The Phoenicians were master shipwrights, building tubby wooden craft with a single square sail. By 800 B.C.E. , they had built a network of trading posts around the Mediterranean emanating from their own thriving cities along the coast in what is now Lebanon.
Acting as middlemen for their neighbors, they purveyed raw materials and also finished goods, such as linen and papyrus from Egypt, ivory and gold from Nubia, grain and copper from Sardinia, olive oil and wine from Sicily, cedar timbers from their homeland, and perfume and spices from the East.
Presumably they also occasionally carried a few passengers. They were the first creators of a maritime empire.
The Greeks followed the Phoenicians in becoming great sea traders. Improved ships accelerated a flourishing Mediterranean trade.
Merchant ships also carried paying passengers (although Noah with his ark probably deserves credit for being the first cruise operator, even though his passengers were primarily animals).
Unlike Noah ’ s passengers, those sailing on Greek ships had to bring their own servants, food, and wine. Widely varying accommodations aboard, stormy seas, and pirate attacks were worrisome realities.
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