The World's Progress Part 47

"Against Baal, King of Tyre, dwelling in the midst of the sea, I went, because my royal will he disregarded, and did not harken unto the words of my mouth. Towers round about him I raised, and over his people I strengthened the watch. On land and sea his forts I took; his going out I stopped. Brackish water and sea water their mouths drank to preserve their lives. With a strong blockade, which removed not, I besieged them; their spirits I humbled and caused to melt away; to my yoke I made them submissive." When a.s.syria was threatened by Median power, the cities on the coast again shook themselves free from the hated tribute and at this juncture Tyre rose to her greatest influence. About 600 B.C. Egypt tried to bring Western Asia under her dominance and under her direction Phoenician sailors circ.u.mnavigated Africa.

Nebuchadnezzar determined to end rebellions in the west for all time and to bring the coast under Babylonian rule. Tyre held out against him and a siege of thirteen years ensued. The Hebrew prophet Ezekiel foretold the result:

"Behold I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers: I will also sc.r.a.pe her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock....

"Behold I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north with horses, and with chariots and with hors.e.m.e.n, and companies, and much people. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the hors.e.m.e.n, and of the wheels and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.

"And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon."[5]

These prophecies were fulfilled, and having rallied again, and once more sent forth their merchant vessels, these cities fell shortly to the share of Persia. Cambyses depended wholly upon their navy, so that when Phoenician sailors refused to sweep down upon Carthage, he was obliged to abandon his idea of subduing that colony.[6]

In 362 B.C. Sidon revolted against Persian oppression. When at last the fall of their city was at hand, 40,000 Sidonians shut themselves in their houses and set fire to them rather than become spoils for the conqueror.

Some years later, when the young Macedonia conqueror, Alexander the Great, reached this district in course of his brief conquest, the Phoenician cities, wearied of Persian taxes, hailed his coming with joy. One after another, the towns sent presents until it was left for Tyre alone to do homage to the young monarch. Her citizens sent an emba.s.sy to meet him with a crown of gold and announced their willingness to do his bidding. Alexander replied that he was pleased by their action and would visit their city to offer sacrifices in their temple--for the Greeks identified the G.o.d of the Phoenicians with their Hercules. The reply being made known in the city, the people feared that some hidden purpose prompted the Greek to seek their island home, and they sent to him again saying that they would pay whatever tribute he exacted, but that they did not wish the Greek army to march through their streets.

This angered Alexander and he announced that if the gates of Tyre did not open to him, he would open them by force. Tyre had withstood many a siege and she did not hesitate to take a firm stand. Carthaginians who chanced to be within her walls advised that help would be forthcoming were it needed, and it was supposed furthermore, that Persia would never see her empire turned over to the Greeks without a struggle. Above all, Tyre had faith in the strength of her walls and in her fleet.

Sieges in the past had often failed because Tyre could not be approached by battering rams and engines of war. As has already been said, the island upon which the city stood lay one-half mile from the sh.o.r.e. Her harbors were the best on the Phoenician coast. One lay on the north side and was called the Sidonian harbor because it looked towards Sidon; the other was on the south side, and was called the Egyptian harbor since it faced the land of the pyramids. Stone piers ran out some considerable distance in the sea and made safe refuge for vessels in stormy weather. Rough winds might have made entrance to the port impossible had the harbor extended on one side only, hence the two harbors were early constructed and were connected by a ca.n.a.l, extending through the city, making it thus possible for a ship to enter by one harbor and clear port from the other.

Now Alexander conceived the bold design of building a broad bridge or mole from the continent to the island, that he might bring his war engines up to the city walls. Forthwith, operations were started on the sh.o.r.e, in shallow water. Two rows of piles were driven 200 feet from each other and the intervening distance was filled in with earth and stone. When the mole reached out where the force of the current was felt, however, the earthwork was carried away as rapidly as it was built. Moreover, the Tyrians grasped his plan and harried the laborers continually. They brought their boats near enough to attack them and compel them to abandon their undertaking. The Greeks met this obstacle by preparing a curtain of hides to cover the workmen, and raised two lofty wooden towers wherein soldiers were stationed to charge upon ships interfering with the work. The citizens of Tyre thereupon equipped one of their largest transports as a fire-ship, and filling it with all sorts of combustible material, sent it floating against the Greek towers, a ma.s.s of fire. This was effectual, and Alexander returned from a temporary absence to find the work of weeks obliterated. This general never allowed confronting obstacles to baffle him, and under his personal supervision the labor began anew. The struggle had come to mean more than the subjection of an independent city--it signified Greek capacity and ingenuity against Asiatic opposition on the very threshold of a coveted continent.

Earth, trees and stones were hurled rapidly into the sea, but Tyrian divers with grappling hooks dragged out whole trees and brush, destroying the solidity of the ma.s.s. Then Alexander realized that he could accomplish nothing without a navy. Without aid of a fleet he might be detained indefinitely with one obstinate city. He immediately levied vessels and crews from those towns which had already surrendered to him.

