The invention of the Phoenicians : on object definition, decontextualization and display

Abstract

ʻThey ain’t here!ʼ exclaimed my friend Brien Garnand. We had just finished touring the Getty Villa museum in Malibu, California, and were wondering why the Phoenicians do not get a mention in any of the museum displays. We knew that with its Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities the focus of the Getty Villa museum was on the splendour and glory of classical civilization. But we were both perplexed that even the gallery devoted to the alphabet missed the contribution of the purple men of Byblos. Three bands in three different colours stood for the Greek, Etruscan and Latin alphabets respectively in a didactic display on the development of language and literacy over time. There was, of course, ample space for another band below the other three – in purple, we thought, it would be perfect – to signal the Levantine origins of alphabetic writing systems. [Excerpt from Chapter]