WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

Phenicia
    n 1: an ancient maritime country (a collection of city states)
         at eastern end of the Mediterranean [syn: Phoenicia,
         Phenicia]

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Phenicia
   (Acts 21:2) = Phenice (11:19; 15:3; R.V., Phoenicia), Gr.
   phoinix, "a palm", the land of palm-trees; a strip of land of an
   average breadth of about 20 miles along the shores of the
   Mediterranean, from the river Eleutherus in the north to the
   promotory of Carmel in the south, about 120 miles in length.
   This name is not found in the Old Testament, and in the New
   Testament it is mentioned only in the passages above referred
   to.

     "In the Egyptian inscriptions Phoenicia is called Keft, the
   inhabitants being Kefa; and since Keft-ur, or 'Greater
   Phoenicia,' was the name given to the delta of the Nile from the
   Phoenician colonies settled upon it, the Philistines who came
   from Caphtor or Keft-ur must have been of Phoenician origin"
   (comp. Deut. 2:23; Jer. 47:4; Amos 9:7)., Sayce's Bible and the
   Monuments.

     Phoenicia lay in the very centre of the old world, and was the
   natural entrepot for commerce with foreign nations. It was the
   "England of antiquity." "The trade routes from all Asia
   converged on the Phoenician coast; the centres of commerce on
   the Euphrates and Tigris forwarding their goods by way of Tyre
   to the Nile, to Arabia, and to the west; and, on the other hand,
   the productions of the vast regions bordering the Mediterranean
   passing through the Canaanite capital to the eastern world." It
   was "situate at the entry of the sea, a merchant of the people
   for many isles" (Ezek. 27:3, 4). The far-reaching commercial
   activity of the Phoenicians, especially with Tarshish and the
   western world, enriched them with vast wealth, which introduced
   boundless luxury and developed among them a great activity in
   all manner of arts and manufactures. (See TYRE.)

     The Phoenicians were the most enterprising merchants of the
   old world, establishing colonies at various places, of which
   Carthage was the chief. They were a Canaanite branch of the race
   of Ham, and are frequently called Sidonians, from their
   principal city of Sidon. None could "skill to hew timber like
   unto the Sidonians" (1 Kings 5:6). King Hiram rendered important
   service to Solomon in connection with the planning and building
   of the temple, casting for him all the vessels for the temple
   service, and the two pillars which stood in the front of the
   porch, and "the molten sea" (1 Kings 7:21-23). Singular marks
   have been found by recent exploration on the great stones that
   form the substructure of the temple. These marks, both painted
   and engraved, have been regarded as made by the workmen in the
   quarries, and as probably intended to indicate the place of
   these stones in the building. "The Biblical account (1 Kings
   5:17, 18) is accurately descriptive of the massive masonry now
   existing at the south-eastern angle (of the temple area), and
   standing on the native rock 80 feet below the present surface.
   The Royal Engineers found, buried deeply among the rubbish of
   many centuries, great stones, costly and hewed stones, forming
   the foundation of the sanctuary wall; while Phoenician fragments
   of pottery and Phoenician marks painted on the massive blocks
   seem to proclaim that the stones were prepared in the quarry by
   the cunning workmen of Hiram, the king of Tyre." (See TEMPLE.)

     The Phoenicians have been usually regarded as the inventors of
   alphabetic writing. The Egyptians expressed their thoughts by
   certain symbols, called "hieroglyphics", i.e., sacred carvings,
   so styled because used almost exclusively on sacred subjects.
   The recent discovery, however, of inscriptions in Southern
   Arabia (Yemen and Hadramaut), known as Hemyaritic, in connection
   with various philogical considerations, has led some to the
   conclusion that the Phoenician alphabet was derived from the
   Mineans (admitting the antiquity of the kingdom of Ma'in, Judg.
   10:12; 2 Chr. 26:7). Thus the Phoenician alphabet ceases to be
   the mother alphabet. Sayce thinks "it is more than possible that
   the Egyptians themselves were emigrants from Southern Arabia."
   (See MOABITE STONE.)

     "The Phoenicians were renowned in ancient times for the
   manufacture of glass, and some of the specimens of this work
   that have been preserved are still the wonder of mankind...In
   the matter of shipping, whether ship-building be thought of or
   traffic upon the sea, the Phoenicians surpassed all other
   nations." "The name Phoenicia is of uncertain origin, though it
   may be derived from Fenkhu, the name given in the Egyptian
   inscriptions to the natives of Palestine. Among the chief
   Phoenician cities were Tyre and Sidon, Gebal north of Beirut,
   Arvad or Arados and Zemar."