New Phoenicians

New Phoenicians could be just what Lebanon needs to restore the beautiful land and society which once thrived on its shores and mountains.

In antiquity the Phoenicians who lived in Lebanon believed in tolerance for all religions. They were a peaceful people who preferred negotiation to fighting. And they were skillful international traders, so they enjoyed great prosperity.

The Lebanese people have all those things as their heritage, and managed to use them well until the 1975 Civil War. Up to that time, Beirut was a thriving, international city known as the Paris of the Middle East.

But that civil war opened the door to foreign influences and devastating problems. Syria invaded. And Iran established Hezbollah in Lebanon to further its own interests. Syria eventually fell into its own civil war, and is now preoccupied with its own affairs. Iran’s Hezbollah has been under attack recently, and could benefit themselves as well as the whole country by relocating to Iran.

What would Lebanon look like if it could remember its heritage and restore some of those Phoenician practices? What if its people became New Phoenicians? Here we explore Lebanon today, its heritage, and all its possibilities.