Today’s link has some very interesting information for those who like to see hard evidence of the Phoenician (i.e. “Israelite”) presence in ancient America. The link examines closely some very minute markings at the bottom of a Carthaginian coin dated to circa 341 BC. It is called a “Phoenician” coin because the Carthaginian civilization was founded by the Phoenician empire which consisted of the Israelites allied to the smaller city-states of Tyre, Sidon, etc. The “Phoenician” empire formed by Kings David and Solomon of Israel and King Hiram of Tyre had been gone for centuries by the time this coin was made. However, since the Carthaginians inherited all the global maritime and geographical knowledge amassed by the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians are a good example of what was originally known by the Israelites, the Sidonians, etc.
As readers of my books know, the “Phoenicians” never called themselves by that name. That name was given to them by their enemies, the Greeks. Also, the Carthaginians never called themselves by that name. They were given that name by their enemies, the Romans. Since our modern world has received its knowledge and perspectives about the ancient world from Greco-Roman sources, we do not know these peoples by their original names that they gave themselves. Carthage’s original name for itself was “Kirjath-Hadeshath,” a Hebrew name meaning “new city.” By examining what Carthage knew, we gain solid insights into what the Israelites/Phoenician Empire under Kings David and Solomon and King Hiram of Tyre actually knew about the ancient geography of the world.
The coin detailed in the link has a small set of easily-missed, minute markings at the bottom of the coin. When they are enlarged, a remarkable pattern emerges. The link asserts (and I agree) that the small markings are a rudimentary map of the world known to the Carthaginians. The Mediterranean world is easily seen in this set of marking although it obviously could not be drawn in detail or to scale given the tiny area of the coin being utilized. The geography of Spain is easily seen as is a general outline of the Mediterranean Sea, surrounded by Europe, North Africa, the Levant and two clumpings of islands to show where Corsica and Sardinia are located in the west and where Cyprus and Crete are located in the east.The British Isles are evident at the top of the map. A clump to the east evidently represents Asia and a three-pronged clump west of the Pillars of Hercules across a water body (the Atlantic Ocean) represents North America. That clump doesn’t look much like North America until you consider one important fact, barely hinted at in the link’s article. The Carthaginians, like their Phoenician forebears, were excellent maritime navigators, traders and explorers. Their ships would have entered the “navigable rivers” that even an ancient Greek writer (an enemy of Carthage) noted were present in North America. Even the ancient Greeks knew about North America about 16 centuries before Columbus.
Notice the three-pronged representation of North America in this very-tiny map at the bottom of the coin. It roughly looks like a trident with a center line going upward and two lines branching off to the right and left with the leftward line going far longer and in a more northerly route. I suggest that the Carthaginians, who would have sailed and explored the river routes of ancient North America, made this map’s representation of North America based on its major navigable rivers. The center line going straight northward in the center of the “trident” represents the Mississippi River. The shorter line branching off to the east from the center line represents the Ohio River. The much longer line going leftward off the center line and which also heads noticeably further northward, represents the Missouri River. This indicates the Carthaginian explorers accurately realized that the Missouri River was a longer and more northerly water-course than the Ohio River.
There is a massive amount of information about the Israelite/Phoenician empire of Kings David and Solomon and how the Greeks gave them the name “Phoenicia” in my books. My books also have much information about the Carthaginian Empire to which the Israelite/Phoenician empire gave birth. You will have a much more accurate view of the ancient world if you order and read my books. You will also gain insights into how the ancient world is still very powerfully influencing our modern world whether we realize it or not. You can obtain some of this information for free by listening to my audio messages on the history and migrations of the ten tribes of Israel. These free messages can be accessed via the “speeches” tab at the top of my homepage.
My thanks to a friend who sent this link to me so I could pass it on to other readers!
