek urban elite, and the alteration of native place names to Greek. However, there

610-468: A Punic term for 'Phoenicians', which may be reconstructed as * Pōnnīm . Since little has survived of Phoenician records or literature , most of what is known about their origins and history comes from the accounts of other civilizations and inferences from their material culture excavated throughout the Mediterranean. The scholarly consensus is that the Phoenicians' period of greatest prominence

732-414: A basilica . Its construction is likely contemporary with that of the nearby capitolium . It has a rectangular floor plan measuring about 32 by 19 metres. At its center is a large octagonal opening, with niches set along its interior walls, that corresponds to an underground nymphaeum that once extended further up to the ground level of the building. Between the capitolium and the curia /basilica are

854-404: A circumambulation ( tawaf ) of the madrasa's mihrab . Popular legends also grew around the tombs. The tomb of Shams al-Ḍuḥa came to be popularly known as the tomb of a girl named Lalla Chella, to which the site's name was popularly attributed. Some local beliefs, especially among women, associated beneficial maraboutic powers to some of the animals, like the eels and turtles , that lived in

976-437: A muqarnas cornice above it. Most of the northeastern half of the complex is occupied by a building which scholars believe was most likely a madrasa, though two surviving inscriptions refer to it as a "zawiya". Similar to other madrasas of the era, it consists of an elongated rectangular courtyard with a rectangular pool at its center. At each end of the basin are two small circular basins with fountains that provided water for

1098-597: A "land of fnḫw ", fnḫw being the plural form of fnḫ , the Ancient Egyptian word for 'carpenter'. This "land of carpenters" is generally identified as Phoenicia, given that Phoenicia played a central role in the lumber trade of the Levant. As an exonym , fnḫw was evidently borrowed into Greek as φοῖνιξ , phoînix , which meant variably 'Phoenician person', ' Tyrian purple , crimson ' or ' date palm '. Homer used it with each of these meanings. The word

1220-496: A Greek historian from Sicily c.  300 BC, places the foundation of Carthage in 814 BC, which is the date generally accepted by modern historians. Legend, including Virgil 's Aeneid , assigns the founding of the city to Queen Dido . Carthage would grow into a multi-ethnic empire spanning North Africa, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, the Balearic Islands, and southern Iberia, but would ultimately be destroyed by Rome in

1342-439: A central rectangular zone filled with sebka decoration above three blind polylobed arches with small colonettes . The negative spaces inside the sebka pattern are each carved with another motif including a shell or palmette , while the blind arches below are filled with arabesques (for the side arches) and with a repeating calligram in "knotted" Kufic (for the central arch). Above this runs another small blind arcade and

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1464-522: A claim that they came from Tylos and Arad ( Bahrain and Muharraq ). Some archaeologists working on the Persian Gulf have accepted these traditions and suggest a migration connected with the collapse of the Dilmun civilization c.  1750 BC. However, most scholars reject the idea of a migration; archaeological and historical evidence alike indicate millennia of population continuity in

1586-650: A complex and influential civilization. Their best known legacy is the world's oldest verified alphabet , whose origin was connected to the Proto-Sinaitic script , and which was transmitted across the Mediterranean and used to develop the Arabic script and Greek alphabet and in turn the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets . The Phoenicians are also credited with innovations in shipbuilding, navigation, industry, agriculture, and government. Their international trade network

1708-633: A failed rebellion against Artaxerxes III , enlisting the help of the Egyptians, who were subsequently drawn into a war with the Persians. The resulting destruction of Sidon led to the resurgence of Tyre, which remained the dominant Phoenician city for two decades until the arrival of Alexander the Great. Phoenicia was one of the first areas to be conquered by Alexander the Great during his military campaigns across western Asia . Alexander's main target in

1830-412: A garden and tourist attraction. It is part of the metropolitan area of Rabat. The site, as part of historic Rabat, was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2012. It's also notable for hosting a large colony of storks , who nest in the trees as well as on the minaret of the ruined zawiya. On 3 November 2023, a team of Moroccan archaeologists and researchers discovered the first port district of

1952-607: A hundred sites remain to be excavated, while others that have been are yet to be fully analysed. The Middle Bronze Age was a generally peaceful time of increasing population, trade, and prosperity, though there was competition for natural resources. In the Late Bronze Age , rivalry between Egypt, the Mittani, the Hittites, and Assyria had a significant impact on Phoenician cities. The Canaanite culture that gave rise to

2074-661: A large fragment of a kiswah (the cloth that covers the Ka'ba in Mecca ) was draped over the tomb of Abu al-Hasan. After the Marinid period the necropolis declined. It was pillaged for the first time by Ahmad al-Liḥyani, a pretender to the Marinid throne based in Meknes between 1417 and 1437. Although he and other pretenders were eventually suppressed by Abu Zakariya Yahya , the regent and de facto Wattasid ruler between 1420 and 1448,

2196-416: A local spring. Behind the qibla wall of the mosque, on its southeast side, is a rawda ( Arabic : الروضة ) or garden cemetery. It consists of a long enclosure with at least four ruined mausoleums and a number of other graves scattered across the open space. According to Basset and Lévi-Provençal, the three mausoleums adjoined to the back wall of the mosque include the tomb of Sultan Abu Sa'id (d. 1331) and

2318-553: A major part of Phoenician wealth. The violet-purple dye derived from the hypobranchial gland of the Murex marine snail, once profusely available in coastal waters of the eastern Mediterranean Sea but exploited to local extinction. Phoenicians may have discovered the dye as early as 1750 BC. The Phoenicians established a second production center for the dye in Mogador , in present-day Morocco . The Phoenicians' exclusive command over