As fate would have it, the Persian fleet came voluntarily into his hands and shortly 224 vessels were ready to move against Tyre. Under their protection the construction of the mole went on rapidly. Tyre soon understood that her only hope lay in chancing a sea battle. The number of ships against her was overwhelming, and after a gallant start, she was defeated.

"The last chance was over--the last effort had failed--but the Tyrians would not give in any the more. They still met every attack upon the walls with a determined resistance, and with a fertility of resource that was admirable. To deaden the blows of the battering-ram, and the force of the stones hurled from the catapults, leather bags filled with sea-weed were let down from the walls at the point a.s.sailed. Wheels set in rapid motion intercepted the darts and javelins thrown into the town, turning them aside, or blunting, or sometimes breaking them. When the towers erected upon the mole were brought close up to the defences, and an attempt was made to throw bridges from them to the battlements, and thus to pa.s.s soldiers into the city, the Tyrians flung grappling-hooks among the soldiers on the bridges, which caught in the bodies of some, mangling them terribly, dragging their shields from others, and hauled some bodily into the air, dashing them against the wall or upon the ground. Ma.s.ses of red-hot metal were prepared and hurled against the towers and against the scaling parties. Sand was heated to a glow and showered upon all who approached the foot of the walls: it penetrated through the joints of the armour, and caused such intolerable pain, that the coats of mail were torn off and flung aside, whereupon the sufferers were soon put _hors de combat_ by lance thrusts and missiles. The battering-rams were attacked by engines constructed for the purpose, which brought sharp scythes, attached to long poles, into contact with the ropes and thongs used in working them, and cut them through.

Further, wherever the wall showed signs of giving way, the defenders began to construct an inner wall, to take the place of the outer one, when it should be demolished."[7]

When the walls at length gave way and soldiers made an entrance into the town, they had to fight a battle in every house and win their ground in street and building, foot by foot. Ten thousand were ma.s.sacred and thirty thousand women and children were sold into slavery. The city was left in 332 B.C. in a half-ruined condition with few inhabitants. In a few years Tyre rose again but the days of her greatness were gone.

We have seen that during the first part of her history Phoenicia was left practically alone and during the later portion suffered repeated attacks. How can we account for the frequent despoiling of her proud cities during her later years? Owing to their position and consequent trade, the Phoenician cities became wealthy rapidly. They naturally attracted the notice of kings who were trying to carry on extensive projects at home. Those who conquered them, or who sought to do so, coveted their riches for the adornment of their own capitals or for some personal enterprise at home. So advantageous was the situation of these cities that, left crippled and in ruins by the enemy, or under less severe circ.u.mstances, forced to pay a heavy tribute, losses were quickly made good, and the stricken towns would soon again be ama.s.sing wealth.

Having control of the greater portion of the commerce of their day, they were able to exchange commodities of slight value with nations who possessed gold or other precious wares and knew nothing of their value, save that they were thereby enabled to procure articles they desired.

"Gold for bra.s.s, the worth of a hundred oxen for the value of nine,"--it was this opportunity, recognized and seized upon, which made it possible for this little strip of land to become the store-house of riches coveted by nations on all sides.

Concerning the political history of Phoenicia we know little, as has already been said. When her wealthy cities were attacked by foreigners, these strangers have sometimes told the story from their own point of view, but so far as government in times of peace, local administration and kindred matters, material has not survived to allow its course of progress to be reconstructed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GROWTH OF THE ALPHABET.]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Rawlinson: Phoenicia, 3.

[2] Rawlinson: Phoenicia, 11.

[3] Rawlinson: Phoenicia, 17.

[4] I Kings, 5, 1-18.

[5] Ezekiel 26, 3-14.

[6] See The Story of the Persians.

[7] Rawlinson; Phoenicia, 231.

CHAPTER III.

PHOENICIAN COLONIES AND COMMERCE.

It is natural to consider Phoenicia's colonies in connection with her commerce, for while many nations have colonized regions remote for the purpose of extending their territory or perpetuating a faith, her outposts were opened solely for the benefit of trade. Phoenicia's colonies may be said to have been the outgrowth of her mercantile concerns, although in some instances, dissatisfaction with political conditions in the home city proved an additional incentive.

Probably the first foreign settlement was made in Egypt. Desiring to control routes of trade in the valley of the Nile, Tyrians obtained permission to settle in Memphis. This settlement could hardly be called a colony in the ordinary sense of the word, for the home city exercised no political control over those of its subjects dwelling in Egypt--nor did it seek to do so. Phoenicia excelled in trade--not government.

With this station at Memphis, Tyre was able to obtain not only products of the valley but those also which were brought into Egypt from the south. Ivory, ebony, skins, ostrich feathers, grain, pottery, gla.s.s--these and other commodities here available were shipped away for consumption in Italy, Greece and Asia Minor. The Egyptians, so resentful of foreigners ordinarily, appear to have found the Phoenicians un.o.bjectionable and of actual service to them. The little colony was allowed to maintain its own customs, and it is supposed that a temple sacred to Astoreth was erected here as early as 1250 B.C.

The islands west of Tyre were early peopled by Phoenicians, or, at least, contained Phoenician settlements. Timber suitable for ship-building was obtained in Cilicia, copper and precious stones in Cyprus, pine lumber and figs in Rhodes.

