The Phoenicians: Ancient Traders and Seafarers

When Asians Shaped the World - Chapter 4

The Traders: The Phoenicians

• The Phoenicians were crucial in spreading civilization.
• They were the first businesspeople and sailors in the Mediterranean Sea.
• Rather than one nation, they resided in independent city-states.
• Phoenician coastal city-states included Carthage (Tunisia), Tyre, Biblos, and Sidon.
• Modern Lebanese, Tunisians, and people in Cadiz (Spain), Sicily, and Sardinia (Italy) are descendants.
• Their contributions to civilization was spreading the first alphabet, developing the skill of writing words and numbers plus keeping records.
• Invented the first transcontinental social network, and first method of credit and written payment promises
• Considered the best seafarers in the Ancient World, according to the Greeks, the Phoenicians were the first to sail from the Mediterranean to Africa.
• Legend says Europa, a Phoenician king's daughter, gave her name to Europe, and her brother Cadmus gave the alphabet to the world.
• They were the first major shipbuilders, and they invented the secret of making purple dye called "phoenix."

The Bankers: The Jews

• Known as the Chosen People.
• The Jews are the only people with a written genealogy that traces their origins to Adam and Eve.
• Their religion states that God has chosen them to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples on the face of the earth (Deuteronomy 14:2).
• In 70 AD, the Romans ordered destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and slaughtered over one million Jewish rebels which was the difficult time of their "diaspora,"
• For thousands of years, the Jews wandered throughout the world as stateless persons, hence the term "wandering Jew."
• Judaism, like Christianity, is often mistaken for being a Western religion.
• The first Jews, like the first Christians, came from Asia.
• The Jews had to find a way to survive in the Western kingdoms and were prohibited from owning land or animals that would compete with the Westerners.
• They turned to lending money, their only livelihood, and became moneylenders, bankers, and financiers, because Christians were banned from lending money at interest during the medieval period.
• The notable Jewish contributions to civilization include monotheism, the linear view of time, Judaism and Christianity, the Bible, and great men and women like Jesus Christ, Abraham, and Moses.
• Inventions by Jews include the polio vaccine, vaccination needle, treatment for leukemia, insulin, the first railroad crossing signal, the cassette player, the sewing machine, jeans, the Google Internet search engine, and Facebook.
• The Jews developed modern banking and finance into the big business, and Jewish bankers are among the wealthiest in the world, such as Rothschild, Guggenheim, and Morgan.
• Jewish bankers financed Western explorations, wars, revolutions, empires, and modern central bank systems.
• The modern state of Israel is the only successful democracy in the Middle East with the region's most developed military, agricultural, and technological growth.

