Phoenicia

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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The maximum extent of the Scythian kingdom in West Asia and East Europe

Location of Phoenicia within the classical regions of Asia Minor/Anatolia

Phoenicia was an ancient Semitic civilization that originated in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the west of the Fertile Crescent. Their civilization was organized in city-states, similar to those of ancient Greece, the most notable of which were Tyre, Sidon, Arwad, Berytus, Byblos, Tripolis, Accho or Ptolemais and Carthage.

Variants of name

• Phoenicia and Phoenicians (Anabasis by Arrian, p. 55, 81, 90, 107, 108, 111, 116, 118, 120, 125-127, 132, 136, 140, 150, 151, 153, 158, 173, 308, 309, 318, 352, 359, 391, 406, 407, 414.)
• Cenaan (Anabasis by Arrian, p. 107, 108.)

• Phoenicia (Pliny.vi.39)
• Phoenician
• Phoenicians
• Phœnicians
• Phoínikes (Greek: Φοίνικες)
• Poenī
• Phoinix/Phoînix ("Phoenician person", "Tyrian purple, crimson" or "date palm")
• po-ni-ki-jo/ po-ni-ki, (Mycenaean)
• Phoenix
• Phoinikes
• Panis
• Punis
• Peoni
• Cenaan/Cĕnaan

Jat Gotras Namesake

• Punia = Paeonia = Phoenicia and Phoenicians (Anabasis by Arrian, p. 55, 81, 90, 107, 108, 111, 116, 118, 120, 125-127, 132, 136, 140, 150, 151, 153, 158, 173, 308, 309, 318, 352, 359, 391, 406, 407, 414.)

• Panni = Phoenicia and Phoenicians (Anabasis by Arrian, p. 55, 81, 90, 107, 108, 111, 116, 118, 120, 125-127, 132, 136, 140, 150, 151, 153, 158, 173, 308, 309, 318, 352, 359, 391, 406, 407, 414.)

Jat Gotras Namesake

• Punia = Paeonia = Phoenicia (Pliny.vi.39)

Location

Location of Phoenicia

Scholars generally agree that it included the coastal areas of today's Lebanon, northern Israel and southern Syria reaching as far north as Arwad, but there is some dispute as to how far south it went, the furthest suggested area being Ashkelon. Its colonies later reached the Western Mediterranean (most notably Carthage) and even the Atlantic Ocean. The civilization spread across the Mediterranean between 1500 BC and 300 BC.

Etymology

The name Phoenicians, like Latin Poenī (adj. poenicus, later pūnicus), comes from Greek Φοίνικες (Phoínikes). The word φοῖνιξ phoînix meant variably "Phoenician person", "Tyrian purple, crimson" or "date palm" and is attested with all three meanings already in Homer. (The mythical bird phoenix also carries the same name, but this meaning is not attested until centuries later.) The word may be derived from φοινός phoinós "blood red", itself possibly related to φόνος phónos "murder". It is difficult to ascertain which meaning came first, but it is understandable how Greeks may have associated the crimson or purple color of dates and dye with the merchants who traded both products. Robert S. P. Beekes has suggested a pre-Greek origin of the ethnonym. The oldest attested form of the word in Greek may be the Mycenaean po-ni-ki-jo, po-ni-ki, possibly borrowed from Egyptian fnḫw (fenkhu).

