Betty Mosley, age 13, of Boulder, Colo., for her question:

WHO WERE THE PHOENICIANS?

Phoenicians were among the great peoples of the ancient world.  They were great sailors, navigators and traders and became famous as explorers. They also left their alphabet to the Western world.  Phoenicia was the name the ancient Greeks gave to the region which is now roughly the coastal areas of Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The area is between the Lebanon Mountains to the east and the Mediterranean Sea on the west. The people who lived in Phoenicia were called Phoenicians.The word "Phoenicia" seems to have developed from the word "Canaan," meaning "land of purple." It was in ancient days that people in the region produced red‑purple dyed goods. The Greeks then added their word for red‑purple, which was "phoinix," since they also traded in the area. The land eventually became Phoenicia.Phoenicians are sometimes called Canaanites in the Old Testament. They have also been called Sidonians, a name taken from the Phoenician city of Sidon.Language of the ancient people was closely related to Hebrew and more distantly to Aramaic and the Semitic languages of Mesopotamia. The Greek alphabet developed from that of the Phoenicians, and the Roman and all Western alphabets have been taken from the Greek.In the ancient days, the Phoenicians were among the first to send out explorers and they established colonies throughout the Mediterranean Sea area. They even traveled beyond the Strait of Gibraltar.Phoenicians were seagoing traders as early as 2900 B.C. but they did not reach the peak of sea power until about 1000 B.C.Sidon grew famous for its purple dye and the citizens also developed a well‑known glass industry. The people also exported wine, oil, textiles and laurel and cedar wood.The Phoenicians learned most of their manufacturing methods from the Egyptians.Phoenicians knew how to weave both woolen and linen cloth. the craftsmen dyed the cloth and often sewed it into robes before they sold it. The Greeks later adopted the keton, a Phoenicians shirtlike garment.The people had many gods and goddesses. In their religious ceremonies they sometimes offered human sacrifices, which gained for them a reputation for cruelty.Their government was made up of a number of city‑states. They never united their cities into a single country. At first the cities were ruled by kings and in the 800s B.C., the aristocracies were joined by councils of elders.The Assyrians captured the cities of Phoenicia in 842 B.C. and ruled the region for 200 years. In 64 B.C., the Roman general Pompey the Great made the land part of the Roman province of Syria.