Phœnicia. ―― Its Extent and Fertility. ―― Origin of the
Phœnicians. ―― Their Commerce. ―― Their Learning. ―― Departure
from Nazareth. ―― Cana of Galilee. ―― First Christian Wedding.
―― Beautiful Vale of Abilîn. ―― Plain of Accho. ―― City of
’Akka. ―― Names. ―― Metropolis of the Crusaders. ―― Their
Destruction. ―― Gibbon. ―― The Moslem Nero. ―― Napoleon’s
Defeat. ―― Road to Tyre. ―― Summer Palace. ―― Excavations. ――
Wild and dangerous Pass. ―― Antiquity of Tyre. ―― Three Tyres.
―― Stupendous Water-works. ―― Continental Tyre. ―― Sins and
Judgments. ―― Glory departed. ―― How Prophecy was fulfilled.
―― Insular Tyre. ―― Tyre of the Crusaders. ―― Cathedral. ――
Tomb of Hiram. ―― Wonderful Temple. ―― Sarepta. ―― Zidon. ――
Gardens. ―― Ancient Glory. ―― Wars. ―― Harbor. ―― Citadel. ――
Tombs. ―― Interesting Discoveries. ―― Ornaments.
HISTORICALLY, the Holy Land is divided into three great
sections――Palestine, Philistia, and Phœnicia. The latter is that long
maritime plain stretching for 120 miles from the Promontory of Carmel
on the south to the River Eleutherus on the north. Not exceeding 12
miles in its greatest width, it is washed by the Mediterranean on the
west, and is bounded on the east by a mountain barrier, through which
there is but one practicable pass from the “Ladder of Tyre” to the
island of Aradus.[631] In addition to numberless streams, it is watered
with the Rivers Kishon, Leontes, Aulay, Tamyras, Lycus, Adonis, Hadîsha,
and Eleutherus. Deriving its Greek name from “a palm,” as significant
of its richness, it is still fruitful where cultivated; and though
only occasionally that celebrated tree is seen, yet groves of oranges
and lemons environ its modern towns. While in its gardens are produced
apricots, peaches, almonds, figs, dates, the sugar-cane, and grapes,
which furnish excellent wine, its mountain slopes are covered with
oaks, pines, acacias, tamarisks, and the majestic cedar. Divided into
sections by bold promontories projecting far into the sea, its general
surface is undulating, and its shore-line is indented with small bays,
near which stood those renowned cities which have given celebrity to
the whole plain.
Originally settled by the descendants of Sidon, the son of Canaan,[632]
Phœnicia was included in the promise to Abraham; but, either from
inability or unwillingness to expel its powerful and wealthy traders,
it was only nominally possessed by his posterity. The grandeur of that
promise, the sublime purpose of Jehovah as to the material greatness
of his chosen people, together with the religious mission of the Jews,
demanded such a maritime possession. Had they had the advantages of
a powerful navy and of a vast commerce, Palestine would have been the
leading power on earth, and would have held the first rank among the
mighty nations of antiquity. It is one of those stupendous facts which
illustrate the infinite wisdom of Providence, and the relations of the
Promised Land to all the world, that, as Palestine has given to mankind
a religion, Phœnicia is the primeval seat of commerce and letters.
From their splendid cities of Tyre and Sidon the Phœnicians launched
out upon the hitherto unknown Mediterranean, and, having planted
colonies on the islands of Cyprus and Rhodes, they sailed into Greece.
Emboldened by success, and charmed with the excitement of a new life,
they turned to the northwest, and, having visited Sicily, Sardinia,
and the northern coast of Spain, they passed through the Straits of
Gibraltar, occupied the Isle of Gades, penetrated as far northward as
Britain, and returning, they stretched southward from the Straits and
founded Carthage, the formidable rival of Rome, and the only one that
threatened her destruction.[633] It is a thought as beautiful as it
is true, that, while holding commercial relations with all the nations
on the shores of their native sea, and on the western coasts of Europe
and Africa, and trafficking, by their caravans, with Persia, Arabia,
and Asia, their intercourse with those distant nations was marked
by the blessings of the arts of peace rather than by the calamities
of war. Attaining the summit of their power and glory in the reign of
Solomon, how changed would have been the moral aspects of the earth
had those early mariners been Jews, disseminating a knowledge of
the true God wherever they planted a colony, and illustrating a pure
worship wherever they sold their “Tyrian purple.” Celebrated for their
knowledge of architecture and of various mechanic arts, and also for
their learning, it was from one of these Phœnician cities that Cadmus
went forth, about 15 centuries B.C., and laid the foundation of Grecian
literature, the pride of succeeding ages, and the glory of modern
scholarship. Nowhere upon the globe can be found a tract of land so
small as this, where have originated three such powerful agents for
“weal or woe” to mankind, and which, still operating, are affecting
the opinions and moulding the characters of men in all lands.