कुशस्थली

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर लिखते हैं कि कुशस्थली द्वारका का ही प्राचीन नाम है। पौराणिक कथाओं के अनुसार महाराजा रैवतक के कुश बिछाकर यज्ञ करने के कारण इसका नाम कुशस्थली नाम पड़ा। पीछे त्रिविक्रम भगवान् कुश नामक दानव का वध भी यहीं किया था। त्रिविक्रम का मंदिर भी द्वारका में रणछोड़ जी के मंदिर के पास है। ऐसा जान पड़ता है कि महाराज रैवतक (बलराम की पत्नी रेवती के पिता) ने प्रथम बार, समुद्र में से कुछ भूमि बाहर निकालकर यह नगरी बसाई थी। हरिवंश पुराण (1.1.4) के अनुसार कुशस्थली उस प्रदेश का नाम था जहाँ यादवों ने द्वारका बसाई थी। विष्णु पुराण के अनुसार, आनर्तस्यापि रेवतनामा पुत्रोजज्ञे योऽसावानर्त विषयं बुभुजे पुरीं च कुशस्थली मध्युवास अर्थात आनर्त के रेवत नामक पुत्र हुआ जिसने कुशस्थली नामक पुरी में रहकर आनर्त विषय पर राज्य किया। एक प्राचीन किंवदंती में द्वारका का सम्बन्ध पुण्यजनों से बताया गया है। ये पुण्यजन वैदिक पाणिक या पणि हो सकते हैं। अनेक विद्वानों का मत है कि ये प्राचीन ग्रीस के फिनिशियनों का ही भारतीय नाम है। ये अपने को कुश की सन्तान मानते थे। (वेडल: मेकर्स ऑफ़ सिविलाइजेशन पृ.80) हमारा मत है कि ये पूनिया जाट ही थे।

History

Herodotus's account (written c. 440 BC) refers to the myths of Io and Europa.

According to the Persians best informed in history, the Phoenicians began the quarrel. These people, who had formerly dwelt on the shores of the Erythraean Sea, having migrated to the Mediterranean and settled in the parts which they now inhabit, began at once, they say, to adventure on long voyages, freighting their vessels with the wares of Egypt and Assyria ......"— Herodotus, The History, I.1

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The Greek historian Strabo believed that the Phoenicians originated from Bahrain. Herodotus also believed that the homeland of the Phoenicians was Bahrain. This theory was accepted by the 19th-century German classicist Arnold Heeren who said that: "In the Greek geographers, for instance, we read of two islands, named Tyrus or Tylos, and Aradus, which boasted that they were the mother country of the Phoenicians, and exhibited relics of Phoenician temples." The people of Tyre in South Lebanon in particular have long maintained Persian Gulf origins, and the similarity in the words "Tylos" and "Tyre" has been commented upon. The Dilmun civilization thrived in Bahrain during the period 2200–1600 BC, as shown by excavations of settlements and Dilmun burial mounds.

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Arrian writes that when Alexander invaded and occupies Phoenicia, the Darius fled through the night with a few attendants; but in the daytime, picking up as he went along the Persians and Grecian mercenaries who had come safely out of the battle, he had in all 4,000 men under his command. He then made a forced march towards the city of Thapsacus^[1] and the river Euphrates,^[2] in order to put that river as soon as possible between himself and Alexander. But Amyntas son of Antiochus, Thymondas son of Mentor, Aristomedes the Pheraean, and Bianor the Acarnanian, all being deserters, fled without delay from the posts assigned them in the battle, with about 8,000 soldiers under their command, and passing through the mountains, they arrived at Tripolis in Phoenicia.^[3] There they seized the ships which had been hauled up on shore in which they had previously been transported from Lesbos; they launched as many of these vessel as they thought sufficient to convey them, and the rest they burnt there in the docks, in order not to supply their enemy with the means of quickly pursuing them. They fled first to Cyprus,^[4] thence to Egypt; where Amyntas shortly after, meddling in political disputes, was killed by the natives.

E. J. Chinnock writes....The term Cĕnaan was applied to the lowland plain from Aradus to Gaza. The northern portion, from Aradus to Carmel, is known to as under its Grecian name of Phoenicia, which is probably derived front the Greek Phoinix (a palm-tree), which grew abundantly in the country, and was the emblem of some of its towns. Others derive it from another Greek word Phoinix (red dye), which formed one of its most important manufactures. The Phoenicians applied the term Cenaan to their land in contrast to the highlands to the west, which they called Aram (highland), the Hebrew name for Syria. The country of Phoenicia was 120 miles long and with an average breadth of 12 miles, never exceeding 20 miles. The chief cities of Phoenicia were Tyre, Sidon, Aradus, Byblus, Berytus, Tripolis, and Accho or Ptolemais. Its central position between the eastern and western countries, early developed its commercial power, and its intercourse with foreign nations at an early period produced an advanced state of civilization and refinement. The Phoenicians were a Semitic nation like the Israelites; and their language bears a remarkable affinity with the Hebrew, as is seen by fragments of the Carthaginian language preserved in Plautus. In an inscription discovered at Marseilles in 1845, out of 94 words 74 were found in the Hebrew Bible. The Phoenicians were asserted by the Greeks to have communicated to them the knowledge of letters; and this statement is corroborated by the similarity of the Hebrew and ancient Greek letters. Their colonies spread from Cyprus to Crete and the Cyclades, thence to Euboea, Greece, and Thrace. The coasts of Asia Minor and Bithynia were dotted with their settlements, and they carried their commerce into the Black Sea. They also had colonies in Sicily, Sardinia, Ivica, and Spain, where they founded Cadiz. The northern coast of Africa was lined with their colonies, the most flourishing of which was Carthage, which rose to be one of the great powers of the world. Strabo says that they had 300 colonies on the western coast of Africa. They visited the coasts of England for tin; and thus, to quote the words of Humboldt, "the Tyrian flag waved at the same time in Britain and the India Ocean." Herodotus (iv. 42, 43) says that under the patronage of Necho, king of Egypt, they circumnavigated Africa; but he states that he does not believe it was a fact. The reason which he assigns for his disbelief is, that the navigators alleged that the sun was on their right hand, which is the strongest argument in favour of the truth of their statement. In Isaiah xxiii. 11, Phoenicia is called Cĕnaan, where the English Bible has erroneously, the merchant city. In the Bible the word Cĕnaanim is frequently used for merchants, because the Phoenicians were the principal commercial people of antiquity (Job xli. 6; Prov. xxxi. 24; Isaiah xxiii. 8; Hos. xii. 7; Zeph. i. 2; Zech. xiv. 21). Tripolis consisted of three distinct cities, 600 feet apart, each having its own walls, but all united in a common constitution with one place of assembly. These cities were colonies respectively of Sidon, Tyre, and Aradus. Tripolis was a flourishing port on a headland whioh is a spur of Lebanon. It is now called Tripoli, and is still a large town. See Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Classical Geography.

Migration of Nagas to India

Dr Naval Viyogi writes that....Certain Nagavanshi tribes of Assyria or Sumer came to India along with the names of their kings in a period after 3000 B. C. or roughly Indus Valley period (2700-1600 BC). Either the knowledge of Nagavanshi names and words was transferred to ojhas or priests or they were themselves among the immigrants. Although it is a farfetched idea, yet I think this will be the most acceptable view-point, because verses were composed at a very later period, the composer would have belonged to the institution of immigrant priest class. It is equally possible that Atharv-Veda would have been related to the black section of Rishi of Assyrian immigrants like wise a section of Yajurveda or Kanva as suggested by some scholars. There are clear evidences of Indus seals or seal Impressions with figures of Nagas or serpents depicted on them. Similarly there is another supporting evidence of Rigvedic description (lV-28-l) of Nagas also.

Naga Seals from Indus Valley

To understand this important secret we have to study the available evidences of Naga worship in Babylonia, Sumer and Assyria. (see Illustration Naga Seals from Indus Valley) James Fergusson produces detail of such evidences as under,

"In addition to the Tyrian coins and other monuments which in themselves would suffice to prove the prevalence of serpent worship on the seaboard of Syria, we have a direct testimony in a quotation from Sanchoniathon, an author who is supposed to have lived before the Trojan War. This passage is in itself sufficient to throw light on the feelings of the ancients on this subject. It may be worthwhile to quote it fully. Taautus attributed a certain divine nature to dragons and serpents, an opinion which was afterwards adopted both by the phoenicians and Egyptians. He teaches that this genus of animals abounds in force and spirit more than any other reptiles; that there is something fiery in their nature, and though possessing neither feet nor any external members for motion common to other animals, they are yet more rapid in their motion than any other. Not only has it the power of renewing its youth, but in doing so receives an increase of size and strength, so that after having run through a certain term of years it is again absorbed within itself. For these reasons this class of animals was admitted into temples, and used in sacred mysteries. By the Phoenicians they were called the good demon, which was the term also applied by the Egyptians to Cneph. who added to him the head of a hawk to symbolize the vivacity of that bird.