The Victors: The Christians

• May be regarded as accidental victors who won over their main enemy, the Romans, by unconventional methods
• Christian empires and kingdoms eventually replaced the Roman Empire.
• Today, Christianity is the world's largest religion, with about one-third of the world's population as members.
• Christianity began in Palestine with Jesus, a Jewish prophet from Nazareth (AD 1-33).
• His disciples believed him to be their "Messiah" (Savior), and after his death and resurrection, his apostles (Peter, Paul, John, Mark, etc.) and believers spread his teachings (gospel) to the world.
• The Christians attracted followers among Romans, Greeks, and pagan tribes because they promised salvation, their prayers led to miracles, they taught the value of hard work and good conduct, and Christian martyrs opted for death rather than renounce their faith.
• They also had an unusual recruitment policy of accepting and helping everybody.
• Christianity came when the Roman Empire declined when life was difficult, depressing, and dangerous.
• The Christians stood out due to their confidence and helpfulness.
• They were charitable, forgave those who hurt them and showed kindness to women and slaves
• Women and poor people were given importance in the teachings of Jesus and his apostles.
• By the first century AD, the Assyrians became the first tribe to convert.
• The Mongolians were also converted, including Genghis Khan's mother and his daughter-in-law, Sorkakthani.
• A pillar in Xian says that Christianity came to the Tang Dynasty capital in 635 AD, allowing them to build churches and spread their faith.
• Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine (r.306-337 AD), favored the Christians instead of persecuting them.
• Summer festivals in towns and cities of the Philippines called the Santacruzan celebrate the mother-and-son story.
• Constantine built a new capital in Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkiye), where in AD 537, the Church of Hagia Sophia became the first Christian Basilica, even before St. Peter's in Rome.
• After 1453 AD, the Moors captured Constantinople, and Christianity practically disappeared in the East until the Philippines became the first Christian nation in the 16th century.
• Christianity spreads around the world through the West.
• The Apostle Paul (ca. 4 BC-64 AD) was instructed in a dream to turn West instead of East in his missionary journey (Acts 16:9).
• Christianity became more successful in the West than in the East.
• In the 16th century, European kingdoms began overseas explorations and to spread Christianity
• From the 16th to the 20th centuries, Western missionaries established churches and new denominations in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Australia.
• By 2020, there were 2.4 billion Christians in the world, comprising 33% of the world's population.
• It is the world's largest religion in terms of members, and the largest Christian denomination is the Roman Catholic Church.
• The largest Christian-majority nations are Europe and North America, the most developed economies.
• In Asia, the Christians are found in the Philippines, East Timor, and South Korea.
• The Philippines is the first and foremost Christian nation in Asia.
• Filipinos have many denominations, churches, schools, and missions in other countries.
• No other nation in Asia has such "a gift, a calling, and a destiny" to spread one of civilization's most significant advances to the world.
• The contributions of Christians to the world include recognizing the value of individual human life, abolishing barbaric practices, giving women and children equality, and promoting new moral and ethical codes.
• Christians contributed to transferring knowledge and innovations in culture and science by building churches, schools, universities, and libraries.
• Christians established hospitals, asylums, prison reform, orphanages, etc.
• Christians have defied tyrants and dictators and promoted individual rights and freedoms.
• Christians believe in the value of time and the irreversible linear movement of time that ends with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
• 70% of the Nobel Prizes have been awarded to Christian scientists, writers, reformers, and organizations benefiting humanity.

