Question

along the mediterranean coast of the middle east, a unique civilization was doing things a little differently. they were the phoenicians. one of their legacies is our modern-day alphabet. their alphabet was adapted by the greeks and then the romans; it’s not too different from the one we use today.

the phoenicians built a trading empire that connected various tribes and civilizations around the mediterranean. they invented glassblowing, but their truly hot product was purple dye. they got the dye from a special kind of sea snail that basically sneezed it out. only the phoenicians lived near the snails, so only they had the royal purple dye. the dye was so expensive, it was worth its weight in silver. in fact, the word phoenician means \purple people\ in greek.

in nearby turkey in 687 bc, the lydians rose to power. their king was gyges, who was friendly with the greeks (who were gaining power to their west). the lydians wrote themselves into history by issuing the first gold coins. before then, no government had ever come up with its own single currency.

the phoenicians ______.

a used cuneiform for writing
b built an empire based on trade
c were the first people to use gold coins

Explanation:

• Option A: The passage states the Phoenicians' legacy is the modern - day alphabet, with no mention of cuneiform, so A is incorrect.
• Option B: The text says "The Phoenicians built a trading empire that connected various tribes and civilizations around the Mediterranean", so B matches the passage.
• Option C: The passage indicates the Lydians were the first to issue gold coins, not the Phoenicians, so C is incorrect.

Answer:

B. built an empire based on trade