So intimately blended are the events of sacred and profane history
connected with all that region extending from the Hills of Nazareth to
the Mediterranean, and from the Promontory of Carmel to the mulberry
groves of Sidon, that the traveler scarcely realizes the transition
from Palestine to Phœnicia. Reluctantly leaving those scenes sacred
to the life and deeds of our Lord, we found ourselves, at the close of
the day, in the midst of new associations, dating back to the earliest
authentic records. Stopping for a moment at the Fountain of Seffurieh,
around which Guy de Lusignan gathered the heroic Crusaders on the
night previous to the fatal battle of Hattîn, we ascended the hill of
ancient Sepphoris, and, crossing the beautiful plain of El-Buttauf,
came to the ruins of Cana of Galilee. Situated seven miles to the north
from Nazareth, it occupies a tongue of land extending into the plain,
bounded on either side by a small ravine, and behind the town rises
a rocky, barren hill. The home of Nathaniel the apostle,[634] and
the residence of the bride of St. John, here was celebrated the first
Christian wedding on record; and, being present as a guest, here the
Savior performed his first miracle,[635] when
“The modest water, awed by power divine,
Confessed its God, and, blushing, turned to wine.”
Here, at a subsequent visit, the Master was met by the “nobleman of
Capernaum whose son was sick,” and, though 20 miles distant, he healed
the youth, and commanded the father, “Go thy way; thy son liveth.”[636]
In the southern valley is a noble circular well, four feet in
diameter, and probably the same from which the water was drawn for the
miracle. An Arab, his son, and two daughters were resting there with
their flocks, and from them we obtained a drink of the delicious water.
But Cana is now a ruin, and is deserted. Not a house remains standing.
Heaps of fallen buildings are overgrown with grass; and where the
nuptials of the beloved John were celebrated the silence of death
reigns unbroken, and rank weeds grow luxuriantly where Jewish maidens
were wont to gather flowers to form the bridal wreath.
Turning westward, we entered the glorious Valley of Abilîn. It is not
wide, nor are the hills that inclose it high; but it is a scene of
surpassing loveliness. Here are rolling hills covered with the richest
verdure; wooded glens filled with oaks and acacias; soft lawns bright
with flowers; running brooks falling over rocks into sparkling cascades,
and birds of rare plumage singing their sweetest songs. Soon the sea,
reflecting the sunlight from a smooth surface, burst like enchantment
upon our view. Now the valley widens, the hills recede――they die away,
and we are on the plain of ancient Accho. Carmel is seen to the south,
the _Scala Tyriorum_ to the north, while the Hills of Galilee are
on the east, giving to the plain the form of a semicircle, with the
sea-coast for a diameter. Eight miles wide and 20 long, most of it is
a marsh in winter, but a fruitful garden in spring and summer. Falling
to the lot of Asher, here “he dipped his foot in oil; his bread was
fat, and he yielded royal dainties;”[637] and “here he continued on
the sea-shore, and abode in his creeks,”[638] when Deborah called the
nations to arms against Sisera.
Occupying a triangular neck of land, with a large bay on the south
and the sea on the west, the town of ’Akka is large and well fortified.
Having a population of 5000 souls, four fifths of whom are Moslems,
it is the residence of the Pasha, whose jurisdiction embraces Nazareth,
Safed, Tiberias, and Haifa. Regarded as of the first importance as
a military position, it is garrisoned by a strong force. Though its
massive fortifications, which were shattered in former wars, have
never been repaired, its sea-wall, which is nine feet thick, is
in a good condition, and is surmounted by several large guns. The
buildings of the town are of stone, built square and high; the streets
are narrow and shaded with matting, and the only structures of note
within the city are the Mosque of Jezzâr and the Temple of the Knights
Hospitallers. The mosque is high and square, and is surmounted with a
balustrade; the façade is adorned with a fine portico; the open area
within is paved with Syrian marble, and is surrounded with an arcade on
which are small domes. Beneath the palm and fig trees old soldiers and
venerable Turks were reclining in silence. Not far from the mosque is
the city prison, consisting of an immense cellar, dark and loathsome,
in which were 180 culprits of different ages, incarcerated for small
and great offenses.
