Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/408

 386 HISTORY OK ART IN PIKKNK IA AND ITS DKPKXUKXCIKS. good account. 1 Such natural barriers were made more efficient by additions in concrete and masonry." Artificial breakwaters were raised and the passages left through them so planned that they could be closed by chains/ 5 Sidon had thus a closed harbour, as the ancients called it, 4 to the north, and to the south an anchorage protected to some extent by two jutting points of land between which ships could be dravn up on the beach when there was a heavy sea. This was the Egyptian harbour. It is now aban- doned and the harbour on the north serves the little modern town. Tyre had two harbours, both closed ; the Sidon harbour to the north, the Egyptian harbour to the south. The latter has been entirely obliterated by the action of Alexander's Mole, which intercepted the sands carried by the tide and caused them to be deposited against the island. The small plan which we have taken from M. Renan's great work (Fig. 5) gives his idea as to the former position of the two harbours. Between the two, and along that part of the island which faced the continent, were the ncoria (vewpia), or berths for the galleys. Stocks and building sheds were no doubt in a quarter by them- selves, in a sort of dockyard communicating with the two com- mercial basins. Here, too, were the ferries for the traffic between the island and the mainland. Let us suppose these harbours restored to their original condition ; they would be more like one of our small fishing harbours than such ports as Havre or Marseilles. Compared to ours the ships of the ancients were of very small size ; they drew little water and took up very little space ; moreover, they w r ere not always afloat ; they were laid up on land during the winter. Fishing boats were drawn up on the beach, while the great ships of war or commerce were dragged up over rollers into covered sheds, where they waited for the reopening of the season. And when the time came round they were not all rigged and launched 1 These rocks are described by M. REN AN in his account of Tyre (Mission, PP 572, 573) - On this subject see RENAN'S plate Ivii. and the accompanying text. 3 APPIAN (Anabasis, ii. xx. 6, 9 ; xxi. 8 ; xxii. 3 ; xxiv. i). 4 2t8;'n' TroAis Kai ifjiijv KXeurro's. SCYLAX, Peripius, 101. "' We must refer our readers to M. RENAN'S treatment of the question as to the site of the Tyrian harbours (Mission, pp. 559-571)- This, at least, we gather from a comparison of APPIAN'S description (Anabasis, ii. 23) with that of DIODORUS (xvii. xlvi. i).