Phoenicians on Displays: a Comparative Analysis of Perceptions of Phoenicians in Museums

Abstract

Phoenician archaeology has a long history of being defined and redefined. Up until today, academics and institutions often have variable approaches to and perceptions of Phoenician material culture. This history has impacted the treatment of this material culture in museums, resulting in very different approaches from one museum to the other. This paper presents a comparative approach to Phoenician collections on display in museums of different scales and in different countries, taking into considerations cues such as frequency and importance played by the Phoenicians within the larger context of the museum, the variable definitions of the word in each museum, and curatorial choices with the aim of understanding whether the scale of the museum is a key factor in its presentation of Phoenician collections.