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ON THE ANCIENT 



literary remains of the Phoenicians are written in a dialect 

 so similar to the Hebrew. When Abraham arrived in 

 Palestine, he found the Kanaanites already residing there. 

 The most important and oldest town of the Phoenicians was 

 Sidon, whose commerce was highly developed, when the 

 Hyksos were driven from Egypt. Sidon acknowledged in 

 the Egyptian King its suzerain. It was the policy of the 

 Phoenicians to propitiate the good graces of their mighty 

 neighbours, against whom they were not able to contend ; 

 while they assisted them on their part with their fleet. The 

 Phoenicians and the Hebrews met first as enemies, but when 

 both found themselves confronted by a common foe, the 

 Philistines, they made up their differences and became allies 

 for nearly two centuries, the temporary weakness of the 

 Egyptian and Assyrian empires favoring the independence 

 of both. Thus the kings of Tyre became friends of David 

 and Solomon. Hiram's great object was the fortification and 

 embellishment of Tyrus. David bequeathed to his son 

 Solomon the building of the temple, which could not be 

 accomplished without the help of Hiram. Both kings 

 combined besides in joint commercial expeditions to Ophir. 

 The Phoenicians wished to get the commerce of India as 

 much as possible into their own hands. This was the easier 

 to be obtained, as many Phoenician merchants lived in South 

 Arabia and on the Persian Grulf, where the ships containing 

 the valuable Indian merchandize arrived. From South 

 Arabia caravans carried the precious goods across the desert 

 to Syria. Previous to Hiram the Phoenicians of Sidon had 

 only extended their expeditions to Yemen, but this king of 

 Tyros intended to open direct communications with India. 

 He was successful in his undertakings, though his attempts 

 were soon after forsaken. In fact after the reign of Solomon 

 no Ophir voyages were made, as far as we know. The 

 Ophir expedition started generally once in three years. The 

 ships of Tarshish named after the Tarshish in Spain, left 



