In 332 BC Tyre resisted Alexander the Great’s siege for 8 months before collapsing and the populace who could not escape to Carthage were sold into slavery. The main trading centre and port for the Eastern Mediterranean then moved to Alexandria. After the death of Alexander, his Empire was split between his generals who set up Dynasties of their own, sometimes fighting each other. During this “Hellenistic” age, from 323 to 30 BC, the Phoenician cities were prizes for these competing Macedonian Dynasties. In the 3^rd century BC they were ruled by Ptolemaic Egypt then in the 2^nd and early 1^st century BC by the Seleucid Dynasty of Syria. In 65 BC Emperor Pompey incorporated Phoenicia into Roman Syria.

Prior to the first Punic War from 264 to 241 BC the Romans were limited to only a part of Italy while the Carthaginians were a major naval force. The war was over Sicily and trade, and the Romans finally won, but at great cost. The Carthaginians had to pay tribute to the Romans so they invaded parts of Spain to procure enough treasure to make the payment. However, they became ambitious and conquered more and more of Spain, encroaching on Roman allies and provoking the second Punic war in 218 BC. This time it involved Hannibal’s invasion of Italy from Spain and his eventual defeat in 201 BC. The third Punic War was probably orchestrated by Rome in 149 BC leading to Carthage being utterly destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC. The Phoenicians in the colonies in North Africa had over the centuries mixed with and interbred with the indigenous Berbers and the Phoenician language was spoken there until the 5^th century AD.

9.17 Egypt to the First Intermediate Period.

The Nile, flowing northwards from its source near Lake Tanganyika, fed by the mountains in Ethiopia and Kenya, brings water and silt to form relatively narrow strips of potentially cultivatable land along its length (typically 10 miles wide) and then forms a huge delta where it meets the Mediterranean Sea. Without the Nile the whole area would be desert. The annual rainfall in Cairo is only one and a half inches and in Aswan zero. In the south there are a number of cataracts, or narrows where the river runs through hard rock such as granite, causing rapids. In the indistinguishable landscape these provide significant geographic markers. Starting from the north (Mediterranean) there is the delta area referred to as Lower Egypt, then Middle and Upper Egypt until, at the first cataract, one enters Nubia. The Sinai Peninsular was the land link with West Asia. Although an arduous desert crossing, it was one route for the transfer of technology, cultivars for crops, raw materials and finished products, and also one route used for immigration and invasion. Sea routes were also used, either the Mediterranean or the Red Sea.

Political and physical maps of Egypt -
source freeworldmaps.net

The origin of the word Egypt is interesting and was first coined by the Greek writer Homer as Aigyptos. This came from the great city at the apex of the Delta region, Hikaptah (meaning “mansion of the soul of Ptah”) - later Memphis.

The annual flooding of the Nile (the inundation) caused by seasonal heavy rain in the mountains was particularly critical to the prosperity of Egypt. Not only did it provide water for the irrigation of crops, but it also brought the fertile silt to the agricultural areas. Indeed there is great contrast where the black fertile soil meets the bordering foothills or desert sand. The flooding started in June each year at the first cataract near Aswan, rose to its highest point in Cairo at the end of September and then subsided to a low in April.

Nile with fertile strip and desert behind

During the flood the farmers could not work in the fields so during Dynastic times the huge labour force was directed to building temples, monuments and tombs. In November, farmers would return to cultivate their fields so that the crops would be ready for the following spring. Ideal conditions were created for emmer wheat and barley, such that there were large surpluses in good years that could be exported. This bounty of food led to significantly increased population, and the export of cereals contributed to Egypt becoming the richest state in the ancient Near East until about 1,000 BC. However, the floods were not consistent, so in years when it was inadequate, food and animal fodder had to be supplied from previous year’s excesses, requiring very reliable storage methods. A series of poor inundations could cause significant hardship, unrest and sometimes the downfall of the ruler.