section_path: Demographics
section_name: Demographics
paragraph_text: Demographics
  
  The people now known as Phoenicians were a group of ancient Semitic-speaking peoples that emerged in the Levant in at least the third millennium BC. Phoenicians did not refer themselves as "Phoenicians" but rather are thought to have broadly referred to themselves as "Kenaʿani", meaning ' Canaanites '. Phoenicians specifically identified themselves with the city they hailed from (e.g., Sidonian for Sidon, Tyrian for Tyre, etc.)