The Phoenicians are one of the cultures available in the Ancient Era, with the Merchant culture focus.
"A seafaring culture of fishermen, sailors, and merchants, the Phoenicians will chart the coastlines, their galley holds loaded with textiles and wine, cedar and glass, and more."
Culture orientation[]
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Merchant Cultures favour a gameplay orientation focused on Money and trade. These cultures gain extra Fame from Merchant Era Stars for earning Money. |
Affinity Action: Power Investor[]
Can use Influence to marshal venture capital towards a Resource Deposit, either creating an Extractor or generating Money.
- If no Extractor exists, then one will be created instantly on the deposit.
- Otherwise, you will share a sum of Money with the owner. You'll both earn more Money the more Empires are buying the resource; and if the owner is an Independent People, their cut will count as a Bribe, improving relations.
Affinity Bonus: Mediation[]
Any resource you buy via trade can be re-purchased by other Empires, only if these Empires are not already buying the resource from the same third-party you are buying it to.
Transcendence Bonus: All that Glitters[]
Trait: Trading Pioneers[]
- +2Money per Traders on City or Outpost
- +1Combat Strength on Naval Unit
- +1Naval Movement Speed on Naval Unit
Emblematic quarter: Haven[]
“The Phoenicians settled in the heart of many bays, turning the coastal escarpments into natural protection for their ports.”
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Emblematic unit: Bireme[]
“Split into two rows of rowers, biremes immobilize other ships by ramming into them and breaking their oars.”
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City names[]
The names listed are default names, players can change their cities' names if they choose.
Byblos, Sidon, Tyre, Arwad, Sarepta, Biruta, Kition, Ziz, Gadir, Caralis
- Since Phoenicians are an Ancient culture, the Phoenicians player's capital city will bear the first name on the city list.
Trivia[]
- The in-game appearance of the Phoenician City Center is likely based on the excavated Temple of Melqart at the Phoenician city of Amrit.
Encyclopedia entry[]
A seafaring culture of fishermen, sailors, and merchants, the Phoenicians will chart the coastlines, their galley holds loaded with textiles and wine, cedar and glass, and more.
Unlike the massive territories that covered the ancient Near-East in the second and first millennia BCE, Phoenician cities did not spread east into the fertile plains of Mesopotamia, but west across the entire Mediterranean Basin. Highly skilled mariners and renowned merchants, they formed a vast network of trading routes that made Mediterranean unification possible for the first time.
To learn more:
Phoenicia and Phoenician are two Greek words used to describe the peoples living in the city-states on the coast of modern day Lebanon. However, this does not mean that political unity existed among these city-states. They may have shared the same language, alphabets, social structures, and religious systems, but they never developed a sense of common identity. Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and Arwad were the most important cities in this civilization. After being overshadowed by the Egyptians and the Hittites, the Phoenicians seized the opportunity to expand upon the decline of these two empires in the 13th century BCE. After this golden age, they were absorbed once again by the great empires of the Near-East. Phoenician cities began to gain power over the former Mycenean shipping routes between the 12th and 9th centuries BCE. This was followed between the 9th and 8th centuries BCE by more colonies being established in the eastern Mediterranean all the way to North Africa and in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, including what would become Carthage. Phoenician expansion in the Mediterranean did not result in territorial conquests. The location of these trading posts was chosen based on a strategy focused on settlement along trade routes or in proximity to a source of raw materials. As a result, Phoenician cities served as an interface between the world of the Near-East and the Mediterranean and created enormous wealth through their commercial activities.
Did you know?
The cities of the Phoenician coast gave birth to an influential culture. We owe to the Phoenicians the invention of an alphabet containing 22 consonants, which was the starting point for the Greek and Aramaic alphabets. These in turn were used to develop not only the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, but the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets as well.[1]
- ↑ In-game encyclopedia