Called by Samuel Accho, by the Greeks Ptolemais, after Ptolemy, king of
Egypt, and by the Arabs ’Akka, the Arabic of the scriptural name, the
city is mentioned but twice by the sacred writers――once in connection
with the tribe of Asher,[639] and again as the landing-place of St.
Paul on his way to Jerusalem.[640] But it derives its chief importance
from its relation to modern European history. Napoleon called it the
“key of Palestine;” and, during the last 700 years, from Baldwin to
Napier, it has been grasped by many a rude hand. As it bears three
names, so it is remarkable for three historical events――the destruction
of the Crusaders, the reign of Jezzâr, and the defeat of Napoleon I.
“After the loss of Jerusalem, Acre[641] became the metropolis of the
Latin Christians, and was adorned with strong and stately buildings,
with aqueducts, an artificial port, and a double wall. The population
was increased by the incessant streams of pilgrims and fugitives; in
the pauses of hostility the trade of the East and West was attracted
to this convenient station, and the market could offer the produce of
every clime and the interpreters of every tongue. But in this conflux
of nations, every vice was propagated and practiced.... The city
had many sovereigns and no government. The Kings of Jerusalem and
Cyprus, of the house of Lusignan, the Princes of Antioch, the Counts
of Tripoli and Sidon, the Great Masters of the Hospital, the Temple,
and the Teutonic order, the republics of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, the
Pope’s legate, the Kings of France and England, assumed an independent
command; seventeen tribunals exercised the power of life and death;
every criminal was protected in the adjacent quarter; and the perpetual
jealousy of the nations often burst forth in acts of violence and blood.
Some adventurers, who disgraced the ensign of the Cross, compensated
their want of pay by the plunder of the Mohammedan villages: nineteen
Syrian merchants, who traded under the public faith, were despoiled
and hanged by the Christians, and the denial of satisfaction justified
the arms of the Sultan Khalil. He marched against Acre at the head of
60,000 horse and 140,000 foot; his train of artillery (if I may use the
expression) was numerous and weighty; the separate timbers of a single
engine were transported in 100 wagons; and the royal historian Abulfeda,
who served with the troops of Hamah, was himself a spectator of the
holy war. Whatever might be the vices of the Franks, their courage was
rekindled by enthusiasm and despair; but they were torn by the discord
of seventeen chiefs, and overwhelmed on all sides by the powers of
the sultan. After a siege of 33 days the double wall was forced by the
Moslems, the principal tower yielded to their engines, the Mamelukes
made a general assault, the city was stormed, and death or slavery was
the lot of 60,000 Christians. The convent, or rather fortress, of the
Templars resisted three days longer; but the great master was pierced
with an arrow, and of 500 knights only 10 were left alive, less happy
than the victims of the sword if they lived to suffer on the scaffold
in the unjust and cruel proscription of the whole order. The King of
Jerusalem, the Patriarch, and the Great Master of the Hospital effected
their retreat to the shore; but the sea was rough, the vessels were
insufficient, and great numbers of the fugitives were drowned before
they could reach the Isle of Cyprus, which might comfort Lusignan for
the loss of Palestine. By the command of the sultan, the churches and
fortifications of the Latin cities were demolished: a motive of avarice
or fear still opened the holy sepulchre to some devout, defenseless
pilgrims; and a mournful and solitary silence prevailed along the coast
which had so long resounded with the world’s debate.”[642]
Illustration: ACRE FROM THE EAST.
Five centuries later ’Akka became the royal city of one of the most
infamous characters in history, whose name is to be mentioned only with
that of Herod, and whose cruelties constitute him the Nero of modern
times. Rising by theft and perjury from the servitude of a common
slave to the dignity of a pasha, Jezzâr――“the Butcher,” dishonored his
pashalic with the most inhuman deeds, perpetrated without cause upon
eminent citizens and upon the beautiful slave-girls of his harem.
But the city was destined to witness the exploits of the greatest
warrior of our age. To the east of the town is a low mound, where, in
1799, the great Napoleon planted his batteries, and from the summit of
which, after eight successive assaults, he witnessed the defeat of his
army, and with that defeat disappeared forever all his bright visions
of an Eastern empire.
The distance from Acre to ancient Tyre is 25 miles, and the journey
is replete with interest. Mounting our horses at 11 A.M., our path lay
along the western border of the Plain of Phœnicia. In less than half an
hour we passed beneath the Aqueduct of Jezzâr, supported by 100 arches.
