10 The Forest of the Ancients. 



some parts, as Mount Lebanon and Syria, generalizatioi 

 in this respect is dangerous. 



We know, however, that by the 11th century befor 

 Christ in Palestine, Asia Minor and Greece, especiall; 

 in the neighborhood of thriving cities, the forest cove 

 bad vanished to a large extent and building timber fo 

 the temples at Tyre and Sidon had to be brought Ion 

 distances from Mount Lebanon, whose wealth of ceda 

 was also freely drawn upon for ship timber and othc 

 structures. The exploitation of this mountain forea 

 although about 465 B. C. Artaxerxes I, having recoj 

 nized the pending exhaustion, had attempted to regulai 

 the cutting of timber, had by 333 B, C. progressed i 

 such an extent that Alexander the Great found at leai 

 the south slope exhausted and almost woodless. 



The destruction by axe and fire of the celebrated fo 

 ests of Sharon, Carmel and Bashan is the theme of t> 

 prophet Isaiah about 590 B. C; and the widesprc 

 devastation of large forest areas during the Jewish w; 

 is depicted by Josephus. In Greece the Persian wa. 

 are on record as causes of widspread forest destructiois 

 Yet in other parts, as on the island of Cyprus, whif 

 originally densely wooded, had rapidly lost its for' 

 wealth during Cleopatra's time through the devel 

 ment of mining and metallurgical works, ship buildii 

 and clearing for farms, the kings seemed to have be 

 able to protect the remnants for a long time, so tl 

 respectable forest cover exists even to date. 



The Romans seem to have had still a surplus of sh 

 timber at their command in the third and second (< 

 turies before Christ, when they did not hesitate to bi. 

 the warships of the Carthaginians (204 B. C.) and 



