The World's Progress Part 46

The era of the Judges in Israel fell into this period, and between the Hebrews and certain Syrian tribes there was intermittent war.

With the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I. a.s.syria launched forth on her career of conquest. In a westward march made by this conqueror, northern Syria yielded to a.s.syrian arms and offered tribute. Damascus alone was left undisturbed, for opposition was sure to be strong on the part of this ancient city. With some intervening years during which tribute could not be collected and when allegiance to Nineveh was denied, a.s.syrian influence dominated Syria, and frequently vigorous rule was enforced. When a.s.syria fell, the New Babylonian empire kept guard over the west. With the end of Babylonian rule, and the ascendency of Persia, Semitic dominance came to an end. Under Persia, and later under Greece, new states came into existence and Aryan rule began.

In the ages with which we are at present concerned, however, Syria remained to the portion of Semitic tribes. We have found Arabia the original home of this race. Providing at best but a scanty living for her children, when tribes multiplied rapidly Arabia seems to have cast out a portion of her inhabitants to make room for the rest.

Chaldea--later Babylonia--was peopled by such an outpouring, while at the same time tribes spread into Syria and settled spots which promised adequate food and pasturage. Later comers were compelled to journey past these occupied lands and seek lands farther west, or to overcome the natives and supplant them. Some one has aptly said that different tribes fitted themselves into the "shelves and corners of Syria," and that is just what they did. It would have been as impossible for Syria, with its irregular surfaces, to have produced one united nation as for Greece or Switzerland to have contained a people whose national concerns outweighed their local interests. Highland and lowland, plateau and plain, mountain range and valley--these at length were occupied by little clans or more numerous tribes, while the more exposed regions were open to the nomads who came like birds for a season, or tarried a few brief years and penetrated farther west, or who perhaps merely loitered on their way to Egypt--the land of water and abundant grain.

"Syria is the northern and most fertile end of the great Semitic home--the peninsula of Arabia. But the Semitic home is distinguished by its central position in geography--between Asia and Africa, and between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, which is Europe; and the _role_ in history of the Semitic race has been also intermediary. The Semitics have been the great middlemen of the world. Not second-rate in war, they have risen to the first rank in commerce and religion. They have been the carriers between East and West, they have stood between the great ancient civilizations and those which go to make up the modern world; while by a higher gift, for which their conditions neither in place nor in time fully account, they have been mediary between G.o.d and man, and proved the religious teachers of the world, through whom have come its three highest faiths, its only universal religions. Syria's history is her share in this great function of intermedium, which has endured from the earliest times to the present day."[3]

"The head of Syria is Damascus," wrote Isaiah two thousand years ago. So it has since continued to be, with short periods of change. The venerable city, made possible and beautiful by the waters of the Abana, has survived many sacks and slaughters. It is sometimes called the oldest city in the world, meaning of course, the one of greatest age yet standing. Still it has few relics of antiquity. Old material has constantly been utilized in the construction of new buildings and monuments. Its position has often been commented upon. "It is an astonishing site for what is said to be the oldest, and is certainly the most enduring, city of the world. For it is utterly incapable of defence; it is remote from the sea and the great natural lines of commerce. From the coast of Syria it is double barred by those ranges of snow-capped mountains whose populations enjoy more tempting prospects to the north and west. But look east and you understand Damascus.

"You would as soon think of questioning the site of New York or of San Francisco. Damascus is a great harbour of refuge upon the earliest sea man ever learned to navigate. It is because there is nothing but desert beyond, or immediately behind this site; because this river, the Abana, instead of wasting her waters on a slight extension of the fringe of fertile Syria, saves them in her narrow gorge till she can fling them well out upon the desert, and there, instead of slowly expending them on the doubtful possibilities of a province, lavishes all her life at once in the creation of a single great city, and straightway dies in face of the desert--it is because of all this that Damascus, so remote and so defenceless, has endured throughout human history, and must endure.

