A "Phoenician," a gilded bronze figurine at the National Museum of Beirut.
“On the LL 1,000 bills, there is the entire Phoenician alphabet. On the LL 100,000 ones, there is a depiction of a Sidonian ship. And yet nobody notices. It’s incredible for people who constantly claim to be descendants of the Phoenicians,” exclaimed Dr. Roland Tomb.
An aficionado of ancient Semitic languages, including Syriac, Aramaic, and particularly Phoenician, which he studied for five years at the Sorbonne, the doctor, who heads the dermatology department at Beirut's Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, and historian seems to be one of the spearheads of the revival of "Phoenicianism" in Lebanon, at least in its cultural aspect.
For this movement, which appeared in the first decades of the 20th century, mostly crystallized nationalist identity claims made by Lebanese intellectuals. Those of a country – and a nascent state – in search of a common heritage for all its inhabitants regardless of their confessional affiliations.
This ideological Phoenicianism, whose most famous advocates were Charles Corm and Said Aql, gradually faded over the decades while leaving some imprints on the collective unconscious. The strongest is undoubtedly this symbolic figure of the "Phoenician," inspired by bronze statuettes representing male figures with conical headdresses – ex-votos unearthed at the temple of the obelisks in Byblos – which became the emblem of the Tourism Ministry.
In a more familiar register, all those Phoenician names attributed to certain major Lebanese institutions and companies, like the Phoenicia and Ahiram hotels, the Elissar urban redevelopment project in the southern suburbs of Beirut, and the Melkart and Cadmos schools, among others.
“However, how many Lebanese today who pride themselves on being descendants of the inventors of the alphabet know that it was Cadmos who brought the alphabet to the Greeks, for example? How many know the Phoenician roots of certain common words in our dialect, like "Shlah" for instance, which means "remove or send" in Phoenician and Aramaic? How many know that 80 percent of our villages' names are Aramaic and that Beirut itself comes from Be’rot, the plural of the word well in Phoenician?” Tomb questioned.
Phoenician in words and music
Yet, it seems there is a burgeoning return to this ancestral culture. A resurgence, a century apart, of a "certain Phoenicianism" looms on the horizon of this second decade of the 21st century. One of its symptoms lies in the emergence, over recent years, of young musical groups striving to revive the melodic sounds of the ancestral inhabitants of Lebanon's coastal cities. Like Adoon, a music-and-singer duo of folk-phoenician fusion working to convey through their music and lyrics in Canaan-Phoenician dialect “a feeling of pride and reconnection” to ancestral roots while ensuring they remain “in an artistic approach, free from any ideological or political connotations.”
A necessary clarification. As there are rumors of a nascent nationalist – or ideological? – movement notably aiming to recreate a Phoenician language.
“That may be the case, but it’s not my personal goal. I stay away from any ideological or political claim,” explained Tomb, who nevertheless participates very actively in fostering a renewed interest among his compatriots in Phoenician language and culture.
Familiarize the Lebanese with their heritage
“My goal is merely to help familiarize the Lebanese with this Phoenician heritage they talk a lot about and which is on our currency, but of which they are deeply ignorant of its history and culture,” he stated with this project starting in 2017 by including "Phoenician Epigraphy" courses among the optional subjects offered to students of the USJ faculty of medicine, where he was then the dean.
Although the idea might seem a bit strange – teaching a dead language being so far removed from the interests of Generation 2.0 – it proved to be a great success.
“With 100 enrolled in the first year, and a number growing exponentially over the following years, it turned out there was a genuine curiosity among young people for Phoenician culture,” the linguistics enthusiast said.
After stepping in for the initial professor who was absent, he decided that he would teach the Phoenician language courses for two semesters. A more than successful "initiation into the Phoenician language and writing" experience, which will lead this former dean of the French faculty of medicine of Beirut to open it to other audiences. Starting with the open listeners of the University for All (UPT), where he has been the director since September 2024. Students of all ages to whom he will also personally teach, beginning in late February, alternating with Dr. Maroun Kreish.
Convinced that “learning Phoenician writing is both a scientific and playful gateway to this civilization,” the new UPT director was also the initiator of the Phoenician Studies Chair at the USJ**. Inaugurated in 2024, it includes a dedicated library and addresses all aspects of Phoenician culture through specialist conferences.
A language with a biblical reach?
“There is a lot of interest currently in the Phoenicians in Western universities, in the United States, Italy, England, Spain, France, Germany, and even with our southern neighbor,” Tomb stated. “It must be noted that the Phoenician language had a lot of prestige. Notably, from the 10th century BC, when it spread first in Cilicia then to the ends of the Mediterranean in Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Carthage, or Cyprus, in places like Larnaca, which was founded by the Phoenicians under the name Kition.”
“Not to mention that due to its great similarity with the ancestral Hebrew language, the Pheno-Canaanite language is very interesting for studying the Bible.” As a Semitic dialect, it can be considered to have a sibling relationship with Aramaic, slightly more distant with Arabic and is a sister language of ancient Hebrew.
“In Lebanon, we are behind in Phoenician studies and we are trying to catch up. Dozens of works are published in the world on this civilization every year. Last December, a new Phoenician grammar was released in Italian, for which we have acquired the translation rights. But there are also Phoenician grammars in German, English, French, Algerian, or Tunisian, because Tunisia considers itself as the custodian of this Pheno-Punic culture … All this is happening outside of us. We must remedy that. It's high time to reclaim our heritage,” Tomb said. “All those who will attend the Phoenician courses at UPT will be able, at the end of the semester of teaching, to decipher by themselves the inscriptions on the steles of the National Museum of Beirut. The goal being to learn to read, write and understand the history of this civilization and its influence on our culture and modern scripts.”
*The courses in Phoenician language and writing start at the end of February at UPT. Info at 01/421800 and on the following website: www.upt.usj.edu.lb
** Inaugurated by USJ Rector Salim Daccache and its holder, Mrs. Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet. Dr. Maroun Kreich is the executive director.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.
The Levant before the Phoenicians
In the second semester, alongside the 'Phoenician Language and Writing' course, UPT also offers a course on 'The Levant before the Phoenicians,' given by Robert Hawley, Carole Roche Hawley, and Bérénice Chamel, eminent American and French professors specializing in this period.