2440-433: A millennium. This network facilitated cultural exchanges among major cradles of civilization , such as Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. The Phoenicians established colonies and trading posts across the Mediterranean; Carthage , a settlement in northwest Africa, became a major civilization in its own right in the seventh century BC. The Phoenicians were organized in city-states , similar to those of ancient Greece , of which

2562-661: A population coming from the North, related to ancient Anatolians or ancient South-Eastern Europeans (12–37%). The results show that a Steppe-like ancestry , typically found in Europeans, appears in the region starting from the Iron Age. The Phoenicians served as intermediaries between the disparate civilizations that spanned the Mediterranean and Near East, facilitating the exchange of goods and knowledge, culture, and religious traditions. Their expansive and enduring trade network

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2684-404: A series of artificial terraces, with at least three terraces visible today. Streets were laid out in a regular grid and the two most important streets were the decumanus maximus and the cardo maximus . At the eastern end of the excavated area is the forum. It is flanked on its north side by a structure standing on higher ground which has been identified as a " temple " with five cellae . On

2806-462: A series of campaigns against neighboring states. The Phoenician city-states fell under his rule, forced to pay heavy tribute in money, goods, and natural resources. Initially, they were not annexed outright—they remained in a state of vassalage, subordinate to the Assyrians but allowed a certain degree of freedom. This changed in 744 BC with the ascension of Tiglath-Pileser III . By 738 BC, most of

2928-543: Is already attested in Mycenaean Greek Linear B from the 2nd millennium BC, as po-ni-ki-jo . In those records, it means 'crimson' or 'palm tree' and does not denote a group of people. The name Phoenicians , like Latin Poenī (adj. poenicus , later pūnicus ), comes from Greek Φοινίκη , Phoiníkē . Poenulus , a Latin comedic play written in the early 2nd century BC, appears to preserve

3050-519: Is also a hammam in the far eastern corner of the enclosure and a residential complex located just inside the main gate. The khalwa consists principally of a mosque, a madrasa, a cemetery with multiple mausoleums, and several courtyards. Its layout is irregular and complicated due to the addition of various elements over different periods. On its southwest side is a pool whose water comes from the spring of 'Ayn al-Janna ( Arabic : عين ألجنّا , lit.   'spring/source of paradise'). The pool

3172-455: Is an ancient Greek exonym that did not correspond precisely to a cohesive culture or society as it would have been understood natively. Therefore, the division between Canaanites and Phoenicians around 1200 BC is regarded as a modern and artificial division. The Phoenicians, known for their prowess in trade, seafaring and navigation, dominated commerce across classical antiquity and developed an expansive maritime trade network lasting over

3294-405: Is believed to have fostered the economic, political, and cultural foundations of Classical Western civilization . Being a society of independent city states, the Phoenicians apparently did not have a term to denote the land of Phoenicia as a whole; instead, demonyms were often derived from the name of the city an individual hailed from (e.g., Sidonian for Sidon , Tyrian for Tyre , etc.) If

3416-613: Is credited with laying the foundations of an economically and culturally cohesive Mediterranean, which would be continued by the Greeks and especially the Romans. Phoenician ties with the Greeks ran deep. The earliest verified relationship appears to have begun with the Minoan civilization on Crete (1950–1450 BC), which together with the Mycenaean civilization (1600–1100 BC) is considered

3538-413: Is divided into three naves by two rows of horseshoe arches. Two more rows of arches, perpendicular to the others, delimit a central aisle running towards the mihrab on the southeastern wall. At the mosque's southwest corner is a small, partly-ruined minaret with a square base and polylobed-arch windows. Outside the mosque, near the minaret, is a small water basin or well that was used for ablutions fed by

3660-529: Is in the northwestern part of the enclosure and is built in brick and cut stone with carved ornamentation. It is one of the most exceptional gates built by the Marinids, demonstrating influences from earlier monumental gates built by the Almohads (e.g. Bab er-Rouah and Bab Oudaya ). The gate's façade is decorated with two polylobed arch motifs around the pointed horseshoe-shaped archway. The spandrels of

3782-534: Is no record of Persian administrators governing the Phoenician city-states. Local Phoenician kings were allowed to remain in power and given the same rights as Persian satraps (governors), such as hereditary offices and minting their coins. The Phoenicians remained a core asset to the Achaemenid Empire, particularly for their prowess in maritime technology and navigation; they furnished the bulk of

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3904-507: Is sometimes described as a "Phoenician renaissance". The Phoenician city-states filled the power vacuum caused by the Late Bronze Age collapse and created a vast mercantile network. The city-states during this time were Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, Aradus, Beirut, and Tripoli. The recovery of the Mediterranean economy can be credited to Phoenician mariners and merchants, who re-established long-distance trade between Egypt and Mesopotamia in

4026-518: Is the most richly-decorated tomb in the complex and is better-preserved than the other tombs. Its remaining walls are covered in elaborate low-relief decoration carved in stone. The back wall inside the mausoleum has a central double-arched niche framed by an epigraphic frieze containing verses 30 and 31 of Surah XVI from the Qur'an . This in turn is surrounded by geometric decoration and more epigraphic decoration. Zellij (mosaic tilework ) decorated

4148-485: The Atlantic through Iulia Constantia Zilil (Asilah), Lixus (Larache) and Sala Colonia. Another may have been built towards the south, from Sala to modern Casablanca , then called Anfa . The Romans had two main naval outposts on the Atlantic coast of the province: Sala Colonia, and Lixus. The port of Sala (now disappeared) was used by commercial Roman ships as a way station on their southwestward passages to Anfa and

