Semitic origin, as, for instance, those of Askalon, Arka, Aradus, Gaza, and, most probably, those also of Sidon and Tyre.
It is remarkable that a district, whose people became so famous in the early history of the world, should have been confined within so limited an area; for the average breadth of Phœnicia never exceeded twelve miles, while sometimes it is considerably less. In length it was about two hundred and twenty-five miles, from Aradus in the north to Joppa in the south.
Early notices of them. But if its territory was small, its position was admirably fitted for the grandest development of over-sea trade; and Tyre itself occupied pre-eminently the situation best fitted for carrying on the commerce of the then known world. We shall, therefore, briefly trace the course of that commerce, with a sketch of the chief places to which the Tyrians traded, and with some notice of the colonies they founded in the prosecution of this object; for to the activity of this remarkable people we owe the first link connecting the civilization of the East with Europe and Western Africa.[1]
The inhabitants of Phœnicia are first mentioned as Sidonians of the coast (though the name Phœnician also occurs), whose trinkets, like those of Autolycus, captivated the maidens of the Grecian islands,[2] and the produce of the Sidonian looms is said in the Iliad[3] to have been used for the most costly offerings to the gods. A little later we are able to trace them to Cyprus, Carthage, Malta, Sicily, the Balearic Islands, and, through the Pillars of Hercules, to
