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Page:Van Loon--The Story of Mankind.djvu/78

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THE PHŒNICIANS


THE PHŒNICIANS WHO GAVE US OUR ALPHABET


THE PHŒNICIAN TRADER

The Phœnicians, who were the neighbours of the Jews, were a Semitic tribe which at a very early age had settled along the shores of the Mediterranean. They had built themselves two well-fortified towns, Tyre and Sidon, and within a short time they had gained a monopoly of the trade of the western seas. Their ships went regularly to Greece and Italy and

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