. The eastern nations and Greece. e Mediterranean Sea andthe ranges of Mount Lebanon.^ One of themost noted productions of the countr)^ wasthe fine fir timber cut from the forests thatcrowned the lofty ranges of the LebanonMountains. The cedars of Lebanonhold a prominent place both in the historyand in the poetry of the East. Another celebrated product of the countrywas a purple dye, which was obtained fromseveral varieties of the murex, a species ofshellfish, secured at first along the Phoeniciancoast, but later sought in distant waters, especially in the Grecian seas. The Phoenicians were of
. The eastern nations and Greece. e Mediterranean Sea andthe ranges of Mount Lebanon.^ One of themost noted productions of the countr)^ wasthe fine fir timber cut from the forests thatcrowned the lofty ranges of the LebanonMountains. The cedars of Lebanonhold a prominent place both in the historyand in the poetry of the East. Another celebrated product of the countrywas a purple dye, which was obtained fromseveral varieties of the murex, a species ofshellfish, secured at first along the Phoeniciancoast, but later sought in distant waters, especially in the Grecian seas. The Phoenicians were of Semitic race. Long before the adventof the Israelites in Canaan, these earlier comers had built great portcities along the Mediterranean and developed an extensive sea trade. 1 In the study of this chapter the maps which will be found at pages Sz and 162should be used. 87 Fig. 58. Stecies of theMurex. (After Maspero) The mollusks which secrete the famous purple dye of the ancient Tyrians PHCENICIANS, HITTITES, AND LYDIANS [§ 92. 92. Tyre and Sidon. The various Phoenician cities never coalescedto form a true nation. They constituted merely a sort of league orconfederacy, the petty states of which generally acknowledged theleadership of Tyre or of Sidon, the two chief cities. The placeof supremacy in the confederation was at first held by Sidon, butlater by Tyre. From about the eleventh to the fourth century Tyre con-trolled, almost without dispute on the part of Sidon, the affairs ofPhoenicia. During this time the maritime enterprise and energyof her merchants spread throughout the Mediterranean world the fame of the little island capital. Alexander theGreat, after a memora-ble siege, captured thecity and reduced it toruins (sect. 282). Tyrerecovered in a measurefrom this blow, butnever regained theplace she had previouslyheld in the world. Thelarger part of the siteof the once great city is now bare as the top of a rock —a place where the fishermen that still frequent
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