Phoenician alphabet

The Phoenician alphabet consists of 22 letters, all consonants. Starting around 1050 BC, this script was used for the writing of Phoenician, a Northern Semitic language. It is believed to be one of the ancestors of modern alphabets. By their maritime trade, the Phoenicians spread the use of the alphabet to Anatolia, North Africa, and Europe, where it was adopted by the Greeks who developed it into an alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as well as consonants.

The name "Phoenician" is by convention given to inscriptions beginning around 1050 BC, because Phoenician, Hebrew, and other Canaanite dialects were largely indistinguishable before that time. The so-called Ahiram epitaph, engraved on the sarcophagus of king Ahiram from about 1000 BC shows essentially a fully developed Phoenician script.

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Phoenicia is an ancient Greek term used to refer to the major export of the region, cloth dyed Tyrian purple from the Murex mollusc, and referred to the major Canaanite port towns; not corresponding precisely to Phoenician culture as a whole as it would have been understood natively. Their civilization was organized in city-states, similar to those of ancient Greece, perhaps the most notable of which were Tyre, Sidon, Arwad, Berytus, Byblos and Carthage. Each city-state was a politically independent unit, and it is uncertain to what extent the Phoenicians viewed themselves as a single nationality. In terms of archaeology, language, lifestyle, and religion there was little to set the Phoenicians apart as markedly different from other residents of the Levant, such as their close relatives and neighbors, the Israelites.

Around 1050 BC, a Phoenician alphabet was used for the writing of Phoenician. It became one of the most widely used writing systems, spread by Phoenician merchants across the Mediterranean world, where it evolved and was assimilated by many other cultures.

Jat History

Dr Naval Viyogi writes...From Syria the Naga worship tradition was later adopted both by the Phoenicians and Egyptians. It can be imagined that from Syria and Phoenicia this tradition was further transferred to Babylonia and in the East upto Iran and ultimately reached Kabul through Naga King Zohak and his offshoot, where Mihrab, a descendant of Zohak royal famlly, has been noticed ruling the country of Afghanistan in Kabul, Takshila and Swat valley is situated in the south of aforeesaid land.

Dr Naval Viyogi writes...From Takshila, the people, who worshipped serpent and practiced the tradition of Naga totemism, spread all over India up to Assam in the east, up to Ceylon in the South. It is clear from the evidences of spreading up of snake worship and snake worshipper tribes throughout the nation.

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Hukum Singh Panwar (Pauria) writes...The discovery of various motifs of the humped bull, similar to the one represented on the Harappan seals, at about a dozen ancient sites in the land of "Fertile Crescent", the veneration attached to its horns on the heads of kings and gods as symbols of strength and its worship since time immemorial in Middle East (Land of Twin Rivers or Mesopotamia) are the solid proofs relied upon and advanced by Bharadwaj (ibid. 223) in support of the migrations of Vedic tribes to those countries. It may not be impertinent to observe en passant that Zagros, Taurus, Jadda or Judea, Phoenicia, Phrygia, Euphrates & Byzantine are the Hellenised and Romanised names of the Vedic tribes such as Sigru, Turvasu, Yadu, Pani, Bhrgu, Bharatis & Visanin, who were especially marked by their horn-shaped helmets, as already referred to by us. All these people were bull worshippers. In all probability, these very people migrated to Middle East after the drying up of the South-Western (Paravata) sea, or were driven out of Sapta Sindhu by their victorious enemies, the Bharatas, who followed the distasteful practice of bull sacrifice to their gods and goddesses and served beef to entertain their guests and kith and kin. The discovery of various motifs of the humped bull, similar to the one represented on the Harappan seals, at about a dozen ancient sites in the land of "Fertile Crescent", the veneration attached to its horns on the heads of kings and gods as symbols of strength and its worship since time immemorial in Middle East (Land of Twin Rivers or Mesopotamia) are the solid proofs relied upon and advanced by Bharadwaj (ibid. 223) in support of the migrations of Vedic tribes to those countries. It may not be impertinent to observe en passant that Zagros, Taurus, Jadda or Judea, Phoenicia, Phrygia, Euphrates & Byzantine are the Hellenised and Romanised names of the Vedic tribes such as Sigru, Turvasu, Yadu, Pani, Bhrgu, Bharatis & Visanin, who were especially marked by their horn-shaped helmets, as already referred to by us. All these people were bull worshippers. In all probability, these very people migrated to Middle East after the drying up of the South-Western (Paravata) sea, or were driven out of Sapta Sindhu by their victorious enemies, the Bharatas, who followed the distasteful practice of bull sacrifice to their gods and goddesses and served beef to entertain their guests and kith and kin.