Nineveh, Babylon and Memphis easily conquered her--she probably preceded them, and she has outlived them. She has been twice supplanted--by Antioch, and she has seen Antioch decay, by Baghdad, and Baghdad is forgotten. She has been many times sacked, and twice at least the effective cla.s.ses of her population have been swept into captivity, but this has not broken the chain of her history. She was once capital of the world from the Atlantic to the Bay of Bengal, but the vast empire went from her and the city continued to flourish as before. Standing on the utmost edge of fertility, on the sh.o.r.e of the much-voyaged desert, Damascus is indispensable alike to civilization and to the nomads.

Moreover, she is the city of the Mediterranean world which lies nearest to the far East, and Islam has made her the western port of Mecca."[4]

Having traversed the desert wastes, the city of Damascus lies invitingly before the wearied traveller. There is an old tradition that Mohammet once approached the town and viewed it from neighboring hills. Before him lay its grateful shade and restful streets, its tide of busy life, its wealth, its diversions--behind him lay the monotonous sea of sand, its parching heat and treeless plains. The great religious teacher was apparently afraid to trust himself to the enticing influences of the city. He turned away, saying: "Man can enter Paradise but once; if I pa.s.s into Damascus I shall be excluded from the other Paradise reserved for the faithful."

Our word _damask_ stands today in memory of the age when damask or Damascus silk, embroidered in richest colors, with threads of silver and gold, stood forth unmatched by fabrics of other lands. Today the word is ordinarily applied to round linen thread, woven in fruit, flower, or conventional designs, as was the silk originally.

The swords of Damascus also gained world-renown. They were so thin that they could be tied into knots without injuring them in the least, and so strong that they would cut through iron or wood without being marred. A certain watery steel, more true and resistable than ordinary, made the "trusty sword of Damascus" popular in many lands.

It lies beyond our province to trace the comings and goings of tribes within the land of Syria. At best Syrian history is fragmentary and is suited for the student of the Semitic race rather than the general reader. We shall happen upon facts connected with it as we study the history of the Hebrews, and the empire age of the Mesopotamian states.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] George Adam Smith: Historical Geog. of the Holy Land, 6.

[2] Tell-el-Amarna Letters described in The Story of Babylonia and a.s.syria.

[3] Smith: Hist. Geog. of Holy Land, 5.

[4] Smith: Hist. Geog. of Holy Land, 642.

CHAPTER II.

THE LAND OF PHOENICIA.

Geographically, Phoenicia was a small state. It lay between a spur of the Taurus mountains--Mt. Casius--on the north and Carmel on the south; washed by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, it was protected by a lofty mountain range on the east. These natural boundaries were important, since they shut in the land and sheltered it in a great measure from invasions and plundering raids.

About 200 miles in length, Phoenicia ranged from one to thirty-five miles in width. A narrow sandy coast-belt skirted the western side and was covered with date-palms, which gave the region its name. Greek sailors, coasting along the eastern sh.o.r.e of the sea, saw the luxuriant palms from afar, and called the whole eastern coast Phoenike--Land of Palms. Later, learning more particularly of the various nations which dwelt therein, they restricted the name to the country we are now studying.

East of the palm belt extend the fertile plains of Phoenicia. Here grew gardens, orchards and fields of grain, which made the district a veritable paradise. "'The cultivated tract presents for the most part an unbroken ma.s.s of corn, out of which rise here and there slight eminences in the midst of gardens and orchards--the sites of cities.' The gardens are gay with scarlet blossoms of the pomegranate, the orchards famous for the enormous oranges which diversify the green foliage of their shady groves."[1] Here was grown the food supply which supported the whole population of the country, generally speaking, while on the low hills which bounded the plain on the east, the vine, olive and mulberry were cultivated. At last, the high mountains arose, bare in spots and elsewhere covered with forest trees--oaks, chestnuts and the mighty cedars.

Several streams, mountain-born, rushed down steep sides, furnished moisture and added fertility to the plains, then found their way to the sea. Chief of these in early times, as today, was the Litany. This river rises 10,000 feet above the sea, and "forces its way through Lebanon by a deep and narrow gorge, in which it frets and chafes many hundred feet below the eye of the spectator, descending precipitously, and at last debouching upon the plain by a ravine, about five miles northeast of Tyre. It has been compared to a 'monster serpent chained in the yawning gulf, where she writhes and struggles evermore to escape from her dark and narrow prison, but always in vain, save only near the sea-sh.o.r.e, where her windings reach a close.'"[2]

Irregularities of the coast supplied harbors which would be quite inadequate for modern ships, but sufficed for the vessels of antiquity.