Through the neglect of a people who are indifferent to works of art,
it is now a ruin, and in part overgrown with weeds. Two miles beyond
is the summer palace of the late Abdallah Pasha. Sixty cypresses line
the road-side, and within an inclosed garden, in the midst of orange
and lemon trees, is the charming residence. Passing the site of Achzib,
a town allotted to Asher,[643] we reached, in an hour, the _Scala
Tyriorum_, or “Tyrian Ladder,” forming the boundary-line between
Phœnicia and the Holy Land. A bold promontory, with a white base
dipping into the sea, it is the most southern root of Lebanon, and is
the counterpart of Carmel. Sprinkled with shrubs and dotted with tufts
of grass, its sides are broken and stony. The path over it is zigzag,
and not unlike a flight of winding steps. The descent down the opposite
side is exceedingly rough, now over low mountain spurs, and again
through a narrow defile leading to a plain below. Passing over sections
of an old Roman road, we came to the village of Nâkûrah, and to the
east of it, high up in the mountain ravines, was a company of French
soldiers excavating a buried city which has neither name nor story.
They had succeeded in uncovering one temple and a number of elegant
sarcophagi, but no inscriptions had been discovered by which to
ascertain the origin of the unknown town. Two miles to the north we
came to the white cliffs of Ras el-Abyad, or the _Promontorium Album_
of the ancients. This is one of the wildest, and, at times, the most
dangerous passes on the Phœnician coast. The sides of the bluff are
perpendicular, and the waves dash wildly against its base. The path is
cut in the white limestone rocks 500 feet above the level of the sea,
and in places it skirts the very verge of the precipice. Huge boulders
have fallen from the cliffs above, and others seem ready to follow.
Excited by the grandeur of the scene and the danger of the moment, we
successfully cleared the pass in half an hour, when we gained our first
view of the plain and peninsula of Tyre. Descending rapidly to the
plain below, the dreariness of the journey was relieved by the glorious
appearance of Hermon, whose snow-capped summits were bright in the
evening light, while the plain over which we rode was darkened by the
shadows of the adjacent mountains. Traveling on for hours over the
deep sandy beach, we reached Ras el-’Ain in the dusk of the evening,
and an hour after entered the solitary gate of the renowned city of
the ancient Tyrians.
Illustration: LADDER OF TYRE.
Few cities can boast of a higher antiquity, of grander edifices,
and of greater renown than Tyre. Founded by the Phœnicians, rebuilt
by the Romans, and again restored by the Christians, there have been
three Tyres, the history of each of which would fill a volume. Called
by Isaiah the “daughter of Sidon,”[644] it was a “strong city” in
the days of Joshua;[645] it was the ally of Solomon;[646] and it was
a prize coveted by Shalmanezer, Nebuchadnezzar, and Alexander the
Great. The cradle of commerce, Tyre became the mistress of the seas;
her merchantmen traded in every port in the known world, and from her
thriving shores she sent forth her sons, dotting the coasts of Europe
and Africa with flourishing colonies. Nothing can excel the accuracy
of detail and the elegance of graphic description contained in the 27th
chapter of Ezekiel on the wealth and glory of Tyre; and now, after the
lapse of twenty-five centuries, her scattered ruins attest the truth of
prophecy. Her walls are destroyed, her towers broken down, her stones
and timber are in the midst of the water, her ancient site is “a place
for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea,” and the remains
of her marble castles, gorgeous palaces, triple gateways, lofty towers,
and spacious harbors are now seen half buried beneath the drifting sand
or washed by the restless waves. Entering a small boat, and passing out
of the inner basin into the larger harbor, we saw immense columns of
red granite lying prostrate beneath the surface of the clear water,
and others imbedded in the solid rock, or cemented together by some
powerful agent.
Illustration: TYRE.
The Sidonian colonists who founded Phœnician or Continental Tyre
evidently settled on the main land, three miles to the south from
the modern city, and a quarter of a mile from the shore. Here, at Ras
el-’Ain, “the Fountain-head,” are the most stupendous water-works of
ancient times. They consist of four immense fountains, the water of
which descends through the mountains on the east, and, rising to the
surface here, is collected into separate reservoirs, from which it
was originally distributed to irrigate the plain. The most southern
of these fountains is the largest. Octagonal in form, it is 66 feet
in diameter and 25 high. The lateral walls are eight feet thick, and
gently slope to their base. Three hundred feet to the eastward are
the other cisterns, one 36 and two 60 feet square, constructed of
well-dressed stones, joined by a fine cement, and built directly over
the places where the water gushes up from the earth. Formerly the
stream was carried from the lower to the upper pools by an aqueduct
which is now a ruin; and from the upper reservoirs there can now be
traced an old Roman aqueduct, resting on arches, to a mound two miles
distant, crowned with the remains of a massive building, from which
point it turns westward toward the city. Amid a thicket of willows and
groves of mulberry-trees are a few wretched huts, and the only use to
which this great water-power is now applied is to drive a single mill
and slake the thirst of the transient traveler.
