The Ancient Empires of the East, Herodotus I

THE PHCENICIAN.S. 419
probably derived the principles of his system. In the pages of Philo
Byblios the gods became men, and the symbolic legends told of them
are changed into human actions. At the same time, with the syncretic
spirit of Phoenician art, the gods and myths of Syria, of Egypt, and
of Greece, are all fused together along with those of Phoenicia itself.
Two systems of cosmogony are quoted from him, one of which probably
belongs to the school of Byblos, the other to that of Tyre. According
to one of these, the wind or breath (Kolpia) brooded over the original
chaos (Baau, holm; Assyrian, Bahu), and produced first Desire and then
Mot, the watery element which underlies all things. Mot, in the form
of an egg, generated the universe. Then came the first men, JEi^n
and Protogenos. Their offspring were Genos (Cain) and Genea, who
dwelt in Phoenicia and worshipped Baal-Samem. Next followed Phos,
Pyr, and Phlox, the discoverers of fire ; the giants Kasios, Libanos,
Anti-libanos, and Hermon ; and finally Samim-rum, " the most high,"
and Usoos (Esau). Samim-rum lived in Tyre, where he built huts
and fought with Usoos, the inventor of ships and clothing made of
the skins of wild beasts, who gave his name to the city Hosah.
Among their descendants were Khusor, the first worker in iron, and
his brother Meilikhios, the discoverer of fish-hooks, who together
invented the art of brickmaking. Afterwards came the husbandman
Agrotes, Sydyk " the righteous," the father of the Kabeiri, and Uranos
and Ge, the children of Elyon and Berytos. One of the sons of the
latter was Dagon, the corn-god, and Astarte was his sister. El, the
son of Uranos, gave Byblos to Beltis, Berytos to the sea-god, the Kabeiri,
and the descendants of Agrotes and Halieus; while Egypt fell to
Taautos, the Egyptian Thoth.
Art, Science, and Literature.—Phoenician art, as has been stated, was
essentially catholic. It assimilated and combined the art of Baby-
lonia, of Egypt, and of Assyria, superadding, perhaps, something of its
own, and improving at the same time upon its models. It borrowed
the rosette and palm-leaf from Babylonia, the sphinx from Egypt, the
cherub from Assyria, but gave to each a form and spirit of its own.
Its gem-cutters came to excel those of Chaldea, its artists in bronze
and stone those of Assyria, while the sarcophagus of Eshmunezer aims
at rivalling the massive cofiins of Egypt. Its decorative art as well
as the plan of its temples can best be learned from the construction
and ornamentation of Solomon's temple at Jerusalem. The carved
gems and ivories and bronze bowls found at Nineveh, or the treasure
discovered at Palestrina, the ancient Praeneste, are examples of