Part 3 (1/2)

CHAPTER V--THE COLONIES

Circ.u.mstances which led the Phoenicians to colonise--Their colonies best grouped geographically--1. Colonies of the Eastern Mediterranean--in Cyprus, Citium, Amathus, Curium, Paphos, Salamis, Ammochosta, Tamisus, and Soli;--in Cilicia, Tarsus;--in Lycia, Phaselis;--in Rhodes, Lindus, Ialysus, Camirus;--in Crete, and the Cyclades;--in the Northern Egean; &c. 2. In the Central and Western Mediterranean--in Africa, Utica, Hippo-Zaritis, Hippo Regius, Carthage, Hadrumetum, Leptis Minor, Leptis Major, and Thapsus;--in Sicily, Motya, Eryx, Panormus, Solocis;--between Sicily and Africa, Cossura, Gaulos, and Melita;--in Sardinia, Caralis, Nora, Sulcis, and Tharros;--in the Balearic Isles;--in Spain, Malaca, s.e.x, Abdera. 3. Outside the Straits of Gibraltar;--in Africa, Tingis, and Lixus; in Spain, Tartessus, Gades, and Belon--Summary.

The narrowness of the territory which the Phoenicians occupied the military strength of their neighbours towards the north and towards the south, and their own preference of maritime over agricultural pursuits, combined to force them, as they began to increase and multiply, to find a vent for their superfluous population in colonies. The military strength of Philistia and Egypt barred them out from expansion upon the south; the wild savagery of the mountain races in Casius, northern Bargylus, and Ama.n.u.s was an effectual barrier towards the north; but before them lay the open Mediterranean, placid during the greater portion of the year, and conducting to a hundred lands, thinly peopled, or even unoccupied, where there was ample room for any number of immigrants. The trade of the Phoenicians with the countries bordering the Eastern Mediterranean must be regarded as established long previously to the time when they began to feel cramped for s.p.a.ce; and thus, when that time arrived, they had no difficulty in finding fresh localities to occupy, except such as might arise from a too abundant amplitude of choice. Right in front of them lay, at the distance of not more than seventy miles, visible from Casius in clear weather,[51] the large and important island, once known as Chittim,[52] and afterwards as Cyprus, which played so important a part in the history of the East from the time of Sargon and Sennacherib to that of Bragadino and Mustapha Pasha. To the right, well visible from Cyprus, was the fertile tract of Cilicia Campestris, which led on to the rich and picturesque regions of Pamphylia, Lycia, and Caria. From Caria stretched out, like a string of stepping-stones between Asia and Europe, the hundred islets of the aegean, Cyclades, and Sporades, and others, inviting settlers, and conducting to the large islands of Crete and Euboea, and the sh.o.r.es of Attica and the Peloponnese. It is impossible to trace with any exactness the order in which the Phoenician colonies were founded. A thousand incidental circ.u.mstances--a thousand caprices--may have deranged what may be called the natural or geographical order, and have caused the historical order to diverge from it; but, on the whole, probably something like the geographical order was observed; and, at any rate, it will be most convenient, in default of sufficient data for an historical arrangement, to adopt in the present place a geographic one, and, beginning with those nearest to Phoenicia itself in the Eastern Mediterranean, to proceed westward to the Straits of Gibraltar, reserving for the last those outside the Straits on the sh.o.r.es of the Atlantic Ocean.

The nearest, and probably the first, region to attract Phoenician colonies was the island of Cyprus. Cyprus lies in the corner of the Eastern Mediterranean formed by the projection of Asia Minor from the Syrian sh.o.r.e. Its mountain chains run parallel with Taurus, and it is to Asia Minor that it presents its longer flank, while to Phoenicia it presents merely one of its extremities. Its length from east to west is 145 miles, its greatest width about sixty miles.[53] Two strongly marked mountain ranges form its most salient features, the one running close along the north coast from Cape Kormaciti to Cape S. Andreas; the other nearly central, but nearer the south, beginning at Cape Renaouti in the west and terminating at Cape Greco. The mountain ranges are connected by a tract of high ground towards the centre, and separated by two broad plains,[54] towards the east and west. The eastern plain is the more important of the two. It extends along the course of the Pediaeus from Leucosia, or Nicosia, the present capital, to Salamis, a distance of thirty-five miles, and is from five to twelve miles wide. The fertility of the soil was reckoned in ancient times to equal that of Egypt.[55]

