Phoenicia

... is the name that was given by the Greeks to the civilisation that flourished on the coast of what is now Lebanon, and is referred to in the Old Testament as Canaan, from around 1500 to 300 BC. Tyre and Sidon were their two most important cities; Carthage was a colony.

The Phoenicians were a sea–going people, and their influence spread throughout the Mediterranean region. They were the first state–level society to make extensive use of alphabets; the Phoenician alphabet is generally held to be one of the major ancestors of all modern alphabets. By their maritime trade, the Phoenicians spread the use of the alphabet to Anatolia (Asian Turkey), North Africa, and Europe, where it was adopted by the Greeks, who in turn transmitted it to the Romans.

The word 'Phoenicia' is derived from the Greek word for the colour purple, because the Phoenicians made use of a purple dye derived from a secretion of the murex, a genus of sea snails. Purple dye was so difficult to obtain that it was (and still is) a symbol of royalty.