HISTORY OF ANCIENT NATIONS. 



trade with Assyria, Arabia, Egypt, Persia, and 

 India ; secondly, their relations with the West 

 that is, their maritime trade with the various 

 nations of the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts ; 

 and thirdly, the peculiar character of mind which 

 either accompanied or resulted from the conscious- 

 ness of such a position in the great family of 

 mankind. 



With regard to the overland trade of the Phoe- 

 nicians with the eastern countries, it is probable 

 that the Phoenicians managed this commerce not 

 in their own persons, but as wealthy specula- 

 tive merchants, dealing in a skilful manner with 

 the native Egyptian, Assyrian, or Arabian caravan 

 proprietors, with whom they maintained an under- 

 stood connection. It was in their maritime trade 

 with the West, however, that the Phoenicians 

 chiefly exhibited the resources of their own char- 

 acter. Shipping the oriental commodities, as well 

 as their native products, at Tyre or Sidon, they 

 carried them to all the coasts of the Mediterranean 

 as far as Spain, selling them there at immense 

 profit, and returning with freights of Western 

 goods. With some of the nations of the Mediter- 

 ranean, their intercourse would be that of one 

 civilised nation with another ; with others, and 

 especially with those of the West, it must have 

 been an intercourse similar to that of a British 

 ship with those rude islanders who exchange their 

 valuable products for nails, bits of looking-glass, 

 and other trifles. Whether their customers were 

 civilised or savage, however, the Phoenicians 

 reaped profits from them. Their aim was to 

 monopolise the commerce of the Mediterranean. 

 * If at any time,' it is said, ' their ships bound on a 

 voyage observed that a stranger kept them com- 

 pany, or followed them in their track, they were 

 sure to get rid of him, or deceive him if they j 

 could ; and in this they went so far as to venture 

 the loss of their -ships, and even of their lives, so 

 that they could but destroy or disappoint him ; so 

 jealous were they of foreigners, and so bent on 

 keeping all to themselves. And to add to the 

 dangers of the sea, and discourage other nations 

 from trading, they practised piracy, or pretended 

 to be at war with such as they met when they 

 thought themselves strongest' This policy suc- 

 ceeded so far, that hardly a merchant-ship was to 

 be seen in the Mediterranean not manned by 

 Phoenicians. 



From this extension of the Phoenician commerce 

 throughout the Mediterranean, resulted, by neces- 

 sity, an extensive system of colonisation. In process 

 of time, Phoenician colonies were established at 

 all available points of the Mediterranean on the 

 coasts of Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain, and 

 in the Balearic Islands ; the rising maritime spirit 

 of the Greeks excluding the Phoenicians from the 

 ./tgaean and the coasts of Asia Minor. Among 

 the most ancient of the colonies from Tyre were 

 Carthage and Utica on the African coast, and 

 Gades (Cadiz) in Spain ; all of which were founded 

 before the first of the Greek Olympiads (884 B.C.). 

 From these afterwards arose smaller settlements, 

 which diffused the Phoenician agency still more 

 extensively among the uncivilised nations of Africa 

 and Western Europe. Gades, in Spain, situated, 

 according to the ancient mode of navigation, at a 

 distance of seventy-five days' sail from Tyre or 

 Sidon a distance larger than that which now 

 divides Liverpool from Bombay was a colony of 



special importance ; first, as commanding the 

 inland Spanish trade, particularly valuable at that 

 time, inasmuch as the gold and silver mines of 

 Spain caused it to be regarded as the Mexico or 

 Peru of the ancient world ; and, secondly, as form- 

 ing a point from which the Phoenician commerce 

 could be still further extended along the extra- 

 Mediterranean shores. From this point, we are 

 told, the Phoenician ships extended their voyages 

 southward for thirty days' sail along the western 

 coast of Africa, and northward as far as Britain, 

 where they took in tin from the mines of Cornwall, 

 and even as far as the Baltic, where they collected 

 amber. 



As might be expected, this great merchant- 

 people were among the most cultured of antiquity, 

 and especially skilled in all the arts of luxurious 

 living. The 27th chapter of the book of Ezekiel 

 presents a most striking picture of the pride and 

 magnificence of the Tyrians, and embodies many 

 minute particulars relative to Phoenician customs 

 and mode of life. Indeed, it has justly been pro- 

 nounced the most early and most authentic record 

 extant relative to the commerce of the ancients. 



Among the contributions made by the Phoeni- 

 cians to the West, were alphabetical writing, the 

 Greek alphabet being a derivative from the Phoe- 

 nician ; scale of weight ; and coined money. 

 Phoenicia began about 700 B.C. to decline in im- 

 portance ; the Ionian Greeks, and latterly the 

 Egyptians, becoming its commercial rivals on the 

 Mediterranean ; and the invasions of the Assyrians 

 from the east depriving it of independence. Sub- 

 dued by the Assyrians and Babylonians, Phoenicia 

 was transferred with them to the Persians. Among 

 the last of the Phoenician achievements was the 

 circumnavigation of Africa, 600 B.C. a feat under- 

 taken by Phoenician sailors at the command of 

 the Egyptian king Neco, one of the immediate 

 successors of Psammetichus, and, as is now be- 

 lieved, really performed ; the course pursued being 

 from the Red Sea round Africa to Spain the 

 reverse, therefore, of that followed by Vasco da 

 Gama 2000 years later. About the time that 

 Phoenicia began to wane, her colony, Carthage, 

 assumed her place in the affairs of the world. 

 Carthaginian civilisation was essentially a mere 

 repetition of the Phoenician, ajthough under a 

 different form of government : its history inter- 

 weaves itself with that of the Romans (see HIS- 

 TORY OF ROME). 



Palestine the Jews. 



Palestine extends from north to south a length 

 of about 200 miles, its breadth being 50 ; and is 

 therefore, in point of size, of nearly the same 

 extent as Scotland. The general character of the 

 country is that of a hilly region, interspersed with 

 moderately fertile vales ; and, being thus irregular 

 in surface, it possesses a number of brooks or 

 streams, which for the most part are swollen con- 

 siderably after rains, but are almost dry in the hot 

 seasons of the year. The present condition of 

 Palestine scarcely corresponds with its ancient 

 fertility. This is chiefly attributable to the devas- 

 tating effects of perpetual wars ; and some physi- 

 cal changes have also contributed to the destruction 

 of agricultural industry. Yet, after all, so excellent 

 would the soil appear to be, and so ample its 

 resources, that Canaan may still be characterised 

 as a land flowing with milk and honey. 



