Difference between revisions of "Phenicia"

&nbsp;Acts 21:2 <p> "In the [[Egyptian]] inscriptions [[Phoenicia]] is called Keft, the inhabitants being Kefa; and since Keft-ur, or 'Greater Phoenicia,' was the name given to the delta of the Nile from the Phoenician colonies settled upon it, the [[Philistines]] who came from [[Caphtor]] or Keft-ur must have been of Phoenician origin" (Compare &nbsp;Deuteronomy 2:23; &nbsp;Jeremiah 47:4; &nbsp;Amos 9:7 )., Sayce's Bible and the Monuments. </p> <p> Phoenicia lay in the very centre of the old world, and was the natural entrepot for commerce with foreign nations. It was the "England of antiquity." "The trade routes from all Asia converged on the Phoenician coast; the centres of commerce on the [[Euphrates]] and [[Tigris]] forwarding their goods by way of Tyre to the Nile, to Arabia, and to the west; and, on the other hand, the productions of the vast regions bordering the [[Mediterranean]] passing through the [[Canaanite]] capital to the eastern world." It was "situate at the entry of the sea, a merchant of the people for many isles" (&nbsp;Ezekiel 27:3,4 ). The far-reaching commercial activity of the Phoenicians, especially with [[Tarshish]] and the western world, enriched them with vast wealth, which introduced boundless luxury and developed among them a great activity in all manner of arts and manufactures. (See [[Tyre]] .) </p> <p> The Phoenicians were the most enterprising merchants of the old world, establishing colonies at various places, of which [[Carthage]] was the chief. They were a Canaanite branch of the race of Ham, and are frequently called Sidonians, from their principal city of Sidon. None could "skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians" (&nbsp; 1 Kings 5:6 ). King [[Hiram]] rendered important service to [[Solomon]] in connection with the planning and building of the temple, casting for him all the vessels for the temple service, and the two pillars which stood in the front of the porch, and "the molten sea" (&nbsp;1 Kings 7:21-23 ). [[Singular]] marks have been found by recent exploration on the great stones that form the substructure of the temple. These marks, both painted and engraved, have been regarded as made by the workmen in the quarries, and as probably intended to indicate the place of these stones in the building. "The Biblical account (&nbsp;1 Kings 5:17,18 ) is accurately descriptive of the massive masonry now existing at the south-eastern angle (of the temple area), and standing on the native rock 80 feet below the present surface. The [[Royal]] Engineers found, buried deeply among the rubbish of many centuries, great stones, costly and hewed stones, forming the foundation of the sanctuary wall; while Phoenician fragments of pottery and Phoenician marks painted on the massive blocks seem to proclaim that the stones were prepared in the quarry by the cunning workmen of Hiram, the king of Tyre." (See [[Temple]] .) </p> <p> The Phoenicians have been usually regarded as the inventors of alphabetic writing. The [[Egyptians]] expressed their thoughts by certain symbols, called "hieroglyphics", i.e., sacred carvings, so styled because used almost exclusively on sacred subjects. The recent discovery, however, of inscriptions in Southern [[Arabia]] (Yemen and Hadramaut), known as Hemyaritic, in connection with various philogical considerations, has led some to the conclusion that the Phoenician alphabet was derived from the Mineans (admitting the antiquity of the kingdom of Ma'in, &nbsp; Judges 10:12; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 26:7 ). Thus the Phoenician alphabet ceases to be the mother alphabet. Sayce thinks "it is more than possible that the Egyptians themselves were emigrants from Southern Arabia." (See [[Moabite]] [[Stone]] .) </p> <p> "The Phoenicians were renowned in ancient times for the manufacture of glass, and some of the specimens of this work that have been preserved are still the wonder of mankind...In the matter of shipping, whether ship-building be thought of or traffic upon the sea, the Phoenicians surpassed all other nations." "The name Phoenicia is of uncertain origin, though it may be derived from Fenkhu, the name given in the Egyptian inscriptions to the natives of Palestine. Among the chief Phoenician cities were Tyre and Sidon, [[Gebal]] north of Beirut, [[Arvad]] or Arados and Zemar." </p>