Infact, Greeks took good account of folks' physical appearance. Some of the Near Easterners turned out to be - according to a Greek / or Greeks (can't remember who) - lighter skinned than the Greeks themselves: I'm referring of course to the Persians. Despite the fact in 300 Xerxes their ruler gets depicted as a swarthy homoerotic piercings flaming gay Tyrant (who in the end actually ended up annihilating them anyway). Phoenicia was on that Levantine strip, correct? The area was mix and at a crossroads. A people called the Pelisti by the Phaorohs in ancient times thought to have been the 'Philistines' resided on the same area, and were depicted as this: and Phoenicia would've been a former ancient Phaorohnic colony in the first place. ---------- Post added 2011-08-11 at 08:37 ---------- Besides that, the area has seen all kinds of traffic over the millenia, it's hardly like it's been a homogenous area -- there's been both Egyptian and Kushite influence throughout the whole of the mediterranean forever up until modern times. ---------- Post added 2011-08-11 at 08:39 ---------- Another image: http://mishami.image.pbase.com/u14/c....Knossos33.jpg