INDIVIDUALITY OF PHŒNICIAN HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF THE NAME
By RICHARD PIETSCHMANN
Translated for this work from his Geschichte der Phönizier.
The history of both the Egyptian and the Babylonian peoples is closely bound up with the territorial history of a limited tract of land, while with the Phœnicians it is quite otherwise. Their history is in a far less degree the history of their land. Among all civilised nations of antiquity, Phœnicia was the first that, maintaining its national individuality and its form of civilisation, learned to become independent of the clod of earth upon which this individuality had been developed. It was the first that, by means of emigration and the founding of settlements, gained sufficient space to attain to full historical importance.
Upon the determination of the balance of power of the old Orient, upon the political life of their neighbours, the petty states of this district in reality never exerted a positive influence. At the most, their existence and their policy of the moment helped in the decision of some questions of relatively small importance in the course of world-historic events. Would we be more interested in the history of Tyre and Sidon than in that of Gaza and Ashdod, if the first communication of the East with the West had not been opened chiefly by the Phœnicians; and if a Phœnician colony, Carthage, a most dangerous rival first to the Greek towns of Sicily, and afterward to the rising world-power of Rome, had not fought the bitter struggle for supremacy on the coast-lands of the western half of the Mediterranean—a struggle which, after a long past poor in feats of arms, immortalised the name of the Punic race? The fame that illuminates the figures of the generals Hamilcar and Hannibal is reflected on the history of the mother country.
It is no new thing in the history of races for a reorganisation of the national life of an active people to take place in its colonies and emigrant fragments. We may cite the foundation of the states of the Veragri, and of the Normans, and the rise of the United States of America out of the settlements of New England. But, as these examples show, this seldom comes to pass without the evidence of considerable sacrifice of national individuality. Generally such new political formations involve at the same time a more or less complete change of national character, a great portion of which is sacrificed in the adaptation to changed conditions of life; but few traces of such a change can be observed amid the Phœnicians in their colonial cities.
Moreover, we are only now, since excavations in Greece have brought to light considerable quantities of remains from pre-Homeric times, beginning to put a correct estimate upon the sum of fruitful suggestions and finished products which the Phœnician seafarers and traders together with their wares brought to the nations of the West, and above all to Greek art. In this way, the expansion of the Phœnicians exercised an enduring influence upon the whole course of the history of civilisation in all later times.
What fitted them to become, in this sense also, an historically important people was, besides the tenacity of will with which they pursued their aims, a high degree of intellectual receptivity, which enabled them to assimilate with ease the attainments of foreign culture; and also the adaptability and insight with which they could make themselves at home even in entirely foreign surroundings.
Of the favourableness, or unfavourableness of circumstances, they were no more independent than any other people on earth has been. It even appears that, in accordance with some law, they achieved results only when, in the course of their undertakings, they came in contact with nations whose civilisation was still in process of formation, or at least, during the period of contact, did not attain to any importance of its own.
But the skill with which they were able to turn just such circumstances to their own advantage, and to continue a national existence in the midst of such an environment (this highly developed capacity for adaptation was their peculiar inheritance) was something that at least would have been utterly impossible with the cultured races of the Nile and the Euphrates. It was chiefly due to the fact that, not national elements, but those which had been learned and borrowed from foreign races, predominated in Phœnician culture. This made culture a comfortable garment, took from it and its wearers the awkwardness that would have developed in case of a more independent origin, kept it free from many fast chains and immutable faults which come with a uniform national culture and an isolated history of development.
As the scene of the history of the Phœnicians varies in extent with the location of their settlements, Phœnicia is less a fixed geographical idea than a name, which would simply designate in general that portion of the Syrian coast, whose chief population was of Phœnician descent.
Accordingly, the origin of the name “Phœnicia” (Phoinike) which the Greeks gave to this stretch of coast, is to be found in the Greek name of the inhabitants: “Phoinix,” the plural “Phoinix” and not “Phoinikes” from the name of the country.
“Phoinix” is formed like “Cilix,” the “Cilician,” and denotes the Phœnician as a man of reddish-brown complexion, as in Greek “phoinos” is the name of a colour varying from a brownish to a deep red. The same root which is in “phoinos” and “Phoinix” is also found in “Pœnus,” “the Punic,” which was the form given by the Italian races to the name they heard from the mouths of the Greeks of Greece proper (Hellas).
Word formations like that of Phoinix, not being very common in Greek as names of races, the Greeks did not always keep in mind the fundamental meaning of Phoinix, and very early began to devise artificial etymologies for it, which have in part proved to be quite arbitrary and absurd but in part have found approval among modern savants. Nor have the latter, on their side, neglected to increase the number of unsuccessful attempts at interpretation. It is not necessary to enter here into a discussion of the majority of these explanations, upon a refutation of the assertion that the Phœnicians received their name from Phoinix, a brother of Cadmus, or that the word “dyers in red” designates them as “purple merchants,” or even “robbers” and “murderers,” and other such notions, for they are now things of the past. Nevertheless they are in some degree on the right track, inasmuch as in them Phoinike is regarded as the derived, and Phoinix the root word.
As the date-palm and its fruit first became known to the Greeks through the medium of the Phœnicians, this tree was likewise called by them Phoinix, the “Phœnician” palm. So in antiquity it was a widespread interpretation to make Phoinike come, not from Phoinix, “the Phœnician,” but from phoinix, “date palm,” making Phoinike signify the “land of palms,” “the land of the date palm.” Among moderns, Movers in particular has brought forward many reasons for the correctness of this explanation.
Athenæus expressly mentions dates as a valuable article of Phœnician trade; but it is perhaps a great mistake to take them for a product of Phœnicia instead of a mere article of commerce, for the fruit of the Phœnix dactylifera does not reach maturity at all in Phœnicia. Little can be proved from the representation of the palm tree on coins whose origin may be traced solely to Grecian prototypes.
Finally, it is a philological impossibility that after the form Phoinike, as the name of the country, has been derived from phoinix, “date palm,” such a form as Phoinix as a designation of the inhabitants could ever have been in turn the result of derivation from this name of the country.
Phœnician Terra-cottas in the Louvre
PHŒNICIAN HISTORY IN OUTLINE
A PRELIMINARY SURVEY COMPRISING A CURSORY VIEW OF THE SOURCES OF PHŒNICIAN HISTORY, THE SWEEP OF EVENTS, AND A TABLE OF CHRONOLOGY
Of the sources for this history it is hardly possible to do more than to say that they hardly exist in any tangible form, and to echo Heeren’s complaint:
“The severest loss which ancient history has to mourn, a loss irreparable, is that of the destruction of the records that should inform us of the affairs, the government, and the enterprises of the Phœnicians. In proportion to the vast influence which this nation had in the civilisation of mankind by its own great inventions and discoveries (the invention of alphabetical writing is alone sufficient to show their importance), by its numerous colonies established in every quarter, and by its commerce extending even beyond these; the more sensibly we feel the gaps which the loss of these records leaves in the history of the human race. It is the conviction of the extent of this loss that gives the few fragments which have been preserved out of the great mass, a peculiar attraction to the historian; and though it may be impossible to compile from them a history of the Phœnicians, yet they will probably enable him to draw a tolerably faithful picture of the general character and genius of this nation in its various undertakings.”
The Phœnicians were a Semitic people, probably an early offshoot, like the Canaanites, from the parent stock; a people of remarkable industry, intelligence, and enterprise. Their country lay in southern Syria, between the Lebanon Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea, a strip of land about two hundred miles in length by thirty-five at its greatest width. Phœnicia was never a united state, but rather a confederacy of cities. At the time of our earliest knowledge Sidon stood at the head, but in the thirteenth century, B.C. Tyre became the most important.
FIRST PERIOD—TO THE SUPREMACY OF TYRE (3800-1100 B.C.)
3800 B.C. The empire of Sargon of Agade is believed to have included Syria and the shores of the Mediterranean.
2750 Foundation of Tyre, according to Herodotus’ account.
1950 One of the Elamite sovereigns of Babylon appears to have reduced a large part of Syria to subservience, which state of affairs does not last long.