The western plain, that of Morfou, is much smaller, and is watered by a less important river. The whole island, when it first became known to the Phoenicians, was well wooded.[56] Lovely glens opened upon them, as they sailed along its southern coast, watered by clear streams from the southern mountain-range, and shaded by thick woods of pine and cedar, the latter of which are said to have in some cases attained a greater size even than those of the Lebanon.[57] The range was also prolific of valuable metals.[58] Gold and silver were found in places, but only in small quant.i.ties; iron was yielded in considerable abundance; but the chief supply was that of copper, which derived its name from that of the island.[59] Other products of the island were wheat of excellent quality; the rich Cyprian wine which retains its strength and flavour for well nigh a century, the _henna_ dye obtained from the plant called _copher_ or _cyprus_, the _Lawsonia alba_ of modern botany; valuable pigments of various kinds, red, yellow, green, and amber; hemp and flax; tar, boxwood,[510] and all the materials requisite for s.h.i.+pbuilding from the heavy timbers needed for the keel to the lightest spar and the flimsiest sail.[511]

The earliest of the Phoenician settlements in Cyprus seem to have lain upon its southern coast. Here were Citium, Amathus, Curium, and Paphus, the Palae-paphus of the geographers, which have all yielded abundant traces of a Phoenician occupation at a very distant period. Citium, now Larnaka, was on the western side of a deep bay, which indents the more eastern portion of the southern coast, between the promontories of Citi and Pyla. It is sheltered from all winds except the south-east, and continues to the present day the chief port of the island. The Phoenician settlers improved on the natural position by the formation of an artificial basin, enclosed within piers, the lines of which may be traced, though the basin itself is sanded up.[512] A plain extends for some distance inland, on which the palm-tree flourishes, and which is capable of producing excellent crops of wheat.[513] Access to the interior is easy; for the mountain range sinks as it proceeds eastward, and between Citium and Dali (Idalium), on a tributary of the Pediaeus, is of small elevation. There are indications that the Phoenicians did not confine themselves to the coast, but penetrated into the interior, and even settled there in large numbers. Idalium, sixteen miles north-west of Citium, and Golgi (Athienau), ten miles nearly due north of the same, show traces of having supported for a considerable time a large Phoenician population,[514] and must be regarded as outposts advanced from Citium into the mountains for trading, and perhaps for mining purposes. Idalium (Dali) has a most extensive Phoenician necropolis; the interments have a most archaic character; and their Phoenician origin is indicated both by their close resemblance to interments in Phoenicia proper and by the discovery, in connection with them, of Phoenician inscriptions.[515] At Golgi the remains scarcely claim so remote an antiquity. They belong to the time when Phoenician art was dominated by a strong Egyptian influence, and when it also begins to have a partially h.e.l.lenic character. Some critics a.s.sign them to the sixth, or even to the fifth century, B.C.[516]

West of Citium, also upon the south coast, and in a favourable situation for trade with the interior, was Amathus. The name Amathus has been connected with ”Hamath;”[517] but there is no reason to suppose that the Hamathites were Phoenicians. Amathus, which Stephen of Byzantium calls ”a most ancient Cyprian city,”[518] was probably among the earliest of the Phoenician settlements in the island. It lay in the bay formed by the projection of Cape Gatto from the coast, and, like Citium, looked to the south-east. Westward and south-westward stretched an extensive plain, fertile and well-watered, shaded by carob and olive-trees,[519]

whilst towards the north were the rich copper mines from which the Amathusians derived much of their prosperity. The site has yielded a considerable amount of Phoenician remains--tombs, sarcophagi, vases, bowls, paterae and statuettes.[520] Many of the tombs resemble those at Idalium; others are stone chambers deeply buried in the earth. The mimetic art shows a.s.syrian and Egyptian influence, but is essentially Phoenician, and of great interest. Further reference will be made to it in the Chapter on the aesthetic Art of the Phoenicians.

