CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF AFRICA. 



51 



It is now generally conceded that the date of the maritime 

 enterprises which rendered the Phoenicians famous in antiquity 

 must be fixed between the years 1700 and 1100 before Christ. 

 The renowned city of Sidon was the centre from which their 

 expeditions were sent forth. What was the specific object of 

 these excursions, or in what order of time they took place, is but 

 imperfectly known : it would appear, however, that their adven- 

 turers traded at first with Cyprus and Rhodes, then with Greece, 

 Sardinia, Sicily, Gaul, and the coast of Spain upon the Mediter- 

 ranean. About 1250 B.C., their ships ventured cautiously 

 beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, and founded Cadiz upon a 

 coast washed by the Atlantic. A little later they founded 

 establishments upon the western coast of Africa. Homer as- 

 serts that at the Trojan War, 1194 B.C., the Phoenicians fur- 

 nished the belligerents with many articles of luxury and con- 

 venience ; and we are told by Scripture that their ships brought 

 gold to Solomon from Ophir, in 1000 B.C. Tyre seems now to 

 have superseded Sidon, though at what period is not known. It 

 had become a flourishing mart before 600 B.C. ; for Ezekiel, 

 who lived at that time, has left a glowing and picturesque de- 

 scription of its wealth, which must have proceeded from a long- 

 established commerce. He enumerates, among the articles used 

 in building the Tyrian ships, the fir-trees of Senir, the cedars of 

 Lebanon, the oaks of Bashan, the ivory of the Indies, the linen 

 of Egypt, and the purple of the Isles of Elishah. He mentions, 

 as brought to the great emporium from Syria, Damascus, Greece, 

 and Arabia, silver, tin, lead, and vessels of brass ; slaves, horses, 

 mules ; carpets, ebony, ivory, pearls, and silk ; wheat, balm, 

 honey, oil, and gum; wine, wool, and iron. 



It is about this period — 600 B.C. — that the Phoenicians, though 

 under Egyptian commanders, appear to have performed a voyage 

 which, if authentic, may justly be regarded as the most important 

 in their annals, — a circumnavigation of Africa. The extent of 

 this unknown region, and the peculiar aspects of man and nature 