Fringes of islets, near the sh.o.r.e, made refuge for sailors in time of storm in an age when no boats drew deep water, and when even the largest might be drawn up on the beach if necessary.

The climate of Phoenicia varied according to the locality. That of the plain was mild and pleasant, while snow lay most of the year upon the mountain peaks rising easterly. The scenery of the narrow strip changes constantly as one journeys east or west. Islands of the Mediterranean invited the sailor to venture far out from his native sh.o.r.e, and at an early period the sea was dotted over by the merchant-ships of the Phoenicians. East, north and south high mountains offer a varied aspect to the traveller. The Lebanon range has always been notably beautiful. "The elevation rises gradually as we proceed north-ward, until the range culminates in the peaks above the cedars, which are estimated to attain a height of from nine thousand to ten thousand feet.... Garden cultivation carpets the base of the mountain; above this is, for the most part, a broad fringe of olive groves; higher up, the hill sides are carefully terraced, not an inch of ground being wasted; and among sharp cliffs and pointed rocks of a grey-white hue are strips of cornfields, long rows of dwarf mulberries, figs, apricots, apples, walnuts, and other fruit trees. Gorges, ravines, charming glens, deep valleys, diversify the mountain sides; here and there are tremendous chasms, with precipices that go sheer down for a thousand feet; tiny rivulets bound and leap from rock to rock and from terrace to terrace, forming chains of cascades, refreshing and fertilizing all around. In the deep gorges flow copious streams, shaded by overhanging woods of pines or cedars; and towards the summit are in several places magnificent cedar groves, remnants of the primeval forest which once clothed the greater part of the mountain. Above all towers the bare limestone of the dorsal ridge, always white enough to justify the name Lebanon (White Mountain), and for eight months of the year clothed with a mantle of snow."[3]

Semitic tribes, journeying out of Arabia at a remote period, crossed into Chaldea, and after a sojourn which cannot now be estimated, worked their way westward to the region just described. In all probability Turanians held the territory. With these they intermingled and inter-married, while kinsmen coming later from the old Arabian home, kept the stock nearly pure Semitic.

One of the oldest settlements was made at Sidon, the name of the town commemorating the earliest occupation of its people. _Sidon_ signifies _fishery_, and it is supposed that the first comers were fishermen. In later years when Sidon was the wealthiest city in Western Asia, and when her proud merchantmen had left nets to the portion of the humblest born, the early name stood in memory of primitive days.

Sidon was built on the sh.o.r.e, while her natural harbor consisted of a little circlet of islands which afforded shelter for sailing crafts. An excellent harbor was constructed with this breakwater, but it is significant to note that Sidon's strongholds were on the sh.o.r.e.

Some of her inhabitants at length departed from the mother-city and settled at Tyre, near the southern part of the Phoenician coast. The word _Tyre_ means _rock_, and while settlements were made on the sh.o.r.e as well, the famous city of antiquity was built on an island, half a mile from the mainland. This island was about two and one-half miles in width and was completely surrounded by a wall, one hundred feet high.

With water around her and mighty walls as well, Tyre was wellnigh impregnable in times of siege.

The little town of Dora grew up where sh.e.l.l-fish abounded. These were valued for a secretion they yielded which was made up into a dye of royal purple, world-renowned in ancient times. Gebal became famous for its shipyards. Tripolis gained celebrity as head of a league of cities made up of Tyre, Aradus and Tripolis.