1635 Aahmes I visits Zahi (southern Phœnicia) in his invasion of Asia, after the expulsion of the Hyksos.
1590 Tehutimes I appears to have made the Phœnicians pay tribute.
1530 Tehutimes III lays waste the land of Zahi; again in 1516.
1506 Arka (Akko) destroyed by Tehutimes III. Phœnicia is made tributary.
1500 Settlement of the Phœnicians in Cyprus. From this time on colonisation of the shore of the Mediterranean becomes active. Rhodes, the Cyclades, the islands of the Thracian coast, Samothrace, and Thasos are occupied. The stations on the Ægean are early abandoned—but the Phœnicians remain in Cyprus until ousted by the Dorians.
In the twelfth century B.C. the later Ramessides lose their dominion over Phœnicia. Egyptian culture and civilisation left little trace on Phœnicia, whereas the influence of Babylonia was very strong. After the loss of Phœnicia by Egypt, a number of petty feeble states arise.
About this time the colonists have reached the western shore of the Mediterranean, and Gades (Cadiz) and Tarshish in Spain are founded. The Atlantic is discovered, and according to classical accounts tin is brought from the mines of the Cassiterides, which by some authorities is said to mean the Scilly Isles and Cornwall, by others the island near Vigo in Spain.
1110 Tiglathpileser I of Assyria visits Phœnicia in his military campaigns.
SECOND PERIOD (1100-538 B.C.)
Up till now Sidon has stood at the head of the Phœnician cities, but the hegemony is lost to Tyre. The first king of 1020 whom we have any knowledge is Abibaal.
980 [or 969] Hiram I, his son, succeeds. He fortifies the island of Tyre; makes war against the Cypriotes who have refused tribute, and again subjugates them. Is the friend of Solomon.
936 Baalbazer, Hiram’s son, succeeds him.
929 Abdastarte, his son, succeeds.
920 Is killed by a conspiracy of his foster-brothers. Metuastarte, the eldest of the assassins seizes the throne.
908 Astarte, a scion of Hiram’s house, reigns in conjunction with Metuastarte.
896 Astarym, brother of Metuastarte, succeeds.
887 Is murdered by another brother, Phelles, who takes the throne, but the same year he also is killed by Ithobaal or Ethbaal, a priest of Astarte, who thereby becomes king.
In after years Jezebel, Ithobaal’s daughter, marries Ahab of Israel.
876 Asshurnazirpal of Assyria invades Phœnicia and erects a stele at the Nahr-el-Kelb, near Berytus. Tyre, Sidon, Tripolis, and Aradus hasten to send presents, and he does not trouble them further. Ithobaal founds Botrys, probably as a means of defence against the Assyrians, also Aoza in Africa.
855 Baalazar, Ithobaal’s son, succeeds to the throne of Tyre.
854 Battle of Qarqar. Victory of Shalmaneser II over Ben-Hadad II of Damascus and his allies. King Mettenbaal of Aradus takes part with the Syrians in the battle.
849 Metten I, Baalazar’s son, succeeds.
842-839 According to Shalmaneser’s record he takes tribute from Tyre, Sidon, and Byblus, but this may mean that voluntary presents are sent.
820 Pygmalion, Metten’s son, succeeds at age of nine.
812 He slays his uncle Sicharbas, the regent.
813 Flight of Elissa, Pygmalion’s sister and Sicharbas’ wife. She founds Carthage.
804-803 Adad-nirari III’s armies reach Phœnicia, and exact tribute from Tyre and Sidon.
773 Death of Pygmalion. The list of Phœnician kings given by Menander comes to an end.
738 Tiglathpileser III invades Syria, where a coalition has been formed to evade tribute. He returns to Assyria with rich treasure; amongst it the tribute of Hiram (II) of Tyre and Sibittibi’li of Byblus.
734 Byblus and Aradus pay tribute. Tyre does so under force. Tyre is still practically an independent state.
728 Elulæus, king of Tyre, rules under the name of Pylas.
Revolt of the Cittæi in Cyprus subdued.
727 According to Josephus, Shalmaneser IV attacks Elulæus. Sidon, Akko, and Palætyrus submit, and Tyre is captured after a five years’ siege. But there is no mention of this in Shalmaneser’s records, and it is extremely probable that Josephus confuses these events with those that actually took place in the reign of Sennacherib.
