>>941318250
THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME
1. Continuity of port elites across regime changes
Carthage > Rome: After the Punic Wars, many Carthaginian merchant families didn’t vanish - they were absorbed into the Roman trading class. Roman patrician houses suddenly had “new” wealth tied to Iberian silver and African grain routes that had belonged to Punic networks.
Ottomans > Venetians > Dutch: Venetian Levantine trading houses simply rebranded under Ottoman charters, then “migrated” into Dutch & Genoese ventures. Same families, same ports, just different flags.
British Raj > Indian Corporates: Families like the Sassoons (“Rothschilds of the East”) moved seamlessly from opium traders under the Raj into modern global finance.
2. Ledger wins over throne
Templars vs. Kings: French monarchy feared Templars not for swords, but for their ledgers. When Philip IV “destroyed” them, their banking infrastructure just re-emerged in Hospitallers, Florentine banks, and ultimately Venetian/Dutch models.
East India Company vs. Crown: The British Empire was run less by kings and more by a charter company with its own army. When the Crown “took over” in 1858, the same ledgers & administrators kept running trade.
Wall Street Bailouts (2008): The U.S. government essentially bent to the books of a handful of firms, overriding democratic accountability.
3. Mythic continuity (god-swaps)
Melqart > Herakles: Tyrian sea god recast as Greek hero, but worship patterns at trade ports stayed identical.
Baal > Saturn/El > Yahweh: Old Levantine storm/sky god gradually absorbed into new state religions, but the port cults (offerings, festivals) continued.