Still further to the west, in the centre of the bay enclosed between the promontories of Zeugari and Boosoura, was the colony of Curium, on a branch of the river Kuras. Curium lay wholly open to the south-western-gales, but had a long stretch of sandy sh.o.r.e towards the south-east, on which vessels could be drawn up. The town was situated on a rocky elevation, 300 feet in height, and was further defended by a strong wall, a large portion of which may still be traced.[521] The richest discovery of Phoenician ornaments and objects of art that has yet been made took place at Curium, where, in the year 1874, General Di Cesnola happened upon a set of ”Treasure Chambers” containing several hundreds of rings, gems, necklaces, bracelets, armlets, ear-rings, bowls, basins, jugs, paterae, &c., in the precious metals, which have formed the princ.i.p.al material for all recent disquisitions on the true character and excellency of Phoenician art. Commencing with works of which the probable date is the fifteenth or sixteenth century B.C., and descending at least as far as the best Greek period[522] (B.C.

500-400), embracing, moreover, works which are purely a.s.syrian, purely Egyptian, and purely Greek, this collection has yet so predominant a Phoenician character as to mark Curium, notwithstanding the contrary a.s.sertions of the Greeks themselves,[523] for a thoroughly Phoenician town. And the history of the place confirms this view, since Curium sided with Amathus and the Persians in the war of Onesilus.[524] No doubt, like most of the other Phoenician cities in Cyprus, it was h.e.l.lenised gradually; but there must have been many centuries during which it was an emporium of Phoenician trade and a centre of Phoenician influence.

Where the southern coast of Cyprus begins to trend to the north-west, and a river of some size, the Bocarus or Diorizus, reaches the sea, stood the Phoenician settlement of Paphos, founded (as was said[525]) by Cinyras, king of Byblus. Here was one of the most celebrated of all the temples of Astarte or Ashtoreth,[526] the Phoenician Nature-G.o.ddess; and here ruled for many centuries the sacerdotal cla.s.s of the Cinyridae. The remains of the temple have been identified, and will be described in a future chapter. They have the ma.s.sive character of all early Phoenician architecture.

Among other Phoenician settlements in Cyprus were, it is probable, Salamis, Ammochosta (now Famagosta), Tamasus, and Soli. Salamis must be regarded as originally Phoenician on account of the name, which cannot be viewed as anything but another form of the Hebrew ”Salem,” the alternative name of Jerusalem.[527] Salamis lay on the eastern coast of the island at the mouth of the main river, the Pediaeus. It occupied the centre of a large bay which looked towards Phoenicia, and would naturally be the place where the Phoenicians would first land. There is no natural harbour beyond that afforded by the mouth of the Pediaeus, but a harbour was easily made by throwing out piers into the bay; and of this, which is now sanded up, the outline may be traced.[528] There are, however, no remains, either at Salamis or in the immediate neighbourhood, which can claim to be regarded as Phoenician; and the glories of the city belong to the history of Greece.

Ammochosta was situated within a few miles of Salamis, towards the south.[529] Its first appearance in history belongs to the reign of Esarhaddon (B.C. 680), when we find it in a list of ten Cyprian cities, each having its own king, who acknowledged for their suzerain the great monarch of a.s.syria.[530] Soon afterwards it again occurs among the cities tributary to a.s.shur-bani-pal.[531] Otherwise we have no mention of it in Phoenician times. As Famagosta it was famous in the wars between the Venetians and the Turks.

Tamasus, or Tama.s.sus, was an inland city, and the chief seat of the mining operations which the Phoenicians carried on in the island in search of copper.[532] It lay a few miles to the west of Idalium (Dali), on the northern flank of the southern mountain chain. The river Pediaeus flowed at its feet. Like Ammochosta, it appears among the Cyprian towns which in the seventh century B.C. were tributary to the a.s.syrians.[533]

The site is still insufficiently explored.

