Feb.6l PROCEEDINGS. [1894.assertedthattin can only be looked for either directlyin Spain, or
as brought by Phoenician shipsfromBritain.
Theentire forceof this argumentmustnowbe considered as
overthrownby recent discoveries, whichalmostdispense me from
the necessity of pointing out the fact that the great metallicwealth
of Spain, andof the Turdetanian regionin particular, aboutwhich
Strabo is eloquent, wasfirst madeknownto his countrymen, and
developedby the great Hamilcar Barcas,wholaidthe foundation
of the Carthaginian empirein Spain. This wasnot till after the
firstPunic war, and thereforelongafterthe times of Isaiah and
Ezekiel.
Thediscoveriesto. which I allude are partly archaeologicaland
partlyphilological,and each is of irresistible weightin its own de
partment.
The Bronzeand the Tin whichare so often mentionedin the
Homericpoemsare not inconsisteni withthe hypothesis thatthe
tin which is necessary for the manufacture of bronze mayhavebeen
procuredby Phoenician commercefromthe west of Europe, though
it was not necessary evenin Europe to go as far as Spain.
But the implements in bronze and tin which havebeendiscovered
in Mycenae cannotbe disposed of so easily. Theyare witnesses,
like the gold andsilverwhichwerefoundalongwiththem,to the
splendourof a civilization whichhadpassedaway,perhaps before
a single Phoenician ship had reached the western coast of the
Mediterranean.
Wemay probably neverknoweventhe approximate datesof
theseprehistoricantiquities. But the bronze weaponsof Thothmes
III are fromthe earlier yearsof the 18th dynasty, andthoseof
King Kamesare a little anterior to the dynasty. If the bronze
cylinderbearingthe name of Pepi I was madefor that sovereign,
or for his family, we have Egyptianbronzeworksof art from the
6th dynasty.
Thesameresult meetsus in Mesopotamia. Thewell-known
bronzegatesof Balawat speak for themselves, but they are modern
in comparison withthe bronze worksof art dating from the early
Babylonianempire. Thereare tine specimensof this art both in
Parisandin London. Whence camethe tin which enteredinto
the composition of all this bronze?
The Greekfor tin is Kaaahtpo?, which has found its way into
manyotherlanguages,as in the case of the Arabic kasdir. But the
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