Transformations and Crisis in the Mediterranean (8th-5th century BCE). Towards the Phoenician West: An Introduction

The long period included between the 8th and the 5th centuries BCE was marked, in its initial phases, by important movements of peoples and lively dynamics of contact, which grew progressively closer. Among the varied human groups that reached the western lands, especially from the Levantine coasts of the sea, the "Phoenician segment" gradually acquired a visibility of its own, launching by the end of the 9th century the formation - sometimes slow and gradual, sometimes sudden - of new, stable communities. These were distributed across Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, and not infrequently arose from a deep cross-cultural cooperation. As is well known, in the course of time one of these communities - namely that which gave birth to Carthage - gained a privileged position within the Mediterranean theatre, such that it was able to organize and to a large extent manage a wide range of economic activities and important international relations, dealing with other major players of the age (e.g. Caere, Rome and Athens). To date, some of the main lines of interpretation applied to the phases under consideration, and particularly to the creation and development of the "Phoenician West", have undoubtedly been the analysis of the variability of features that marked the different contexts involved in the Phoenician presence, and the related study focused on the local dimension.