The First Global Empire: The Persians

• There have been five Persian empires: the Achaemenid/Medo-Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great, the Parthian or Arsacid Empire, the Sassanian Empire, the Safavid/Shia Islam Empire, and modern Iran's Pahlavi Dynasty.
• The Persian Empire was the first keeper of international peace, trade, and travel in the ancient world.
• There was the Pax Persica-The Persian peace (550330 BC) before Rome's Pax Romana.
• The Persians were the most influential in spreading ancient culture further than the other Mesopotamians.
• Persia had two Western enemies, Rome and Greece, which belittled its achievements.
• The West and Persia are still in conflict today.
• Persia carried on the longest conflict in world history with Rome for 721 years.
• The Greeks, led by Alexander the Great, ended Persian supremacy.
• Alexander helped spread Persian culture to its farthest point in the ancient world.
• The Persian Achaemenid Empire of Cyrus the Great was the largest and the most powerful of all the other Mesopotamian regional empires.
• The Achaemenid (Medo-Persian) Empire (550-330 BC) was the first global empire overall.
• The Achaemenid Empire was larger and more global than the regional Mesopotamian empires before.
• This first Persian Empire ruled over 23 nations on three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe) and conquered over 5.5 million sq. km.
• The Achaemenid Persian Empire had subjects, roads, communication, common currency, and access to Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley in India.
• Persepolis, its ancient capital, is 600 km south of Tehran, the present capital.
• It is one of 24 World Heritage sites in Iran, making Iran one of the ten countries with the most valuable cultural heritage sites.
• The first Persian Empire differed from other ancient empires.
• Their emperors were tolerant and benevolent and caused the world to enjoy great peace and progress.
• The Persian kings did not aim to be popular but were respected and feared in their domains.
• The first Persians were poor mountain nomads who raised sheep, cattle, and goats and wove beautiful carpets.
• They originated in Central Asia and settled in the Aryan (Iranian) Plateau.
• They spoke Parsi/Farsi and were Zoroastrian fire worshipers.
• Cyrus the Great was the first Persian emperor
• Their greatest hero was the first Persian emperor, Cyrus the Great of the Medes (600-530 BC).
• Cyrus united all the Persian tribes (Medes, Elamites, etc.) and then defeated the Neo-Babylonian Empire for control of Mesopotamia.
• His empire was named after his ancestor, Achaemenes.
• Two other great Persian Achaemenid kings were Darius (550-486 BC) and Xerxes (r. 486-465 BC).
• King Darius introduced the first uniform gold coin called the Daric, which was never debased, which became the first currency accepted worldwide when considering it's metal purity
• Persia fell to their mortal enemy, Alexander the Great (356323 AD) of Macedonia.
• Nevertheless, the East met the West for the first time, and Alexander embraced Persian culture
• He made Persepolis his favorite palace.
• Alexander fused the cultures of East and West together in the "Hellenistic" style.
• The Parthian (Arsacid) or Second Persian Empire (247 BC-224 Ab) was the following Persian superpower.
• It was smaller in area but lasted longer at 400 years, being founded by Arsaces (Arsacid) of the Parthian region.
• Under Mithridates (r. 124-92 BC), their greatest king, the Parthian Empire included Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, and Turkey, and area of about 1.8 million km2.
• The Sassanian Empire (226-651 AD) was the longest Persian Empire.
• Due to wars with Rome, Persia weakened and fell into an internal struggle with Ardashir, the leader of another Persian tribe from southwest Iran.
• Ardashir (180-242 AD) founded the Sassanian Empire and named it after his grandfather Sassan.
• The Sassanian Empire was the third and longest Persian Empire.
• Sassanian Persia traded with the Chinese Tang Dynasty and several Indian kingdoms.
• The Sassanians became wealthy from controlling the Silk Trade in West Asia.
• Persian culture was highly regarded, and Persian products were exported through the Silk Trade route.
• Their main exports were woolen carpets and rugs, woolen textiles, animal hides and leather, and pearls from the Persian Gulf.
• The Safavid Empire: Persia's Golden Age of Shia Islam (1501-1736 AD).
• Persia fell and became part of the Muslim caliphates in the 7th century, but its Persian identity did not disappear.
• There was civil war in the Islamic world.
• When Muhammad died in AD 632, his chosen successor was his cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib (601-661 AD).
• However, Ali and his entire clan were massacred by rival Muslim leaders.
• Ali continued to be venerated by about 10% of Muslims, known as the Shiites (the Party of Ali).
• Today, Shiite shrines in Iran and Iraq compete in popularity with Arabian Sunni shrines (Mecca and Medina).
• Iranian contributions to the World include archaeological wonders such as Persepolis.
• There are fifteen UNESCO World Heritage Sites and more than 250,000 archaeological sites.
• Zoroastrianism, the religion founded by Zarathustra (ca. 660-583 BC), was one of the first monotheistic religions, which its followers are in small communities in India, Iran, Iraq, and Central Asia.
• The Persians respected the semi-independence of their local provinces and implemented a federal government and local autonomy.
• The Greeks, the Romans, and the United States adopted the federal system.
• Persian kings tolerated the customs and religion of their subjects, and Persian kings show respect for human rights.
• The first Declaration of Human Rights is found in the Cyrus Cylinder.
• Other Iranian contributions to the World include arts, crafts, carpets and textile design, the Behistun Rock, the griffon, and the Daric coin.
• The Persians contributions to the world included the first international unification of laws, taxes, units of measurement for money, weights etc.
• The spread of Aramaic was the greatest communication between people at the time.
• They invented postal service messages delivered on horseback, and introduced court etiquette and diplomatic rules that were adopted by Eastern and Western courts.
• Proskynesis, bowing to royalty by completely lying flat on the floor, is still done by Catholic priests at their ordination.
• The Persians established the first network of roads and sea lanes through three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe).
• Stories of the prophet Daniel and Queen Ester in the Bible. Daniel is revered as a prophet in Iran, and his tomb at Susa is a holy site for pilgrims of all religions.
• The Persian ceremonial court caps were adopted by the Greeks and Romans.
• Created Persian architecture through the use of arches, windcatchers etc...
• European churches, the Taj Mahal, and the US Capitol adopted the dome design.
• The story of 1001 Arabian Nights emerged from Scheherazade and her stories.
• Persians invited designed gardens named "paradise".

