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Crafts and Makers: the Phoenicians and Carthage

A ten‑minute visual journey through the metalwork, textiles, pottery, and writing of Phoenician artisans and their Carthaginian descendants.

Chapters

0:07 Phoenician Foundations of Craft
1:25 Migration to Carthage: Transfer of Techniques
2:25 Carthaginian Artisans at Work
3:01 Legacy and Influence

On-screen text

0:07 Phoenician Foundations of Craft
0:14 Phoenician Foundations of Craft
0:31 Phoenician copper ingots in Uluburun ship Historical record · Uluburun Shipwreck (Turkey, 14th c. BCE)
0:58 Earliest Phoenician alphabet on Ahiram sarcophagus Historical record · Ahiram sarcophagus, Byblos, 10th c. BCE
1:16 Herodotus on Phoenician bronze casting The Institute's interpretation · Herodotus, Histories 4.150
1:25 Migration to Carthage: Transfer of Techniques
1:32 Migration to Carthage: Transfer of Techniques
1:49 Hybrid Punic‑Greek red‑figure pottery Historical record · Red‑figure Punic pottery, Carthage Museum, 4th c. BCE
2:07 Bronze ink pot from Carthage Historical record · Bronze ink pot, Carthage, 1st c. BCE, British Museum
2:34 Bronze horse figurine, Carthage Historical record · Bronze figurine of a horse, Carthage Museum, 2nd c. BCE
2:52 Iron gall ink in Carthage per Strabo The Institute's interpretation · Strabo, Geographica 17.3
3:01 Legacy and Influence
3:08 Legacy and Influence
3:25 Herodotus on Phoenician bronze casting The Institute's interpretation · Herodotus, Histories 4.150
3:43 Bronze horse figurine, Carthage Historical record · Bronze figurine of a horse, Carthage Museum, 2nd c. BCE
4:01 Hybrid Punic‑Greek red‑figure pottery Historical record · Red‑figure Punic pottery, Carthage Museum, 4th c. BCE

Sources

Historical record: Uluburun Shipwreck (Turkey, 14th c. BCE) · Murex shell remains, excavated at Tyre (Levant, 9th–8th c. BCE) · Ahiram sarcophagus, Byblos, 10th c. BCE · Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 5.23 · Red‑figure Punic pottery, Carthage Museum, 4th c. BCE · Loom fragment, Carthage archaeological site, 3rd c. BCE · Bronze ink pot, Carthage, 1st c. BCE, British Museum · Ivory comb, Carthage, 5th c. BCE, National Museum of Tunisia · Ivory plaque from the Tophet of Carthage, Musée du Louvre · Bronze figurine of a horse, Carthage Museum, 2nd c. BCE · Polybius, Histories 3.112 · Pliny the Elder, Natural History 29.13

The Institute's interpretation: Herodotus, Histories 4.150 · KAI 100 (Phoenician inscription on a ship’s prow, Carthage, 3rd c. BCE) · Strabo, Geographica 17.3

Sound: synthesized ambient (wind, drone, water) (CC0 — made by SoapBox). Made in 111 s of CPU.

Scenes Hathor has no parts for yet (21) — the next things to make

Phoenician Foundations of Craft: Show how early Phoenician artisans mastered metal, dye, writing and weaving.
Workers crushing Murex shells in a coastal workshop, vats of purple liquid steaming.
Weavers at wooden looms threading dyed threads, a finished patterned cloth displayed.
Weavers at wooden looms threading dyed threads, a finished patterned cloth displayed.
Artisan adjusting loom weights on a standing loom, threads taut.
Artisan adjusting loom weights on a standing loom, threads taut.
A woman running a comb through hair, close‑up of the comb’s carved patterns.
Stone slab with inscription near a dock, workers loading a trireme.
Stone slab with inscription near a dock, workers loading a trireme.
Archaeologists brushing dust from an ivory plaque showing a ship, with a craftsman’s tools nearby.
Carthaginian Artisans at Work: Illustrate the daily production of metal, ivory, textiles and written documents in Carthage.
Archaeologists brushing dust from an ivory plaque showing a ship, with a craftsman’s tools nearby.
Archaeologists brushing dust from an ivory plaque showing a ship, with a craftsman’s tools nearby.
A scribe in a stone office, ink brush on papyrus scroll, overseen by a merchant.
Ink pot with dark liquid, a scribe dipping a reed pen.
Dyers testing cloth in a river, the color staying vivid.
Dyers testing cloth in a river, the color staying vivid.
Dyers testing cloth in a river, the color staying vivid.
Dyers testing cloth in a river, the color staying vivid.
Weavers at wooden looms threading dyed threads, a finished patterned cloth displayed.
Weavers at wooden looms threading dyed threads, a finished patterned cloth displayed.