PHCENICIA 



137 



who reigned nine, or more probably twenty-nine 

 years, from 849 to 820. At his death the crown 

 fell to his son, Pygmalion, a boy of eight or nine 

 years old. A dispute, however, arose about the 

 succession between Pygmalion and his uncle, 

 Sicharbas ( married to Pygmalion's sister Elissa or 

 Dido), and the result was Sicharbas' murder, and 

 the Might of Elissa to the North African coast, 

 where she founded Carthage, 814. 



A foreign enemy began to threaten Phoenicia in 

 the reign of Ithobal. Earlier Asiatic monarchs, 

 as Cheuorlaomer and Tiglath-pileser I., had made 

 no permanent impression on the Syrian region ; 

 but from the time of Asshur-nazir-pal (883-860) 

 Assyria began a series of attacks upon all the tribes 

 and nations in these parts, which resulted in their 

 subjugation and submission to the Assyrian yoke. 

 Asshur-nazir-pal, about 877, was the first to 

 cross the Euphrates, enter the Orontes valley, and 

 commence the conquest of the Syrian tribes. He 

 received tribute from the Phoenician cities of 

 Aradus, Gebal, Sidon, and Tyre. His son, Shal- 

 maneser II., completed the reduction of Phoenicia, 

 defeating Mattan-Baal of Aradus, and compelling 

 the other monarchs to a fixed system of tribute. 

 The relations between Assyria and her vassal then 

 continued ]>eacefu] for about a century (840-740). 

 Assyria encouraged the Phoenician land traffic, 

 and the Phoenicians gladly paid their tribute 

 and their homage in return for the protection 

 afforded them. But aliout 740 a new policy was 

 adopted. Tiglath-pileser II. was an active and 

 enterprising prince, who energetically applied him- 

 self to the consolidation and unification of the 

 empire. He began the process in northern Syria, 

 rearranging the population in the various towns, 

 taking from some, and giving to others, adding 

 in most places an Assyrian element, appointing 

 Assyrian governors, and requiring of the inhabit- 

 ants ' the performance of service like the Assyrians' 

 (K]i>inifin Canon, p. 120, line 28). Among the 

 places thus treated between 740 and 738 were 

 thi Phoenician cities of Simyra and Arka. The 

 n-iilt was a general awakening of distrust among 

 the Phoenician populations. Simyra and Arka 

 revolted in 720, in conjunction with Hamath, 

 Arpad, Damascus, and Samaria (ibid. p. 126, lines 

 33-35). Tyre took the alarm even earlier. Under 

 Luliya, or Elula-us, she built herself up a great 

 power, extending her sway over Sidon, Akko, 

 Eedippa, Sarepta, Hosah, Mahalliba, &c., and at 

 the same time seeking to bring under her yoke the 

 distant island of Cyprus. These movements pro- 

 voked Assyria to action: About 727 Shalman- 

 eser IV., the successor of Tiglath-pileser II., made 

 an attempt to crush Elulfeus from the land side. 

 Baffled in this, he succeeded in detaching from the 

 Tyrian alliance a number of the minor Phoenician 

 towns, and with the help of their fleets assaulted 

 the island Tyre by sea. But the Tynans defeated 

 his attack, and he was compelled to withdraw and 

 xe.'k to force them to a surrender by cutting oft' 

 tin ir supplies of water (Menand. Ap. Joseph. A.J. 

 ix. 14, sect. 2). But they withstood him for five 

 years, at the end of which the Assyrian monarch 

 lost his throne by a revolution (722), and Tyre 

 was for many years unmolested. At last, how- 

 ever, Sennacherib (circa 701) felt strong enough to 

 renew the attack, and, having united against Tyre 

 most of the other southern Phoenician cities, drove 

 Eltilif-us from his throne, and forced him to take 

 n-tuxf. in Cyprus. A tranquil period then set in, 

 but only to be followed by further revolts and 

 sulijiigations. In 680 Abd-Melkarth, king of 

 Sidon, revolted against Esar-haddon, and was cap- 

 tured and slain. Eight years later, in 672, Baal, 

 king of Tyre, who had taken the place of Abd- 

 Melkarth, joined Tirhakah against his suzerain 



(Eponym Canon, p. 142, lines 12, 13), and was 

 severely punished (ibid. pp. 144, 145) ; and about 

 645 Hosah and Akko Doth revolted against 

 Assur-bani-pal, the son of Esar-haddon, and were 

 attacked, conquered, and punished with utter 

 destruction. The Assyrian period, which began 

 so fairly in the 9th century, terminated in the 7th 

 in a series of revolts, sieges, and massacres. 



