Who Were the Phoenicians? Part I

Hugh Nibley and other Mesoamerican theorists regarding the location of the Book of Mormon Land of Promise, often turn to the Phoenicians as the means for the Mulekites to have crossed the great deep to reach the Western Hemisphere.

Regarding such a ship, Hugh Nibley claimed it would have been Phoenician because “all the Mediterranean ports of the kingdom of Judah were in Babylonian hands.” However, what he seems to have forgotten and current theorists not realize, is that Tyre, one of the two major Phoenician seaports, and was from about 2000 BC onwards through the Roman period, with ships capable of crossing the Mediterranean and passing through the Gates of Hercules (Gibraltar), was under a lengthy siege of the Babylonians by Nebuchadrezzar II, during the time those who brought Mulek out of Jerusalem.

A 5th century B.C. Phoenician cargo ship (Left) and a 2nd century B.C. grain ship (right). These Phoenician ships of the B.C. era were often light, fast, and maneuverable, built for crossing the Mediterranean and making coastal voyages, such as to Britain for tin. They were incapable of sailing across deep oceans because they lacked strength of hull, ocean going designs, sufficient sail, and rudder capabilities—and their speed was about 8 miles per hour. Other, heavier Phoenician ships were powered by one and two banks of oars and lacked true sailing capability, with speeds far less than 8 miles per hour.

This same Tyre, in the 14th century B.C. was a vassal state of Egypt and in 1300s gained its independence when Egypt withdrew. In 600 B.C., it was subject to Assyria, and in 585-573 B,C. it successfully withstood this prolonged siege by the Babylonians. It would have been impossible for any Jews to have even entered the area of Sidon or Tyre through the Babylonian blockades, let alone to have purchased passage on any ship the Phoenicians had that would have been needed to lift such a siege of Tyre.

Thus, we can see that the Babylonians controlled all the ports along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. To fully understand this, one needs to know the history of this region at the time in question. Beginning around 689 B.C., about 100 years before Mulek left Jerusalem, the Assyrian king Sennacherib took the main Phoenician port of Sidon, devastated Judah, and destroyed Babylon, though failing to take Jerusalem. In 648, Assyrian king Assurbanipal destroyed a rebuilt Babylon. In 640, the Greek state of Sparta became militaristic and very aggressive throughout the northeastern Mediterranean. In 625, Syria’s capital of Damascus came under Babylonian rule. In 612, Nabopolasser, king of Babylonia conquered Nineveh and divided the Assyrian Empire with the Chaldeans. In 609 Pharoah Necho conquered Josiah and Judah, but was pushed out of Asia by Babylonian king Nebchrezzar at the battle of Carchemish, who four years later defeated Necho and drove the Egyptians out of Palestine, taking over control of Judah. In 586, the year Mulek fled Jerusalem, Nebuchrezzar ended the kingdom of Judah after destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple. In that same year, Phoenicia was ruled by the Babylonians.

With all that in mind, one might realize that the Phoenicians would not have dared do anything with the Jews from Jerusalem, nor would the Babylonians who then controlled all Phoenician ports, have allowed any Jews to escape since they had taken them captive back to Babylonia.

It should also be understood that by the time of Lehi, the great ports of Phoenica north of Palestine were in decline. For some 2000 years before that, the Phoenicia port cities of Tyre and Sidon had stood alone as "the doorway to the East.” Their men were among the richest and greatest merchants and sailors of the ancient world—with their shipping fleets working the trade routes of the entire Mediterranean Sea. The goods they purchased from Mediterranean countries would then be taken inland to the Red Sea port where they were shipped east. Conversely the exotic wares from the Far East were brought back and sold throughout the Mediterranean. Yet these famous Phoenician trading cities, that had been for many centuries, had outlasted kingdoms, rulers and civilizations because of their trade “partnerships,” eventually fell and were subjugated to the controls of foreign governments, such as Egypt, Assyria and then Babylonia. By the time Lehi left Jerusalem, the Phoenician cities were all under the control of Babylonia, which culminated in complete domination by 586 B.C., the year Mulek would have left Jerusalem.

When people have a pre-determined opinion of direction and final location, they often make a mistake of taking a course toward that destination that, in reality, has no validity in reality at the time of the event. Nibley, John L. Sorenson, and others, who need to place the Mulekites in the Land Northward along the east coast, have often stated that the Mulekites sailed out of the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic. However, in 600 B.C., this would have been an impossible achievement for several reasons.

(See the next post, “Who Were the Phoenicians? Part II,” for their sailing ability and knowledge in 600 B.C.)