Illustration: RAS EL-’AIN.
Though they are unquestionably of a high antiquity, the author and
finisher of these great works are unknown. There is an Arab legend
that Alexander the Great constructed a subterranean canal through which
he brought the water from Bagdad! but a more pious tradition ascribes
them to Solomon. Quoting Menander the Ephesian, Josephus informs us
that they existed in the days of Shalmanezer, who, in his siege of Tyre,
“placed guards at the rivers and aqueducts to hinder the Tyrians from
drawing water.”[647]
Around these fountains, and stretching northward over this fertile
plain, stood the old city of Tyre. Though neither temple nor column
remains to mark the site, yet beneath the drifted sands of many
centuries lie entombed those magnificent ruins which have escaped
the hand of the spoiler, and which, of late, have been uncovered in
part near the hill called Tell Habeish. During the reign of Hiram,
Palai-Tyrus consisted of two parts, the larger and grander standing
near the fountains on the main land, and the smaller on an island
three miles to the north and not far from the shore.[648] It was by
retiring to this island that the inhabitants were enabled to maintain
the defense of their insular city against the attack by Shalmanezer
during a period of five years.[649] Though subsequently besieged by
Nebuchadnezzar for 13 years, yet it was reserved for the son of Philip
to be the scourge of Providence, the destroyer of the city, and the
accomplisher of prophecy. The continental city falling an easy prey
to the victorious arms of Alexander the Great, he laid siege to the
insular town for seven months. To capture this strong-hold, he removed
a large portion of the materials of the former place, and with them
built a causeway connecting the island with the continent. Advancing
on this new military road, he took the city by storm; and, having slain
8000 of the citizens in the attack, he crucified 2000 others, and sold
30,000 more into slavery. Thus terminated the wonderful history of
Phœnician Tyre, whose wealth was equaled only by her luxury, and whose
power was excelled only by her pride. Abandoned to the worst forms of
idolatry, she incurred the displeasure of an offended God; intoxicated
with prosperity, she broke her “covenant” with the Hebrews, and
confederated with other nations against them;[650] haughty as she was
impious, she scrupled not to demand the wealth and sacred ornaments
of the Temple at Jerusalem, which the enemies of the Jews had
sacrilegiously pillaged;[651] forgetting the covenant with David and
Solomon, she purchased the Jewish captives from their conquerors, and,
loading her vessels with the human cargo, sold them into slavery in
distant countries;[652] and when Nebuchadnezzar had utterly destroyed
the Holy City, and had subdued and wasted all the lands of the Jews,
she exulted over their downfall, and insultingly exclaimed, “Aha! she
is broken that was the gates of the people; she is turned unto me; I
shall be replenished now that she is laid waste.”[653]
For these sins God denounced against Tyre the severest judgments,
and to-day she is a mournful proof of the accuracy and fulfillment of
prophecy. Her royal palaces have given place to the abodes of poverty;
her magnificent navy, with sails of embroidered linen from Egypt and
ivory benches from the Isle of Chittim, has been exchanged for a few
crazy fishing-boats; her famous mariners from Sidon and Arvad are
superseded by boatmen whose nautical knowledge is not equal to a cruise
on the Mediterranean five miles from land; and her vast commerce in
the precious metals of Tarshish, the slaves of Javan, the horses of
Togarmah, the coral and agate of Syria, the wheat of Minnith, the wine
of Helbon, the spices of Sheba, the cassia and calamus of Dan, the
precious clothes for chariots of Dedan, and the fine fleeces of Arabia,
has dwindled down to an occasional cargo of millstones and juniper
charcoal. Even her hill-sides, once rich in olive-groves, are now
forsaken; and such have been the incursions of the sea, that the once
fertile plain of Tyre has been transformed into a sandy waste, and she
who was the “perfection of beauty is now smitten with baldness;” in her
unrelieved desolation, her harps of gold and enchanting minstrelsy are
forever silent, and winds and waves alone lament her departed glory. So
complete is the ruin of the primal city, and so difficult to determine
with exactitude the site of the Phœnician Tyre, that it is still true,
“Thou shalt be no more; though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never
be found again, saith the Lord God.”[654] In removing the materials
of the old town to fill up the arm of the sea between the island and
main land, Alexander the Great fulfilled these astonishing words: “They
