Among the bequests of Phoenicia to mankind, first will always stand the giving of an alphabet to the world. It is true that other nations possessed a written language, but their symbols were generally so complicated and so numerous that they could hardly have become of general service. It was earlier a.s.sumed that the Phoenicians invented the alphabet which they spread among the nations around them, but now it is believed that they simply shortened and simplified symbols already in existence. Their alphabet was widely adopted, to be sure, not because it was most convenient, but because it was the only one known to many nations, who never came in direct contact with dwellers on the Nile or Mesopotamians.
In Phoenicia"s palmy days literature and learning were neglected--at least so far as can now be ascertained. It is not unlikely that scholars lived sometimes in the larger cities, and schools were probably maintained to some extent, but at all events, no remains of a Phoenician literature has come down to us, and it has been commonly surmised that no extensive literature ever existed. The nation was bent upon its commercial life, and only such knowledge as would be essential to traders was regarded as necessary. In later times, in the last century before Christ and in the first century of the new era, literary activity was more marked. We are told that there was a school of philosophy at Sidon, and the city became a literary center, but this had little to do with the period of Phoenician ascendency which practically ended with Greek dominance.
RELIGION.
Somewhat more is known of the religion of Phoenicia, but here again we are not able to trace its development in any complete sense, and most that has been recorded concerning it was written by foreigners whose att.i.tude was uniformly hostile.
It is now supposed by some scholars that the Phoenician religion was at first monotheistic, and that later the worship of many G.o.ds was common. The third stage in its progress would be the greater portion of the period known to us, when the G.o.ds of other peoples were allowed, by the side of those native to the country. In Carthaginian tombs images of Egyptian deities have been found side by side with those of ancient Tyre and Sidon. In the beginning, the Phoenician worship was probably one manifestation of the Sun-worship, common to Semitic peoples. The religion of any people is a matter of growth, invariably undergoing change, until it finally resembles but slightly what it was in the beginning. Thus the faith of Phoenicia underwent many changes during her 1500 years. It is agreed that the Phoenicians worshipped curiously shaped stones at an early period, believing that deities had their abode within them; plants also were importuned, to appease the spirit that dwelt within them and cause each to yield food. Finally the heavenly bodies became objects of worship, the sun being considered most important. There must always be something appealing in the adoration felt by primitive minds toward the sun. Most ancient people worshipped it in one form or another, and the planet was surrounded by unfathomable mystery in the infancy of the world.
Baal was G.o.d of the sun, Astoreth, G.o.ddess of the moon. Baal symbolized the life-giving power of the sun as well as its destructive forces.
Maleck or Molock was the G.o.d of fire. He was a G.o.d of cruelty and thirsted for blood. It was to satisfy some of his supposed cravings that the human sacrifices took place. The first-born child, pure maidens, favorite sons, were fed to the flames to appease his wrath. These sacrifices seem strange to us today, and nations of antiquity, immuned to cruelty and bloodshed, turned from these Phoenician customs in horror.
An annual spring festival of great antiquity was celebrated. Probably in early times it lacked the feature of the human sacrifice which made it most objectionable later. Great forest trees were brought into the temple court and planted. From their branches were suspended animals, birds and all else intended for the sacrifice. After the images of the G.o.ds were marched around these trees, all was set on fire and consumed in a mighty conflagration. To make the celebration more impressive, human sacrifices were added, especially before some great undertaking, or upon the occasion of some national calamity.
Astoreth was the great virgin G.o.ddess. In the beginning she was worshipped with simple rites.
"Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns; To whose bright image nightly by the moon Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs."
In course of time the character of the G.o.ddess changed, and she was worshipped by most licentious practices.
In addition to their own G.o.ds, the Phoenicians readily incorporated into their pantheon deities of those tribes and nations with whom they opened trade. Some years after Phoenicia ceased to be a power, a Carthaginian general made a treaty with the Emperor of Greece. The two are reported to have sworn by numerous deities that they would preserve it. "They swore by Zeus, Hera, and Apollo, by the tutelary deities of the Carthaginians, by Hercules, by the moon, and the earth, by rivers, meadows, and waters, by the G.o.ds of the allied armies, and the sun, by all the G.o.ds who ruled over Carthage, by all the G.o.ds who ruled over Macedon and the rest of Greece, and by all the G.o.ds of those who were present to ratify the treaty."
