AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF OOHKEROB, 



whicli it interchanged with the great commercial 

 account of Pluunifia, in its pros 



IB to bo fouii'l in i:/.. !.!! xxvii. In the early Hebrew 



i iu the (,'unoral designation of Canaan, 



.viah nation the history of the 



became closely connected. 



uoiu was not, properly speaking, a kingdom, bnt a con- 



t independent cities, of which Sidon was the head, 



i the "daughter of Sidon," situated twenty miles 



of that city, outgrew its parent in importance. The 



i-i. iii.l of Arvad, known also as Aradus, opposite which stood 



/arephath or Sarepta (noted for its wine and glass 



iii:uiiit'iu'turos), Byblus, Arka, and Ptolemais, were amongst the 



states. Tyre, Sidon, and Aradns, in conjunction, 



1 Tripoli*, or tho triple city. Later, Berytus became an 



important place, and is still an Oriental emporium under the 



n iKimo of Beyrout. Those cities wore bound together by 



a r. immunity of interests and a common religion : the common 



worship of Mclkarth, tho Tyrian Hercules, called Baal in tho 



Scriptures, strengthened still further the union of the three cities. 



The Phoenicians wore engaged in manufactures and trade, and 



though they defended themselves with skill and courage when 



attacked, were on the whole a peaceful people. Their colonies 



were established, not for the sake of extended dominion, but to 



servo as centres of commerce. 



Nebuchadnezzar besieged Sidon, and laid it in ruins, but was 

 unable to subdue Tyre. New Tyre superseded Old Tyre in 

 wealth and importance, but it was compelled to submit to 

 Alexander the Great, after seven months' siege. The villages 

 occupying the sites of the great cities of Sidon and Tyre, under 

 tho modern names of Saide and Sur or Tsur, are now petty 

 fishing hamlets. Small villages also indicate the position of 

 most of the other places which have been mentioned. 



Phoenicia, a prey to Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and 

 Macedonian conquest, still retained in its position and natural 

 resources a vitality which made it an important Roman province, 

 n nd which lasted until the time of the Crusades. Tyre was one 

 of the last places held by the Christians against the Saracens, 

 and dates its final and utter ruin from this epoch. The site of 

 the ancient city is now mostly covered by the sea. Although the 

 Phoenicians were essentially sailors, yet their inland trade was 

 extensive and valuable. With their neighbours, the Jews, their 

 connection during the reigns of David and Solomon was very 

 intimate. Hiram supplied David with cedars, and sent skilful 

 metal-workers to Jerusalem to aid in building the king's palace, 

 and in the erection of the Temple, during the reign of Solomon. 



Jewish hewers of wood joined with those of Sidon in felling 

 the timber of Lebanon. The resources of the two states 

 differed greatly. Phoenicia produced scarcely any grain, but 

 fruits, timber, and metals were abundant. Palestine was in 

 great part a fertile river-plain, producing fine wheat, barley, 

 wine, and oil, as well as balm, honey, and gums, which the 

 Tyrian princes were ready to receive in exchange for timber, 

 gold, dyed cloths, metal- work, ornaments, and other commodities, 

 the produce of their foreign traffic, or of their homo industry. 



The Jews carried on an extensive inland traffic, as factors 

 or middlemen for the Phoenicians. The conquests of David 

 extended tho confines of the Hebrew kingdom to the Syrian 

 desert, and southwards over the land of Edom to the Bed Sea, 

 on the shores of which Solomon built the ports of Elath and 

 Ezion-geber. The latter monarch also built Tadmor in the 

 wilderness, or the City of Palm-trees, called by the Greeks 

 Palmyra, as a halting-place for tho caravans between Syria and 

 Mesopotamia. The name of this city shows that it owed its 

 foundation to the existence of an oasis. Its ruins still attest 

 its ancient grandeur. 



Baalbek, or Baalath, at the foot of Anti-Libanus, was en- 

 larged and fortified by the wise merchant-monarch. The Greeks 

 gave it the name of Heliopolis, the City of the Sun. Its 

 temples, now in ruins, impress travellers with wonder both on 

 account of tho massive blocks of stones of which they are 

 built, seemingly beyond human power to move, and of the 

 symbolical figures sculptured upon them. The care of Solomon 

 in founding these ports and cities was not without a purpose. 