4270-568: The Insula Purpuraria ( Mogador island ). Sala remained linked to the Roman Empire even after the withdrawal in the 4th century of the occupying Roman legions to Tingis (Tangier) and Septem (Ceuta) in northern Mauretania Tingitana. A Roman military unit remained there until the end of the 5th century. Some of the major monuments of the town were abandoned around this time. The site of the large capitolium temple, for example,

4392-569: The Kasbah of the Udayas . The Almohad caliph Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur (r. 1184–1199) also began construction of a vast new royal city with new walls on the site next to ancient Sala, corresponding to what is now the historic center of Rabat , but it was never finished. The town of Salā on the right bank (northern side) of the river continued to develop and during the following Marinid dynasty period (13th to 15th centuries) it grew more important than

4514-568: The Marinid Tombs in Fez or other sites. Other Marinid family members, such as Abu Inan's sister and other princes, were still occasionally buried at Chellah. Between 1360 and 1363 Ibn al-Khatib , the vizier of the Nasrid sultan Muhammad V , visited the site during his master's exile from Granada and mentioned it in his writings. He described the luxurious decoration of the tombs and noted that

4636-718: The Neolithic Revolution in the Levant . The Late Bronze Age state of Ugarit is considered quintessentially Canaanite archaeologically, even though the Ugaritic language does not belong to the Canaanite languages proper. The fourth-century BC Greek historian Herodotus claimed that the Phoenicians had migrated from the Erythraean Sea around 2750 BC and the first-century AD geographer Strabo reports

4758-557: The Punic Wars (264–146 BC) before being rebuilt as a Roman city. As mercantile city-states concentrated along a narrow coastal strip of land, the Phoenicians lacked the size and population to support a large military. Thus, as neighboring empires began to rise, the Phoenicians increasingly fell under the sway of foreign rulers, who to varying degrees circumscribed their autonomy. The Assyrian conquest of Phoenicia began with King Shalmaneser III . He rose to power in 858 BC and began

4880-684: The Rhone valley and coastal Massalia ". Strabo states that there was a highly lucrative Phoenician trade with Britain for tin via the Cassiterides , whose location is unknown but may have been off the northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Phoenicia lacked considerable natural resources other than its cedar wood. Timber was probably the earliest and most lucrative source of wealth; neither Egypt nor Mesopotamia had adequate wood sources. Unable to rely solely on this limited resource,

5002-511: The capitolium . Remains of a Roman bath are found in the eastern part of the site, between the Marinid madrasa and the Islamic-era bathhouse. The area enclosed by the Marinid walls is roughly pentagonal in shape and is smaller than the former Roman city. Most of the Marinid structures inside are contained within a religious complex in the southeastern part of the enclosure, called the khalwa ( Arabic : خلوة ). Outside this complex there

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5124-460: The "monumental" Roman quarter visible today. Excavations did not take place again until 1958, after Moroccan independence, when the head of the Service des Antiquités du Maroc , Maurice Euzennat, appointed Jean Boube to begin a new campaign of excavations. Excavations continued on and off until 1996, unearthing the rest of the structures now visible. Today, the site of Chellah has been converted to

5246-588: The 10th century BC. Early into the Iron Age , the Phoenicians established ports, warehouses, markets, and settlement all across the Mediterranean and up to the southern Black Sea. Colonies were established on Cyprus , Sardinia , the Balearic Islands , Sicily , and Malta , as well as the coasts of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. Phoenician hacksilver dated to this period bears lead isotope ratios matching ores in Sardinia and Spain, indicating

5368-497: The 4th to 6th centuries. Sala began to be abandoned in the 5th century and was mostly in ruins when the Muslim Arabs arrived in the 7th century. The Byzantine governor of the area, Count Julian of Ceuta , surrendered to Uqba ibn Nafi in 683. The area was only occupied again in the 10th century, when historical sources mention the existence of a ribat in the area. Around 1030, a new town called Salā (present-day Salé )

5490-520: The 7th and early 6th centuries BC, but it is possible that such early items were imported by trade rather than being evidence of occupation. The settlement along the banks of the Bou Regreg was known as Shalat ( Punic : 𐤔𐤏‬𐤋𐤕 , šʿlt ; compare Hebrew סלע , rock ), which appears to derive from the Punic word for "rock". By the first century BC the local inhabitants were still writing in

5612-581: The Islamic-era remains were carried out by Henri Basset and Évariste Lévi-Provençal in 1922. The first excavations of the Roman city were carried out in 1929–30 under the supervision of Jules Borély, head of the Service des Beaux-Arts , an agency of the French Protectorate in Morocco at that time. This initial work cleared away vegetation from the ruined mosque and unearthed a large portion of

5734-695: The Levant since at least the Bronze Age . More specifically, the research of geneticist Chris Tyler-Smith and his team at the Sanger Institute in Britain, who compared "sampled ancient DNA from five Canaanite people who lived 3,750 and 3,650 years ago" to modern people, revealed that 93 percent of the genetic ancestry of people in Lebanon came from the Canaanites (the other 7 percent was of

5856-424: The Levant, including northern Phoenicia, were annexed; only Tyre and Byblos, the most powerful city-states, remained tributary states outside of direct Assyrian control. Tyre, Byblos, and Sidon all rebelled against Assyrian rule. In 721 BC, Sargon II besieged Tyre and crushed the rebellion. His successor Sennacherib suppressed further rebellions across the region. During the seventh century BC, Sidon rebelled and

5978-606: The Mediterranean, from Cyprus to the Iberian Peninsula . The Phoenicians directly succeeded the Bronze Age Canaanites , continuing their cultural traditions following the decline of most major cultures in the Late Bronze Age collapse and into the Iron Age without interruption. It is believed that they self-identified as Canaanites and referred to their land as Canaan, indicating a continuous cultural and geographical association. The name Phoenicia

