Why did the Phoenicians use cedar trees to build their ships?

Why did the Phoenicians use cedar trees to build their ships?

Travelling between settlements, usually located on rocky peninsulas, was much easier by sea, especially when carrying such cumbersome cargo as cedar wood logs for which the Phoenicians were famed. It was thanks to the very same wood the Phoenicians were never short of the necessary raw materials to build their ships.

Why was cedar wood so important to the Phoenicians?

The Phoenicians used the Cedars for their merchant fleets. They needed timbers for their ships and the Cedar woods made them the “first sea trading nation in the world”. The Egyptians used cedar resin for the mummification process and the cedar wood for some of “their first hieroglyph bearing rolls of papyrus”.

Did the Phoenicians have cedar timber?

Phoenicia was a mere coastal strip backed by mountains. However, the Phoenicians were most noted as exporters of wood. This commodity came from their abundant cedar and fir forests and had been traded since the beginning of recorded history. The cedar is a tall tree with a thick girth, making it ideal for timber.

What was the Phoenicians greatest invention?

Inventions of the Phoenicians

• The First ABCs. The modern Western alphabet originated from a set of letters that the Phoenicians devised and the Greeks and Romans later adopted and modified.
• The Color of Kings. In Phoenician times, purple garments were markers of elite status.
• Sailing with the Stars.
• Glass Half Full.

What did the Egyptians use cedar wood for?

The ancient Egyptians used cedar to make trading boats and furniture. However, this important wood did not grow in ancient Egypt, and it had to be imported from Phoenicia (modern Lebanon).

What is special about the Cedars of Lebanon?

It is considered to be the first of trees (1 Kings 4:33). The Bible describes the cedar tree as strong and durable (Isaiah 9:10), graceful and beautiful (Psalm 80:10, Ezekiel 17:23), high and tall (Amos 2:9, Ezekiel 17:22), fragrant (Song of Songs 4:11) and spreading wide (Psalm 80:10-11).

What do cedar trees symbolize?

Strength. “….the cedar tree symbolizes strength, and in Lebanon, the tree serves as an important cultural symbol for that reason. Poets and artists have conveyed the tree as a sign of strength and eternity, especially given the tree’s endurance through tumultuous periods of history.”

What does cedar symbolize?

What did the Phoenicians discover?

Occupying modern day Lebanon and the coastal parts of Syria and Northern Palestine, the Phoenicians were regarded as the rulers of the sea. They were known for their innovations in ship building, navigation (credited for the discovery of the pole star), for the alphabet and for insurance.

What innovations did the Phoenicians make?

Their best known legacy is the world’s oldest verified alphabet, which was transmitted across the Mediterranean and used to develop the Greek alphabet and in turn the Latin script. The Phoenicians are also credited with innovations in shipbuilding, navigation, industry, agriculture, and government.

What ancient civilization made boats out of cedar?

Eventually the Egyptians began to make boats from wood. They used acacia wood from Egypt and imported cedar wood from Lebanon. They also began to use a giant sail in the middle of the boat so they could catch the wind when heading upstream. The Egyptians built their wooden boats without nails.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYenpVHiCCE