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PHCENICIA PHCI3NICIA
the Book of Judges shows, the conception of 'judges '
as rulers of a state, with royal but not hereditary powers,
cated to his lord the god of Lebanon (13a'al-lebanon) 3s
a '' first fruits " (6aapxlj) of copper ' (nun> nzwiz) in the
was not unfamiliar.
temple upon the hill Muti Shinoas near Amathus (Ohne-
Of the native histories written by the Phcenicians falsch-Richter, Kypros, 119). The Tyrian dominion In
themselves nothing has come down to us, even in Greek Cyprus must accordingly have extended thus far. These
l,. Sources. trarislntiotis, except a few extracts (pre- designations show that, in the interval between Hiram I.
served by Josephus), from the Chronicles and Ethhaal, the ' kings of Tyre' had become 'kings
of Tyre, which Meiinnder of Ephesus had translated of the Phcenicians,' and thus had considerably extended
into Greek ; they relate to the period extending from their authority, in particular by acquiring the sovereignty
969 to 774 B.C. (c. Ap. 118 ; Ant. viii. 53 [also viii. 31 on of Sidon. This is confirmed by the Assyrian data, that
the era of Tyre]. Ant. viii. 132) and to the siege uuder the whole coast from 'Akko (near the Israelite frontier) to
Elulaxs (Ant. ix. 142). Josephus also (6. A$. 121)
gives the list of kings during the period from Nebuchadrezzar
down to Cyrus (585-532 B.c.), but here, too, is
doubtless dependent on Menander, although a little
before (c. Ap. lzo=Ant. x. 111) he refers for the siege
of Tyre hy Nebuchadrezzar to the otherwise unknown
Jewish and Phcenician history of one Philostratus.
In addition to these Josephus cites(Anf. viii. 53=c. A$.117),
for the eriod of Hiram I., the Phcenician history of Dim, who
is close& dependent on Menander. He also is not otherwise
known. It IS probable that Josephus took all these fragments
directly from a compilation by Alexander Polyhistor (v. Gutschmid
; cp Wachsmuth, EinL in die alfe Gesch. 403,f). These
short fragments contain little that relates to the history of
Phcenician colonisation.
We return now to the history of the mother country
from the end of the Egyptian period onwards. The
18. Period of little we know for the immediately
independence, succeeding centuries relates only to
Tyre. Tyre was successful not only
in founding a colonial empire, but also in gaining the
supremacy in the mother country. Our accounts begin
-since they concern themselves with merely biblical
interests-with the first HIRAM (4.z ).'
Of him we learn that he extended the city territory by mounds
in the quarter Eurychoros (Jos. c. A$. 113), substituted new
temples for old, to Melkarth and Astarte, dedicated a golden
stele (CLJY) to BaHIFam&n in his temple and instituted the
festival of the awakening of Melkarth. He brought back to its
allegiance the city of Utica which had refused to pay the
usual tribute. Mention has already been made of his relations
with Israel, and of his Ophir voyages (see also CABUL, HIRAM).
Josephus, in speaking of the successors of Hiram,
gives only the duration of the life and of the reign of
each down to the founding of Carthage. We may
be sure, however, that Menander gave some further
particulars. It is, at any rate, clear from the list of
kings that usurpations and struggles for the succession
were not unknown. Hiram's grandson was put to
death by the four sons of his foster mother ; of these
the eldest held the throne for twelve years. Then
followed further confusions, with regard to which
tradition is very uncertain, until the priest of Astarte,
Itoba'al. by violent means (see ETHBAAL) founded a
new dynasty. Owing to his relation to Ahab, one or two
facts respecting him have been preserved by Josephus.
The length of his reign is unfortunately not known;
Kuhl, following the tradition of Theophilus, assigns
him twelve years (876-866 B.c.), but according to most
MSS he reigned thirty-two years (though the length
of life assigned by tradition to him and to his son makes
this doubtful) from 885-854 B.C. The three years
famine of the period of Ahab and Elijah (I K. 17 f.) is
mentioned by Menander as having lasted one year.
Hiram I. is in the OT invariably called king of Tyre
(2 S. 521 I K. 515 910); Ethbaal, on the other hand, is
king of the Sidonians (I K. 1631). This last is also the
title borne on the oldest extant Phcenician inscription
(CIS 15) by Hiram IL2 who is also named by the
Assyrians in 738 ; it is the inscription of a bronze
sacrificial vessel which the ' governor ( 13~) of KarthadaSt
(Citium), servant of Hiram king of the Sidonians, dedi-
1 The individual items in Menander's list of kings vary in the
tradition. We here follow the reconstruction of Riihl (Rhein.
Mus. 18 565 #-although by no means certain at all points).
In their original form the data seem to he quite authentic.
2 That Hirani II., not Hiram I., is intended in the inscrip
tion has been shown by von Landau, Beitr. ZUY Alterthums-
Kunde des Orients, 1 (1893).
near Berytus w-as in the possession of Tyre.' Of Ethbaal
we are told that he pressed even farther north; having
founded the city of Botrys, to the N. of Byblos. in the
neighbourhood of the 'l'heouprosopon. Plainly the
intention, which was not, however, effected, was toreduce
Ryhlos also to dependence on Tyre. Of Ethbaal we
learn further that he founded Auza in Libya. Under the
third of his successors, Pygmalion (820-774), Tinlaeus
(and, following him, Menander) placed the founding
of Carthage in 814-3 ; its mythical foundress is called
the sister of the king. With Pygmalion Josephus's
extract from Menander (Jos. c. Ap. 1 IS) ends.
For the next century we get some information from
the Assyrian data. The great westward campaigns
of the Assyrians began in the begin-
19. The
ning of the ninth century.2 In 876
suaerainty' ASur-nBsir-nal ~~
invaded Svria -, and the
dynasts of the interior as weli as the kings of the seal
coast, of Tyre, Sidon, Byblos. Maballata (sic), Maisa
(unknown), Kaka (unknown), Amuri, ' Arvad in the
sea,' brought tribute-brazen vessels and parti-coloured
and white linen garments as well as silver, gold, lead,
copper, and cedar wood. Shalmaneser 11. (860-824)
undertook the subjugation of Syria in a more thoroughgoing
way. Only the more northerly, however, of the
Phcenician dynasts were represented in the army of the
allied Syrian princes which fought at Karkar in 854
(see AHAB, SHALMANESER). The remaining cities
preferred to submit quietly and in 842 and 839 paid
tribute to Shalmaneser as they also did later to his
grandson Hadad-nirari 111. (81 1-782) when he marched
upon Syria.
As yet these expeditions led to no enduring suzerainty
(see ASSYRIA, § 32). In the first half of the eighth
century the movements of the Assyrians were restricted
by the powerful opposition of the kings of Urartu. With
Tiglath-pileser 111. began those systematic invasions
which ended in the virtual subjugation of the whole
Syrian territory.
It is within this period that more precise information
regarding Phceuicia first becomes accessible. Whilst
the older Assyrian kings, as we have seen, mention
(correctly or incorrectly) the names of a large number
of Phcenician cities and dynasts, under Tiglath-pileser
111. and Sargon there are only three Phcenician states
-Aradus, Byblos, and Tyre. The coastland of the
Eleutherus region, along with Simyra. 'Arka, and
Siyana, now belongs to the kingdom of Hamath (Annals
of Tiglath-pileser : 3 R. 9, 3 ZI. 26 46), but is made
by Tiglath-pileser into an Assyrian province. The
Phoenician cities appear to have submitted without
striking a blow. In 738 we find, amongst many other
dynasts, Matanha'al of Arados, Sibittiba'al of Byblos.
and Hiram 11. of Tyre paying tribute to Tiglath-pileser.
Soon afterwards Tyre showed signs of a longing for
independence; a heavy tribute was exacted from Metinna
(Mytton-ie., MattBn) of Tyre in consequence (about
1 As cities taken by him from Tyre Sennacherib (Prism
Inscr. 2 388) enumerates : -Great and Little Sidon, Betzitti,
Sarepta, Mahalliba, USii (pr. UsB),--i.e., Palretyrus,-Akzih.
Akko. In Menander (Jos. Anf. ix. 142 285) we must, therefore.
read Irre'c~ re Tupiov PiSLv xai 'Aq rat $ Ildarm'por x d
rroMa1 BMar rrdhrrc (so LV), and not with the other MSS
'Ap=:Arka.,
Various kings of Assyria set up steles by the Dog river near
Beirut ; but these are in such had - preservation that noteven the.
names can now be deciphered.
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