ABSTRACT
In historical perspective, the Phoenicians are unique; for though they had a tremendous and active part in the events of their time, it was that of antagonist. On the instant of their disappearance, they faded into unreality, leaving no residue. We do not feel that they bequeathed us anything substan-tial, to become incorporate with our bones, woven into the texture of our lives. This is the more paradoxical, since our inheritance from Greece and Rome consists of abstractions; while the Phoenicians were practical, and did succeed with a kind of international organization. Above all, they touched the points where our vital ideas originated. Their activity stimulated Greece to inquiry and forced Rome to expand; they erected the Temple at Jerusalem and took in pledge the humble villages of Galilee. They were carriers and catalysts. Yet we seem to start de novo with Greece and Rome. In reason, this cannot be true; but the illusion must have a reason. It is that the Phoenicians were intrinsically a physical phenomenon. They effected a hook-up of an energy circuit which their political mechanism could not accommodate. In human affairs all that endures is what men think. Humanity as such is an intellectual concept. As a nation, the Phoenicians disintegrated from the impact of a new idea. But three new ideas were already nascent, which were to form the structure of Europe; and later, in re-combination, to create the New World. These complementary ideas need to be recalled.
