10 Historical Legends You Didn't Know Were Actually Phoenicians
"In Lebanon, not only do we not honor our great men but even worse, we ignore them. Pity!"
Ildefonse Sarkis ~ Le Liban, Son Role Civilisateur
When I came to know the truth of the identity of these remarkable historical influencers, whom we have studied in our Lebanese schools as being Greeks and Romans, I was stunned that they were actually Phoenicians who had taken their disciplines and knowledge and taught them in Europe.
I was also saddened that our own schools have denied us from their truths for reasons I can’t explain, and neither would you, for there is no explanation to that.
Pythagoras teaching in Athen s -The School of Athens' fresco by Raffaello
It is not a matter of Lebanese pride, although we do have all the right to be proud of our ancestors. It is about the right of our growing youth to be granted that source of strong inspiration and role model; remarkable people to relate to.
We glorify great foreign men and women, we miss glorifying ours and their legacy.
There are truths veiled by time and negligence, and which shouldn't be eradicated from our collective minds, because they matter. Sharing such knowledge among ourselves helps in that.
While the materials I have explored about our ancestry are quite extensive with remarkable knowledge and historical research, I am choosing to share with you just a very small selection (for now), compiled in a listicle, just because they are, in my opinion, too remarkable not to share the soonest. All others can wait.
The Phoenicians' great commercial sea network 5th century BC - Ancient Pages
We can only hope that Lebanon will come one day soon to, at least, rectify what it has been teaching in our schools about the identities of these remarkable ancestors, and claim back what's ours.
Until then, here are 10 outstanding Phoenicians who and were wrongly credited to ancient Europe, and which influences are still alive today across the world.
#1 Pythagoras
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Beyond famous to require any introduction, Pythagoras was born to a Phoenician father from the south of Lebanon and a mother from Samos.
The father, a very wealthy merchant, had saved the island of Samos upon a natural disaster, providing a massive amount of food with his ships. Samos hence granted him honorary citizenship for saving the island from famine.
Pythagoras, whose teachings are still alive in today's education around the world, has to his credit numerous mathematical and scientific discoveries, including his famous theorem, as well as discoveries in the fields of medicine, astronomy, and music.
#2 Euclid: Father of Geometry
Euclid or Euckleides was a Phoenician from Lebanon - Bath AC UK
Born in Tyre, South Lebanon, around 360 BC, Euclid is referred to as the founder of geometry.
He is famous to date for his Elements, one of the most influential works in the history of mathematics up to the early 20th century. It is the main textbook for teaching mathematics, especially geometry. (Ref: Macardle, et al. (2008). Scientists: Extraordinary People Who Altered the Course of History. New York: Metro Books.)
While the Greeks called him Euclid the Tyrian, in reference to his hometown Tyre, some came to name him as well Euckleides of Alexandria because of his long years of teaching in that city.
His Phoenician identity was affirmed as well in Stromata (c. 150 – c. 215): 16, 61, by Clement of Alexandria himself.
#3 Thales, One of the Seven Sages of Greece
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Born in Tyre, south of Lebanon, around 624 BC, "Thales, a member of the Thelides family, descends in a direct line from Agenor, King of Tyre and Cadmus," Herodotus, 5 BC.
As recorded by Diogenes Laërtius , a biographer of the Greek philosophers (3rd c. AD), "Thales was registered as a citizen of Miletus when he came to this city with Elee, exiled from Phoenicia."
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A mathematician, astronomer, and pre-Socratic philosopher, Thales settled in Miletus where he founded, in 6 BC, a school of scientists that would become legendary in forming a long line of remarkable scientists, including Socrates and Pythagoras.
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