This is the first instalment of a series that deals with the history of Carthage. Joshua Hall talks with Josho Brouwers about Phoenicia, the Phoenicians (whoever they might be), and colonization in the Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. We also touch upon the differences between territorial states and city-states in the Levant, and how the Phoenician cities interacted with their neighbours.

A key question to ask is who the Phoenicians were. We talk about the problems involved in ascribing a Phoenician "ethnicity", referring to among others Jospehine Quinn's recent book on the Phoenicians, and on the perception of the Phoenicians in Greek and Roman sources.