The Phoenicians left no history of their country. No other ancient people came in contact with so many nations and none had more material at hand from which to formulate a record of their time, but they were a nation of traders and appear to have been quite lacking in literature of their own and in chroniclers of any sort. Not only is there utter dearth of writings, but ruins and remains of Phoenician civilization are comparatively few. The Phoenicians built well, but their structures were either torn down by ruthless conquerors, or, like those of Carthage, became quarries for other nations. We are consequently forced to reconstruct their history from other sources--from writings of men of other lands, often hostile to them and so prejudiced in their point of view. The characteristic life of the Phoenicians led into the busy marts of men--not to the library or cloister, and a study of their history involves a study of the commerce of their time.

It is doubtful whether the future can produce material for any complete history of Phoenicia. We know practically nothing of the prehistoric period in the country, and when reports of the nation begin, the people had already reached a high proficiency on the sea and possessed wealthy cities. The commercial spirit, so strong in the Semitic race seems to have reached its extreme expression in the people of this little state.

If they possessed any apt.i.tude for pursuits other than trading, we know little of them. In the periods known to us there was no national life nor government. Each city developed independently and appears to have had only commercial ambitions.

The natural contour of the land allowed the people to build up a mighty system of trade which penetrated into every country known to antiquity, while their sea-ports remained long protected from aggressive rulers of Egypt and Mesopotamia.

The Phoenician cities were mentioned as early as 1475 B.C., when Thutmose III. made his strength felt in Western Asia. They united with the Hitt.i.te nation against him, but were defeated and made gifts of submission.

Sidon was the older city, and tradition has it that about 1200 B.C. the Philistines--earlier inhabitants of the country--fought a battle with Sidon and defeated her, whereupon some of her citizens escaped and founded Tyre. Quite as probable is a more recent supposition that Sidon, wealthy and given over to ease and pleasure, gradually weakened, while the younger and more vigorous town of Tyre became the leader.

Hiram seems to have been the most renowned king of Tyre. He enlarged the island upon which the city stood. Filling in the lagoon between two islands, he joined them together, forming thus one large island. Being a prolific builder, he erected huge structures of stone, which together with wood, made up the building material of Phoenicia.

For some time previous to his reign, Judah had been growing in strength.

She had held out against the Philistines, and was being welded into a well organized state. Hiram considered it good policy to seek the friendship of Judah's king, and he and King David remained good friends.

This same friendship was offered to Solomon when he succeeded his father as ruler of the Hebrews, and aid was given the Hebrews in the construction of their temple, Phoenician timber and skilled workmen being supplied. An account of the matter has come to us from the Hebrews: "And Hiram, king of Tyre, sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David. And Solomon sent to Hiram saying: 'Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the Lord his G.o.d for the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my G.o.d hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent. And behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the Lord my G.o.d, as the Lord spake unto David, my father, saying: 'Thy son whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name. Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants; and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.'

"And it came to pa.s.s, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said: 'Blessed be the Lord this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people.' And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: 'I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for; and I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar and concerning timber of fir. My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and I will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.'

"So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire. And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year.... And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together.... And the king commanded and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house. And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and the stonequarriers: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house."[4]

The temple stood at last a memorial to the skillful workmanship of Phoenicia as well as a tribute of honor to Jehovah, G.o.d of Israel.

After the death of Hiram, during whose reign the country had prospered, the government soon pa.s.sed from his family. A cla.s.s of wealthy merchants had arisen in Tyre and they demanded official positions for themselves.

The king they crowned became king of Sidon as well. Before 1000 B.C.

exiles from Tyre, driven out for political reasons, founded Carthage, best known of all Phoenicia's colonies.

As early as 880 B.C. danger threatened Phoenicia from a.s.syria.

Protected by the efficient barrier of a mountain range, the commercial ports had been free to develop their trade without serious interruption.

They immediately offered to pay tribute rather than fight, and a.s.syrian tablets recount products sent by them.

By 727 B.C. the yoke of a.s.syria had become oppressive and Tyre revolted.

A siege of five years followed and was at length raised with no result, for Tyre could not be cut off from the sea. About 680 B.C. Baal was crowned king of Tyre with the consent of the a.s.syrian ruler.

Nevertheless, he shortly announced his independence and became a st.u.r.dy opponent of a.s.syrian aggression. In 668 B.C. a.s.shurbanipal led an army against the sea-coast cities, especially against the most powerful, Tyre.