Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/634

 CIS PHOENICIA Australia, as Jistinsuished from (mr occupation of India. A modern writer has, with much erudition and ingenuity, endeavoured to trace the progress of Phoenician colonisation from the threefold cycle of ancient myths respecting the wanderings of Bel or Baal — the Cronos of the Greeks, and patron god of Byblus and Berytus ; of Astarte or lo (Venus- Urania), who was especially worshipped at Sidon ; and of Melcarth or the Tyrian Hercules. (Movers, Phoen. vol. ii. pt. ii. ch. 2.) With these myths are combined the legends of the rape of Europa, of the wanderings of Cadmus and Harmonia, of Helen, Dido, &c. That some portion of historical truth may lie at the bottom of these myths can hardly be disputed ; but a critical discussion of them would require more space than can be here devoted to the subject, and we must therefore content ourselves with giving a short sketch of what seems to be the most probable march of Phoenician colonisation. Cyprus, which lay within sight of Phoenicia, was probably one of the first places colonised thence. Its name of Chittim, mentioned in Genesis (x.), is preserved in that of Citium, its chief town. (Cic. Fin. iv. 20.) Paphos and Palaepaphos, at the SV. extremity of the island, and Golgos, near the SE. point, were the chief seats of the worship of Venus-Urania, the propagation of which marked the progress of Phoenician colonisation. The origin of the colony is likewise shown by the legend of the conquest of Cyprus by Belus, king of Sidon ( — " turn Belus opimum Vastabat Cyprum, et victor ditione tenebat," Virg. Aen. i. 621, et ih. Serv.), who was the reputed founder of Citium, Lapathus, and other Cyprian towns. (Alex. Ephes. in Stejjhan. v. AdirrjOos .) A great many Phoenician inscriptions have been found in this island. Hence the Phoe- nicians seem to have proceeded to the coast of Asia Minor, the islands of the Greek Archipelago, and the coast of Greece itself. Phoenician myths and tra- ditions are interwoven with the earliest history of Greece, and long precede the Trojan War. Such are the legends of Agenor in Cilicia, of Europa in Rhodes and Crete, of Cadmus in Thasos, Boeotia, Euboea and Thera. Rhodes seems to have been early visited by the Phoenicians ; and, if it did not actually become their colony, there are at least numerous traces that they were once predominant in the island. It is mentioned in Genesis (x. 4) in con- nection with Citium and Tartessus. (Comp. Epiphan. adv. Haeres. 30. 25, and Movers, vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 248, note 127.) Conon, a writer who flourished in the Augustan period, mentions that the Heliades, the ruling dynasty in Rhodes, were expelled by the Phoenicians (^Fab. 47, ap. Phot. p. 187), and numerous other traditions testify their occupation of the island. Traces of the Phoenicians may also be found in Crete, though they are fainter there than at Rhodes. It is the scene of the myth of Europa, the Sidonian Astarte ; and the towns of Itanos, which also bore the name of Araden (Steph. B. s.v. 'iTavSs; Hierocl. § 11 ; Acts, xxvii. 12), Lebena, and Phoe-- nice, were reputed to have been founded by them. We learn from Thucydides (i. 8) that the greater part of the Cyclades were colonised by Phoenicians. There are traces of them in Cilicia, Lycia, and Caria. We have already alluded to their intimate connection with the last-named country, and Thucy- dides, in the passage just cited, mixes the Carians and Phoenicians together. Chios and Samos are also connected with the Phoenicians by ancient myths; and at Tenedos, Melicertes, worshipped with PHOENICIA. the sflcrlfice of infants, is the Tyrian Meclarth, alh^o called Palaemon by the Greeks. (Lycophr. Cass. 229.) There are traces of Phoenician colonies in Bithynia, but not more eastward in the Euxine, though it cannot be doubted that their voyages ex- tended farther. Mythological analogies indicate their presence in Imbros and Lemnos, and there are distinct historical evidences of their settlements in the neighbouring island of Thasos. Herodotus had himself beheld the gigantic traces of their mining operations there, in which they appeared to have turned a whole mountain upside-down (vi. 47). The fable ran, that they had come thither in search of Europa. (Id. ii. 44.) They h.ad also settlements for the purposes of mining at Mount Pangaeus, on the opposite coast of Thrace. (Plin. vii. 57 ; Strab. xiv. p. 680.) According to Strabo (x. p. 447), Cadmus and his Arabs once dwelt at Chalcis in Euboea, having crossed over from Boeotia. Of the settlement of the Phoenicians in the latter country, there is historical testimony, to whatever credibility the legend of Cadmus may be entitled. (Herod, v. 57). The name of "OyKo., or Onca, by which Minerva was worshipped at Thebes, and which was also given to one of the city gates, was pure Phoe- nician. (Euphor. ap Steph. B. s. v. : of. Pausan. ix. 12.) From Thebes the Cadmeans were expelled by the Argives, and retired among the Enchelees, an Illyrian people (Herod, v. 61); and Illyrius, a son of Cadmus and Harmonia, was said to have given name to their country. (Apollod. iii. 5. § 4.) The Paphians, the ancient inhabitants of Cephallenia, were the reputed descendants of Cadmus. (^Odyss. XV. 426.) To colonise Sicily required bolder navigation ; but with the instinct of a commercial and maritime people, the Phoenicians seized its promontories and adjacent isles for the purpose of trading with the natives. (Thucyd. vi. 2.) Subsequently, however, they were gradually driven form their possessions by the growing power of the Greek colonies in that island, and were ultimately confined to its NW. corner (76.), which was the nearest point to Car- thage. Daedalus, an epithet of Hephaestos, the father of the Phoenician Cabiri, is represented as flying from Crete to Sicily. (Diod. iv. 77.) The Venus of Mount Eryx was probably of Phoenician origin from the veneration paid to her by the Car- thaginians. (Aelian, H. An. iv. 2; Athen. ix. p. 934.) An inscription found at Segesta mentions a priestess of Venus-Urania, which was the Phoenician Venus. (^Rhein. Mus. Vol. iv. p. 91.) There is some difljculty, however, with regard to the temples of this deity, from the attempts which have frequently been made to connect them with the wanderings of the Trojans after the capture of their city. Thus Dionysius of Halicamassus (^Ant. R. i. 20) at- tributes the temple of Venus at Cythera to Aeneas, whilst by Herodotus (i. 105) it is assigned to the Phoenicians. The migration of the latter to the western side of Sicily must have taken place after the year 736 B. c, the date of the arrival of the Greek colonists. There are no traces of the Phoe- nicians in Italy, but the islands between Sicily and Africa seem to have been occupied by them. Diodorus (v. 12) mentions Melite, or Malta, as a Phoenician colony. In later times, however, it was occupied by the Carthaginians, so that here, as in the rest of these islands, it is difficult to distinguish whether the antiquities belong to them, or to the Phoenicians. Farther westward we may track the