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asa-bryndis — Alphabet series: Phoenicia
Published: 2007-05-28 23:07:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 7748; Favourites: 124; Downloads: 119
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Description
This is part of a series which was my final project for school. It was completely free, both subject and medium wise. I decided to to it all digital, except for the basic sketches. And since I'm a sucker for all things ancient, I decided to make four pieces from ancient civilizations! What ties these four places together is that they had a big impact on the evolution of the modern day Latin alphabet. I chose one letter, R, and you can see in the lower left corner on each picture how it looked at the time.So even though the alphabet evolution is the basic idea, the whole project turned into a study of these civilizations, including clothes, architecture, textile and a lot more. It was incredibly fun! So not only did I learn more about these cultures, but also a whole lot in digital drawing along the way. Win-win situation!
Part 2/4: Phoenicia
The Phoenician alphabet is the grandmother of many alphabets. They also had a very unique and beautiful culture, mostly famed for their ships and voyages. Also, they 'invented' the purple I'm using a lot in the picture, which they made from shells from the shores. I love interesting tidbits like that!
Sketch: [link]
Photohop CS2
Colored with Wacom Intuos3
Part 1: Egypt
Part 3: Greece
Part 4: Rome
Related content
Comments: 61
Thank you 
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amazing piece of art. Phoenecians are a little ignored in art although they had a great civilization.
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Thanks so much, I'm flattered! And I agree, it's a pity how little attention they get, given their great contribution and impact on the world.
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we hear much about the romans, greeks and ancient egypt. but they were not the only ones. some of those ancient cultures really need much more attention.
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Absolutely, you're very right. I love your work of the Minoan ladies. That's such a fascinating culture, I adore their outfits especially which you did wonderfully. Not to mention all those Mesoamerican ones you've done! Fantastic
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thanks for taking the time and checking my gallery. I am glad you liked my artworks. ^_^
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You're welcome! I thoroughly enjoyed browsing through your work. Not only is your style really lovely, but its contents are right up my alley. Yay for ancient ladies!
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Very very pretty! The only suggestion I would make is that her skin color should be lighter. Good job!
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Thanks so much! Also for that tip about the skin colour, I must admit I wasn't 100% sure about it, will keep in mind
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If you search for Lebanese singers, actors, etc, you'll see the right skin tone
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Well, I actually did that, but I guess I got some overtanned examples? 
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Concerning the skin colour actually
Anyway either way the Phoenicians are Semitic, this particular race varies in skin tone so the colour you chose doesn't have to be wrong. Going back to lebanon for example, the skin colour here is also very varied and that's expected since the area joins asia, africa and Europe.
They were coastal people though and focussed on trading, glass making and the famous purple dye, each of these that could be found on the coast. So possibly a descent amount could have been tanned
Being Semetic the skin colour you chose still works
I love this interpretation of a phoenician it's true you dont see much of them in art works!
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Heh heh, I love ancient things too. It's a pity they don't teach them at our school
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Yay, glad to meet another fan of ancient things 
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Þessi er geggjuð, hárið er geðveikt og gellan er flott
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Þakka hrósið
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This is propably the best out of the 4. The costume looks fantastic, and the background is beautiful. Love the purple.
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Thanks! I'm so glad to hear that you find it the best of the bunch, since it's also my favourite. I may be biased though, since I'm a huge fan of the Phoenician culture and purple is my favourite colour as well. The dress was great fun to make.
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Another good one. You've really done your research for this project. Impressive 
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Thanks
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This is simply beautiful and their culture looks awesome.
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Thanks so much
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Nice drawing! Glad to see somebody interested in Phoenician culture. If I'm not mistaking I think the name Phoenicia was given by the Greeks and means "purple". It's facinasting to see that alphabets as different as latin, hebrahic, runic, cyrillic and arabic all came from the one developped by sea people to improve their trading..
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Thanks you! I'm so glad to meet others here who appreciate ancient cultures. And indeed you're right about the name, its Greek name was Phoinike and Greek for purple is '
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The whole series is so beautiful!!!
Perfect as illustrations for an atlas...
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Thank you! I'm so glad you like them!
