CHAPTER II.

Phoenicia-Tyre and Sidon-Commerce-Colonies-Policy-Destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, and by Alexander the Great.

PHOENICIA, or rather the cities of Tyre and Sidon, claim our first attention in the path we have marked out in the foregoing chapter; for although the Indians, the Chaldeans, and the Egyptians, preceded them in point of time, and were all remarkable for scientific lore, the Phoenicians alone, in the annals of man, merit the title of the first maritime people. Their rise is a strong evidence of the power which may be attained in this world by indomitable energy and perseverance, and the influence of position and circumstances on the fortunes of a nation.

During the period that Egypt was in the height of her prosperity, the shores of the Arabian Gulf were inhabited by certain tribes, whose modes of life were so different to those of the Egyptians, that they were held in horror by that superstitious nation. They tilled not the ground, neither did they tend cattle; they built not dwellings for their shelter, but lived in caverns and beneath the bush; and fed on wild fruits and the fish they managed to ensnare. Spreading gradually over

the land, some settled for a time by the Red Sea, which they were the first to navigate, their vessels being little. better than mere floats formed of the branches of trees rudely intertwined. The spirit which had led them from their first abiding-place still guided them on, and at length they established themselves on the shores of Palestine, on the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean, and laid the foundation of that name and that power of which scriptural and profane history make so frequent a mention. In the former, we read of them as Canaanites, signifying merchants in the Shemitic tongue; whilst the Greeks bestowed on them, in later times, the appellation of Phoenicians, the name by which they are more remarkably distinguished. The original character which they had acquired in their two former situations, doubtless actuated them in the choice of their final settlement; for their present abode was neither fertile nor fitted for the pasturing of cattle; but it produced abundance of timber, with which they constructed their vessels. The skill they had gradually attained in fishing was now employed in grander projects, and Tyre and Sidon, the two great cities, soon rivalled each other in the splendour of their maritime undertakings. Sidon, now called Said, was the elder port; and they were its inhabitants who constructed Tyre, twenty-four miles farther south, upon a small island some distance from the shore.

The knowledge of navigation which the Phoenicians soon displayed, their boldness in braving the fury of the sea, and the degree of wealth to which they attained, were so great, that six centuries after the deluge we find them become sufficiently celebrated to be mentioned by

The Phoenicians.

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the patriarch Jacob in his last benedictions to the twelve tribes. The superstitious fears of the Egyptians kept them, at that time, from hazarding their persons on the sea; and the pursuits of the Israelites were of too opposite a nature to allow them to become their rivals, so that the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon were left in undisputed possession of the realms and the element they had made so peculiarly their own, and day by day and year by year increased their power and glory. The forests of Lebanon furnished them with timber for their fleets which they boldly launched upon the sea; the harbours they had selected were admirably adapted to their requirements, and adding constantly to their store of scientific knowledge from their intercourse with every known nation, navigation and commerce in their hands. attained a degree of brilliancy which shone like a star to after-ages.

The Phoenicians had early perceived that trade was their surest means of attaining wealth and consequence. The boldest navigators of the Mediterranean, they had opened communications with most of the nations upon its shores, exchanging in the various ports the commodities of one country for the superfluities of another. They acquired the whole carrying trade of the then civilized world. Among the various branches of their commerce, that with India was the most remarkable and lucrative. The peoples of Europe have, in all ages, been eager for the possession of the luxuries of Asia, and have sought every means to facilitate the communication between the distant parts of the two continents; indeed, so great have been the riches acquired through supplying these splendid productions, that men have