The Assyrian power came practically to an 

 end about 630, and Phoenicia found herself once 

 more independent. Tyre again sprang into notice, 

 occupying the foremost place, and establishing a 

 hegemony over the other cities (Ezek. xxvii. 8-11). 

 But this prosperity and glory were short-lived. 

 Within a brier space Phoenicia, and Syria gener- 

 ally, became a lx)ne of contention between Egypt 

 ana Babylon, the two powers which made the 

 earliest efforts to profit by Assyria's fall. First 

 Egypt, under Neco (608), occupied the territory, 

 and then Babylon, under Nebuchadnezzar (605), 

 seized it. Tyre received a grievous blow at the 

 hands of this latter prince, who, after a siege of 

 thirteen years, forced the island city to submit 

 to him. Phoenicia remained a Babylonian de- 

 pendency from 585 to 538, when Cyrus took 

 Babylon, despite the efforts of the Egyptians to 

 make themselves masters of it. A fragment of 

 Menander gives the internal history of Tyre during 

 this interval. Nebuchadnezzar's opponent, it 

 appears, was a second Ithobal, who reigned from 

 about 597 to 573. He was succeeded by his 

 son, Baal II., who held the throne for ten years, 

 from 573 to 563. A revolution then took place, 

 kings being replaced by 'judges,' officers of an 

 inferior status. Of these, Ecnibaal reigned for 

 two months, Chelbes for ten, and Abbarus for 

 three. The office was then divided, as at Carthage, 

 between two, and Mytgon and (Jerastartus hem it 

 for six years (562-556). But now another internal 

 struggle took place, and the monarchy was restored 

 in the person of a certain Merbal, who was sent for 

 from Babylon, a descendant of the ancient kings. 

 This prince reigned four years, from 556 to 552, 

 and was succeeded by his son, Hiram II., who had 

 a reign of twenty TMUB, from 552 to 532. It 

 was in this king's reign that the Babylonian empire 

 came to an end, and Phoenicia had another brief 

 interval of independence (538 to 527). 



The Babylonian was followed by the Persian 

 period, winch lasted from 527 till 333. Phoe- 

 nicia submitted to Cambyses without a struggle, 

 and became an integral portion of the Persian em- 



Eire. In the arrangement of the provinces she 

 eld a place in the fifth satrapy, which was com- 

 posed of Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, ami Cyprus. 

 She was allowed, however, to keep her native 

 kings, and to organise for internal purposes a 

 native government. Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus 

 united themselves by federal ties, and sent repre- 

 sentatives to a common council, which met at Tri- 

 polis. An excellent understanding was for some time 

 maintained between the suzerain power and her 

 feudatory, which zealously supported Persia in her 

 various maritime wars, forming the main element 

 of her naval strength. It was Phoenicia which 

 crushed the Ionian revolt at Lade (495), which caused 

 the failure of the Athenian expeditions to Egypt 

 (460-455), and which enabled Persia to extort from 

 the Laceda-monians the peace of Antalcidas (387). 

 A curious feature of this period was the intimacy 

 and friendship established l>etween Phoenicia and 

 Athens, which, feeling that its power of coping 

 with Sparta depended greatly on the support of the 

 Phoenician fleet, gave exceptional privileges to the 

 Phoenician people and states. Phoenicians were 

 allowed to settle in Attica, particularly at Plialerum 

 and the Pirunis, to erect tombs there, and have 

 their own places of worship, while ultimately 