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Its really nice, her costume is very dynamic and the phoenicians are known for their purple garmets. This would be cool if you did a Celt or Norse version.
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Thanks so much
I've been wanting to do other civilizations, both Celtics and certainly more Norse. I have sketches of some Norse gods in my gallery, although Freyja ([link] ) is the only one to be coloured so far. In due time I'll probably do more of these
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Wonderful! I like the fountain and the fire in the background. I saw the sketch you did also...didn't want to keep the flower in her hand?
Anyway, may I beg a favor? I'm doing some research on Phoenicia and Canaan myself. Would you mind noting me with some of your sources? I'm having the hardest time finding anything related to dress and customs. Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks
the Local Ted
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Hi Ted, thanks for the lovely comment and faving
I didn't have a lot of online sources, but it's no problem linking them. You've probably found the Phoenician Encyclopedia if you've googled it a bit, but here it is anyway. It was helpful in many ways and will probably help you a lot if you're doing a more 'matter of factly' study. But I was rather looking for cultural things, like garments and surroundings, not too much of that there. Finding the costume was so hard! I didn't really find it, actually, just puzzled some clues and descriptions together. These sites helped me there: [link] and [link] (scroll down for Ancient Babylon and environs). Now it's been many months since I did this, I might be forgetting something, but I don't remember other major online sources, maybe except Wikipedia.
I had some books as well, but they were mostly about costume history and architecture. Even those had very little info about that. What sort of research are you doing? Because I might be able to help you more if I knew your focus. But if it's rather general, I think the first link should provide most of the essential information. Good luck!
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Ooh, thanks. That last link was a new one and looks like it'll have lots of stuff I hadn't seen before. I'm studying them from a religious perspective and wanted to learn more about everyday customs as well as religious customs; it's such a fascinating culture! Thanks again for the help
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You're welcome! It's such a interesting culture, I'd love to learn more about them myself. Glad I could help!
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Golly that is really good! The designs are beautiful...all the colors! You are very talented
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Thank you for the compliments, I'm really pleased to hear you like it
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You are absolutely welcome! I think you did an exceptional job on her dress...and having no reference pictures makes it that much more impressive
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I only had some written references and had to piece to together and make it look pretty yet belivable on the way. Fun challenge, actually, recommend it
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I might just try that...a very imaginative way to draw!
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wow, this is my favourite out of the four! I did an oral on the Phoenicians for history once, your pic is amazing!!!
is the jug she's pouring from a reference to Phoenician glass? coz they had really good glassware i think
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Thank you! I'm really glad you like it, especially if you've studied Phoenicia 
Also thank you for liking the sketch, I'm glad
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mmm . . . imperial purple fresh-squeezed from snails 
I think I could wear her ensemble . . . Well framed and the leaves even have shapes!(the guy making a sacrifice (?) in the corner wasn't a bad touch either . . .)
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Ah yes, purple is so pretty, one of my favourite things about Phoenicia!
Thanks for the other comments too. That sacrifice guy was a last-minute addition, I felt like that space was a bit empty
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Ah! Sacrifices! I wasn't sure if he was just warming himself (though in that part of the world it would be awkward!) because I didn't see a goat dying in the flames, but it's a good thing you didn't add the suffering animal!
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Yeah, well, it was maybe more of a holy fire thing, where they made their prayers, but yes, also sacrifices, unfortunetly. Silly things.
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interesting concept/project..
well done with the illustration, looks good
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Thanks for the nice comment
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very nice! i like the pose and the colors are vibrant.
i have a question. I noticed that little letter on the bottom left. is there a connection between the phoenician alphabet and the nordic runes?
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Thank you so much for the nice comments, it means a lot
As for your question: yes! ^^ The phoenicican alphabet is the mother of practically all alphabets, including the nordic runes. They were made in the 1st or 2nd century, and are believed to be derived from the Etruscan alphabet in Italy, Latin comes from it too. Old Italic developed from Greek, which was based on the Phoenician alphabet around 9th century BC. Although there are other influences, this is the biggest one. I could go on but I guess this is enough to answer your question
It's amazing how one can notice the connections, like you just did, and literally see how it evolved. Interesting stuff! ^^
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