PHOENICIA 



135 



with butz ( probably cotton ), and with embroidery 

 and precious stones. Syria of Damascus gave the 

 'wine of Helbon' and 'white wool." Israel sup- 

 plied corn of a superior quality, called 'corn of 

 Minnith,' together with pannag, an unknown sub- 

 stance, honey, balm, and oil. Arabia provided 

 spices, as cassia, and calamus or aromatic reed, to- 

 gether with frankincense, and perhaps cinnamon 

 and ladaiium. Kite also supplied wool and goats' 

 hair, cloths for chariots, gofd, wrought-iron, and 

 precious stones, together with ivory and ebony, 

 which she probably imported from Abyssinia. 

 Babylonia and Assyria furnished wrappings of 

 blue, embroidered work, and chests of rica apparel. 

 Upper Mesopotamia partook in this traffic. Central 

 Asia Minor, the home of Tubal and Meshech, sup- 

 plied slaves and vessels of brass. Armenia gave 

 horses and mules of a superior quality. There may 

 have been some further land traffic with Egypt, 

 since the Phoenicians had a settlement at Memphis 

 {Herod, ii. 112), with Persia for silk, and with 

 Central Africa for slaves and skins. 



But the land trade of Phoenicia, extensive as we 

 have shown it to have been, was eclipsed by its 

 maritime commerce. The Phoenicians nad, in the 

 arly times, the command of the entire Mediter- 

 ranean, of the Propontis, and of the Euxine. They 

 trailed largely with the Greeks ( Herod, i. 1 ) and 

 with the natives of almost the entire coast tract 

 between Colchis ami the Pillars of Hercules. It was 

 in connection with tliis maritime trade that they 

 ent out the great bulk of their colonies. Cyprus 

 seems to have been first occupied, then Cihcia, 

 I.vcia, Rhodes, Crete, and the Cyclades and Spor- 

 aili-s. From these islands the advance was easy to 

 those of the Northern .-Egean, Lemnos, Imbros, 

 Thasos, and Samothrace. Then the coast of Thrace 

 was colonised, tin- PropontU was entered, and afew 

 it li'MMMits were perhaps made on the southern coast 

 of the Black Sea. In the opjHisitc ilirection an 

 advance was made from Crete andCythera towards 

 the west. The shores of Sicily were occupied, to- 

 gether with the littoral islands and the opposite 

 .-.liMres of Africa. Utica, the first African colony, 

 was followed quickly by Hi|>]K> /aritis, Hippo 

 Regius, Hadrumetnm, Leptis Major, Leptis Minor, 

 Tliapsus, and ultimately by Carthage, The 

 Balearic Islands and the southern parts of Sardinia 

 were soon afterwards occupied, and finally southern 

 Spain and the western coast of Africa, as far as 

 '.'ape Nun, opposite the Canary Islands. But 

 Plurnician trade far outran Pli<rnician colon- 

 ; ion. From Tartessua in Spain, outside the 

 Straits, the Atlantic and Bay of Biscay were 

 explored, a trade with Cornwall and the Scilly 

 Islands was established, and the Baltic possibly 

 was entered in the search for amlier. North- 

 western Europe was laid under contribution to 

 increase the wealth of the small group of states on 

 the Syrian roast ; and at the same time from 

 Lixus, and later from Carthage, western Africa 

 w:t* visited, and a dumb commerce established 

 with the natives of the parts about the Senegal 

 and Gambia. Towards the east, moreover, 

 Phoenicia at one time held a share in the trade 

 of the Red Sea ( 1 Kings, ix. 28-28), sent her ships 

 into the Indian Ocean, and perhaps pushed her 

 commerce as far as Malabar and Ceylon. As a 

 general rnle, she imported raw materials, and ex- 

 t>ort'd manufactured articles : but there were 

 xceptions to this rule ; and, to some extent, she 

 employed herself in a carrying trade, being the 

 negotiator between the east and west, introducing 

 into Greece the finished productions of Egypt and 

 Assyria, of Babylon and Hindustan, while she con- 

 veywl to those countries Greek pottery and Greek 

 works of art, Greek wine, and Greek musical in- 

 Mrumentn. 



