The ancient Mediterranean civilization known for its extensive trade networks and the spread of the alphabet was the Phoenicians. Flourishing around 1500 BCE to 300 BCE, they established powerful city-states like Tyre and Sidon on the eastern Mediterranean coast. The Phoenicians were renowned for their maritime prowess, navigating and trading across vast distances which facilitated the exchange of goods and cultural ideas. They developed a phonetic alphabet that significantly influenced the writing systems of later cultures, including the Greeks and Romans, making profound contributions to the history of literacy.