shall break down thy walls and destroy thy pleasant houses; and they
shall lay thy stones, and thy timber, and thy dust in the midst of
the water.”[655] And, as significant of the utterness of her ruin, the
traveler of to-day beholds what the prophet saw in the heavenly vision;
“I will make thee like the top of a rock; thou shalt be a place to
spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more.”[656]
While the words, “Thou shalt be built no more,” are singularly and
literally true when applied to Continental Tyre, yet the island city,
which was not included in the prophetic denunciation, rose to great
elegance under the Romans. Attaining to somewhat of the pristine
splendor of the parent city in the first century, it resumed in part
its ancient sway over the sea. Receiving Christianity at an early
period, it was visited by St. Paul when on his way to Jerusalem, “who,
finding disciples, we tarried there seven days.”[657] Seized by the
Arabs in 638 A.D., it remained in their possession till June 27, 1124,
when it was captured by the Crusaders, who held it for 150 years, when
it fell again into the hands of the Moslems on the evening of the day
on which ’Akka was captured. Declining under their withering sceptre,
at the close of the 17th century it was without a house, and its vaults
were occupied by a few fishermen.[658] Under the fanatical Metawileh,
in 1766 it was partially restored. Modern Tyre is a village of 4000
inhabitants, equally divided in their religious faith between Christ
and Mohammed. What was once Alexander’s causeway is now a sandy isthmus,
and what was once an island is now a peninsula. Originally extremely
narrow, but increased by the action of the winds and waves upheaving
the loose sands, the isthmus is half a mile wide, and that which was
formerly the island is a ridge of rocks parallel to the shore, nearly a
mile long, three quarters of a mile broad, and half a mile distant from
the coast-line. The general surface is uneven, in part strewn by rocks,
and in part encumbered by the accumulation of rubbish. The present town
occupies the northwestern portion of the peninsula, and is near the
ancient harbor. A single gate admits the traveler to the city. Around
it are the remains of old towers, and near it are two deep wells,
from which the inhabitants obtain their principal supply of water.
With few exceptions the buildings are mere hovels, the streets narrow
and crooked, and the citizens filthy and ignorant. As if to hide the
fallen glory of Tyre, there are a few palms and pride of India trees
growing in the gardens. Within the shattered walls and along the shore
fishermen were mending their nets, and in the gloomy bazars were a few
bales of cotton and tobacco, several tiers of millstones, and heaps
of charcoal. The Moslems have a mosque crowned with two domes, and
from beside it rises a tapering minaret; the Christians have two small
churches, which are remarkable neither for their size nor elegance.
In the southeast corner of the town are the remains of the famous
Cathedral of Tyre, erected in the fourth century by Bishop Paulinus,
and consecrated by Eusebius, and by the latter described as the most
splendid of all the temples of Phœnicia. It was 216 feet long by 136
broad, and its ruins indicate its great magnificence. The south wall,
the east and west ends, together with the chancel, remain standing; but
the arched roof, the massive columns which supported the triforium, and
the lofty tower, with its spiral staircase, have fallen into a thousand
fragments. Somewhere within these broken walls reposes the dust of
Origen and of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
Five miles to the east of the town is the Tomb of Hiram, king of Tyre.
It is an imposing mausoleum, and one of the most interesting monuments
in the Holy Land. It is less remarkable for its beauty and ornaments
than for its grandeur and durability. Crowning a graceful hill, it
consists of a pedestal and a sarcophagus. The former is composed of
four layers of immense blocks of limestone, about ten feet high; the
latter is hewn out of a solid block, and is twelve feet long, eight
wide, and six high, and is surmounted with a pyramidal lid five feet
thick. The ends of the lid are beveled, the top rounded, and it is
fitted on with such care that it is difficult to remove it. On the
north side of the monument is an arched vault 20 feet square and 12
deep, which no doubt served as the place for the final repose of the
royal family. Commanding a view of the City of the Great King, and
of the sea beyond, the country around the tomb is strangely solitary;
neither ancient ruin nor human habitation is near, but, standing alone,
it is at once a venerable relic of the past and an impressive monument
of the loneliness of death.
Illustration: TOMB OF HIRAM.
