254 
THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
The Phoenicians in the Mediterranean. 
The earliest maritime people to appreciate the 
value of trade between the East and West were, 
apparently, those living along the south coast of 
Arabia. Happily situated between the Persian 
Gulf and the Pied Sea, and separated by vast 
deserts from the great nations of Asia, the Sabmans 
were free from those alternations of industry and 
war which are so unfavourable to commercial 
pursuits; for centuries they possessed the com- 
merce of India, and they became famous for their 
opulence and luxury. Sabaeau ships visited Ceylon 
and the Malabar merchants supplied Indian goods 
to Mesopotamia and Syria, as well as to Egypt and 
Ethiopia. The ships trading to the Persian Gulf 
discharged their cargoes near the mouth of the 
Euphrates, whence the traffic passed partly by 
river, partly by land, to the coast towns of Syria 
and Palestine, and through the Syrian and Cilician 
gates to Mazaca (Kaisariyeh), and Pterium ( Bo- 
ghazkeui ); from the last place Indian goods found 
their way to Sardis and Sinppe. The ships visit- 
ing the Eed Sea landed goods at Elath, at the 
head of the Gulf of Akabah, for carriage by land 
to Tyre and Sidon, and on the western shores of 
the Red Sea for transmission to Meroe, Thebes, 
Memphis. At the same time silks from China, 
and gems from India, were carried overland, to 
Chaldtea and Assyria; and Bactra (BalJch), “the 
mother of cities,” rose and flourished at the cen- 
tral point of the transit trade. Egypt, with no 
timber for shipbuilding, a distrust of all foreigners 
especially when they came by sea, and a settled 
dislike of maritime pursuits amongst her people, 
long neglected the opportunities afforded by her 
favourable geographical position. Tyre, Sidon, 
and other Phoenician towns, reached by easy roads 
from the Euphrates and the Red Sea, and from 
their situation commanding the Mediterranean, 
became centres of distribution for Indian goods; 
and the Phoenicians, gradually extending their 
operations to the Red Sea, traded with the ports 
of Southern Arabia, and even ventured to the 
shores of India. It wasin this first period that 
the Jewish kingdom reached its widest extent. 
During the long wars of David’s reign the Jews 
obtained possession of the land routes over which 
the rich products of India were carried to Tyre 
and Sidon ; and Solomon did all in his power 
by building Tadinor in the Wilderness (Palmyra), 
by improving the port of Elath, and by carrying 
out other great works, to protect and facilitate 
the transit Dade from which such large profits 
were derived. The Jews do not appear to 
have been the actual carriers, but many of them 
no doubt, following the example of their mer- 
chant-king, engaged in commercial pursuits, and 
wealth poured into the kingdom so that silver 
was made to be as stones in Jerusalem. 
In the early portion of this period the commer- 
cial prosperity of the Phoenicians reached its cul- 
minating point. Their colonies dotted the shores 
of the Mediterranean, and their ships passed the 
“Pillars of Hercules” to Great Britain and the 
western shores of Africa, and floated on the waters 
of the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Indian 
Ocean. The sea-borne trade of the known world 
was in their hands; wealth flowed into their 
cities, and in the markets of Tyre tin from Corn- 
wall and amber from the Baltic were exposed for 
sale with the silks, gems, and spices of the far- 
distant East. 
Phoenicia had sent out her pacific colonies to 
the remotest parts, and not insignificant vestiges 
of their handicraft still to excite our wonder and 
admiration. We have the megalitbic temples of 
Malta sacred to the worship of Baal, the genera- 
tive god, and Astoreth. the conceptive goddess, of 
the universe. The three thousand nurhagi of 
Sardinia, round towers of admirable masonry, 
intended probably for defence in case of sudden 
attack, and the so-called giant graves, were as 
great a mystery to classical authors as they are to 
us at the present day. Minorca has its talayots, 
tumuli somewhat analogous to, but of ruder cons- 
truction than, the nurhagi, more than two hundred 
groups of which exist in various parts of the island ; 
with these are associated subordinate constructions 
intended for worship; altars composed of two 
immense monoliths, erected in the form of a T; 
sacred enclosures and megalithic habitations. One 
type of talayot is especially remarkable, of better 
masonry that the others and exactly resembling 
inverted boats. One is tempted to believe that 
the Phcenincians had in view the grass habitations 
or mapala of the Numidians described by Sallust, 
and had endeavoured to reproduce them in stone : 