The Teachers: The Moors

• From desert tribes to world empires.
• The Moors were "people of the book" and were required to read the Quran, their holy book.
• The early Muslims respected Jews and Christians as "people of the book," too.
• The first caliphates treasured and preserved the world's knowledge in their "Houses of Wisdom" during the Middle Ages
• Its believed without the "Houses of Wisdom," there would have been no Renaissance, no Western exploration, and no growth of Christianity because of Western expansion.
• The Moors founded regional caliphates (kingdoms) and a world empire, which were the Umayyad Caliphate, the Abbasid Caliphate, Seljuk Turks rule and the Ottoman Empire.
• The Ottoman Empire covered a vast territory from East to West, including about one-half of the Philippines.
• The Umayyad Caliphate (AD 661750) was the first regional Islamic kingdom named after the Umayya dynasty of Mecca.
• The Umayyas united Arab tribes and made their capital at the wealthy city of Damascus, Syria, and later established branches in North Africa and southern Spain.
• it lasted a century, dominating over 8,000,000 km2 of territory in West Asia, North Africa, and Spain.
• They monopolized the tolls and trade at the Silk Road ports in the Mediterranean region and controlled the major markets that became the modern cities of Damascus and Aleppo today.
• The Abbasid Caliphate (750-1055 AD) was the second Arab regional empire, founded by the Abbas clan, who made their capital in Baghdad, Iraq.
• It ruled a larger area of 11 km2 of land and lasted longer, for three centuries.
• In 1055 AD, Baghdad caliphs were overpowered by their Seljuk Turk bodyguards and ministers.
• The Seljuk Turks were predecessors of the modern Turks and Kurds in Turkiye.
• The Seljuks fought the Christian crusaders, conquered large parts of the Byzantine Christian Empire, and competed for territory with the Mongols.
• They also had many vassal and tributary states of Arabs, Persians, Egyptians, and Christians.
• Saladin the Great (1138-93 _AD), the Seljuk champion, defeated the Christian knights in the Crusades and consolidated Muslim presence in Mesopotamia for 1,000 years.
• The Ottoman Turks founded a worldwide empire (1400-1918 AD) that expanded Muslim power to one-third of the world, and it controlled a population of 20-30 million people in three continents, one of the largest and longest empires
• Only the British Empire (its contemporary) was more extensive, and the Ottoman Empire had tributaries, vassal states, and allies over 2 million km2.
• It controlled a population of 20-30 million people in three continents and was one of the largest, most powerful, and longest global empires, dominating the world for 500 years.
• Ottoman kings were called "sultan" and not caliphs and wore the bulbous head cover (fez hat) instead of the turban.
• The fall of Constantinople was significant, and was why the Ottoman Empire eliminated the Christians in the East, with Christians fleeing west towards the Holy Roman Empire.
• The Ottoman closed the traditional trades routes and sea lanes, forcing new sea lanes to be discovered, thus The Age of Western Exploration and Colonization began.
• The Ottoman Empire became the only superpower in the world for five centuries (1400-1918).
• The greatest Ottoman emperor was Suleiman the Magnificent (1496-1566) during the new Ottoman Golden Age.
• He reformed Muslim, civil, and military laws and pacified unstable territories.
• Suleiman's image appears with other notable people at the Capitol Building of the US Congress in Washington, DC.
• Ottoman sea expansion ended with the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, and land expansion ended with the Battle of Vienna in 1683.
• The decline of the Ottoman Empire and the end of WW1 meant new states in Asia.
• These are the modern states of the Middle East today (Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, etc.).
• Muslim contributions to the world include 11 categories: Islam is the fastest-growing monotheistic religion today, with approximately 2 billion believers
• Also Arabic writing, languages, and literature, which included words like: admiral, algebra, coffee, cotton, muslin, racquet, sugar, sofa, traffic, magazine etc
• Medieval Muslim philosophers such as, Ibn Khaldun, introduced historiography, sociology, economics, and demography, and Muslims had excellence in the arts of navigation.
• Navigation and exploration: geographic works by Al-Idrisi and Ibn Battuta, plus the use of the mariner's compass, astrolabe, and sextant assisted the 15th-century Age of Exploration.
• New plants and products: Improvements to medicine and food production.
• Chemistry and medicine: Used alcohol for perfumes and medicine.
• The medical knowledge of the East was superior to that of the West, discovering hygiene, infection contraction and cures, surgical procedures, professional exams.