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Hukum Singh Panwar (Pauria) writees....A further groping into the dark abyss of the past yields yet another clue which, will take us on another long voyage of exploration. According to Saggs, a dynasty termed Guti or Gutian, had twenty one kings who ruled over Mesopotamia-( the lan d of Twin Rivers or the Fertile Crescent) from 2250 BC to 2120 BC¹⁴⁰ They were considered foreigners coming down probably from the hills

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The Jats:Their Origin, Antiquity and Migrations: End of page 349

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of Turkistan or Meru (Pamir) and the period of their ^§ dominance was abhorred as an age of barbarism, for they did not respect the gods of the land as well as of the last (third) Ur dynasty, besides plundering their temples¹⁴¹.

This bit of information aroused us to ask ourselves from where these Gutian invaders had descended upon Mesopotamia and what was their identity? The answers to these questions are not difficult to seek, if we have a fair knowledge of the contemporary people of the Indus valley. The Indus valley (Sapta Sindhu) has been the cradle of the Jats since time immemorial and from there they have ever been pushing up migrations in different directions. The awareness of this historical fact goes far back into the hoary past. Sheikh Said Abi ulkhair^141a, the author of the Majmul-ut-Twarikh¹⁴² a Persian translation of a earlier Arabic work, which is still an earlier translation of an ancient Sanskrit text of Mahabharat (3102 B.c.)¹⁴³ informs us that the Jats and Meds, living on the hanks of Sindh, very often fought against each other for supremacy over the valley at that time. The Vahikas, the authors of the Indus Valey civilization¹⁴⁴, were none else than Jats. The condemned people of Rigveda, the Panis, (who were "Punis" of the Romans¹⁴⁵, the Peoni in Latin¹⁴⁶, the Phoenix or Phoinikes or "Phoenicians" of early Greeks¹⁴⁷, (the pre-Vedic Indo-Aryan authors of Harappan Scrip1t^147a), Aparnis of the classical writers¹⁴⁸, a branch of the Dahae Massagetae¹⁴⁹ (Dahiya Maha Jats^149a), were present in Sindh as authors ¹⁵⁰ of the Indus Valley civilization. The Panis were ab initio on the bank of the short-coursed Jamuna, on the coast of Aryavata sea and in Parniprastha, (the ancient name of Panipat) where from they were uprooted by Indra of Indraprastha to move to Rajasthan and Sindh ¹⁵¹.

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140. Saggs, F.W.J.; Greatness that was Babylon, London, 1962, pp. 52ff. CAH. Vol. I, Pt. 2, p. 444. Their home is said to be the territories now occupicd by Kurds and Luris (a Jat tribe of the Indus Valley) Great Soviet Ency., Vol. 7, p. 498. Guti or Gutei or Gutians or Kuti, the ancient semi-nomadic tribes. He said to be related to Kurds anthropologically. Mesopotamians (Ibid., Vol. 10. p.) called the people in N. and E. Guti including (Mannai and Meds were Jat tribes), (within the brackets mine). To Saggs the 21 Guti Kings were elected and not hereditary. Their tradition of electing their kings unmistakably betray that of the ancient Jat republican tribes.

141. Saggs, op.cit., p. 53.

141a. Sami, Ali; Shiraz Eng. Tans. by Rev. R.N. Sharp, 1958, Musavi Printing Office, Sh i raz, p. 8.