6100-623: The Mediterranean. Excavations of colonies in Spain suggest they also used the potter's wheel . Their exposure to a wide variety of cultures allowed them to manufacture goods for specific markets. The Iliad suggests Phoenician clothing and metal goods were highly prized by the Greeks. Specialized goods were designed specifically for wealthier clientele, including ivory reliefs and plaques, carved clam shells, sculpted amber, and finely detailed and painted ostrich eggs. The most prized Phoenician goods were fabrics dyed with Tyrian purple , which formed

6222-556: The Near East, the Phoenicians apparently made the pragmatic calculation of "[yielding] themselves to the Persians". Most of the Levant was consolidated by Cyrus into a single satrapy (province) and forced to pay a yearly tribute of 350 talents , which was roughly half the tribute that was required of Egypt and Libya. The Phoenician area was later divided into four vassal kingdoms—Sidon, Tyre, Arwad, and Byblos—which were allowed considerable autonomy. Unlike in other empire areas, there

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6344-580: The Persian Levant was Tyre, now the region's largest and most important city. It capitulated after a roughly seven month siege , during which many of its citizens fled to Carthage. Tyre's refusal to allow Alexander to visit its temple to Melqart , culminating in the killing of his envoys, led to a brutal reprisal: 2,000 of its leading citizens were crucified and a puppet ruler was installed. The rest of Phoenicia easily came under his control, with Sidon surrendering peacefully. Alexander's empire had

6466-738: The Persian fleet during the Greco-Persian Wars of the late fifth century BC. Phoenicians under Xerxes I built the Xerxes Canal and the pontoon bridges that allowed his forces to cross into mainland Greece. Nevertheless, they were harshly punished by the Persian King following his defeat at the Battle of Salamis , which he blamed on Phoenician cowardice and incompetence. In the mid-fourth century BC, King Tennes of Sidon led

6588-636: The Phoenician cities were mainly self-governed. Many of them were fought for or over by the warring factions of the Seleucid royal family. Some Phoenician regions were under Jewish influence, after the Jews revolted and succeeded in defeating the Seleucids in 164 BC. A significant portion of the Phoenician diaspora in North Africa thus converted to Judaism in the late millennium BC. The Seleucid Kingdom

6710-512: The Phoenicians apparently developed in situ from the earlier Ghassulian chalcolithic culture. Ghassulian itself developed from the Circum-Arabian Nomadic Pastoral Complex , which in turn developed from a fusion of their ancestral Natufian and Harifian cultures with Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) farming cultures, practicing the domestication of animals during the 8.2 kiloyear event , which led to

6832-504: The Phoenicians developed an industrial base manufacturing a variety of goods for both everyday and luxury use. The Phoenicians developed or mastered techniques such as glass-making , engraved and chased metalwork (including bronze, iron, and gold), ivory carving, and woodwork. The Phoenicians were early pioneers in mass production, and sold a variety of items in bulk. They became the leading source of glassware in antiquity, shipping thousands of flasks, beads, and other glass objects across

6954-475: The Phoenicians had an endonym to denote the land overall, some scholars believe that they would have used " Canaan " and therefore referred to themselves as "Canaanites". Krahmalkov reconstructs the Honeyman inscription (dated to c.  900 BC by William F. Albright ) as containing a reference to the Phoenician homeland, calling it Pūt ( Phoenician : 𐤐𐤕). Obelisks at Karnak contain references to

7076-441: The Roman era in Morocco, dating from the first to the second century AD, along with the first life-sized headless statue of a female goddess found in Morocco since 1960. The excavated portion of the Roman city covers about 1.2 hectares and corresponds to the "monumental" district around the forum, where the most important public buildings stood. The city was built on a sloped site and consequently its buildings were constructed upon

7198-581: The Wattasids chose not to try and restore the necropolis. Many of the remaining structures in Chellah were damaged by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and fell into ruins. The 'Alawi sultans stationed soldiers here afterwards to prevent further looting, but in the late 18th century an Arab tribe, the Ṣabbaḥ, took possession of the enclosure until in 1790 sultan Moulay Yazid charged the governor of Salé, Abu Ya'za al-Qasṭali, with removing them. During this episode

7320-413: The arch are filled with a foliate arabesque motif featuring a carved shell at their centers. The whole composition is framed by a rectangular frieze (an alfiz ) containing a Kufic Arabic inscription that details the construction of the gate. The gate is flanked by two towers that have prismatic or semi-octagonal bases but are crowned with square turrets. The transition from the semi-octagonal body of

7442-486: The area of modern Lebanon. In a 2020 study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics , researchers have shown that there is substantial genetic continuity in Lebanon since the Bronze Age interrupted by three significant admixture events during the Iron Age , Hellenistic , and Ottoman period. In particular, the Phoenicians can be modeled as a mixture of the local Bronze Age population (63–88%) and

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7564-617: The city they hailed from (e.g., Sidonian for Sidon , Tyrian for Tyre , etc.) A 2008 study led by Pierre Zalloua found that six subclades of Haplogroup J-M172 (J2)—thought to have originated between the Caucasus Mountains , Mesopotamia and the Levant —were of a "Phoenician signature" and present amongst the male populations of coastal Lebanon as well as the wider Levant (the "Phoenician Periphery"), followed by other areas of historic Phoenician settlement, spanning Cyprus through to Morocco. This deliberate sequential sampling

