PHOENICIAN HISTORY is the subject of a new play currently running in Lebanon:

A lesson for Lebanon from its ancient Phoenician past
'The Return of the Phoenix' is as much about today's search for a suitable modus vivendi as it is about Yesterday's
By Adam Jewell
Daily Star staff
Friday, December 12, 2008

MAAMELTEIN: "If you don't go back to the past, you can't live now," says Oussama Rahbani, the musical talent behind "The Return of the Phoenix," a play steeped in the history of Lebanon that is making an encore run through December 21 at the Casino du Liban after debuting at the Byblos International Festival this past summer.

The play, written by Mansour Rahbani and directed by Marwan Rahbani, follows last year's historical production by the Rahbani brothers, "Zenobia," an epic centered around the ancient queen of Palmyra. However, while the past often serves as inspiration for the renowned Lebanese dramatists, "The Return of the Phoenix" is the first time that their own country's history formed the basis for a production.

"Like any civilization, the Phoenicians had good points and bad points," Oussama Rahbani told The Daily Star in an interview. "They were dealing in commerce, in trading, they were traveling a lot. However, they didn't build a united culture, they were more individualistic."

"The Phoenicians focused on the city-state. But doing in this, you are alone. Saida alone, Beirut alone, Tripoli alone. Then when Alexander the Great invaded, it was one-on-one," Rahbani noted.

"The Return of the Phoenix" ponders the shortcomings of Lebanon's past inhabitants in order to prod the country's current residents into improving their collective lot. While it takes place in the northern coastal city of Jbeil, or Byblos, some 3,000 years ago, the political dynamics are instantly recognizable to those familiar with today's Lebanon.

[...]