There's probably a good book on practical engineering stuff that would really come in handy. Simple recipes for things like clear glass, gunpowder, interesting properties of coal, navigation, etc.
The western dark ages weren't all that dark, nobody thought the world was flat, Giordano Bruno was an occultist and not champion of natural science, nailing your theses to a church door wasn't a mic drop thing but more like making a forum post, there's even nuance to the Spanish inquisition.
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/w...
Nonetheless, the same Phonenician explorer spirit contributed to the shaping of what is modern day Lebanon today. The Lebanese, as early as the 1500s and 1600s had strong ties to the regions of Italy and France. This is why Lebanon has been more on the West-leaning side than other Middle Eastern countries.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Phoenician_discovery...
It makes me sad to see the state Lebanon is today, but ironically part of the reason of the Phonecians’ demise was they didn’t have a strong enough army, relied on mercenaries and ultimately the major city states were not unified.
Funny (sadly) enough, all of the conditions above remain true.
Damn you Alexander
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/country-flags-with-purpl...
A really interesting podcast about this! Apparently the dye absolutely STUNK,
