war, together with other galling measures issued by the successive satraps, the Phoenicians, under the lead- er-hip of Sidon, took part in the revolution of Egypt against Artaxerxes Mnemon and » >, bus. about the mid- dle of the 4th century B.( '.. which ended very unhappily for them. Sidon. the only city that refused to submit at once at the approach of the Persian army, was con- quered, the citizens themselves selling tire to it. and more than 40,000 people perished in the flames. Al- though rebuilt and repeopled shortly afterward-, ii yet never again reached its ancient grandeur, and to Tyre belonged the hegemony, until she, to,,, had to submit, afteraseven years' siege, to Alexander, who through the battle on the l--ns i B.C. 333) had made all Phoenicia his as part and pared of the gigantic Persian empire. Under Antiochus the Great, all except Sidon became subject t" Seleucidiati sway. Pompey. incorporating Phoenicia with Syria (B.C. 65), made it a Roman pm\- ince. During the civil wars of Rome, when Cassius divided Syria into small provinces, and sold them sepa- rately, Tyre again became for a short period a princi- pality, with a king of its own. Cleopatra in her turn received Phoenicia as a present from Antony. What shadow of independence was still left to the two ancient cities was taken from them by Augustus (A.D. 20), lyre, however, retained much of her previous impor- tance as an emporium and a manufacturing place through the various vicissitudes of Syrian history during the sixteen centuries that followed, until the Ottoman Turks conquered the country, and the opening up of the New World on the one hand, and of a new route to Asia oil the other, destroyed the la-t remnant of the primitive grandeur of one of the most mighty empires of the an- cient world, and one which has contributed one of the largest shares to the civilization of all mankind.
4. Ocoijiiilbiits. ( onimerce and colonization wi re the elements by which this grandeur w a- chiefly accomplish- ed. Regarding the former, we have already hinted at the overflowing wealth and almost unparalleled variety of home products which this small country furnished forth, and which, far too abundant lor their own consumption, easily suggested the idea of exportation and traffic of
exchange. I heir happy maritime position further en- abled them I" do thai Which Egypt and Assyria, with all their perfection of industry and art, were debarred from doing: p artly.il i- true, through their isolated habits and narrow laws, hut chiefly by the natural lim- its of I heir count ties. To Phoenicia alone it w as given to supply the link that was io connect the East with the West, or at least with Europe and Western Africa. Communicating by means of Arabia and the Persian Gulf with India and the cOBSt of Africa toward- the
equator; and on the north, along the Euxine, w ith the borders of Scythia, beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, with Britannia, if not with the Baltic, their commerce di- vides itself into different great branches according to tho-e natural highways, b'rom the countries on the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. the coasts of Arabia, Af- rica, and India, they exported -pice, precious stones, myrrh, frankincense, gold, ivory, ebony, Steel, and iron, and from Egypt embroidered linen and com. In ex-
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change they brought not only their own raw produce and manufactures, but gums and resins lor embalming, also wine and spices. From Mesopotamia and Syria came I he emeralds and corals of the Red Sea ; from Baby- lon the manifold embroideries; wine and line wool from Aleppo and the Mesopotamian plains; from Judaea the finest wheat, grape-honey, oil, and balm. Another re- mote region, Armenia, furnished troops of riding and chariot horses and mules; and this same country, or, rather, the south-eastern coast of the Euxine, further furnished the Phoenician emporiums with slaves of a superior market-value — for pirating and slave-dealing went hand in hand with their maritime calling— with copper, lead, brass (or ichalcum), and tunnies, which they also fetched, together with conger-eels, from the Atlantic coast. Their extensive early commerce with Greece is frequently alluded to in Homer, and is further shown by the remarkable fact of the abundance of She- mitic or Phoenician words in Greek for such things as precious stones, fine garments, vessels, spices, and East- ern plants in general, musical instruments, weights and measures, etc. (comp. ^vppa, ""IE; Kivvafiov, 'lEip; Kavva, f!3p; Xifiavoc, !"ID2!3 ; x«A/3a?'>;, galbanum, flSIlbn ; 1'dpSog, TO ; aa/xipiipoQ, "PB1ZJ ; 'iamrtc, nS'iJ^ ; f3vcraoQ, ]71™ ; xdpiraaoe, 0513 ; vafiXa, 5-5 ; Tvp-xavov, "T; oafifivKt], X~-D; KLnrpoc, "1B3; v<j- ffiowoc, STTX; Kifiiopvov, TB2 ; ci'ikkoq, pi"; X«p~i]e, U"1H ; St\rog, n?1; appaftwv, "|12~l> ; (iva, (13*2; kc'i- j3uc, ~P; Spaxfiy, *|1533T7; Kopoc, "O. etc.). Beyond the Strait, along the north and west coast of Africa, they received skins of deer, lions, panthers, domestic cattle, elephants' skins and teeth, Egyptian alabaster. castrated swine, Attic pottery and cups, probably also gold. Yet the most fabulously rich mines of metals — such as silver, iron, lead, tin — they found in Tartessus. So extensive and proverbial was this commerce that we enumerate its elements in detail.
The position of Phoenicia, as we have seen, was most favorable for the exchange of the produce of the East and West. Persians, Lydians, and Lycians frequently served as mercenaries in the Phoenician armies (Ezek. xxvii, 10, 11). Phoenicia exported wine to Egypt (Herod, iii, 5, G). Purple garments were best manufactured in Tyre (Amati, l)e Eestitu/ione Purpurarum, 3d ed. Casena?, 1784). Glass was made in Sidon and Sarepta (comp. Heeren, p. 86 sq. ; Beck, p. 593 sq.). In Phoenicia was exchanged the produce of all known countries. After David had vanquished the Edomites and conquered the coasts of the Red Sea, king Hiram of Tyre entered into a confederacy with Solomon, by which he insured for his people the right of navigation to India. The com- bined fleet of the Israelites and Phoenicians sailed from the seaports of Ezion-geber and Elath. These ports were situated on the eastern branch of the Red Sea, the Sinus Elaniticus, or Gulf of Akabah. Israelitish-Phoeni- cian mercantile expeditions proceeded to Ophir, perhaps Abhira, situated at the mouth of the Indus (comp. Las- sen, Indische Alterthumskunde [Bonn, 1814], i, 537 sq.). It seems, however, that the Indian coasts in general were also called Ophir. Three years were required in order to accomplish a mercantile expedition to Ophir and to return with cargoes of gold, algum-wood, ivory, silver, monkeys, peacocks, and other Indian produce. Some names of these products are Indian transferred into Hebrew, as D^SBPSt, almuggim, Sanscr. valgu, or, according to the Decanic pronunciation, valgum; n^arT'i'i', shen-habbim (ivory), Sanscr. ibha ; Cjlp koph (ape), Sanscr. hapi; T^~[2'W,tukkiyim (peacock), Sanscr. cikhi, according to the Decanic pronunciation (comp. 1 Kings ix, 27; x, 11, 22). See Ophir. It seems, however, that these mercantile expeditions to India were soon given up, probably on account of the great difficulty of navigating the Red Sea. King Je- hushaphat endeavored to recommence these expeditions,