Yo', man (Yo')
(Open up, man) What do you want, man?
(I met this girl) For real? Where she from?
(She's from the land of Phoenicia) Phoenicia who?
(The place across the Mediterranean) Man
(And she's really cool) Well, tell me a thing or two
(Alright)
The city of Tyre was founded in 2750
You know they traded across the Mediterranean Sea
How could you forget that they had
Crafted the alphabet
Probably because the Greeks and Romans viewed them as a threat
At first they had city-states ruled by kings
Then separate republics decided everything
Many deities represent phenomena
3 main gods: Baal, Astarte, and Melquart
First to navigate using the Pole Star
They circumnavigated all of Africa
They used metal, gla**, and mastered purple dye
A simple art style, you would think they didn't try
Kingship, then Republic (Phoenicians)
Polytheistic (Phoenicians)
Created bireme warships (Phoenicians)
Limestone was abundant (Phoenicians)
Murexes made purple dye (Phoenicians)
Shipping based economy (Phoenicians)
Carthage, Tyre, Sidon (Phoenicians)
And they made the alphabet
The city of Tyre was founded in 2750
You know they traded across the Mediterranean Sea
How could you forget that they had
Utica, Rhodes, and Spain
Probably because the Greeks and Romans
Viewed them as a pain
Traded ivory, cedar, gla**, and textiles
Embroidered cloth from Asia, you know they rolled in style
Money minted by individual city-states
Traded all the way to the Gibraltar Straits
They used to sail by rafts and canoes
But then they got biremes for them to use
Yeah, they were the first to use the alphabetic script
But they didn't write history like Herodotus
Kingship, then Republic (Phoenicians)
Polytheistic (Phoenicians)
Created bireme warships (Phoenicians)
Limestone was abundant (Phoenicians)
Murexes made purple dye (Phoenicians)
Shipping based economy (Phoenicians)
Carthage, Tire, Sidon (Phoenicians)
And they made the alphabet
The city of Tyre was founded in 2750
You know they traded across the Mediterranean Sea
How could you forget that they
Created our alphabet
Even the Greeks and Romans
Later went and adopted that
One day the Romans will be sorry
For the pain that they caused
Because in the third Punic War
They saw Carthage dissolved
You know it's true that most of
Their history is really lost
Because the Greeks and Romans
Went and destroyed it all
That's why I sing
The city of Tyre was founded in 2750
You know they traded across the Mediterranean Sea
How could you forget about
This place of prosperity
Probably because the Greeks and Romans
Painted it poorly