Summary: The Phoenicians were an ancient people from the Levant who were accomplished sailors and traders, and are thought to have taught the Greeks their alphabet. By about 700 BC they were trading all over the Mediterranean, taking Egyptian and Syrian goods as far as Spain and North Africa. Although they left few records of their own, they were hugely influential in the ancient world. Melvyn Bragg is joined by Mark Woolmer, Assistant Principal at Collingwood College, Durham University; Josephine Quinn, Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Oxford and Cyprian Broodbank, Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology at University College London.