Soli lay upon the coast, in the recess of the gulf of Morfou.[534] The fiction of its foundation by Philocyprus at the suggestion of Solon[535]

is entirely disproved by the occurrence of the name in the a.s.syrian lists of Cyprian towns a century before Solon's time. Its sympathies were with the Phoenician, and not with the h.e.l.lenic, population of the island, as was markedly shown when it joined with Amathus and Citium in calling to Artaxerxes for help against Evagoras.[536] The city stood on the left bank of the river Clarius, and covered the northern slope of a low hill detached from the main range, extending also over the low ground at the foot of the hill to within a short distance of the sh.o.r.e, where are to be seen the remains of the ancient harbour. The soil in the neighbourhood is very rich, and adapted for almost any kind of cultivation.[537] In the mountains towards the south were prolific veins of copper.

The northern coast of the island between Capes Cormaciti and S. Andreas does not seem to have attracted the Phoenicians, though there are some who regard Lapethus and Cerynia as Phoenician settlements.[538] It is a rock-bound sh.o.r.e of no very tempting aspect, behind which the mountain range rises up steeply. Such Phoenician emigrants as held their way along the Salaminian plain and, rounding Cape S. Andreas, pa.s.sed into the channel that separates Cyprus from the mainland, found the coast upon their right attract them far more than that upon their left, and formed settlements in Cilicia which ultimately became of considerable importance. The chief of these was Tars or Tarsus, probably the Tars.h.i.+sh of Genesis,[539] though not that of the later Books, a Phoenician city, which has Phoenician characters upon its coins, and wors.h.i.+pped the supreme Phoenician deity under the t.i.tle of ”Baal Tars,” ”the Lord of Tarsus.”[540] Tarsus commanded the rich Cilician plain up to the very roots of Taurus, was watered by the copious stream of the Cydnus, and had at its mouth a commodious harbour. Excellent timber for s.h.i.+pbuilding grew on the slopes of the hills bounding the plain, and the river afforded a ready means of floating such timber down to the sea.

Cleopatra's s.h.i.+ps are said to have been derived from the Cilician forests, which Antony made over to her for the purpose.[541] Other Phoenician settlements upon the Cilician coast were, it is probable, Soli, Celenderis, and Nagidus.

Pursuing their way westward, in search of new abodes, the emigrants would pa.s.s along the coast, first of Pamphylia and then of Lycia. In Pamphylia there is no settlement that can be with confidence a.s.signed to them; but in Lycia it would seem that they colonised Phaselis, and perhaps other places. The mountain which rises immediately behind Phaselis was called ”Solyma;”[542] and a very little to the south was another mountain known as ”Phoenicus.”[543] Somewhat further to the west lies the cape still called Cape Phineka,[544] in which the root Phoenix ({phoinix}) is again to be detected. A large district inland was named Cabalis or Cabalia,[545] or (compare Phoen. and Heb. _gebal_, mod. Arab.

_jebel_) the ”mountain” country. Phaselis was situated on a promontory projecting south-eastward into the Mediterranean,[546] and was reckoned to have three harbours,[547] which are marked in the accompanying chart.

Of these the princ.i.p.al one was that on the western side of the isthmus, which was formed by a stone pier carried out for more than two hundred yards into the sea, and still to be traced under the water.[548]

The other two, which were of smaller size, lay towards the east. The Phoenicians were probably tempted to make a settlement at the place, partly by the three ports, partly by the abundance of excellent timber for s.h.i.+pbuilding which the neighbourhood furnishes. ”Between Phaselis and Cape Avora, a little north of it,” says a modern traveller, ”a belt of large and handsome pines borders the sh.o.r.e for some miles.”[549]

From Lycia the Asiatic coast westward and north-westward was known as Caria; and here Phoenician settlements appear to have been numerous. The entire country was at any rate called Phoenice by some authors.[550]

