Orta Doğu

(İng. Near East)

Göndermeler

Diğer

In many Near Eastern cultures, kingship was considered to be the very basis of civilisation. According to such beliefs, it was only the uncivilised which lived without a king to provide them with security, freedom, peace, prosperity and justice.

Comparisons between the political activities of Phoenician kings and those undertaken by their Near Eastern counterparts reveal little difference in the patterns of thought and behaviour and thus there can be little doubt that Phoenician royal ideologies were inspired and influenced by Mesopotamian and Canaanite traditions.

The three fundamental and intertwined tenets of Near Eastern kingship can thus be identified in Phoenician royal ideology: that the monarch belonged to heaven and thus his kingship was a god-given gift; that he had a judicial responsibility to guard and protect his subjects against the harsh realities of life; and that kingship was sacred.

In the ancient Near East, kings who were remembered as great warriors were also remembered as great hunters

This perhaps helps to explain why, in comparison with other urban centres in the ancient Near East, Phoenician cities were relatively small in size, ranging from an average of 2–6 hectares (5–15 acres) for smaller cities (such as Berytus and Sarepta) to 40-plus hectares (100-plus acres) for the largest cities (Arwad and Sidon).