 His subjects had as strong a predilection for inland as the 

 Phoenicians had for maritime traffic, and each nation left to 

 the other its special division of labour. Solomon's interest in 

 Baalbek and Palmyra proves that the direct road between 



Phoenicia and Babylon was iu the hand* of tho Jew*. Thu 

 WM the raont important caravan routo in existence, and it ran 

 iy through tho doneri. The Hebrew port* on the Bed 

 Sea were open to the PhuMiiciun, who brought thither the pro- 

 ducts of India and Arabia, the Jewg conveying them overland to 

 Phoenicia. 



TliD overland trade with Egypt wan conducted in much the 

 same way. The Jewish people profited aa keenly by the idiosyn- 

 crasies of the Egyptians, aa by those of the Phoenicians. The 

 hitter were subjected to BO many restrictions in their intercourse 

 with Egypt, that they availed themselves to a great extent of the 

 services of the Hebrews in the conveyance of the flax, fine linen, 

 and embroidery, for which the kind of the Nile waa celebrated, 

 Solomon also traded with Egypt on his own account, for we 

 read of his importing horses and chariots, which he gold again 

 to the neighbouring princes. Wine and oil, with which Palestine 

 abounded, were not produced in Egypt. The inundations of 

 the Nile, though they deposit a soil unequalled for promoting 

 the growth of grain and gourds, are unfavourable to both the 

 vine and the olive. These Syrian productions were therefore 

 the chief means of repayment at Solomon's command. To these 

 were doubtless added the gems, spices, and balsams brought 

 from India and Arabia, and through the ports of the Bed Sea. 

 In the direct trade of the Phoenicians with Egypt, which was 

 confined at first to a part of the city of Thebes, bnt afterwards 

 extended to a part of Memphis also, the wine of the district 

 of Chalybonitis, around tho modern city of Aleppo, was the 

 staple of exchange, together with copper, of which the Egyptians 

 made extensive use in their metal-work. 



The great increase of Jewish wealth is narrated in Scripture 

 history. The zenith of Jewish prosperity was reached in the 

 reign of the merchant-king, who " made silver to be in Jerusalem 

 as stones ; and cedars made he to be as sycamore-trees, that are 

 in the vale for abundance ; and Judah and Israel were many, as 

 the sand which is by the sea-shore for multitude, eating and 

 drinking and making merry." That the cities of Phoenicia 

 were no less wealthy is testified by sacred and profane historians, 

 who refer to Tyre and Sidon as types of wealth. 



From the Syrians and Cappadocians the Phoenicians obtained 

 various products, which they bartered at a great profit for the 

 commodities of other countries. The Chalybon wine was of 

 such repute as to banish almost all other kinds from the tables 

 of royalty. Its transport overland was difficult, and added to 

 its costliness. A few jars of it could be exchanged in Egypt 

 for as many loads of corn. From Syria was obtained the fine 

 wool which the Phoenicians wove into choice fabrics and dyed 

 with their famous purple. The celebrated snow-white Nicean 

 horses, regarded in Persia as alone worthy to draw the chariot 

 of majesty, were bred in Cappadocia. Other horses were 

 reared, but none approached this breed in beauty. Mules also 

 were obtained from the same parts, and Circassia and Georgia 

 contributed slaves. Engaged in every form of commercial 

 enterprise, this industrious people trafficked in the productions 

 alike of maritime and of inland trade. The commodities con- 

 veyed by caravan consisted of raw materials as well as of 

 industrial products. The cotton, linen, and woollen fabrics 

 were so skilfully dyed that they presented the effect of shot 

 silk. Sidon and Sarepta were noted for the manufacture of 

 glass, which is supposed to have been first made by accident. 

 The discovery was put to no greater use for a long time than 

 that of making beads and trinkets, to be used as cheap objects 

 of barter. In like manner, ornaments, chains of amber and 

 gold, carved ivory, and other artistic work, engaged the skill of 

 the Phoenicians, and appear to have found especial favour in the 

 eyes of the Hebrew women. Some authors trace to this people 

 the first use of coined money. It is probable that the arts of 

 computation and of alphabetic writing spread from Phoenicia to 

 Greece, and l^ence through the Western world. How Phoenicia 

 learnt these arts is not clear. The fable of Cadmus satisfied 

 ancient inquirers, but modern investigators, who have tried to 

 penetrate further, consider the alphabet of the ancient Phoeni- 

 cians and Hebrews to have been a simplified development of 

 the hieroglyphic system of Egypt. Whether the adaptation 

 was the work of the practical skill of the Phoenicians or of 

 Moses is a disputed point. More certain is the fact that these 

 characters form the foundation of all the other alphabets of the 

 world Sanscrit, Zend, Greek, Roman, Arabic, Ethiopian, Arme- 

 nian, and Slavonian. 



