est, quoniam Tyrii, aborigines eorum, orti ab Erythræo mari ferebantur. The original Phenicians therefore were the people of Edom; who lived near the Arabians and Amalekites, and intermarried with their families, and are often confounded with them. They seem to have carried their knowledge with them, wherever they settled; and there are continued allusions in Scripture to their wisdom and experience. 9" And Hamath also shall border "thereby; Tyrus and Zidon, though it be very "wise." The Carthaginians are represented as a knowing and politic people. It is remarkable, that their chief city Carthage was originally called Bosra, the name of the capital of Edom. Their language too was a "dialect of the Hebrew: and the above city is said by Philistus to have been built by Esor, to whom he subjoins one Carchedon of Tyre. " Καρχηδόνα φησι Φίλιςος κτισθηναι ὑπὸ Εξωρα και Καρχηδόνος των Τυριών. Possibly Spain might receive the name of Iberia from them; who, when they settled in the parts particularly so called, were distinguished by their most antient family name

ay Ebrai. The original name of the river Iberus seems to have been the Eber, called at present Ebro. They settled in many parts of this country,

9 Zech. 9. v. 2.

10 Plauti Pœnulus. Act. 5. Sce. 1. Bochart Geogr. Sacr. pars post. lib. 2. cap. 1.

11 Euseb. Chron. Can. pag. $1.

but chiefly, as I have shewn, near Gades: and it is observable, that here was the principal seat of the Iberi, placed by Stephanus Byzantinus #gos THIS προς ταις Ηρακλείαις ζηλαις; and mentioned by Dionysius in the same situation,

12

Αγχε τηλεων μεγαθύμων εθνος Ιβήρων.

The Iberians therefore appear to have been the same nation as the Erythreans or Edomites; who came from Tyre, and were generally mentioned by the name of Phenicians: yet lost not their original gentile name from Heber; but were at times termed Eberi, or Iberi, according to the Greek manner of expressing it. The chief city of this country is at this day called Ebora; and is near the antient Gades. So wide did this active people extend themselves: and they were for ages very powerful; till by degrees they were weakened in every part, and insensibly sunk into oblivion. In the time of the Greeks the Arabians were in possession of Edom, the original country of the Phenicians; and retain it to this day. Hence it is that they have been mentioned as coming from Phenicia; and sometimes called Phenicians. Such misnomers are very common in the writings both of Greeks and Romans. The land of Israel was called

1

12 Περιηγ. ν. 282.

Judea, Syria, Idumea, Phenicia, Palestine: yet were they all distinct countries. "Philo the Jew calls the Amalekites, who attacked the Israelites, Phenicians: and the Amalekites were Arabians. So that there need not be any difficulties raised, if we find the Cuseans represented under that denomination.

Bochart tries to invalidate these accounts of the Phenicians; and will not allow, that they came from Edom and the Red Sea. He quotes every author, that I have above mentioned, and particularly Herodotus; but sets aside their evidence: and the reason, which he gives, is very extraordinary. 14 Tamen ex Scriptura constat Phænices esse avtoxbovas, et statim à primâ illa terrarum divisione patrem illorum Chanaanem in Chananæam se contulisse. Sed Judæos, qui, cum in terris Mari Rubro vicinis diu errâssent, Phænices partem invaserunt, Phænicum nomine potuit significare Herodotus. He says, it is manifest, that the Phe"nicians were aborigines: that Canaan was the "father of them: and that he came into the

66

country, which they possessed, immediately upon "the dispersion:" all which he advances upon the authority of the Scriptures. What he mentions of Canaan, and of the Canaanites, is very true: but

in respect to the Phenicians he plainly begs the question. They are so far from being represented in Scripture as the descendants of Canaan; that the Old Testament does not once in the whole course of its history mention their name. And as to the Jews being meant by Herodotus, when he speaks of the Phenicians coming from the Red Sea, there are no grounds for such a surmise. Herodotus, it seems, might call them Phenicians, who, when they had been a good while in the vicinity of the Red Sea, invaded part of Phenicia. The country, which they invaded, was Canaan: and should we agree to substitute the name of Phenicia in lieu of it, which is not allowable, yet even this can never authorize the inferences, which are made. Herodotus is at this rate guilty of a twofold mistake: first in supposing the Jews to have been Phenicians, because they invaded a country, afterwards so called: and secondly for imagining that they came originally from the Red Sea, because in their retreat from Egypt, they were a good while in its neighbourhood. Is there in this notion the least show of probability? Bochart mentions a particularly learned person, who differed from him, and asserted, that the Tyrians were originally from Edom; to which he answers-puto id gratis asseri, et sine authore idoneo : "-for this migra

15 Bochart. Geogr. Sacr. pars posterior. lib. 1. cap. 43. pag. 683.

tion of the Edomites there is no good voucher. Strange! when so many writers are quoted for it by himself; some of whom are of the very first rank. I will transcribe them in his own words, as they stand at the top of the page:-ita tradunt Herodotus, et in Strabone nonnulli, et Dionysius Periegetes, Festus, Priscianus, Plinius, Solinus, Stephanus to which may be added Trogus and Diodorus Siculus, whom he quotes for it in another place. All these are set aside with "Herodotus at their head, though he had been in Phenicia, and visited Tyre, and must speak from knowledge, obtained upon the 18 the "spot. What is extraordinary, to

16

16 Bochart. Geogr. Sacra. pars posterior. lib. 4. cap. 34. pag. 301. Pars prior. lib. 1. cap. 43.

17 Herodotus. lib. 1. cap. 1. pag. 1.

18 Bochart imagines, that Herodotus did not get his infor mation from the Tyrians, but from the records of Persia: but he does not attend to the words of the historian, nor quote him quite fairly. He leaves out, what related to Persia; and joins two sentences, which were originally independent. The words of Herodotus are not-The Persians say, that the Tyrians came from the Red Sea.-but-The Persians maintain, that the Phenicians were the cause of the differences, which subsisted between the European and Asiatic nations: for the Phenicians coming from the