Utica, on the Gulf of Tunis, was an early colony on the African side of the Mediterranean. Coasting alone this sh.o.r.e, the sea-farers came to Spain, where they established important trading points. They penetrated as far west as the Cornwall mines, which supplied an inexhaustible amount of tin. The islands off the Cornish coast they called the "Ca.s.siterides" or Tin Islands.

"Phoenician colonization--or colonization from Phoenicia Proper--was in all probability limited within the extremes of the Dardanelles to the north, Memphis to the south, and Gadeira and the Ca.s.siterides to the west. It was less widely diffused than the Greek, and less generally spread over the coasts accessible to it. With a few exceptions, the colonies fall into three groups--first, those of the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean, beginning with Cyprus and terminating with Cythera; secondly those of the Central Mediterranean, in North Africa, Sicily, and the adjacent islands; and thirdly, those of the Western Mediterranean, chiefly on the south coast of Spain, with perhaps a few on the opposite (African) sh.o.r.e. The other settlements, commonly called Phoenician on the eastern coast of Spain, in the Balearic Islands, in Corsica and Elba; and again those on the Western Africa coast, between the Straits of Gibraltar and the Cape de Verde, were Punic or Carthaginian, rather than Phoenician."[1]

Finally something must be said of Carthage, for while her palmy days as well as her decline, were closely related to Roman history, her beginnings were inseparable with the mother-country.

The word Carthage signifies _New City_, and the settlement was so named in all probability to distinguish it from Utica, founded 300 years before. 850 B.C. has been considered the latest possible date for the founding of the town, while many hold that it was settled as early as 1000 B.C. It matters little which is accepted, since the place was neither strong nor influential for many years after either date. Its citizens came originally from Tyre. The "New City" was built on what is now the Bay of Tunis, a little to the north-west of the present town of Tunis. Nothing, practically, is known of its early history. Kings ruled at first, but were later abolished. Polybius, a Greek historian, stated that he had seen a treaty made between Rome and Carthage as early as 509 B.C., by which the Carthaginians bound themselves not to injure any Latin city while the Romans were pledged not to interfere with Carthaginian markets in the western Mediterranean. Because of its fortunate position the city became very prosperous. The Greeks tried to divert some of its trade into their own channels, and later, Rome was its hated rival and continued to struggle with the city until she effected its downfall.

"From the time when the first adventurers from the Syrian coast entered the sheltered inlets of the African sh.o.r.e--a remote period, even before Saul was made king of Israel and while Priam sat on the throne of Troy--down to the seventh century of the Christian era, when the Arabs pa.s.sed over it like a whirlwind, this land has been the battlefield where destinies of nations have been sealed, and where heroes and warriors have sought their last resting place. The myths that surround its earliest development and shed a halo of romance over the career of its primitive races are somewhat obscured by the sterner facts of later times--by wars innumerable, wars of invasion and local disturbances, succeeded by a long period of piracy and power insured, and finally by neglect, abandonment, and decay. The legend of Dido still hangs over Carthage hill. The spirit of Hannibal haunts the fateful Zanca, and the banks of the Midjerda hold in everlasting memory the story of Regulus and his affrighted array. The air is full of myths and old-world stories which faithfully represent the traditions of the country in its varying fortunes; and slight as may be their connection with events in prehistoric times, yet they serve as foundations for a historic superstructure of never-failing interest. The earliest records are fragmentary, but we learn that the library of the Carthaginians, written in Phoenician characters, was presented by the Romans, after the fall of Carthage, to one of the kings of Numidia; and that Sall.u.s.t, as pro-consul of that province in the time of Julius Caesar, borrowed largely from it while writing his history of the Jugarthine war....

There is little doubt, however, that most of the earliest records pa.s.sed to Alexandria, which became the rival of Athens as a seat of learning.

With the burning of its library by the fanatical Arabs in the seventh century many a link between the old world and the new was severed, and reliable information concerning the laws and traditions, and the manners and customs of a people, who were the fathers of navigation and the founders of commerce, was swept away."[2]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE RIVER JORDAN.]

Phoenician commerce was facilitated by the establishment of many out-posts, and while none other reached such size and importance as Carthage, several controlled routes which were almost as valuable. No modern account of that vast commerce approaches the one written long ago by the prophet Ezekiel, when Tyre was, or had just been, at the zenith of her power.

"O thou that dwellest at the entry of the sea, which art the merchant of the people unto many isles, O Tyre, thou hast said: 'I am of perfect beauty.'

"Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim. Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee.

"The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyre, that were in thee, were thy pilots.

"The ancients of Gabal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness....

"Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin and lead, they traded in thy fairs.

"Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of bra.s.s in thy market. They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and hors.e.m.e.n and mules. The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony. Syria was thy merchant by reason of the mult.i.tude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate.

"Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm.

Damascus was thy merchant in the mult.i.tude of the wares of thy making, for the mult.i.tude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool.

Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs; bright iron, ca.s.sia, and calamus, were in thy market. Dedan was thy merchant in precious cloths for chariots. Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants. The merchants of Sheba and Raamah ... occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.