At first the Phoenicians worshipped in the open air, with merely an altar of stone. Later they built elaborate and costly temples, but they still celebrated certain ceremonies out of doors, in groves or under the shade of trees.
The religion of the Phoenicians was most innocent and attractive in its earliest stages. As it developed, with its numerous priesthood performing their b.l.o.o.d.y rites, and its necessary sacrifices, teaching cruelty and blunting the sensibilities of its adherents, it became very repulsive. Far from inculcating n.o.ble ideals, it made a virtue of renouncing dear ones to agony and death; and a people who from infancy grew accustomed to such scenes and such conceptions could never develop finest qualities of character. Wherever Phoenician vessels landed with their wares, there Phoenician G.o.ds and practices went also. The good done in spreading the habits of civilization to regions remote was mitigated by the harm done in spreading this abhorrent faith.
Several Greek myths tell of maidens being sacrificed to some monster, such, for example, as Theseus and The Minotaur. These are believed to have had their origin in rumors of Phoenician sacrifices. The stories reached the sh.o.r.es of Greece in various forms and with the aid of Greek imaginations were woven into the tales as we know them.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Sh.e.l.lS OF THE SEA SNAIL FROM WHICH THE PURPLE DYE WAS MADE.]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Boughton: History of Ancient Peoples.
[2] I. Kings. 7.
[3] Graham: Roman Africa, 1, 2.
CHAPTER V.
THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE.
It is essential that the student of Hebrew history understand the topography of Palestine, wherein the nation developed. Names of rivers, mountains, cities, in this historic land grow familiar from frequent repet.i.tion in the Bible, but where each was located, and what was its position relative to other oft-mentioned spots, are queries left unsettled by the average reader. Still more necessary is a general idea of the country as a whole, because the very formation of the land determined in a large measure the destiny of those who dwelt within it.
Palestine is bounded on the north by the base of the Lebanons, on the east by the Arabian desert, on the south by the Wilderness of Judah--an extension of this desert--, and on the west by the Mediterranean Sea below Mount Carmel, while north of this mighty mountain the Phoenicians held the coast, although the Hebrews occupied the province of Galilee, east of the Phoenician sh.o.r.e.
This celebrated land is scarcely more than 150 miles in length, and approximates 100 miles in breadth, yet every known variety of climate may be found within its confines. From regions lying 1300 feet below sea-level, with heat of the tropics, mountains rise to 9000 feet above the sea, with Alpine snows and cold.
Palestine, like Greece or Switzerland, falls naturally into many small divisions, each shut off in a measure from the rest. This explains how it was possible for the Hebrews to occupy a considerable portion of the land while the Canaanites, earlier inhabitants of the country, remained undisturbed in other localities. It also explains the fact that for many years some of the Hebrews dwelt in tents and clung to their nomadic customs while no great distance away others of their kinsmen cultivated the vine and tilled the soil.
While the sh.o.r.e of the Mediterranean was broken by several harbors along the Phoenician coast, south of Mount Carmel the sh.o.r.e reaches in a nearly straight line to Egypt. No havens invite ships to safety; no islands dot the rocky sh.o.r.e. To the Hebrew the sea was a frontier rather than a means for outside communication. So inhospitable was this coast that invasions of Palestine were made by land rather than sea. A rocky line of cliffs varying from thirty to one hundred feet makes landing impossible save at two or three artificially constructed modern ports.
Six distinct land features are to be found in Palestine and deeply affected the people who dwelt there in antiquity. First of these is the Coast Plain, varying in width from two hundred yards to thirty miles.
The northern portion of it was known as the Plain of Sharon; the southern portion, as the Plain of Philistia. The word _Sharon_ signifies "forest," and in an early day a dense wood of oaks covered the region and gave it this name. Only in the north has the forest been perpetuated to our day. The plain was formerly, and is still, productive. It contains gardens, orchards, and grain fields. Lacking the inspiring beauty of the high tablelands, it possesses a quiet charm of its own.
Farther south, the Plain of Philistia stretches off in the direction of Egypt.
This Coast Plain, falling for the most part into these two smaller plains, has been a continuation of the great highway between Egypt and Syria, and a famous war-path. For Egypt particularly, it was a simple matter to dispatch troops along the sh.o.r.e, to strike terror to less inaccessible inland districts. Today it lies in peaceful cultivation or in woodlands of low undergrowth.
"The whole Maritime Plain possesses a quiet but rich beauty. If the contours are gentle the colors are strong and varied. Along almost the whole seaboard runs a strip of links and downs, sometimes of pure drifting sand, sometimes of gra.s.s and sand together. Outside this border of broken gold there is the blue sea, with its fringe of foam. Landward the soil is a chocolate brown, with breaks and gullies, now bare to their dirty white shingle and stagnant puddles, and now full of rich green reeds and rushes that tell of ample water beneath. Over corn and moorland a million flowers are scattered--poppies, pimpernels, anemones, the convolvulus and the mallow, the narcissus and blue iris--_roses of Sharon and lilies of the valley_. Lizards haunt all the sunny banks.
The shimmering air is filled with bees and b.u.t.terflies, and with the twittering of small birds, hushed now and then as the shadow of a great hawk blots the haze. The soft night is sprinkled thick with glittering fireflies."[1]
Pa.s.sing the sea and the Coast Plain, the Central Range rises high and extends throughout the entire length of Palestine, with some variations.
In this great tableland lay the famous kingdom of the Hebrews--Judaea and Samaria. Judaea lay farther to the south and was separated from the Coast Plain by the Shephelah--a series of low foot-hills. The Hebrews built their western cities on these low hills rather than along the sh.o.r.e. In fact the frequent attacks of the Philistines left the Coast Plain only now and then in the hands of the Hebrews.
The word _Shephelah_ has been thought to signify _lowlands_, and may have been applied in contrast to the highlands farther east. Ranging from five to fifteen miles in width, this elevated strip was the scene of constant warfare between the Hebrews and Philistines. Numerous valleys led across it, Ajalon being perhaps most famous.
"The prevailing scenery of the region is of short, steep hillsides and narrow glens, with a very few great trees, and thickly covered by brushwood and oak-scrub--crags and scalps of limestone breaking through, and a rough grey torrent-bed at the bottom of each glen.... Caves, of course, abound--near the villages, gaping black dens for men and cattle, but up the unfrequented glens they are hidden by hanging bush, behind which you disturb only the wild pigeon. Bees murmur everywhere, larks are singing; and although in the maze of hills you may wander for hours without meeting a man, or seeing a house, you are seldom out of sound of the human voice, shepherds and ploughmen calling to their cattle and to each other across the glens. Higher up you rise to moorlands, with rich gra.s.s if there is a spring, but otherwise, heath, thorns, and rough herbs that scent the wind. Bees abound here, too, and dragon-flies, kites and crows; sometimes an eagle floats over the cliffs of Judaea.
The sun beats strong, but you see and feel the sea; the high mountains are behind, at night they breathe upon these ridges gentle breezes, and the dews are very heavy.
"Altogether it is a rough, happy land, with its glens and moors, its mingled brushwood and barley-fields; frequently under cultivation, but for the most part broken and thirsty, with few wells and many hiding places; just the home for strong border-men, like Samson, and just the theatre for that guerilla warfare, varied occasionally by pitched battles, which Israel and Philistia, the Maccabees and the Syrians, waged with each other."[2]
At last the foot-hills merge into lofty mountains and series of plateaus, or table-lands, surrounded by high peaks, appear. Here was Judaea, the true home of the Hebrews. Farther north, and rising directly from the Coast Plain, without the intervening foot-hills, was Samaria.
The physical outlines of this long, narrow range determined in advance that it would not permanently be politically united.
