PHOENICIA, or more properly Phoenice, the ancient name of a country situated between the thirty-fourth and thirty-sixth degrees of north latitude, being bounded by Syria on the north and east, by Judaea on the south, and by the Mediterranean on the west. How it obtained its name is not certainly known. Some derive it from one Phoenix; and others from the Greek word phoenix, signifying a palm or date, as that tree abounded in the country. Some suppose that Phoenice was originally a translation of the Hebrew word Edom, from the Edomites who fled thither in the days of David. By the contraction of the word Canaan it was also called Chna, and anciently Rhabbothin and Colpitis. The Jews commonly named it Canaan; though some part of it, at least, was known to them by the name of Syrophoenice. Bochart tells us, that the most probable etymology is Phene Anak, the descendants of Anak. Such were the names peculiar to this small country, though Phoenice was sometimes extended to all the maritime countries of Syria and Judaea, and Canaan to that of the Philistines, and even of the Amalekites. On the contrary, all these names were superseded by those of Palestine and Syria.

There is some disagreement amongst authors respecting the northern limits of this country. Ptolemy states the river Eleutherus as the boundary of Phoenice to the north; but Pliny, Mela, and Stephanus, place it in the island of Aradus, to the northward of that river. Strabo observes, that some considered the river Eleutherus as the boundary of Seleucis, on the side of Phoenice and Coelesyria. On the coast of Phoenice, and south of the river Eleutherus, stood the cities of Simyra, Orthosia, Tripolis, Botrys, Byblus, Palaebyblus, Berytus, Sidon, Sarepta, Tyrus, and Palaetyrus.

According to Ptolemy, Phoenice extended even beyond Mount Carmel; for that geographer places in Phoenice not only Ecdippa and Ptolemais, but Sycaminum and Daera, which are situated to the southward of that mountain. But these towns, properly speaking, belonged to Palestine. We will not take upon us to mark out the bounds of the midland Phoenice. Ptolemy reckons in it the towns of Area, Palaebyblus, Gabala, and Caesaria Paniae. This province was considerably extended in the early times of Christianity, when, being considered as a province of Syria, it included not only Damascus, but also Palmyra.

The Phoenicians were governed by kings; and their territory, small as it was, included several kingdoms, namely, [7:17:451]those of Sidon, Tyre, Aradus, Berytus, and Byblus. In this particular they imitated and adhered to the primitive government of their forefathers, who, like the other Canaanites, were under many petty princes, to whom they allowed the sovereign dignity, reserving to themselves the natural rights and liberties of mankind. Of their civil laws no remnant has been preserved.

With regard to religion, the Phoenicians were the most gross and abominable idolaters. The Baal-berith, Baalzebub, and Baal-samen, mentioned in Scripture, were some of the Phoenician gods; as were Moloch, Ashtaroth, and Thammuz, also mentioned in the sacred writings. The word Baal, in itself an appellative, was no doubt applied to the true God, until he rejected it on account of its being so much profaned by the idolaters. The name was not appropriated to any particular deity amongst the idolatrous nations, but was common to many; it was generally imagined, however, that one supreme God presided over all the rest. Amongst the Phoenicians this deity was named Baal-samen, but the Hebrews would have called him Baal-shemirn, or the God of heaven. In all probability this was also the principal Carthaginian deity, although his Punic name is unknown. Many religious rites of the Carthaginians have been handed down to us by the Greek and Roman writers; but they all bestowed the names of their own gods upon those of the Carthaginians, a circumstance which leads us to a knowledge of the correspondence between the characters of the Phoenician and the European deities. The principal deity of Carthage was, according to Diodorus Siculus, Chronos or Saturn; and the sacrifices offered up to him were children of the best families. We also learn, that the Carthaginians had a brazen statue or colossus of this god, the hands of which were extended in the act of receiving, and bent downwards in such a manner that the child laid thereupon immediately fell down into a hollow where there was a nery furnace. It is added, that this inhuman practice seemed to confirm a tradition handed down to the Greeks from remote antiquity, that Saturn devoured his own children.

