Phoenician–Punic literature
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Phoenician–Punic literature is literature written in Phoenician, the language of the ancient civilization of Phoenicia, or in the Punic language that developed from Phoenician and was used in Ancient Carthage. It is surrounded by an aura of mystery due to the few preserved remains. All that is left is a series of inscriptions, few of which are of a purely literary nature[1][2] (e.g. historical tales, poems, etc.), coins, fragments of Sanchuniathon's History and Mago's Treaty, the Greek translation of the voyage of Hanno the Navigator and a few lines in the Poenulus by Plautus.[3]
However, it is a proven fact that both Phoenicia and Carthage had extensive libraries and that Phoenicians had a rich literary production inherited from their Canaanite past, of which works by Philo of Byblos and Menander of Ephesus are only a small part.[4][5]