Democracy therefore evolved as a form of political competition. The idea of a government designed for the people and not just for the elite was not something that the Greeks gave to the Phoenicians. Instead, it was already being mandated at least politically if not legally by Phoenician kings and settlers before the Phoenicians ever taught the Greeks how to write; or in any case, right around that time. Leaders must compete with each other for followers, and the same held true in the free market of governmental forms, as we see between various city-states in the 1st millennium BC, both within and without Greece.The author argues that the Minoans gave the concept to the Canaanites, who passed it on to the Tyrians. The Carthaginians got in on it too.
I noted the publication of Prof. Kaufman's book here. Cross-file under Phoenician Watch and Punic Watch.
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