Dfx. 4] SOCIETVOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1S94.
discussed the question at length. Suffice it that the majority of
testimoniesare in favour of the existence of such a port on the
coast of Spain, founded and named after the mother port —a
daughterof Tarsus —as it has been called, and established as a
harbouror emporium of commerce by the most enterprisingof early
navigators,moreespeciallyin bringing the tin of the Cassiterides to
the nations of the East.*
Phoenike,afterwardsPhoenicia,the Land of Palms of the Greeks,
constitutesa mere longand extremelynarrow line of seashore, at
the footof hills which towerabove it every where,andhenceit
appearsto have beensimplyknownto the Hebrews as the land of
Tyreandof Zidon or Sidon. ProfessorGeorgeRawlinson,whohas
relatedthe history of " Phoenicia " in the work so called, in Fisher
Unwin's" Storyof the Nations," in as far as its successive occupation
by descendants of Hamitic and Semitic racesis concerned, makes
no mention of a name previousto that of Phoenike.t
Thecircumstanceof the forests of Cilicia havingfurnished the
first and chiefmeansof building shipsin the eastern partof the
Mediterranean, andthis circumstance having led to the ships of
Tarshish, becominga common appellationfor all vessels of trade,
and especially of ships trading from Phoenicia, and "to go to
Tarshish,"havingbecomea proverbial expressionfor setting out to
sea in such vessels,has led to all the confusion and discrepancies
of opinion that havesprungup, as also to the difficulty of reading
the meaning of some scriptural referencescorrectly. Mr. RenouPs
attemptto identify TarshishwithPhoeniciais a remarkable example
of this fact.
Fiirst,whogivesa list of Tarshishes, comprisingTartessus on
the Guadalquiver (Wadyel Kebir, or the Great River), Carthage,
a South ArabianTarshish,and others—withthe several passagesin
Scriptureon which the existence of such emporiumsare founded—
- Grote is described by Mr. P. le P. Renouf as writing "entirelywithout
authority,"when he says that Colacusfoundhimself"anunexpectedvisitor
among the Phoenicians andIberiansof Tartessus," and that "thesecretof
Phoeniciancommerceat Tartessus first became knownto the Greeks." What
everhis authorities, the historian of Gre:ce, heldby the facts of the case.
t The learnedprofessorhas been led into errorin saying thatthe rocks
whereofCasiiisis composed are of igneous origin(p. 15). The mountainis a solid
massof limestone, and I had much difficultyin finding the upheaving rocks,in
this case euphotidesand diallage rocks,whichI succeeded in doing at the very
bottomof the deep valleythat intervenes betweenCasiusand a westerly mountain.
Kescanhesin Assyria, etc.,Parker,1838,p. 303, et seq.
302