__ _ _ __ __ |_| | / _ |_| |_ |_) / \ | | /_\ | | | \/ • | | | \__/ | | |_ | \ \__X \_/ / \ |__ | | | • https://horizonpenblade.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/phoenican-mythology-art/ [Note: This is part of my school project involving illustrating mythologies/religions of ancient cultures.] Well, on this one I’ll start by explaining what Phoenicia is. Phoenicia was this civilization on the eastern edge of the mediterranean sea. It was referred to in the Old Testament as Canaan if that helps you. Phoenicia exported a lot of purple dye. Sometimes the dye would get on the workers, so apparently the Greeks would call them the “purple people.”(sing it now! :) ) (The Greeks really did call them that. It’s awesome.) They (the Phoenicians) would sail quite a bit, and they would put horse heads on their boats, to appease the inventor of horses, the Phoenician god Yamm. Yamm was the god of the sea, but he wasn’t exactly your peaceful, friendly, waterbender/Enki [explanation here] sort of guy. He was more of an “I’m gonna go drown a bunch of people, it’ll be so fun, ha ha ha!” kind of guy. His brother was the Phoenician god of death, and he himself was extremely mad and chaotic. He was always fighting Baal Hadad (one of the far less chaotic gods), according to Phoenician/Canaanite myth, and one version of the myth involves them repeatedly--not quite perpetually, but they never really stop permanently-- killing each other and then coming back to life. And that explains the seasons. Anyways, my picture is of Yamm. ~~ I put stormclouds in the background and made the whole ocean thing kinda stormy to reflect his chaotic personality. He’s supposed to be smirking, although it might look kinda like he’s being flirtatious. He’s not. I tried to have his clothes and eyes match the ocean. I mentioned earlier that he invented horses, and a lot of you probably thought **Poseidon!!!** Yup, he at least partly inspired the Greeks so they thought of Poseidon. :) Bibliography/Sources: Mark, Joshua J. “Yamm.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. N.p., 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 21 Nov. 2015. Mark, Joshua J. “Phoenicia.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. N.p., 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
