Trading posts eventually grew into colonies. They also moved large amounts of wine and olive oil. Cedar from Lebanon, a highly valued building material, was also quite profitable. The Phoenicians made huge profits selling high-end luxury items like purple cloth. Pliny once wrote, the "Phoenicians invented trade." Phoenicians engaged in three types of trading activities 1) exporting material, namely cedar, from their traditional homeland in Lebanon 2) earning transport and middleman fees from shipping goods and materials such as silver using its Mediterranean trade network and 3) controlling supply markets in the places they colonized. They might also have also been lit on voyages during violent storms. Incense offerings to the gods were made at the beginning and end of every voyage. Seamen carried images of god to protect them from storms and pirates. From what can best be ascertained Phoenician ships had crews of about a half dozen sailors and the typical meal was fish stew. They could make 100 miles in 24 hours but usually traveled around 25 to 30 miles. They headed to shore the first sign of a storm or some other problem. The Phoenician sailed mostly during the day and only in good weather between March and October. For many years the North Star was known as the Phoenician Star. They determined their direction by looking at the sun and the stars. Phoenician seafarer usually hugged the coast and set up their colonies and camps on easily defended islands or peninsulas. The word “Phoenician” is Greek for "People of the Sea." They dominated trade in the Mediterranean for nearly a thousand years. Punic ostrich egg from Villaricos The Phoenicians were the greatest seafaring civilization of the ancient world.
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