Did the Phoenicians and Carthaginians ever aspire to build trading posts or colonies in Britain?

by ActualTax
Alkibiades415

There is currently no evidence of that. In the past few decades, we have been able to detect Phoenician presence (or at least local influence) mostly by archaeology, especially distinctive Phoenician red-glazed ceramics called "red slip" and a very characteristic type of trinket called the lyre-player seal. There are some distinctly Phoenician building styles and types, as well, but those are more rare. In the period from about 800 to about 650 BCE, we find red slip and or lyre-player seals in Western Italy (Pithekoussai), Sicily (Motya, Syracuse possibly), North Africa, Sardinia, Southeastern Spain (Costa del Sol / Andalusia), Southwestern Spain (Cadiz and environs), and a few scattered traces down the Atlantic coast of West Africa. Given the amount of evidence there is, now that we know what to look for, and the spread of it, we could expect to find at least some traces from Britain, if they existed. We'd also expect to find, perhaps, some traces across the Channel on the Continent.

That does not mean that they did not go there, however. It is perfectly possible that the evidence remains to be excavated, or was overlooked in the past. Lyre-player seals, in particular, tend to be found in indigenous elite graves, and the state of preservation of such graves in that time period varies by region.

But no: as of now, there is no evidence of Phoenicians north of Dona Blanca, just north of Cadiz.