rule of Ptolemy II. and his successors between 281 and 197, Aradus
remained in the kingdom of the Seleucids, who greatly favoured the
Clty and increased its privileges (Strabo xvi. 2, 14; Polyb. v. 68).
But its subject-towns availed themselves of the political changes of
the period to throw off their allegiance; Marathus from 278 begins
to issue a coinage bearing the heads of the Ptolemies, and later on
Karne asserted its independence in the same way; but in the end the
Aradians recovered their supremacy. Diodorus records a barbarous
attempt made by the Aradians, about 148 B.C. to destroy Marathus,
which was frustrated by the pity and courage of an Aradian fisherman
(xxxiii. 5). At last in the time of Tigranes, the Armenian
holder of the kingdom of the Seleucids, or soon afterwards, the
coins of Marathus cease; the city was levelled to the ground, and its
land, with that of Simyra, was parcelled out among the Aradians
(Strabo xvi. 2, 12). Akko issued coins of its own down to 267 B.C.,
if the reckoning was from the Seleucid era (312 B.C.), in 267 it was
converted into a Greek city by Ptolemy, and called Ptolemais
(Polyb. iv. 37; Strabo xvi. 2, 25; cf. Acts xxi. 7). Laodicea of
Libanus was founded by Seleucus Nicator on the plain south-east
of Hemesa (Ḥomṣ) in the region of the upper Orontes, and became
an important city; its coins of the 2nd century B.C. bear the interesting
legend in Phoenician, “Of Laodicea which is in Canaan” (NSI.
p. 349 seq.). Another Laodicea “by the sea” (ad mare), also of
Seleucid foundation, is probably to be identified with the ruined
site called Umm el-‘Awāmid near the coast between Tyre and Akko;
several Phoenician inscriptions have been found there (e.g. CIS.,
i. 7 = NSI. No. 9; Clermont Ganneau, Recueil, t. v.).
After the death of Antiochus IV. Epiphanes in 164 B.C., revolts and adventurers made their appearance in many parts of Syria, heralding the collapse of the kingdom of the Seleucids. Berytus was destroyed by the usurper Trypho in 140 B.C. Tyre in 120 and Sidon in 111 received complete independence, and inaugurated new eras from these dates. Byblus and Tripolis fell into the hands of “tyrants” (Strabo xvi. 2, 18; Jos. Ant. xiv. 3, 2), and Arab robbers plundered their territories from strongholds in the Lebanon. From 83-69 B.C. the entire kingdom was held by the Armenian Tigranes.
At last in 64 B.C. Pompey arrived upon the scene and established order out of chaos. Phoenicia was incorporated into the Roman Roman rule. province of Syria; Aradus, Sidon, Tyre and Tripolis were confirmed in their rights of self-government and in the possession of their territories. In 14 B.C. Augustus rebuilt Berytus as a Roman colony and stationed two legions there; later on Ptolemais, Tyre and Sidon received colonial status. Under the beneficent government of Rome the chief towns prospered and extended their trade; but the whole character of the country underwent a change. During the Macedonian period Greek influences had been steadily gaining ground in Phoenicia; relations with the Greek world grew closer, the native language fell into disuse, and from the beginning of the Roman occupation Greek appears regularly in inscriptions and on coins, though on the latter Phoenician legends do not entirely vanish till the 2nd century A.D.; while the extent to which Hellenic ideas penetrated the native traditions and mythologies is seen in the writings of Philo of Byblus. For the purposes of everyday life, however, the people spoke not Greek, but Aramaic. As elsewhere, the Roman rule tended to obliterate characteristic features of national life, and under it the native language and institutions of Phoenicia became extinct.
