The Mediterranean Dimension of Levantine Coast in the first millennium B.C.: Ancient Sea Routes, New Explorations and "Colonial" Foundations

In the period between the end of the 2nd millennium and the 8th c.BC an extraordinary phenomenon known as 'Phoenician colonization' mature along the coast of the Levant. This paper examines the documentation of the Levantine area following a joint diachronic and, at the same time a 'local' perspective, and adopting an approach informed by postocolonial studies. A picture of complex relashionship which were at the origin of a new and distinctive phenomenon in the history of the Mediterranean emerges: the insertion of the Western Mediterranean region in the economy, politics and culture of Mesopotamia (Assyria to Persia) with the Levantine coast embodying an extraordinary melting pot of products, ideas and of men