Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/629

PHOENICIA. 613 (Diod. xvi. 43.) But in the year 315 B.C. Antiponus, returning victorious from Babylonia, easily expelled the garrisons of Ptolemy from all the Phoenician towns except Tyre, where he experienced an obstinate resistance. Eighteen years had sufficed to restore it in a considerable degree to its ancient wealth and power ; and although the mole still remained it was almost as impregnable as before, and was not reduced till after a siege of fifteen months. From this period down to near the end of the third century b. c. there was an almost constant succession of struggles for the possession of Phoenicia between the Ptolemies on one side and the Seleucidae on the other. Ptolemy Euergetes succeeded in reducing it, and it was held by him and his son Philopator down to the year 218 B.C. ; when Antiochus the Great, taking advantage of the indolent and sensual character of the latter, and the consequent disorders of his administration, undertook its re- covery. Tyre and Ace were surrendered to him by the treachery of Theodotus, the lieutenant of Phi- lopator, and the Egyptian army and fleet were de- feated and driven to take refuge at Sidon. In the following year, however, Philopator defeated An- tiochus at Eaphia near the frontiers of Egypt, and regained possession of Phoenicia and Syria, which he retained till his death, b. c. 205. The reign of his infant son again tempted the ambition of Antiochus. He succeeded in reducing Phoenicia, and after repulsing an attempt of the Egyptians to regain it in B.C. 198, firmly established his do- minion, and bequeathed it to his sons. Notwithstanding these struggles, Tyre appears to have still enjoyed a considerable share of commercial prosperity, in which, however, she had now to en- counter a formidable rival in Alexandria. At first, indeed, that city did not much interfere with her prosperity; but the foundation of Berenice on the Bed Sea by Ptolemy Philadel})hus, the making of a road between that place and Coptos, and the re- opening of the canal which connected the gulf of Stiez with the Pelusiac branch of the Nile (Strab. p. 781) inflicted a severe blow upon her commerce, and converted Alexandria into the chief emporium for the products of the East. The civil wars of the Seleucidae, and the suffer- ings which they entailed, induced the Syrians and Phoenicians to place themselves under the protection of Tigranes, king of Armenia, in the year 8.3 b. c. (Justin, xl. 1 ; Appian, Syr. 48.) Ace, or Ptolemais, was the only city which, at the instigation of Selene, queen of Antigonus, refused to open its gates to Tigranes. That monarch held Phoenicia during fourteen years, when the Seleucidae regained it for a short time in consequence of the victories of Lucullus. Four years later Pompey reduced all Syria to the condition of a Roman province. During the civil wars of Rome, Phoenicia was the scene of many struggles between the Roman generals. Just pre- viously to the battle of Philippi, Cassius divided Syria into several small principalities, which he sold to the highest bidders ; and in this way Tyre had a;;ain a king called Marion. Antony presented the whole country between Egypt and the river Eleu- therus to Cleopatra, but, in spite of her intreaties to the contrary, secured Tyre and Sidon in their ancient freedom. (Joseph. Ant. xv. 4. § 1.) But when Augustus visited the East, b. c. 20, he deprived them of their liberties. (Dion Cass. liv. 7.) Although the Roman dominion jjut an end to the political existence of Tyre and Sidon, they retained PHOENICIA. 6)3 their manufactures and commerce for a considerable period. Mela, who probably wrote during the reign of Claudius, characterises Sidon as "adhuc opulenta" (i. 12); and Pliny, at about the same period, adverts to the staple trade of Tyre as beini,' still in a flourishing condition (" nunc omnis ejus nobilitas conchylio atque purpura constat," v. 17). At the instance of the rhetorician Paulus, Hadrian, as we have already mentioned, granted to Tyre the title of metropolis. It was the residence of a proconsul, and the chief naval station on the coast of Syria. During the contest of Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger for imperial power, a. d.193, Berytus favoured the cause of Niger, Tyre that of Septimius; in con- sequence of which, it was taken and burnt by the light Mauritanian troops of Niger, who committed great slaughter. (Herodian, iii. 9. § 10.) Severus, after his success, recruited the population of Tyre from the third legion, and, as a reward for its attachment, bestowed on it the Jtis Italicum and the title of colony. (Ulpian, Dig. Leg. de Cens. tit. 15; Eckhel, vol. iii. p. 387.) In the time of St. Jerome, towards the end of the fourth century, it was still the first commercial city of the East (^Comm. ad Ezeh. xxvi. 7, xxvii. 2) ; and after the destruction of Berytus by an earthquake in the reign of Justinian, it monopolised the manufacture of imperial purple, which it had previously shared with that city. Beyond this period it is not necessary to pursue the history of Phoenicia. We shall only add that Tyre continued to flourish under the mild dominion of the caliphs, and that, in spite of all the violence which it suffered from the crusaders, its prosperity was not utterly annihilated till the con- quest of Syria by the Ottoman Turks, a. d. 1516; a result, however, to which the discovery of the New World, and of a route to Asia by the Cape of Good Uope, likewise contributed. V. Political Constitution. Phoenicia consisted of several small independent kingdoms, or rather cities, which were sometimes united with and sometimes opposed to one another, just as we find Canaan described at the time when it was invaded by the Israelites. (Strab. xvi. p. 754; Joshua, x.) We have but little information re- specting the constitution of these kingdoms. The throne was commonly hereditary, but the people seem to have possessed a right of election. (Justin, xviii. 4.) The chief priests exercised great power, and were next in rank to the king. Thus Sicharbas, or Sichaeus, chief priest of the temple of Hercules, was the husband of Dido, and consequently the brother-in-law of king Pygmalion. There seems also to have been a powerful aristocracy, but on what it was founded is unknown. Thus a body of nobles, who are called senators, accompanied the emigration of Dido. (Justin, I. c.) During the interregnum at Tyre after the servile insurrection, the government was carried on by elective magistrates, called judges orsuffetes. (Joseph, c. ^ja. i. 21.) This institution also obtained at Gades and Carthage, and probably in all the western colonies of Tyro. (Liv. xxviii. 37 ; comp. Movers, ii. pt. i. p. 534.) Kings existed in Phoenicia down to the time of Alexan<ler the Great. (Arrian, ii. 24.) The federal constitution of Phoe- nicia resembled a Grecian hegemony: either Tyre or Sidon was always at the head, though Araiius and Byblus likewise had kings. During the eariicst period of its history, Sidon appears to liave been the leading city ; but after its capture by the king R u 3