Phœnicia was a narrow strip of country on the southeastern coast of the
great inland sea of antiquity, lying chiefly between Mount Libanus
(Lebanon) and the Mediterranean shore, and extending for about one
hundred and twenty miles north of Mount Carmel. Here lay the cities Tyre
and Sidon, Byblus and Berytus, Tripolis and Ptolemais. The land was
fertile, and rich in timber trees and fruits, such as the pine, fir,
cypress, sycamore, and cedar; figs, olives, dates, pomegranates,
citrons, almonds. Here was material for trade abroad, and comfort and
prosperity at home, and the coast was so thickly studded with towns as
almost to make one continuous populated line.