142. Shrava, Satya; op.cit., p. 2. He firmly believes that Jats, Getae and Sakas are one and the same people and belong to the original Caspian type. Elliot, Sir 1-1.1-1 and .John Dawson; His. of Ind., Vol. I, Kitab Mahal, Allahabad, 1969, pp. 100, 103-05.

143. Vaidya. C.V.; The Mbt. (A Criticism). Bombay, 1904, pp. 55-78. Mirashi, V.V.; Date of Mbt. War. JOIB, Vol. XXV, nos. 3-4, 1976, p. 286-98. Sharva, op.cit., p. 2. The Last author holds that 3102 n.c. as the date of the Mbt. War was decided on very sound grounds.

144. Shembavenekar, K.H.; The Identity of the Indus Valley Race with the Vahikas,' IHQ. Vol. XII, No.4, Dec. 1936, pp. 477-84.

145. Kalyanaramana. op.cit., p. 129. Chakraberty, Chandra; op.cit., pp. 2, 56-7.

146. Chakraberty, 0p.cti., pp. 2,56-7.

147. Ibid.

147a. Rahurkar,V.G.,"Who were the Panis? CASS. studies, No. 2,1974, Uni. of Poona,p.45f. Rao,SR;"The Indus People Begin to Speak" JAHRS, No. 33, 1972-73, p. 6.

148. ASRJ, 1863-64, Vol. II, pp. 29-32. Kephart, op.cit., pp. 279-523, 529, 532, Pusalker, Vedic Age, p. 253.

149. Ibid.

150. Pusalker, A.D.; The Vedic Age, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1965, p.l97.

151. Bhargava, M.L,; Geog. of the Rigvedic Ind, Lucknow, 1964, pp. 26,41, 45f, 51.

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Hukum Singh Panwar (Pauria) writes... The Indo-Aryan had colonised Anatolia and established the Vedic culture there (Nevali Cori) in 7300 B.C After them the Getae (5000 B.C.), the Panis or Punis or Phoenicians (3500 B.C.) and others went to Europe via Middle East, Asia Minor or Anatolia . The Indo-Aryans tribes migrated to the western countries as far as Scandanavia. On their way out they had intermittent stay and settlements, temporary or permanent, in suitable climes and countries.

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Hukum Singh Panwar (Pauria) states: "Mohanjodaro sold its seals at Ur and Kish. The humped bull of tile Guts of the Indus valley was developed as winged sentinel of Assyrian palaces at Nineveh. It is represented as human-headed & bearded emblem of bull-god of prosperity on the columns of Apadan. The Indus bull created the Apis bull of the Egyptians. The Indus metric system standardised the weights and measures of Mesopotamia and further west. The cheque and banking system of the Panis (Phoenicians) of the Sapta Sindhu and their coins struck and minted at Carthage, Sodom and Tyre, after migrations there, became models for the currency and banking in the west. All these are the solid proofs, now universally accepted, of the migrations to and occupations of those countries by Indians in the hoary past (B.S.Upadhayaya, 1973: 2).

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Hukum Singh Panwar (Pauria) writes... So great was the influence which the Indo-Aryans exercised on the fortunes of the Egyptian race that passing them over in silence would be an unpardonable lapse. The ancient name of the country, Misra⁴⁴, (still known as El Misra all over the Near East), owes its derivation to the mixture of the two races (since the word misra means "mixture"). Similarly Egypt, her modern name, first of all used by Panis (Phoenicians) & Greeks, and the Nile, her life-line, ,owe their origins to Sanskrit names Agupta (impure) & Nila (blue) respectively. Some additional and stronger evidence, we are sure, would convince the unbiased.

Phoenician god: Hercules

E. J. Chinnock writes....The Phoenician god Melkarth (lord of the city), whom the Syrians called Baal (lord), was supposed to be identical with the Grecian Heracles, or Hercules, who was the mythical ancestor of the Macedonian kings. Curtius (iv. 7) tells us that Alexander affirmed he had been ordered by an oracle to sacrifice in Tyre to Heracles. Gesenius informs us that a Maltese inscription identifies the Tyrian Melkarth with Heracles.