The Assyrian Empire and Phoenicia’s Cultural Resistance

Abstract

The paper discusses and compares the influence of Egyptian and Assyrian culture, mainly religion, on Phoenician religious beliefs and material culture. It presents abundant textual and archaeological evidence from Phoenicia to show the influence of Egypt and the absence of cultural influence from Assyria in Phoenicia. The paper tries to explain this situation by arguing that people adopt traits of other cultures if the latter are perceived as superior to their own, as a source of prestige for the ruling class who is the first to adopt these foreign traditions. Elite emulation may be the reason behind cultural transfer between a prestigious core and a peripheral state. Having established that elite emulation plays an important role the paper asks why did the Phoenician elite simply ignore the Assyrian prestige markers since Assyria was also a powerful empire who served as a model for several north Syrian kings. The paper attempts to answer this question arguing that the idea of power and prestige borrowed from the Egyptians was too anchored in Phoenician tradition and formed a barrier against the emulation of Assyrian symbols of power by the Phoenician elite
and that coercion, which characterized Assyrian-Phoenician relations was another main reason that led the Phoenicians to reject Assyrian traditions.