Navigation, Trade, Colonies.—The Phoenicians were essentially a seafaring nation. Fearless and patient navigators, they ventured into regions where no one else dared to go, and, always with an eye to their monopoly, they carefully guarded the secrets of their trade routes and discoveries, and their knowledge of winds and currents. At the beginning of the 7th century B.C. a Phoenician fleet is said to have circumnavigated Africa (Herod. iv. 42) To the great powers Phoenician ships and sailors were indispensable; Sennacherib, Psammetichus and Necho, Xerxes, Alexander, all in turn employed them for their transports and sea-fights. Even when Athens had developed a rival navy Greek observers noted with admiration the discipline kept on board the Phoenician ships and the skill with which they were handled (Xen. Oec. viii.); all the Phoenician vessels from the round merchant-boat (γαῦλος—after which the island of Gaulus, now Gozo, near Malta was called) to the great Tarshish-ships, the “East-Indiamen” of the ancient world, excelled those of the Greeks in speed and equipment. As E. Meyer points out, the war between the Greeks and the Persians was mainly a contest between the sea-powers of Greece and Phoenicia. At what period did Phoenicia first rise to be a power in the Mediterranean? We are gradually approaching a solution of this obscure problem. Recent discoveries in Crete (q.v.) have brought to light the existence of a Cretan or “Minoan” sea-power of remote antiquity, and it is clear that a great deal of what used to be described as Phoenician must receive quite a different designation. The Minoan sea-power was at last broken up by invaders from the north, and a Carian rule became dominant in the Aegean (Herod. i. 171; Thucyd. i. 4, 8) It was a time of disorder and conflict due to the immigration of new races into the ancient seats of civilization, and it synchronized with the weakening of the power of Egypt in the countries which bordered on the eastern Mediterranean. This was in the 12th century B.C. The Tyrian trader saw that his opportunity was come, and the Aegean lay open to his merchant vessels. Where much is still obscure, all that seems certain is that the antiquity of Phoenicia as a sea and trading power has been greatly exaggerated both in ancient and in modern times, the Minoan power of Cnossus preceded it by many centuries, the influence of Phoenicia in the Aegean cannot be carried back much earlier than the 12th century B.C., and, comparatively speaking, it was “foreign, late, sporadic.”[1]
A vivid description of the Phoenicians' trade at the time of Tyre's prosperity is given by Ezekiel (xxvii. 12-25), and it shows how extensive were their commercial relations not only by sea, but by land as well. It was they who distributed to the rest of the world the wares of Egypt and Babylonia (Herod. i. 1). From the lands of the Euphrates and Tigris regular trade-routes led to the Mediterranean with trading-stations on the way, several of which are mentioned by Ezekiel (xxvii. 23). In Egypt the Phoenician merchants soon gained a foothold; they alone were able to maintain a profitable trade in the anarchic times of the XXIInd and XXIIIrd Dynasties (825-650 B.C.), when all other foreign merchants were frightened away. Though there were never any regular colonies of Phoenicians in Egypt, the Tyrians had a quarter of their own in Memphis (Herod ii. 112). The Arabian caravan-trade in perfume, spices and incense passed through Phoenician hands on its way to Greece and the West (Herod. iii. 107); these articles of commerce were mainly produced not in Arabia, but in East Africa and India, and the trade had its centre in the wealthy state of Sheba in Yemen. Between Israel and Phoenicia the relations naturally were close; the former provided certain necessaries of life, and received in exchange articles of luxury and splendour (Ezek. xxvii. 16-18).[2] Israelite housewives sold their homespun to Phoenician pedlars (Prov. xxxi. 24 R.V.M.); in Jerusalem Phoenician merchants and money-lenders had their quarter (Zeph. i. 11), and after the Return we hear of Tyrians selling fish and all manner of ware in the city (Neh. xiii. 16), and introducing other less desirable imports, such as foreign cults (Isa. lxv. 11). The Phoenician words which made their way into Greek at an early period indicate the kind of goods in which the Phoenicians traded with the West, or made familiar through their commerce; the following are some of them—χρυσός, χιτών, βύσσος, ὀθόνη, μύῤῥα, νάβλα, κύπρος, φῦκος, μνᾶ, παλλακίς, βαιτύλος. Another valuable article of commerce which the Phoenicians brought into the market was amber. They can hardly have fetched it themselves from the Baltic or the North Sea; it came to them by two well-marked routes, one from the Baltic to the Adriatic, the other up the Rhine and down the Rhone. A deposit of amber has also been found in the Lebanon, and perhaps the Phoenicians worked this and concealed its origin.
- ↑ Burrows, Discoveries in Crete (1907), 140 sqq. It may be noted that the traditional or conjectural dates based upon the list of the Thalassocracies preserved by Eusebius carry us back to the 12th century B.C. See Professor John L. Myres's essay referred to above, § iii. (4).
- ↑ See Eupolemus (140-100 B.C.) quoted by Alexander Polyhistor, who, in a supposed letter from Solomon to the king of Tyre, mentions the food-supplies required by the Tyrians and promised from Palestine (Fr. Hist. Gr. iii. 226).