In his annals, Sargon II speaks of Tyre as of a town that belongs to him.
701 Sennacherib invades Syria where Hezekiah of Judah and other princes are planning a strong rebellion against Assyria. Elulæus (Luli), king of Sidon, flees at the Assyrian’s approach. Sennacherib makes the city the capital of a new province, and Ithobaal its king. The cities of the coast are ravaged, and Phœnician commerce greatly interfered with.
The colonial power of Tyre now begins to decay. The Assyrians settle themselves in Cyprus, and the Dorian migration has already driven the Phœnicians from the Grecian islands.
695 An independent kingdom is established at Tarshish.
690 The Phœnicians begin to lose their hold on Sicily.
680 Abd-milkot, king of Sidon, with Sandurri of Kundu and Sizu, revolts against Assyria. Abd-milkot flees at Esarhaddon’s approach and the latter besieges Sidon.
678 Fall of Sidon after a siege of nearly three years. The city is destroyed, and a new one, Kar-Asshur-akhe-iddin built on its ruins.
Abd-milkot beheaded.
Phœnician and Cypriote kings make submission to Assyria.
671 Baal I of Tyre revolts unsuccessfully against Esarhaddon. In submission he sends his own son Yahi-melek to the Assyrian court.
668 Asshurbanapal succeeds Esarhaddon on the Assyrian throne. With the help of Tyre he compels Yakinlu, king of Aradus, to submit. Subsequently Yakinlu is deposed and his son Azebaal given the throne. After this time the Phœnicians begin to throw off the Assyrian yoke, an achievement made easy by Asshurbanapal’s struggle with Shamash-shum-ukin in Babylonia. The recovery of independence is a peaceable one.
636 Is the last date we possess of an Assyrian governor in Phœnicia.
625 The Scythian tribes invade Phœnicia from the northeast.
610 Africa circumnavigated for Neku II by Phœnician seamen.
608 Battle of Megiddo, and submission of Syria to Neku II. Phœnicia once more under Egyptian dominion.
605 Battle of Carchemish. Defeat of Neku by Nebuchadrezzar. Phœnicia comes under the rule of Babylonia. Phœnicia now remains docile to Nebuchadrezzar until stirred up by Uah-ab-Ra, Pharaoh of Egypt, who enters into an alliance against Babylonia with Tyre and Sidon, after proceeding against them by land and sea.
587 Nebuchadrezzar besieges Tyre, of which Ithobaal II is king.
574 Fall of Tyre. Ithobaal removed to Babylon and Baal II put in his place.
564 Death of Baal II. The government of Tyre is reorganised, and a suffet is placed over the city.
563 A three months’ interregnum in which the high priest Abba is at the head of affairs, then a rule of two suffets—one for the island and one for Palætyrus. A state of anarchy arises.
557 Balatorus, an elected king, rules for one year.
556 Maharbaal (or Merbaal), a member of the exiled royal family is sent from Babylon to be king.
552 Hiram III succeeds his brother Maharbaal.
538 Capture of Babylon by Cyrus of Persia. Phœnicia becomes a Persian province. Tyre sinks into insignificance and Sidon becomes the leading city. Aahmes II of Egypt occupies Cyprus.
THIRD PERIOD (538-332 B.C.)
532 Death of Hiram III. Phœnicia, Palestine, and Syria become the fifth Persian satrapy.
530 Carthage becomes an independent power.
525 The Phœnicians furnish a fleet for Cambyses’ war in Egypt.
496 Phœnician fleet shares in the Persian victory off Lade.
480 Tetranestus, king of Sidon, Mapen of Tyre and Merbaal of Aradus accompany Xerxes to Greece. Phœnician fleet takes part in the expedition. 466 Battle of Salamis. Phœnician and Persian fleet defeated by the Greeks at Eurymedon.
455 Phœnician fleet is sent to aid Persians to reconquer Egypt for Artaxerxes I.
449 Defeat of the Phœnician fleet by the Athenians off Cyprus.
405 Battle of Ægospotami. Phœnician fleet aids Athens to defeat the Spartans.
400 Straton I comes to the throne of Sidon. He is the son of Tabnit (Tennes I), and grandson of Eshmunazer I, a descendant of Tetranestus, and succeeds his elder brother Eshmunazer II, who has died a minor.