But the circ.u.mstances do not admit of our pointing out any special Phoenician settlements in this quarter, which early fell under almost exclusive Greek influence. There are ample grounds, however, for believing that the Phoenicians colonised Rhodes at the south-western angle of Asia Minor, off the Carian coast. According to Conon,[551] the earliest inhabitants of Rhodes were the Heliades, whom the Phoenicians expelled. The Phoenicians themselves were at a later date expelled by the Carians, and the Carians by the Greeks. Ergeias, however, the native historian, declared[552] that the Phoenicians remained, at any rate in some parts of the island, until the Greeks drove them out. Ialysus was, he said, one of their cities. Dictys Cretensis placed Phoenicians, not only in Ialysus, but in Camirus also.[553] It is the conclusion of Kenrick that ”the Phoenician settlement in Rhodes was the first which introduced civilisation among the primeval inhabitants, and that they maintained their ascendancy till the rise of the naval power of the Carians. These new settlers reduced the Phoenicians to the occupancy of three princ.i.p.al towns”--i.e. Lindus, Ialysus, and Camirus; but ”from these too they were expelled by the Dorians, or only allowed to remain at Ialysus as the hereditary priesthood of their native G.o.d.”[554]

Rhodes is an island about one-fourth the size of Cyprus, with its axis from the north-east to the south-west. It possesses excellent harbours, accessible from all quarters,[555] and furnis.h.i.+ng a secure shelter in all weathers. The fertility of the soil is great; and the remarkable history of the island shows the importance which attaches to it in the hands of an enterprising people. Turkish apathy has, however, succeeded in reducing it to insignificance.

The acquisition of Rhodes led the stream of Phoenician colonisation onwards in two directions, south-westward and north-westward.

South-westward, it pa.s.sed by way of Carpathus and Casus to Crete, and then to Cythera; north-westward, by way of Chalcia, Telos, and Astypalaea, to the Cyclades and Sporades. The presence of the Phoenicians in Crete is indicated by the haven ”Phoenix,” where St. Paul's conductors hoped to have wintered their s.h.i.+p;[556] by the town of Ita.n.u.s, which was named after a Phoenician founder,[557] and was a staple of the purple-trade,[558] and by the existence near port Phoenix of a town called ”Araden.” Leben, on the south coast, near Cape Leo, seems also to have derived its name from the Semitic word for ”lion.”[559] Crete, however, does not appear to have been occupied by the Phoenicians at more than a few points, or for colonising so much as for trading purposes. They used its southern ports for refitting and repairing their s.h.i.+ps, but did not penetrate into the interior, must less attempt to take possession of the whole extensive territory. It was otherwise with the smaller islands. Cythera is said to have derived its name from the Phoenician who colonised it, and the same is also reported of Melos.[560] Ios was, we are told, originally called Phoenice;[561]

Anaphe had borne the name of Membliarus, after one of the companions of Cadmus;[562] Oliarus, or Antiparos, was colonised from Sidon.[563]

Thera's earliest inhabitants were of the Phoenician race;[564] either Phoenicians or Carians had, according to Thucydides,[565] colonised in remote times ”the greater part of the islands of the aenean.” There was a time when probably all the aegean islands were Phoenician possessions, or at any rate acknowledged Phoenician influence, and Siphnus gave its gold, its silver,[566] and its lead,[567] Cythera its sh.e.l.l-fish,[568]

Paros its marble, Melos its sulphur and its alum,[569] Nisyrus its millstones,[570] and the islands generally their honey,[571] to increase the wealth and advance the commercial interests of their Phoenician masters.

From the Sporades and Cyclades the advance was easy to the islands of the Northern aegean, Lemnos, Imbrus, Thasos, and Samothrace. The settlement of the Phoenicians in Thasos is attested by Herodotus, who says that the Tyrian Hercules (Melkarth) was wors.h.i.+pped there,[572] and ascribes to the Phoenicians extensive mining operations on the eastern sh.o.r.es of the island between aenyra and Coenyra.[573] A Phoenician occupation of Lemnos, Imbrus, and Samothrace is indicated by the wors.h.i.+p in those islands of the Cabeiri,[574] who were undoubtedly Phoenician deities. Whether the Phoenicians pa.s.sed from these islands to the Thracian mainland, and worked the gold-mines of Mount Pangaeus in the vicinity of Philippi, may perhaps be doubtful, but such seems to have been the belief of Strabo and Pliny.[575] Strabo also believed that there had been a Semitic element in the population of Euboea which had been introduced by Cadmus;[576] and a Phoenician settlement in Boeotia was the current tradition of the Greek writers upon primitive times, whether historians or geographers.[577]