7686-513: The designs, ornamentation, and embroidery used in Phoenician textiles were well-regarded, the techniques and specific descriptions are unknown. Mining operations in the Phoenician homeland were limited; iron was the only metal of any worth. The first large-scale mining operations probably occurred in Cyprus, principally for copper. Sardinia may have been colonized almost exclusively for its mineral resources; Phoenician settlements were concentrated in

7808-422: The eastern Mediterranean gradually declined due to external influences and conquests. Yet, their presence persisted in the central and western Mediterranean until the destruction of Carthage in the mid-second century BC. The Phoenicians were long considered a lost civilization due to the lack of indigenous written records, and only since the mid-20th century have historians and archaeologists been able to reveal

7930-504: The extent of Phoenician trade networks. By the tenth century BC, Tyre rose to become the richest and most powerful Phoenician city-state, particularly during the reign of Hiram I ( c.  969–936 BC). The expertise of Phoenician artisans sent by Hiram I of Tyre in significant construction projects during the reign of Solomon , the King of Israel, is documented in the Bible. During

8052-568: The gate of the Sidi Boumediene Complex in Tlemcen (present-day Algeria ), suggesting that the same team of artisans may have been involved in both designs. The hammam (Islamic bathhouse) of Chellah has a roughly rectangular floor plan measuring 28.5 by 10.4 metres. Henri Terrasse estimated that its construction was contemporary with the other major Marinid structures in Chellah and that it took place between 1339 and 1358. It

8174-525: The grave. Both are richly carved with elaborate Arabic inscriptions that record their names, titles, and the details of their burials. A number of Marinid-period marble capitals are also housed at the museum. Since 2005, the ruins of Chellah host an international "Festival of Jazz" each year, called Jazz au Chellah . Additionally, it is currently home to a venue of the annual Mawazine music festival in Rabat, which showcases popular contemporary music from around

8296-434: The height of Phoenician shipping, mercantile, and cultural activity, particularly between 750 and 650 BC. The Phoenician influence was visible in the "orientalization" of Greek cultural and artistic conventions. Among their most popular goods were fine textiles, typically dyed with Tyrian purple . Homer's Iliad , which was composed during this period, references the quality of Phoenician clothing and metal goods. Carthage

8418-401: The hot room contained the furnace that heated the baths and its water via the traditional hypocaust system. A small chamber near the changing room probably contained the latrines. The hammam was entered from a gate at its west corner. The changing room consisted of a central square space flanked by two small rectangular galleries divided from it by a row of arches supported by columns. This room

8540-522: The interior (via the Nahr al-Kabir and the Orontes rivers ). The cities provided Egypt with access to Mesopotamian trade and abundant stocks of the region's native cedarwood . There was no equivalent in the Egyptian homeland. By the mid-14th century BC, the Phoenician city-states were considered "favored cities" to the Egyptians. Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, and Byblos were regarded as the most important. The Phoenicians had considerable autonomy, and their cities were reasonably well developed and prosperous. Byblos

8662-440: The large terracotta jars used for transporting wine. From Egypt, the Phoenicians bought Nubian gold. From elsewhere, they obtained other materials, perhaps the most crucial being silver , mostly from Sardinia and the Iberian Peninsula . Tin for making bronze "may have been acquired from Galicia by way of the Atlantic coast of southern Spain; alternatively, it may have come from northern Europe ( Cornwall or Brittany ) via

8784-409: The late 10th or early 11th century, before it was apparently moved to North Africa and eventually reused by the Marinids, who carved the other side of it with the sultan's funerary inscription. The same museum also holds the tombstones of Abu al-Hasan and his wife Shams al-Ḍuḥa. These tombstones were maqabriyya s: marble tombstones shaped approximately like a triangular prism and laid horizontally over

8906-465: The lower portions of the wall. Three windows are pierced above this. The exterior side of this wall, facing out from the complex, is carved with two rectangular friezes, one filled with an ornate Kufic inscription and the other with a Naskhi (cursive) inscription. The Kufic inscription includes verse 185 of Surah III , while the Naskhi inscription is a dedication to Abu al-Hasan. These two friezes enclose

9028-473: The madrasa from the forecourt on the north side of the mosque. The gate, a horseshoe arch, is framed by a rectangular frieze or alfiz filled with geometric star patterns in zellij tiling. The spandrels of the archway are filled with arabesque motifs and a polylobed arch motif, similar to the monumental main gate of the complex, but instead of carved stone they are executed in highly colourful zellij tiling. The decoration of this gateway also has similarities to

9150-402: The most notable were Tyre , Sidon , and Byblos . Each city-state was politically independent, and there is no evidence the Phoenicians viewed themselves as a single nationality. While most city-states were governed by some form of kingship , merchant families probably exercised influence through oligarchies . After reaching its zenith in the ninth century BC, the Phoenician civilization in

9272-431: The necropolis as well, towards the southern part of the area. These shrines were built at a later date, and appear to be grouped together. One of such buildings is a shrine containing the tomb of Sidi Yahya ibn Yunus, a mystic believed to have lived in the 7th century. The Museum of History and Civilizations in Rabat houses some Roman-era artifacts from Sala Colonia. The museum also holds several Marinid-period pieces from

9394-539: The necropolis was again looted. Despite this decline, the site acquired local religious importance over time. At some point, Sufis began to inhabit the site and the madrasa was reused as a zawiya (Sufi religious and educational center). The zawiya also became the object of a local pilgrimage, with locals believing that a visit here could be a substitute for the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca for those who couldn't afford that long journey. As part of their visit, pilgrims performed

9516-454: The necropolis. One of these is the tombstone of Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, a rectangular marble slab which was a spolia from Roman-era Hispania Baetica , as seen in the Roman inscription on the back side which mentions a Roman governor of that province named Aulus Caecina Tacitus from the second half of the 3rd century AD. The stone was initially reused for an Umayyad fountain in Cordoba , probably in

