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Another "Peoples of the Past" book, this richly illustrated book traces the Phoenician civilization from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550 B.C.) to the start of the Hellenistic period (c. 300 B.C.).

The Phoenicians are one of the great enigmas of the ancient world. They were celebrated as learned scribes, who passed on the first written alphabet; as vaunted seafarers and merchants, who from the Levantine coast established a network of trading routes across the Mediterranean; as skilled engineers, who built monumental harbours at their great cities of Sidon, Tyre, Byblos and Carthage, and as gifted artisans, whose beautiful craftsmanship was noted by Homer. Yet they were also despised as cheaters and hucksters; as unscrupulous profiteers, who kidnapped the helpless and traded in human lives; as a morally corrupt people who prostituted and butchered their children in honour of their gods. Inspiring such enmity is a sign of how dominant a force the Phoenicians became in Iron Age society.