On the same road, but some distance to the west, the French have
excavated one of the most splendid temples yet discovered in the
environs of Phœnicia. Consisting of a nave, two side aisles, a chancel,
and an altar-piece, it is 75 feet long by 36 wide. The roof and
portions of the walls are gone. Of the 14 columns which formed the
aisles only the bases of 11 of them remain, on each of which is
sculptured the Maltese cross. But its great beauty consists in its
magnificent mosaic pavement, covering more than two thirds of the
entire area. Formed of small square blocks of white and black marble,
it is arranged in the most curious manner. In the aisles are circles
30 inches in diameter, containing figures of sheep, fish, fowls,
fruits, tigers, elephants, buffaloes, dogs, horses, rabbits, deer,
lions, antelopes, and leopards, together with ten mythological busts,
representing the gods and goddesses of Greece and Rome. Before the
high altar is a lengthy inscription in Greek characters; but, owing to
their curious forms and the numerous contractions, it was impossible
to decipher it without reference to learned works. From all that we
could learn from those having the work in charge, it was originally a
heathen temple, was converted into a Christian church by the Crusaders,
and, abandoned during the mediæval wars, it has since remained buried
beneath the accumulated sand and rubbish of centuries.
A single historic site breaks the monotony of the journey from Tyre
to Sidon, a distance of 25 miles. The path follows the coast along
the Plain of Phœnicia, over which “a mournful and solitary silence
now prevails.”[659] While the hills which bound it on the east are
carefully cultivated, and the summits thereof are adorned with villages,
this vast and rich plain is deserted. Less than two miles from the gate
of Tyre we passed a large fountain, believed by the Arabs to possess
medicinal virtues, and four miles beyond we came to the banks of
the Leontes of the old geographers, and the Nahr el-Kâsimîyeh of the
natives. The third largest river in Syria, its highest source is not
far from the ruins of Ba’albek; and draining the southern section of
the Bukâ’a, with the adjoining sides of the Lebanon and anti-Lebanon,
it bursts the everlasting gates of the former, and, descending through
a wild ravine, crosses the plain to the sea. It is twenty-five feet
wide; its clear waters flow rapidly through a deep gorge, which is
now spanned by a modern bridge, having a single arch. Nine miles to
the north is Khan el-Khudr, the Zarephath of the Old Testament and the
Sarepta of the New. On a fine hill overhanging the plain is the large
town of Sŭrafend, the Arabic of the Scriptural name. The original city
stood near the shore; its site is now marked by a Mohammedan tomb and a
noble fig-tree. Driven by famine from his retreat by the “brook Cherith
that is before Jordan,” hither Elijah came, and was received into the
house of that poor widow whose “barrel of meal wasted not, neither
did the cruise of oil fail,” and whose son, as a reward of faith and
charity, the prophet raised to life.[660] And here an early tradition
has preserved the site of that touching scene of the meeting of Christ
and the woman of Syro-Phœnicia, whose daughter he healed during his
first and only visit “to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.”[661]
Ten miles to the north appeared the towers and minarets of Zidon,
surrounded with the most luxuriant gardens in the world. In the
intervening distance sections of the old Roman road can still be traced,
and along the highway are several milestones. On one are inscribed
the names of Septimius Severus and his son, M. Aurelius Antoninus,
better known in history as Caracalla. The inscription bears the date of
198 A.D. Entering the famous gardens of the modern Saida, we rode for
an hour through lengthened avenues of acacias and tamarisks, and amid
mulberry groves, and vast orchards of peaches, pears, apricots, plums,
quinces, oranges, lemons, bananas, and citrons, which filled the
air with a delightful fragrance, and presented to the eye a variety
of finely-tinted and exquisite foliage. Interspersed through these
beautiful groves are country seats possessing all the charms of an
earthly paradise. Our rural path terminated at the very gate of the
city, which was carefully guarded by Turkish soldiers. Entering the
town, we found it situated on a small promontory projecting obliquely
into the sea. Thoroughly Oriental in character and appearance, its
narrow, shaded streets and groups of trees give it an air of repose.
While many of its buildings are small, like those in most Syrian towns,
there are several large and costly. The population is not less than
10,000, and is composed of Moslems, Maronites, Greeks, and Jews. The
chief vocations of the citizens are the cultivation of fruits and the
manufacture of oil and silk, which are exported into Egypt and to ports
along the Mediterranean.
Illustration: SIDON.