9638-480: The neo-Punic language but the region came under the influence of Rome . At this time the area was occupied by the ancient Berber Mauretanian Kingdom . Under its last two rulers, Juba II and Ptolemy , the Mauretanian kingdom became a client state of Rome. Some relics from the time of these two kings have been discovered at Chellah. After the death of Ptolemy in 40 AD the region was annexed by Rome and became

9760-572: The north. Egypt subsequently lost its coastal holdings from Ugarit in northern Syria to Byblos near central Lebanon. Sometime between 1200 and 1150 BC, the Late Bronze Age collapse severely weakened or destroyed most civilizations in the region, including the Egyptians and Hittites. The Phoenicians were able to survive and navigate the challenges of the crisis, and by 1230 BC city-states such as Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos, maintained political independence, asserted their maritime interests through overseas colonization, and enjoyed economic prosperity. The period

9882-452: The pool. The courtyard was once surrounded by a peristyle portico supported by marble columns, no longer standing. Behind the portico, on the two long sides of the courtyard, are a number of small rooms which served as sleeping quarters for students. Two staircases provided access to an upper floor above this, probably with a similar layout. The courtyard was paved and decorated with intricate zellij (mosaic tilework), parts of which survive. At

10004-460: The pools here. For example, it was believed that feeding the eels could aid fertility and childbirth. Legends about buried treasures also led to illegal excavations at times and pushed authorities in the 20th century to move some of the most important objects in the necropolis to museums in Rabat. The remains of the ancient Roman city were first identified in the late 19th century by French geographer Charles Tissot. The first investigation and study of

10126-411: The production and trade of the dye, combined with the labor-intensive extraction process, made it very expensive. Tyrian purple subsequently became associated with the upper classes. It soon became a status symbol in several civilizations, most notably among the Romans. Assyrian tribute records from the Phoenicians include "garments of brightly colored stuff" that most likely included Tyrian purple. While

10248-562: The progenitor of classical Greece. Archaeological research suggests that the Minoans gradually imported Near Eastern goods, artistic styles, and customs from other cultures via the Phoenicians. To Egypt the Phoenicians sold logs of cedar for significant sums, and wine beginning in the eighth century. The wine trade with Egypt is vividly documented by shipwrecks discovered in 1997 in the open sea 50 kilometres (30 mi) west of Ascalon , Israel. Pottery kilns at Tyre and Sarepta produced

10370-411: The province of Mauretania Tingitana . On this site the Romans built their own city, Sala Colonia. The Roman town was referred to as "Sala" by Ptolemy , a 2nd-century writer. Excavations have revealed that older Mauretanian structures existed on the site before Roman structures were built over them. For the Roman period, they show a substantial port city with ruined Roman architectural elements including

10492-641: The rare U5b2c1 maternal haplogroup was identified in the DNA of a 2,500-year-old male skeleton excavated from a Punic tomb in Tunisia. The lineage of this "Young Man of Byrsa" is believed to represent early gene flow from Iberia to the Maghreb . According to a 2017 study published by the American Journal of Human Genetics , present-day Lebanese derive most of their ancestry from a Canaanite -related population, which therefore implies substantial genetic continuity in

10614-561: The region in the 8th millennium BC". Brian R. Doak states that scholars use "Phoenicians" as a short-hand for "Canaanites living in a set of cities along the northern Levantine coast who shared a language and material culture in the Iron I–II period and who also developed an organized system of colonies in the western Mediterranean world". The Phoenician Early Bronze Age is largely unknown. The two most important sites are Byblos and Sidon-Dakerman (near Sidon), although, as of 2021, well over

10736-495: The region, and recent genetic research indicates that present-day Lebanese derive most of their ancestry from a Canaanite-related population. The first known account of the Phoenicians relates to the conquests of Pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC). The Egyptians targeted coastal cities which they wrote belonged to the Fenekhu , 'carpenters', such as Byblos, Arwad, and Ullasa for their crucial geographic and commercial links with

10858-402: The reigns of Trajan (r. 98–117) and Hadrian (r. 117–138). The largest structure here, on the northwest side, is the capitolium or capitoline temple. The temple is built on two levels and has a rectangular floor plan, measuring about 48 metres by 26 metres, with rounded corners on its west side. On the lower level were nine vaulted tabernae chambers which opened onto the paved area next to

10980-503: The reigns of the first Babylonian King, Nabopolassar (626–605 BC), and his son Nebuchadnezzar II ( c.  605 – c.  562 BC). In 587 BC Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre, which resisted for thirteen years, but ultimately capitulated under "favorable terms". In 539 BC, Cyrus the Great , king and founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire , took Babylon. As Cyrus began consolidating territories across

11102-402: The remains of a triumphal arch. Only the base of the arch remains and therefore not much is known for certain about it. It may date from the time of Hadrian, like the surrounding buildings, but another hypothesis has dated it to around the time of Antoninus Pius (r. 138–161). Various other structures are scattered around the site, including two more structures identified as temples to the east of

11224-518: The rule of the priest Ithobaal (887–856 BC), Tyre expanded its territory as far north as Beirut and into part of Cyprus; this unusual act of aggression was the closest the Phoenicians ever came to forming a unitary territorial state. Once his realm reached its largest territorial extent, Ithobaal declared himself "King of the Sidonians", a title that would be used by his successors and mentioned in both Greek and Jewish accounts. The Late Iron Age saw