Art and Literature. Phosnician art is wanting 

 in originality, but it is not without a certain 

 amount of merit. In the earlier times Egypt and 

 Assyria, in the later Greece, furnished the 

 'motives,' at once of the architecture, and of the 

 decorative art of the country. Massiveness, heavi- 

 ness, and a sparing use of ornament characterise 

 the architecture, or, at any rate, its extant remains, 

 which are chiefly walls, tombs, and sepulchral 

 monuments. The walls of Aradus and Sidon are 

 built of blocks almost equal in size to those of the 

 pyramids. Pyramidal forms occur in the sepulchral 

 monuments, though simple pyramids were not 

 affected. No considerable remains of any temple 

 or palace have as yet been found, and it is doubted 

 whether the so-called temples were not rather 

 small shrines or cells placed within a peribolus, 

 adorned with trees, fountains, walks, colonnades, 

 and cloisters. Such a shrine still exists near 

 Amrith (Marathus), and is known as the ' Maabed,' 

 or 'Temple.' It stands in the middle of an exca- 

 vated court, and rises to the height of 27 feet. Its 

 only ornaments are a cornice and string-course 

 (Renan, Mission de Phenicie, pp. 62-68). An 

 erection of more pretension and considerably 

 greater merit, situated near the same place, bears 

 the name of meghazil, 'spindle,' and is much 

 admired by gome moderns. M. Renan calls it 

 'a real masterpiece in respect of proportion, of 

 elegance, and of majesty' (ibid. p. 72). It is, 

 however, no more than 32 feet in height, and, 

 though in good taste, implies but little architec- 

 tural skill much less any grandeur of conception. 

 The tombs attached to the monuments are sepul- 

 chral chambers of some size, but without ornament. 

 They generally contain either niches for the recep- 

 tion of corpses or sarcophagi. The sarcophagi are 

 in some cases of a highly ornamental character, 

 having elaborate reliefs both on their sides and 

 ends. Two found by General Cesnola in Cyprus, 

 and one discovered near Sidon, are especially inter- 

 esting. The reliefs on these tombs are decidedly 

 superior to the statuary, which is rude, coarse, and 

 wanting both in tone and elegance. Phoenician 

 art culminates in the embossed metal paterse which 

 have been found in so many places, sometimes with 

 Phoenician inscriptions, and always in an unmistak- 

 able Phoenician style (Perrot and Chipiez, Histoire 

 de I' Art dans I'Antiquitt, vol. iii. pp. 759-789; 

 Eng. trans. 2 vols. 1885). The representations on 

 these paterie have abundant life and spirit. 



The subject of Phoenician literature introduces 

 us to the vexed question of the origin of the 

 Phoenician alphabet, and the amount of credit due 

 to the people for inventing it. The time is long 

 past for echoing the opinion of the Greeks, and 

 regarding the Phoenicians as the original inventors 

 of letters. The hieroglyphical writing of the 

 Egyptians, several of the cuneiform syllabaries, 

 and the script of the Hittites are all of them 

 much more ancient than the earliest Phoenician 

 writing, and must have been more or less known 

 to the Phoenicians before they hit upon their own 

 system. Their alphabet, no doubt, like all others 

 of which we have any knowledge, originated in a 

 picture-writing, but whether their characters were 

 modifications of the Egyptian, or of the Hittite, or 

 of the Cypriot, or were abbreviated forms of a 

 picture-writing peculiar to themselves, will prob- 

 ably never be settled. (For the view that the 

 Phoenician letters are derived from the Egyptian 

 hieroglyphics, see ALPHABET, Vol. I. pp. 185-188, 

 where the forms of the Phoenician letters are 

 shown.) The only merit which they can claim, 

 as inventors or improvers of writing, is that 

 of simplification. They discarded the surplus 

 signs with which other nations had encumbered 

 themselves, as determinatives, ideographs, and the 