With an antiquity anterior to authentic history, Sidon is among
the oldest of known cities. Mentioned by the inspired historian in
connection with Sodom and Gaza,[662] it is supposed it was founded by
Sidon, the grandson of Noah.[663] Increasing in wealth and power, the
city had achieved such fame at the time the Hebrews entered Canaan
that it is designated by Joshua the “Great Zidon.”[664] As early as
the Trojan war the Sidonians were celebrated for their skill in the
arts, especially for the manufacture of gorgeous robes, to which Homer
alludes:
“The Phrygian queen to her rich wardrobe went,
Where treasured odors breathed a costly scent;
There lay the vestures of no vulgar art,
Sidonian maids embroidered every part,
Whom from soft Sidon youthful Paris bore,
With Helen touching on the Tyrian shore.
Here, as the queen revolved, with careful eyes,
The various textures and the various dyes,
She chose a veil that shone superior far,
And glow’d refulgent as the morning star.”[665]
Increasing in population and commerce to such a degree as to demand
another city, the Sidonians passed down the coast and founded Tyre,
which is called by Isaiah the “daughter of Zidon,” and which in
after years divided with the parent city the empire of the seas.[666]
Excelling all other nations of that period in art and science, her
architects were employed by Solomon in building his magnificent
temple.[667] According to early historians, the Sidonians were versed
in astronomy, geometry, and philosophy, and the vastness of their
commerce evinces their knowledge of navigation. But with them, as with
all the other great nations of antiquity, the usual vices attended
their prosperity, and the increase of luxury was counterbalanced by
the decline of national virtue. Practicing the worst forms of idolatry,
indulging in the grossest immoralities, and violating the most solemn
treaties with God’s people, they drew down upon themselves the severe
denunciations of Jehovah’s prophets. Sentenced by the Lord to the
calamities of war, the prophetic judgments were executed by Shalmanezer
in 720 B.C.; by Artaxerxes Ochus four centuries later; by Alexander
the Great, who entered the gates of the city without a struggle; and
subsequently it has been pillaged and destroyed as often as rebuilt, by
the Ptolemies, the Syrian kings, the Romans, the Moslem invaders, the
Crusaders, until at present its port is without a merchantman, and the
town of Beirŭt, to the north, has become the successful rival of the
once affluent and powerful Sidon.
The three great objects of interest connected with the modern town
are the harbor, the citadel, and the tombs. The harbor is formed by a
low ridge of rocks running parallel to the shore and extending out from
the northern point of the peninsula. On the rocks stands an old castle,
weather-beaten and much dilapidated, connected with the main land by
a bridge of nine arches. On a commanding hill to the south of the city
is the shattered tower of Louis IX., which is now the citadel of the
town. On the plains and in the hill-sides to the east of Sidon is
the cemetery of its ancient inhabitants, called Mûgharet Tubloon. The
surface of the rock has been cut away to form a perfect level, and
here are the mansions of the dead, arranged in the form of catacombs,
from 10 to 30 feet below the surface of the ground. From a deep, broad
avenue, doors open into lateral halls and rooms, in which are cut
the receptacles for the dead. Descending to the depth of 20 feet,
we entered a broad avenue 25 feet long, which had just been opened.
Running at right angles with the former was a spacious passageway, in
the sides of which are six niches, each five and a half feet deep, four
wide, and ten long. In these niches are magnificent marble sarcophagi,
their sides, ends, and lids being adorned with sculptured lion heads,
horns of plenty, and garlands of flowers. On one, which I took to be
the sarcophagus of a queen, is carved the bust of a female in relief,
surrounded with a wreath of roses. Passing into another chamber,
more elegant than the rest, and which is 20 feet deep, I traced the
beautiful floral paintings on the sides and ceilings of the vault. Here,
in the very centre of the floor, are three entire sarcophagi, of equal
grandeur with the others, measuring eight feet long, three wide, and as
many deep. The largest of the three, which had that day been uncovered
for the first time, _was filled with clear water_, and on the bottom
were human bones, and what appeared to be a fine sediment――perhaps the
dust of the departed. How the water came there remains a mystery. Some
suppose it had percolated through the rocks above; but this will hardly
account for the equally remarkable fact that the other sarcophagi are
dry. Neither inscription nor symbol had been discovered revealing the
name and history of the dead, and I was left to the reflection that I
was gazing upon the disorganized forms of those who had lived and died
nearly 4000 years ago. Several sarcophagi have been removed to a museum
of antiquities within the city. Male and female figures are sculptured
on them, the faces of the former resembling the facial features of
Nero, and of the latter those of Minerva. Among the relics is a leaden
coffin beautifully moulded with beaded work, flowers, and leonine heads;
and in the “Cabinet of Ancient Coins and Curiosities” are a Phœnician
tear-bottle, gold rings, gold coins of the age of Alexander, a
Crusader’s silver cross which was worn in battle, and many rare jewels
of great intrinsic value.