11346-453: The settlements of the left bank. During the Marinid period the site of ancient Sala was re-appropriated and turned into a royal necropolis for the ruling dynasty, now known as Chellah ( Arabic : شالة , romanized :  Shāllah ). Because of its ruined condition today, the exact chronology of its development is not well known. The first Marinid constructions and the first royal burial were in 1284–85, when sultan Abu Yusuf Ya'qub chose

11468-464: The site to bury his wife, Umm al-'Izz. He built a small mosque (still extant) next to her tomb. The tomb itself was a qubba , a small mausoleum chamber covered by a dome or pyramidal roof. The sultan himself was buried next to her after his death in Algeciras in 1286. His son and successor, Abu Ya'qub Yusuf , was buried at the site after his death in 1307, and his successor, Abu Thabit 'Amir ,

11590-501: The site today also show that the necropolis was accompanied by a residential quarter to the north, complete with a water supply system. A preserved hammam (bathhouse) from this period also stands near the far eastern corner of the walled enclosure. Abu al-Hasan was the last sultan to be buried here. Abu Inan is believed to have been buried at the Great Mosque of Fes el-Jdid and other Marinid sultans after him were mostly buried at

11712-411: The site. Its main shaft has a traditional square base and its four facades are each decorated with a sebka composition above two blind polylobed arches (each enclosing small windows). The negative spaces within these motifs are filled with zellij tile decoration. In addition to Abu al-Hasan's mausoleum, one of the most exceptional examples of decoration in the complex is the gateway that leads towards

11834-472: The south side of the plaza, on a lower level, is a long building with nine rooms, possibly tabernae (shops), that open onto another street. The dating of the temple and the adjoining forum has been debated. Jean Boube dated the temple to the mid-first century BC, which would make it a Mauretanian structure (before the region was annexed as a Roman province). Statues of the Mauretanian client kings Juba II and Ptolemy have been found here, leading Boube to suggest

11956-424: The southeast end of the courtyard a doorway leads to a rectangular hall that served as a prayer room. A mihrab was set in the back wall here. Unusually, the mihrab is surrounded by a narrow passage that runs around and behind it. This passage may have been used by pilgrims who circumambulated it. At the northeastern corner of the madrasa is a preserved minaret, about 15 metres tall and prominently visible from most of

12078-572: The southern parts of the island, close to sources of copper and lead. Piles of scoria and copper ingots, which appear to predate Roman occupation, suggest the Phoenicians mined and processed metals on the island. The Iberian Peninsula was the richest source of numerous metals in antiquity, including gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead. The significant output of these metals during the Phoenician and Carthaginian occupation strongly implied large scale mining operations. The Carthaginians are documented to have relied on slave labor for mining, though it

12200-470: The temple and formed a part of the temple's substructure. The upper level was the temple proper, consisting of single cella and a pronaos (vestibule chamber), elevated on a podium and surrounded on three sides by a portico of 32 columns. The parts of the temple that were built above the tabernae have collapsed. Roman inscriptions found on site confirm that the temple was built in the time of Hadrian and possibly inaugurated around 120 AD. Its construction

12322-422: The temple was originally dedicated to them. Other archeologists have argued that it belongs instead to the Roman period (after annexation). More recent studies have again suggested a pre-Roman dating, based on the construction techniques present. On the west side of the forum is another wide paved space which may have been an additional forum ( forum adiectum ) or a part of the decumanus maximus . Boube dated it to

12444-407: The tomb of Shams al-Ḍuḥa (d. 1349). Each tomb is a qubba or square chamber that was probably once covered by a dome or a pyramidal tiled roof, similar to other mausoleums in Morocco. These tombs are largely ruined and contain only small fragments of their former decoration. The ruined qubba further south, set against the perimeter wall of the complex, belongs to Sultan Abu al-Hasan (d. 1351). This

12566-412: The tower to the square turret above is accomplished with the use of muqarnas in the corners. Inside, the gate has a bent passage that turns 90 degrees. The inner façade of the gate, facing towards the religious complex, is decorated with a simpler version of the motifs seen on the outside of the gate. The mosque, located in the center of the southwestern half of the complex, is a hypostyle hall. It

12688-514: The world. Phoenicia The Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean , primarily modern Lebanon . They developed a maritime civilization which expanded and contracted throughout history, with the core of their culture stretching from Arwad in modern Syria to Mount Carmel . The Phoenicians extended their cultural influence through trade and colonization throughout

12810-578: Was 1200 BC to the end of the Persian period (332 BC). It is debated whether Phoenicians were actually distinct from the broader group of Semitic-speaking peoples known as Canaanites . Historian Robert Drews believes the term "Canaanites" corresponds to the ethnic group referred to as "Phoenicians" by the ancient Greeks; archaeologist Jonathan N. Tubb argues that " Ammonites , Moabites , Israelites , and Phoenicians undoubtedly achieved their own cultural identities, and yet ethnically they were all Canaanites", "the same people who settled in farming villages in

12932-527: Was an attempt to develop a methodology to link the documented historical expansion of a population with a particular geographic genetic pattern or patterns. The researchers suggested that the proposed genetic signature stemmed from "a common source of related lineages rooted in Lebanon ". Another study in 2006 found evidence for the genetic persistence of Phoenicians in the Spanish island of Ibiza . In 2016,

13054-522: Was buried in Fez . Construction of the main gate was finished by Abu al-Hasan, as evidenced by an inscription on it which dates its completion to July 1339 ( Dhu al-Qadah 739 AH ) and refers to the complex as a "ribat". During Abu al-Hasan's lifetime one of his wives, Shams al-Ḍuḥa (the mother of Abu Inan ), was buried here in 1349. One of his sons, Abu Malik, may have also been buried in the necropolis in 1339. After his death in exile in 1351, Abu al-Hasan's body