The goddess Coelestis, or Urania, was held in the highest veneration by the Carthaginians. She is supposed to have been the same with the queen of heaven mentioned in Jeremiah, or the Juno Olympia of the Greeks. According to Hesychius, the same word, in the Punic language, was applied both to Juno and Venus; nay, the ancient Greeks frequently confound Juno, Venus, and Diana or the moon, which is to be attributed to the Egyptians and Phoenicians, from whom they received their system of religion, and who in the most ancient times appear to have had but one name for them all. Besides these there were several other deities, who were worshipped amongst the Phoenicians, particularly those of Tyre, and consequently amongst the Carthaginians. These were Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, and Bacchus. Jupiter was worshipped under the name of Belus or Baal; to him they addressed their oaths.; and his name they placed at the head of their treaties. Apollo or the Sun went either by this name simply, or by others of which it formed a part.

The Carthaginian superstition, however, was not confined to these deities alone. They worshipped the fire, the air, and the other elements, and had a multitude of local gods. Nay, they paid divine honours to the spirits of their heroes, and even to men and women whilst yet in life; and in this adoration Hannibal had for some time a share, notwithstanding the infamous conduct which his countrymen showed towards him at last. In order to worship these gods with more convenience, the Carthaginians had a kind of portable temples. These were covered chariots, in which were small images representing their favourite deities, and which were drawn by oxen. They served also as a kind of oracle, and their responses were understood by the motion impressed upon the vehicle. The tabernacle of Moloch is supposed to have been a machine of this kind; and it is not improbable that the whole was derived from the tabernacle of the Jews in the wilderness.

Besides all the deities above mentioned, we find another, named the Baemon or Genius of Carthage, which is mentioned in the treaty made by Philip of Macedonia and Hannibal. What this deity was we know not; but it may be observed, that the pagan world in general believed in the existence of daemons, or intelligences who had a kind of middle nature between gods and men, and to whom the administration of the world was in a great measure committed. Hence it is no wonder that they should have received religious honours; for when once mankind were possessed with the opinion that they were the ministers of the gods, and trusted with the dispensation of their favours, as well as the infliction of their punishments, it is natural to suppose that they would be desirous of making their addresses to these beings.

Much has been said of their arts, sciences, and manufactures; but as all that we find concerning them is couched in general terms, we cannot enter into particulars. The Sidonians, under which denomination we comprehend the Phoenicians in general, were a people of most happy genius. They were from the beginning addicted to philosophical exercises of the mind; insomuch that a Sidonian, by name Moschus, taught the doctrine of atoms before the Trojan war, and Abomenus of Tyre puzzled Solomon by the subtilty of his questions. Phoenice continued to be one of the seats of learning, and in later times both Tyre and Sidon produced their respective philosophers; namely, Boethus and Diodatus of Sidon, Antipater of Tyre, and Apollonius of the same place, who gave an account of the writings and disciples of Zeno. As to their manufactures, the glass of Sidon, the purple of Tyre, and the fine linen they wove, were the products of their own country, and their own invention; and for their extraordinary skill in working metals, in hewing timber and stone, and their perfect knowledge of what was solid, great, and ornamental in architecture, we need only remind the reader of the large share which they had in erecting and decorating the temple at Jerusalem under their king Hiram. Their fame for taste, design, and ingenious invention, was such, that whatever was elegant, great, or pleasing, whether in apparel, in vessels, or in toys, was distinguished by way of excellence by the epithet of Sidonian.

The Phoenicians were likewise celebrated merchants, navigators, and planters of colonies in foreign parts. As merchants, they may be said to have engrossed all the commerce of the western world; as navigators, they were the boldest, the most experienced, and the greatest discoverers of ancient times, and for many ages they had ho rivals. In planting colonies they exerted themselves so much that, considering their territory was little more than the slip of land situated between Mount Lebanon and the sea, it is surprising how they could furnish such supplies of people, and not wholly depopulate their native country.

