RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Phenicia
Hamath in the valley of the Orontes. Between Tripolis and the Nahr al-Kabir a number of ancient cities were located. On the southern bank of the Nahr al-Barid was Orthosia, the Arab Artusiah or Artusi; and on the north bank of the Nahr 'Arka was Arka or Arke, the Roman Caesarea Libani, where Alexander Severus was born (now called Tell 'Arka). The site is also brought into connection with the Canaanitic Arkites (Gen. x. 17). Scarcely half a mile north of the Nahr 'Arka a village Syn existed in the fifteenth century, and this has been connected with the Sinites of Gen. x. 17; cuneiform inscriptions mention a site Sianu near Zimira and 'Arza. North of the Nahr al-Kabir rises the Jabal al-Anzariyah, receiving its name from the Shi'ite sect of the Nuzairi, who live chiefly on this mountain.
The coast of northern Phenicia is, in general, milder and more attractive than in the southern and central portions, so that its cities were numerous. The first is Simyra or Simyrus, the Zumur of the Amarna letters, probably to be 9. Extreme identified with the modern Zumrah
Northern between the Nahr al-Kabir and the
Phenicia. Nahr al-Abrash. Two or three hours later the district of the ancient Aradians is reached, where, between the Nahr al-Kiblah and the Nahr Amrit, are extensive remains of the city of Marat, the Marathus of the Greeks, important during the Persian period, but destroyed in the struggles following the downfall of the Seleucids. On the coast, an hour farther north, is Tortus, the medieval Tortosa and the ancient Antaradus, first mentioned by Ptolemy in the second century a.d. The Phenician center on this part of the coast was the island city of Aradus (the Arvad of Ezek. xxvii. 8, 11, the modern Ru'ad or Arwad), situated between Amrit and Tartus on an irregular rock some 800 yards long by 500 wide. Of the ancient city little remains. The present inhabitants, between 2,000 and 3,000 in number, are expert boatmen (cf. Ezek. xxvii. 8). Arvad is mentioned as a Phenician city about 1500 B.C., and on its ships Tiglath-Pileser sailed the Mediterranean. Later it is repeatedly mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions as a place " in the midst of the sea." The nearest port on the mainland was Came or Carnus, the modern Karnun, an hour north of Tartus, where ruins of fortifications are still visible. Other harbors reckoned to Arvad were Balanias or Le'ucas (the modern Baniyas), Paltus (the modern Baldah), and Gabala (the modern Jablah). Probably the population of this northern district was not exclusively Phenician, and Phenicians hardly had centers beyond it. North of the promontory of Ras ibn Hani was a Heraclea, the name of which suggests Phenician origin; and the city of Rhosus (the modern Arsuz) north of the Ras al-Khanzir, and the city of Myriandrus (Myriandus) are expressly said to have been in the hands of the Phenicians. The latter place was the predecessor of the modern Alexandretta or Iskandarun, but probably lay somewhat farther to the south.
II. Names and Ethnology: The name Phenicia
is derived, from the Greek, occurring as early as
Homer {Odyssey, xiv. 288, xv. 419) and Herodotus
(i. 1-8, etc.). From this is derived the name of the
IX.— 2
country, Phenice {Odyssey, iv. 83, xiv. 291;
Herodotus, ii. 44 sqq.), the form Phenicia being
later. The meaning is uncertain. In
1. Names, the twelfth century Eustathius of
Thessalonica, with probable correctness, advanced the view that it denoted " red," and referred to the color of the people. Movers derived Phenice from the Greek phoinix, " date palm," but this tree is seldom found in Phenicia, and is of inferior quality there. Nor is there any reason to suppose that the name of the country is derived from the Egyptian Fenkhu; about 1500 b.c. the Egyptians termed the Phenician coast from Acre to Arvad Zahi or Zahe. The Babylonians reckoned Phenicia in the land of Amurru; and after Tiglath- Pileser III. Syria and Palestine were also called the " land of the Hittites." A special name for Phenicia does not occur. Late Greek writers state that the Phenicians named themselves Canaanites (see Canaan). The Phenicians seem to have called themselves after the names of their cities, Tyrians, Sidonians, etc. In the Old Testament, therefore, the name " Sidon " (Zidon) and " Sidonians," when not shown by the context to refer expressly to the city and its inhabitants (as in Gen. x. 19; Judges i. 31; II Sam. xxiv. 6; I Kings xvii. 9 [cf. Luke iv. 26]; Isa. xxiii. 2, 4, 12; Ezek. xxviii. 21-22), must be understood to connote Phenicia and the Phenicians in general (e.g., Deut. xiii. 9; Josh, xiii. 4, 6; Judges iii. 3; I Kings v. 6; Ezek. xxxii. 30). This linguistic usage, found current and continued by the Israelites, implies that Sidon was then the most important city of Phenicia. Later this usage disappeared, so that Herodotus (" History," i. 1) uses " Phenicians " to denote the population of the country. In later passages of the Old Testament (as Jer. xxv. 22; Joel iv. 4; Zech. ix. 2; I Mace. v. 15), as well as in the New Testament (Matt. xi. 21-22; Mark iii. 8; Luke vi. 17; Acts xii. 20), the formal phrase " Tyre and Sidon " denotes the Phenicians in general.
The inhabitants of the Phenician coast can not be separated from the pre-Israelitic population of Canaan. This is shown, in the first place, by community of language as evinced in in-
2. Ethnol- scriptions, proper names, individual ogy. words cited by classic writers, and the
sentences placed in the mouth of the Carthaginian Hanno in the Poenulus of Plautus, which show that the Phenician language was essentially identical with Hebrew. Though this linguistic affinity does not prove ethnological unity, the absence of opposing data renders it probable. In view of the natural contour of Canaan it would seem that the coast was settled from the southern mountain-district northward. The problem whether the Phenicians were indigenous in Syria is a part of the broader question of the original home of the pre-Israelitic population of Canaan. The most plausible answer seems to be that given by Herodotus (i. 1, vii. 80), who affirms that the Phenicians formerly dwelt by the Red Sea, whence they journeyed across Syria to the Mediterranean, thus implying an original home in Arabia and conforming with the general trend of Semitic migrations. Winckler {Geschichte Israels, i. 126-132, Leipsic,
Phenioia