394 Phœnician fleet helps the Athenians to defeat the Spartans at Cnidus. Friendly relations between Sidon and Athens.
390 Evagoras of Salamis in Cyprus storms Tyre, which is now in an enfeebled condition.
361 Straton I of Sidon joins Tachus of Egypt against the Persians and is killed by his wife to prevent falling into the hands of the enemy. Tabnit (Tennes) II succeeds him.
352 Tennes leads a revolt of Phœnicia against Persia, Cyprus joins him.
345 Tennes betrays Sidon to Artaxerxes III, who afterwards puts the king of Sidon to death. Cyprus subdued. Tyre resumes the leading position in Phœnicia.
333 Battle of Issus. Aradus and Byblus and Sidon join Alexander the Great. Tyre besieged by Alexander.
332 Capture of Tyre by Alexander. Azemilcus, the king, is spared, but eight thousand Tyrians are slain, and thirty thousand sold as slaves. End of Tyre’s political existence. The foundation of Alexandria also makes it lose much trade. The Phœnicians cease to be a great nation.
FOURTH PERIOD (332 B.C.-636 A.D.)
331 Alexander forms Phœnicia, Syria, and Cilicia into one province, over which he places Menes.
323 Death of Alexander. Phœnicia occupied alternately by Ptolemy and by Antigonus and his son Demetrius. Ptolemy finally retains possession (287).
315 Siege of Tyre by Antigonus.
246-198 Struggle between the Seleucidæ and Ptolemies for Phœnicia.
The Seleucidæ left in possession of Phœnicia after the surrender of Sidon (198).
The trade of Media and the Red Sea is diverted to Alexandria in Egypt.
125 Tyre and Sidon are practically independent after the Tyrians put Demetrius II to death.
86 Syria, worn out by the civil wars of the Seleucidæ puts itself under the dominion of Tigranes, king of Armenia.
67 Phœnicia and Syria return for a short time to the Seleucidæ after the victories of Lucullus.
63 Pompey reduces Syria to a Roman province.
44-42 Cassius divides Phœnicia into small principalities. Antony gives Phœnicia to Cleopatra, but reserves freedom of Tyre and Sidon.
20 Augustus deprives Tyre and Sidon of their liberties. He founds a Roman colony called Augustana, at Beirut (Berytus), which has a famous law school under the dominion of Rome. Tyre and Sidon have no political importance, but retain their commercial and manufacturing interests. They continue to have no historical importance until
193-194 A.D. Tyre and Laodicea take part in the struggle of Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger for the emperorship. Niger sends troops to Tyre, which burn and pillage the city.
201 Severus recruits the population of Tyre and gives it a colonial title. Tyre and Berytus enjoy the monopoly of producing that dye known as the imperial purple. As part of the second Syrian province of Rome, their prosperity 616 increases until the Persian king, Chosroes II, subjugates Syria (including Phœnicia) and rules it until 622 when the Byzantine emperor regains control.
636 Battle of the Hieromax. As a result the Emperor Heraclius abandons Syria to the Mohammedans.
FIFTH PERIOD (633-1516 A.D.)
Under the rule of the caliphs Phœnician civilisation suffers no decay. Tyre maintains its commercial importance.
1100-1110 Baldwin and the Crusaders capture all the Phœnician cities except Tyre.
1111 Siege of Tyre begun by Baldwin. He abandons it during the winter.
1124 Siege and capture of Tyre by the Crusaders.
1187 Saladin overthrows the kingdom of Jerusalem.
Tyre begins a heroic defence against him.
1189 Relief of Tyre by Guy de Lusignan. Capture of Acre (Akko) by Philip Augustus and Richard Cœur-de-Lion.
1192 Treaty of peace with the Mohammedans. The Christian territory extends from Joppa to Tyre.
Acre becomes the chief commercial centre of the Phœnician coast and 1291 is taken by the sultan of Egypt, to whom other Syrian towns also submit.
1516 Selim I conquers the whole of Syria, which since then has been included in the Ottoman empire.