It is generally supposed that the Phoenicians were induced to deal in foreign commodities by their neighbourhood to the Syrians, who were perhaps the most ancient of those who carried on a considerable and regular trade with the nations farther to the east. And this conjecture appears at least probable; for their own territory was but small, and little able to afford any considerable exports, if we except manufactures; but that their manufactures were considerable until they began to turn all the channels of trade into their own country, it is difficult to believe. In Syria, which was a large country, they found store of productions of the natural growth of the soil, whilst many choice and useful commodities were imported from the East. Thus, having a safe coast, with convenient harbours on one side, and excellent materials for ship-building on the other; perceiving how acceptable many commodities which Syria furnished would be in foreign parts, and being stimulated by [7:17:452]the example of the Syrians; they turned all their thoughts to trade and navigation, and by an uncommon application soon eclipsed their masters in that art.

It were in vain to discourse of the Edomites who fled hither in David’s time, or to inquire why Herodotus supposed that the Phoenicians came from the Red Sea. That some of the Edomites fled into this country in the days of David, and that they were a trading people, is very evident; but what improvements they brought with them into Phoenice it is hard to say, and it is not less difficult to ascertain their numbers. In all probability they brought with them a knowledge of the Red Sea, and of the southern parts of Arabia, Egypt, and Ethiopia, and by their information made the Phoenicians acquainted with those coasts; and by these means the latter were enabled to undertake voyages to those parts, for Solomon, and Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt.

Their whole thoughts were employed about schemes for advancing their commerce. They affected no empire but that of the sea, and appeared to aim at nothing but the peaceable enjoyment of their trade. This they extended to all the known parts they could reach; to the British Islands, commonly understood by the Cassiterides; to Spain, and other places in the ocean both within and without the Straits of Gibraltar; and, in general, to all the ports of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the Palus Maeotis or Sea of Azof. In all these parts they had founded settlements, whence they drew whatever was useful to themselves, or might prove so to others; and thus they enjoyed the three great branches of trade, as it is commonly divided into importation, exportation, and transportation. Such appears to have been their trade by sea; and as to that which they carried on by land in Syria, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Arabia, and even in India, it was not less extensive, and may give us an idea of what this people once was, and how deservedly their merchants are mentioned in Scripture as equal to princes. Their country was at that time the great warehouse, where every thing that could administer either to the necessities or luxury of mankind was to be found; and all this they distributed as they judged best for their own interest. The purple of Tyre, the glass of Sidon, and the fine linen made in this country, together with curious pieces of art in metals and wood, appear to have been the chief and almost only commodities of Phoenice itself. Indeed their territory was so small, that it is not to be imagined they could afford to export any products of their own growth.

Having thus spoken in general terms of the trade of the Phoenicians, we shall now touch upon their shipping, and some things remarkable in their navigation. Their larger vessels were of two sorts, being divided into round ships or gauli, and long ships, galleys, or triremes. When they drew up in line of battle, the gauli were disposed at a small distance from each other in the wings, or in the van and the rear; whilst their triremes were contracted together in the centre. If at any time they observed that a stranger kept them company in their voyage, or followed in their track, they were sure to get rid of him if they could, or deceive him if possible; and in this policy they went so far, as to venture the loss of their ships, and even their lives, so jealous were they of foreigners, and so tenaciously bent upon keeping the whole trade to themselves. To discourage other nations from engaging in commerce, they practised piracy, or at least pretended to be at war with such as they met when they thought themselves strongest. This was a natural stroke of policy on the part of a people who grasped at the whole commerce of the then known world. We must not forget to v mention here the famous fishery of Tyre, which so remarkably enriched that city. The murex, or purple dye, has been celebrated by all the ancient writers.