72 PHOENICIAN COLONIES AND COMMERCE. 



Cadiz and Norway. Even, therefore, if Pytheas effected all 

 that has been claimed for him, he will not have made a longer 

 voyage than hundreds of his countrymen had done a thousand 

 years before. 



The above-given dates must not, of course, be considered 

 as exact, but there is no reason to doubt their general accu- 

 racy. Not only do the writings of Hesiod and Homer, which 

 are probably not of a later date than 800 B.C., and most likely 

 somewhat earlier, but even more conclusively the Biblical 

 narrative, and the Assyrian and Egyptian evidence,* show 

 that the nations on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean 

 were at a very early period highly civilized, and had a con- 

 siderable commerce. Indeed, brass, i.e. bronze, is mentioned 

 in the fourth chapter of Genesis, which would be, according to 

 the chronology of the established version, 3875 B.C.; but there 

 is so much doubt about these dates that I do not feel disposed 

 to rely on this isolated passage. The high civilization of Egypt 

 in the time of Joseph is apparent to every reader of the book 

 of Exodus ; but it appears to be still uncertain at what period 

 the Egyptians first became acquainted with bronze. When 

 Solomon prepared to build the temple in Jerusalem, he sent 

 to the king of Tyre for cedar -trees out of Lebanon; " for 

 thou knowest," he said, "that there is not among us any 

 that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians" 

 (1 Kings v. 6); and again we read (I. c. vii. 13, 14) that "King 

 Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. He was a 

 widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a 

 man of Tyre, a worker in brass : and he was filled with 

 wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works 

 in brass." It is admitted that the word which here, and in 

 so many other passages, is translated " brass," should rather 

 be " bronze." This latter, which was the common metal of 

 antiquity, is never mentioned in our version, while on the 



* See ante, p. 6. 



