Welcome to our newsletter, The Phoenician Voyager. We expect to offer you a new installment every month. It will offer short pieces about Lebanese life and other Middle Eastern cultures. We will also have many traditional mouth-watering Middle Eastern recipes. We'll even share medicinal recipes used in our culture to cure some of our colds, aches and pains. Of course, there will be news about Dibe Family events and new pictures.

About the newsletter name

The reason we chose this name for our monthly newsletter is directly related to our roots and our main landmark in Lebanon. Byblos, one of the oldest and most remarkable cities in the world is the birthplace of our language.

Byblos lies just over the horizon of the Mediterranean world, about 50km north of Beirut. It's a city of mysteries and great antiquity with origins dating back to the dawn of civilization. The entire city offers unique archeological sites from a history that spans seven thousand years. It has always left a profound impression on its visitors.

Through a brief history of the Phoenicians I hope to shed some light on our great culture and the culinary legacy that has endured throughout history.

The ancient civilization of the Phoenicians existed in Byblos. Its rich source of intellectual and culinary traditions is responsible for the survival of Lebanese cuisine. The link between ancient Phoenicia and Lebanon today is manifested in the continuity of culinary traditions that place food at the centre of social and ritual life.

Byblos is the Greek word for book and was also the title of a work written about the city of Byblos, in which the Greeks discussed the great civilization they had discovered.

The Phoenician influence in the Mediterranean world was very powerful because of their lasting and distinctive contribution to arts and letters. Their alphabets are the earliest surviving from ancient times. One particular Phoenician inscription can be traced to the epitaph on the tomb of King Ahiram of Byblos, which dates from the 11th Century b.c. This type of alphabetic writing was later adopted by the Greeks and is considered a precursor of modern Western alphabets. The alphabets provided one of the first vehicles for cultural communications between East and West.

Newer languages abound in the regions surrounding modern Lebanon. In Hebrew, the Phoenicians were called "kenaani" or merchants. It is the name that describes Phoenicians well.

Known as traders and colonizers of their age, the Phoenicians designed superior ships to carry them safely great distances by sea. From these voyages in the Mediterranean and around the world, relics such as carvings, sculptures, and coins survive. Traces of Phoenicians culture have been found in Mexico, Brazil, and North America. Inscriptions have been found on rocks in Quebec, Canada that may be linked to Phoenician explorers who arrived about 2500 years ago.

The Phoenicians maintained a strong relationship with the Egyptians, who called Byblos "God's Country". There was extensive trade between them. The Phoenicians ships often carried cedar, pine, wood and glass to Egyptian shores, as well as highly priced dye called tyrian purple, which the Phoenicians extracted from shellfish. Olive oil was dispatched across the sea in pretty jugs that were found in great numbers in Egypt.

Beyond the Mediterranean, the Phoenicians exported spices, herbs, and various kinds of frankincense, myrrh and other highly prized goods. Knowledgeable in farming and agriculture, the Phoenicians grew vines, fruit trees, lentils, and vegetables of all kinds. They brought chickpeas to Spain and also helped to develop the wheat fields there and in Sicily. The Phoenicians were also scientists. They developed medicinal products from natural substances mainly garlic, olive oil, and diverse mix of herbs. They also learned how to extract salt from evaporating seawater. This process is just one of their many important achievements that is now a tradition carried on in areas along the sea.

Eventually, Phoenician lands were taken over by conquerors who transformed and altered the traditional culture. However, the colonizers recognized that Phoenician civilization was highly advanced and learned a great deal from it. Even though they were seemingly, "conquered," Phoenicians adopted as many cultural practices as they could, thus preventing ancient ways from completely dying out.

That's it for our first Phoenician Voyager. Write me with your ideas and be sure to say "Hi" when you're in the restaurant.

Hilda