Fulminata reviewed Phoenicians by Sanford Holst
Review of 'Phoenicians' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This is a very interesting read, but is more speculation and theory than actual history. The Phoenicians left very little in the way of written records, so rather than present the bare facts the author has weaved one possible picture of what the Phoenicians may have been like based on the facts that we do have.
What results is an entertaining possibility, possibly influenced by the authors modern political bias, a lot of which can be neither proved nor disproved by what we currently know.
So why read this book? For the critical reader there's a lot of actual history in between the speculation if you are interested in the Phoenicians, but there's a better audience for this book: fantasists.
Whether you write fantasy fiction or play fantasy games, this book offers a logically crafted civilization different from any that we have more detailed information about, but which could have …
This is a very interesting read, but is more speculation and theory than actual history. The Phoenicians left very little in the way of written records, so rather than present the bare facts the author has weaved one possible picture of what the Phoenicians may have been like based on the facts that we do have.
What results is an entertaining possibility, possibly influenced by the authors modern political bias, a lot of which can be neither proved nor disproved by what we currently know.
So why read this book? For the critical reader there's a lot of actual history in between the speculation if you are interested in the Phoenicians, but there's a better audience for this book: fantasists.
Whether you write fantasy fiction or play fantasy games, this book offers a logically crafted civilization different from any that we have more detailed information about, but which could have possibly fit into our history.
Whether or not it really did is irrelevant in this case, as it provides a ready made culture with which most are unfamiliar, yet which has a feeling of verisimilitude often lacking in cultures created entirely from the imagination.
Also, the book is simply entertaining to read, as long as you keep in mind its weaknesses.