But very soon after that period the splendor and power of Zidon began to pale before Tyre, which exist- ed already at the time of Joshua, but as a dependency of Zidon. After the memorable defeat which the Zi- donians suffered in the war with the king of Ashkelon (13th century B.C.), reported by Justin, when the Zi- donians are said to have " retired to their ships and to have founded [V refounded] Tyre," Zidon almost disap- pears from liistory for a time, so utterly enfeebled and insignificant had it become through the sudden and brilliant rise of its own daughter and rival, to whom all the noblest and most skilful of her children had fled. Its fate was almost the same as was that of Tyre her- self when Dido-Elissa had founded Carthage, and drew all the most important elements from the old city to the " new town," which, it must not be forgotten, had origi- nally been a Zidonian settlement under the name of Kakkabe.
From the time of Solomon to the invasion of Nebu- chadnezzar Zidon is not often directlj' mentioned in the Rible, and it appears to have been subordinate to Tyre. When the people called "Zidonians" is mentioned, it sometimes seems that the Phoenicians of the plain of Zidon are meant; as, for example, when Solomon said
ZIDON" •
1094
ZIDON
to Hiram that there was none amonR tlic Jews that could skill to hew timber like the Zidonians (1 Kings V, G) ; and, possibly, when Ethbaal, the father of Jeze- bel, is called their kiny (xvi, 31), who, according to Me- nander, in Josephus {Ant. viii, 13, 2), was king of the Tyrians. This may likewise be the meaning when Ashtoreth is called the goddess, or abomination, of the Zidonians (1 Kings xi, 5, 33; 2 Kings xxiii, 13); or when women of the Zidonians are mentioned in refer- ence to Solomon (1 Kings xi, 1). And this seems to be equally true of the phrases "daughter of Zidon," and " merchants of Zidon," and even once of " Zidon" itself (Isa. xxiii, 2, 4, 12) in the prophecy of Isaiah against Tyre. There is no doubt, however, that Zidon itself, the city properly so called, was threatened by Joel (iii, 4) and Jeremiah (xxvii, 3). Still, all that is known re- specting it during this epoch is very scanty, amounting to scarcely more than that one of its sources of gain was trade in slaves, in which the inhabitants did not shrink from selling inhabitants of Palestine; that the city was governed by kings (ibid. ; xxv, 22) ; that, previous to the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, it had furnished mari- ners to Tyre (Ezek. xxvii, 8); that, at one period, it was subject, in some sense or other, to Tyre ; and that, when Shalmaneser. king of Assyria, invaded Phoenicia, Zidon seized the opportunity to revolt. It seems strange to hear of the subjection of one great city to another great city only twenty miles off, inhabited by men of the same race, language, and religion ; but the fact is rendered conceivable by the relation of Athens to its allies after the Persian war, and by the history of the Italian republics in the INIiddle Ages. It is not improb- able that its rivalry with Tyre may have been influen- tial in inducing Zidon, more than a century later, to sub- mit to Nebuchadnezzar, apparently without offering any serious resistance.
During the Persian domination, Zidon seems to have attained its highest point of prosperity; and it is re- corded that, towards the close of that period, it far ex- celled all other Phcenician cities in wealth and impor- tance (Diod. Sic. xvi, 44; Mela, i, 12). It is very pfob- able that the long siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar had tended not only to weaken and impoverish Tyre, but likewise to enrich Zidon at the expense of Tyre ; as it was an obvious expedient for any Tyrian merchants, artisans, and sailors, who deemed resistance useless or unwise, to transfer their residence to Zidon. However this may be, iirthe expedition of Xerxes against Greece, the Zidonians were highly favored, and were a pre-em- inently important element of his naval power. When, from a hill near Abydos, Xerxes witnessed a boat-race in his fleet, the prize was gained by the Zidonians (He- rod.vii, 44) ; when he reviewed his fleet, he sat beneath a golden canopy in a Zidonian galley (ibid, vii, 100) ; wOien he wished to examine the mouths of the river Peneus, he intrusted himself to a Zidonian galley, as was his wont on similar occasions (ibid, vii, 128); and when the Tyrants and general oflicers of his great expedition sat in order of honor, the king of tTie Zidonians sat first (ibid, viii, G7). Again, Herodotus states that the Phoenicians supplied the best vessels of the whole fleet; and of the Phoeni- cians, the Zidonians (vii, 96). Lastly, as Homer gives a vivid idea of the beauty of Achilles by saying that Nireus (thrice-named) was the most beautiful of all the (Jreeks who went to Troy, after the son of Peleus, so Herod(Hus completes the triumph of the Zidonians when he praises the vessels of Artemisia (probably for the daring of their crews) by saying that they were the most renowned of the whole fleet, " after the Zidonians" (vii, 9).