Judaea was quite secure in her mountain heights. On the east her mountains descend abruptly to the lower Jordan and the Dead Sea; on the south lies the desert; on the east the low foot-hills, and on the north the table-land ends in ten miles of wild, waste land. "A desolate, fatiguing extent of rocky platforms and ridges, or moorland strewn with boulders, and fields of shallow soil thickly mixed with stone, they are a true border--more fit for the building of barriers than for the cultivation of food."
Some parts of this stony plateau were fit for cultivation, but for the most part, Judaea was a pastoral land--a country of shepherds and herdsmen. Flocks of sheep fed on the moorlands in ancient times, as they do today. Water has always been scanty and is preserved in wells and cisterns for the cattle during months of drouth.
Samaria possesses softer outlines and is a land beautified by nature. As Judaea was isolated and secure in her natural boundaries, so was Samaria open to approach. The "openness" of the land is constantly dwelt upon by those who picture its location. It was difficult to resist invasion and Samaria was attacked much more often than her sister to the south.
Samaria was a fruitful land, yielding to cultivation; she lay open to influences on every hand, and was the first to receive fresh impulses and ideas. "Today, amid the peaceful beauty of the scene--the secluded vale covered with corn fields, through which the winding streams flash and glisten into the hazy distance, and the gentle hill rises without a scarp to the olives waving on its summit--it is possible to appreciate Isaiah"s name for Samaria, _the crown of pride of Ephraim, the flower of his glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley_."[3]
East of both countries and the Central Range which contained them, flows the Jordan. Geological ages ago it is supposed that a great sea occupied the valley of the Jordan and the regions on either side. Beneath its deep waters, layers of limestone acc.u.mulated. In course of time, mighty convulsions within the earth hurled these layers of rock in twain and threw them up on both sides, until the present mountain ranges were formed. At the same time a series of rocks were cast up diagonally across this region to the south, thus enclosing a portion of the salt waters within the basin so formed. Ages of rain and of glaciers followed and when these abated, the new surface was left to develop its system of drainage. The situation at present is almost identical with that in early Bible times. In the northern part of Palestine, at the base of the Lebanons, a series of streams, mountain-born, take a southernly direction and empty into a marshy pool known as Lake Huleh; from the southern part of this lake the river Jordan flows on to the Lake of Galilee, whence the stream once again issues forth, this time down a steep incline, giving it rapid impetus of motion, from whence comes its name: Jordan--the _Down-comer_. At last its valley widens and by several estuaries the river finally empties into the Dead Sea.
The beauty attending many rivers of the earth is lacking in the Jordan.
Cutting down its channels in a rift left already deep by eruption, this valley lies deep below the sea-level and is exceedingly hot. Malaria lurks in the jungles that border the river-sides, and at no time has the region been thickly populated. The river is not suited to irrigation, but certain portions of the valley are watered by its tributaries sufficiently to make gardens possible.
The Dead Sea occupies the lowest portion of the valley. Soundings have shown it to be very deep. Not only are its waters heavily charged with salt, but other chemicals make yet more uninhabitable its basin. No fish or other form of life lives in its waters, which possess remarkable clearness and are intensely blue. Having no outlets save evaporation, and lying where heat is great, the sea is like a mighty caldron, above which a column of steam rises constantly. 6,000,000 tons of water are estimated to rise from it daily in the form of vapor.
From its very nature, the Jordan was not a river to which a nation might become devoted--as, for example, the Egyptians were to their Nile.
Nevertheless, no other stream has become so embodied into literature, or so endeared to a great religious world. The Hebrews regarded the Jordan as a boundary--a frontier. Significant is the fact that when it is mentioned in the Bible it is generally accompanied by some word meaning _over_ or _across_. _Over_ Jordan, _beyond_ the stream which because of its fever-breeding, lion-populated jungles and its strange sea, signified death, destruction, calamity, rather than life. _Beyond_ the Jordan, then, lay the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey.
East of the Jordan valley, the Eastern Range rises similarly to the Central Range on the west side. The plateaus of Moab and Gilead seem higher than the others, for whereas the Central Range rises gradually from a series of foothills to its exalted height, the Eastern Range rises abruptly from the extremely low river-valley.