CHAPTER II.
The Land of Phoenicia.
Geographically, Phœnicia was a small state. It lay between a spur of the Taurus mountains—Mt. Casius—on the north and Carmel on the south; washed by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, it was protected by a lofty mountain range on the east. These natural boundaries were important, since they shut in the land and sheltered it in a great measure from invasions and plundering raids.
About 200 miles in length, Phœnicia ranged from one to thirty-five miles in width. A narrow sandy coast-belt skirted the western side and was covered with date-palms, which gave the region its name. Greek sailors, coasting along the eastern shore of the sea, saw the luxuriant palms from afar, and called the whole eastern coast Phœnike—Land of Palms. Later, learning more particularly of the various nations which dwelt therein, they restricted the name to the country we are now studying.
East of the palm belt extend the fertile plains of Phœnicia. Here grew gardens, orchards and fields of grain, which made the district a veritable paradise. "'The cultivated tract presents for the most part an unbroken mass of corn, out of which rise here and there slight eminences in the midst of gardens and orchards—the sites of cities.' The gardens are gay with scarlet blossoms of the pomegranate, the orchards famous for the enormous oranges which diversify the green foliage of their shady groves."[1] Here was grown the food supply which supported the whole population of the country, generally speaking, while on the low hills which bounded the plain on the east, the vine, olive and mulberry were cultivated. At last, the high mountains arose, bare in spots and elsewhere covered with forest trees—oaks, chestnuts and the mighty cedars.
Several streams, mountain-born, rushed down steep sides, furnished moisture and added fertility to the plains, then found their way to the sea. Chief of these in early times, as today, was the Litany. This river rises 10,000 feet above the sea, and "forces its way through Lebanon by a deep and narrow gorge, in which it frets and chafes many hundred feet below the eye of the spectator, descending precipitously, and at last debouching upon the plain by a ravine, about five miles northeast of Tyre. It has been compared to a 'monster serpent chained in the yawning gulf, where she writhes and struggles evermore to escape from her dark and narrow prison, but always in vain, save only near the sea-shore, where her windings reach a close.'"[2]
Irregularities of the coast supplied harbors which would be quite inadequate for modern ships, but sufficed for the vessels of antiquity. Fringes of islets, near the shore, made refuge for sailors in time of storm in an age when no boats drew deep water, and when even the largest might be drawn up on the beach if necessary.
The climate of Phœnicia varied according to the locality. That of the plain was mild and pleasant, while snow lay most of the year upon the mountain peaks rising easterly. The scenery of the narrow strip changes constantly as one journeys east or west. Islands of the Mediterranean invited the sailor to venture far out from his native shore, and at an early period the sea was dotted over by the merchant-ships of the Phœnicians. East, north and south high mountains offer a varied aspect to the traveller. The Lebanon range has always been notably beautiful. "The elevation rises gradually as we proceed north-ward, until the range culminates in the peaks above the cedars, which are estimated to attain a height of from nine thousand to ten thousand feet.... Garden cultivation carpets the base of the mountain; above this is, for the most part, a broad fringe of olive groves; higher up, the hill sides are carefully terraced, not an inch of ground being wasted; and among sharp cliffs and pointed rocks of a grey-white hue are strips of cornfields, long rows of dwarf mulberries, figs, apricots, apples, walnuts, and other fruit trees. Gorges, ravines, charming glens, deep valleys, diversify the mountain sides; here and there are tremendous chasms, with precipices that go sheer down for a thousand feet; tiny rivulets bound and leap from rock to rock and from terrace to terrace, forming chains of cascades, refreshing and fertilizing all around. In the deep gorges flow copious streams, shaded by overhanging woods of pines or cedars; and towards the summit are in several places magnificent cedar groves, remnants of the primeval forest which once clothed the greater part of the mountain. Above all towers the bare limestone of the dorsal ridge, always white enough to justify the name Lebanon (White Mountain), and for eight months of the year clothed with a mantle of snow."[3]
Semitic tribes, journeying out of Arabia at a remote period, crossed into Chaldea, and after a sojourn which cannot now be estimated, worked their way westward to the region just described. In all probability Turanians held the territory. With these they intermingled and inter-married, while kinsmen coming later from the old Arabian home, kept the stock nearly pure Semitic.
One of the oldest settlements was made at Sidon, the name of the town commemorating the earliest occupation of its people. Sidon signifies fishery, and it is supposed that the first comers were fishermen. In later years when Sidon was the wealthiest city in Western Asia, and when her proud merchantmen had left nets to the portion of the humblest born, the early name stood in memory of primitive days.