13176-413: Was buried in a mausoleum here as well, near his wife. This mausoleum may have been finished by his son and successor, Abu Inan (r. 1348–1358). Abu Inan may have also been responsible for building or completing the madrasa (Islamic college) and the prominent minaret that adjoin the mosque and mausoleums. He set up a charitable endowment ( waqf ) to fund the operations of the religious complex. Remains at

13298-515: Was buried near Abu Ya'qub Yusuf in 1308. The most important Marinid constructions appear to have occurred during the reigns of Abu Sa'id Uthman II (r. 1310–1331) and his son, Abu al-Hasan (r. 1331–1348; also known as the Black Sultan). Abu Sa'id enclosed the area with a set of walls and began construction of the main gate. According to some sources he was buried in this necropolis too after his death in 1331, though Ibn Khaldun wrote that he

13420-491: Was delivering goods to Tyre. The adaptation to Macedonian rule was probably aided by the Phoenicians' historical ties with the Greeks, with whom they shared some mythological stories and figures; the two peoples were even sometimes considered "relatives". When Alexander's empire collapsed after his death in 323 BC, the Phoenicians came under the control of the largest of its successors, the Seleucids . The Phoenician homeland

13542-589: Was destroyed by Esarhaddon , who enslaved its inhabitants and built a new city on its ruins. By the end of the century, the Assyrians had been weakened by successive revolts, which led to their destruction by the Median Empire . The Babylonians, formerly vassals of the Assyrians, took advantage of the empire's collapse and rebelled, quickly establishing the Neo-Babylonian Empire in its place. Phoenician cities revolted several times throughout

13664-468: Was founded by Phoenicians coming from Tyre, probably initially as a station in the metal trade with the southern Iberian Peninsula . The city's name in Punic , Qart-Ḥadašt ( 𐤒𐤓𐤕 𐤇𐤃𐤔𐤕 ‎) , means 'New City'. There is a tradition in some ancient sources, such as Philistos of Syracuse , for an "early" foundation date of around 1215 BC—before the fall of Troy in 1180 BC. However, Timaeus ,

13786-702: Was founded on the opposite side of the river (the north side) by the Banu 'Ashara family. After the end of the Umayyad Caliphate in Al-Andalus in the early 11th century, the Almoravids assumed control of the region and built a new ribat at the mouth of the river. This ribat was in turn destroyed and then rebuilt by their successors, the Almohads , in the mid-12th century, becoming what is now known as

13908-467: Was funded by a private citizen, a military official named C. Hosidius Severus, who gifted it to the people of the city. The other major building in this western area is located directly opposite the capitolium , to the south and near the perimeter wall of the Marinid religious complex. This building is poorly-preserved and has been tentatively identified as either a curia (the Curia Ulpia ) or as

14030-551: Was no organized Hellenization in Phoenicia, and with one or two minor exceptions, all Phoenician city-states retained their native names, while Greek settlement and administration appear to have been very limited. The Phoenicians maintained cultural and commercial links with their western counterparts. Polybius recounts how the Seleucid King Demetrius I escaped from Rome by boarding a Carthaginian ship that

14152-444: Was originally the latrines and ablutions facility of the 13th-century mosque, but at some point it became submerged due to water seeping in from underground and it is now inhabited by eels. The rampart walls surrounding the site are built in rammed earth (or pisé). They are pierced by three gates and interspersed with defensive towers. The towers typically have a square base and contain three levels inside. The most monumental gate

14274-435: Was probably the most decorated space in the building, though no decoration has been preserved today. The central square space was probably covered by an ornate wooden vault ceiling while the galleries were covered by groin vaults . The cold room and hot room are both roofed by groin vaults, while the warm room between them is larger and is roofed by two cloister vaults . Several shrines dedicated to Sufi mystics are present in

14396-549: Was repeatedly contested by the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt during the forty-year Syrian Wars , coming under Ptolemaic rule in the third century BC. The Seleucids reclaimed the area the following century, holding it until the mid-first 2nd century BC. Under their rule, the Phoenicians were allowed a considerable degree of autonomy and self-governance. During the Seleucid Dynastic Wars (157–63 BC),

14518-456: Was restored in the 20th century. It shares general similarities with other historic hammams in this part of the Islamic world. It consists of a changing room near the entrance (equivalent to the Roman apodyterium ), followed by a cold room (equivalent to the frigidarium ), a warm room (equivalent to the tepidarium ), and a hot room (equivalent to the caldarium ). Another chamber behind

14640-529: Was seized by Tigranes the Great of Armenia in 82 BC, ending the Hellenistic influence on the Levant. The people now known as Phoenicians were a group of ancient Semitic-speaking peoples that emerged in the Levant in at least the third millennium BC. Phoenicians did not refer themselves as "Phoenicians" but rather are thought to have broadly referred to themselves as "Kenaʿani", meaning ' Canaanites '. Phoenicians specifically identified themselves with

14762-442: Was the leading city; it was a center for bronze-making and the primary terminus of precious goods such as tin and lapis lazuli from as far east as Afghanistan . Sidon and Tyre also commanded interest among Egyptian officials, beginning a pattern of rivalry that would span the next millennium. The Amarna letters report that from 1350 to 1300 BC, neighboring Amorites and Hittites were capturing Phoenician cities, especially in

14884-437: Was turned into a cemetery and a dumping ground during the 4th century. Archaeological objects of Visigothic and Byzantine origin found in the area attest to the persistence of commercial or political contacts between Sala and Roman Europe, up to the establishment of a Byzantine presence in North Africa during the 7th century. Fragments of pottery with Christian motifs and graffiti have also been found among objects dating from

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