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wildbrush's art.to.day - you entered my world of art history -

Comparative Advancing Art History     
 of Pigments and Mediums     
in European and Asian Cultures     

PIGMENTS, PAINTING, SCULPTURE IN B.C. HISTORY:
- MEDITERRANEAN CIVILIZATIONS

PHOENICIA

7000 B.C., PRE - JERICHO was big in the salt trade at the north end of the Dead Sea.

2000 B.C., Phoenicia was on the coast between Egypt and Mesopotamia, they were merchants and had discovered how to extract silver from lead.

1200 B.C., Phoenicia was growing into a world power via trading with it.
The oldest paints came from the oldest civilizations, they all made one kind of paint or another. Most of the known world was traveled by sea, from Africa to England to Japan. These world travelers and traders worked with the best of everything, always on the cutting edge. Painting and protecting their boats was very important. Alcohol paints were the oldest and most used, sandaraca (sandracca) mixed with lead paint and castor oil was best for their boats. They got the materials from Morocco in north Africa.
Lead corrodes with acids and forms oxides, when heated they turn from white to yellow, to orange and then red. They painted their ships of commerce this bright red and the whole world looked forward to seeing them arrive.
"Eric the Red" had a red boat and red hair.

1100 B.C., Phoenicians built City-states at their ports of call, Gades was at the entrance to the Mediterranean, other City States were in the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Carthage, Oea [between Cartage and Egypt], and their home port of Tyre, at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, now called Beirut.

700 B.C., Phoenicia, all the known world was shared by the Greek, Phoenicia, Etruscan and the Assyrian Empires.

600 B.C., Phoenician Empire became part of the New Babylonian Empire, reaching to the Persian Gulf, their empire was over.

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