Chapter XX
Circumnavigation of Libya.—Some adverse criticism may probably be aroused by my resorting to this expedient for the prosecuting of my story. That the Phœnicians might have accomplished it, cannot be disputed; and although the Periplus of Hanno has recently been proved to be apocryphal, and the work of some scientific Greek romance writer, I have not hesitated to incorporate the prominent feature of it into these imaginary adventures.—Page 302.
Chapter XXI
Sheba. Ophir.—The identity of this locality with the southern coast of Arabia is beyond a doubt.—Page 309.
“Fairer, etc.”—These verses are translated from some later Arabian poetry. Oriental taste has altered so little, that I may claim to be pardoned for putting into the mouth of a Phœnician, a thousand years before the Christian era, some poetry belonging to a period a thousand years after.—Page 310.
Footnotes
1 Hiram I. reigned from 980 to 947 B.C.
2 Sidon, or Zidon, in the Phœnician tongue means “fishery.”
3 Bostra, or Bozrah; hence Byrsa, the citadel.
4 Carthage, or Kart-Khadecht, the new city.
5 Tarshish, the Tartessus of the Greeks, Spain.
6 Suffect, or choupheth (plural chophettim), the Hebrew and Phœnician magistrates preceding the monarchy.
7 The silver shekel was the standard money of the Phœnicians, and was worth about 2s. It was a tenth part of a shekel of gold.
8 Astarte. The Aphrodite of the Greeks; the goddess of navigation, and the national deity of the Sidonians.
9 The stars in the constellation of Ursa Major were also tutelary deities of navigation; the pole-star by the Greeks being called “the Phœnician.”
10 Gaoul, a round ship, employed in merchant service.
11 Kitonet, a short tunic, worn by Phœnician sailors.
12 Baal Moloch, the sun god.
13 Nergal, the Chaldean god of fire and war, always represented with a cock’s head.
14 Zeraas, small copper coin.
15 For details of the construction of these galleys, see notes at the end of the Volume.
16 The common cubit is about 16 inches.
17 Nisan; part of March and April.
18 Chittim, the classical Citium, a Phœnician colony in Cyprus.
19 Nectar; the sweet and perfumed wine of the Phœnicians, said by the Greeks to be the drink of the gods.
20 Senir, in Libanus, now Djebel Sannin.
21 The Grecian Tamith; according to the Phœnician legend, she was the inventor of sails.
22 The Mediterranean.
23 Baaltis, feminine of Baal, lord.
24 Melek was the title of the Kings of Judah, as Pharaoh was that of the Kings of Egypt.
25 See note on Chap. II. at end of Volume.
26 Jam Souph, the Red Sea.
27 I am guilty of an anachronism here for the mere satisfaction of introducing the name of the great historian.
28 Now Ras-el-Abiad.
29 That is, 32½ geographical miles, the rate given by Herodotus.
30 The Minos, Eacus, and Rhadamanthus of the Greeks.
31 The god of subterranean fire and of the hammer. Compare Phtah with the Hephaistos of the Greeks.
32 Italia, from ἰταλός, vitulus.
33 South of the Adriatic.
34 The description of Utica is from M. Daux’s admirable book, ‘Fouilles executées dans le Zeugis et Byzacium.’
35 Karth, the town; later Cirtha, the actual Constantine.
36 The Canaries.
37 Now Cape Palos.
38 The ancient name of ferrets.
39 The Guadalquivir.
40 The Hittites of the Bible. Kheta was the general name given by the Egyptians to the Semitic tribes.
41 B.C. 1070.
42 The Scilly Islands, the Cassiterides, or Tin islands of the ancients.
Variant spellings were made consistent when a predominant usage was found.
Blank pages have been skipped.
Illustrations have been slightly moved so that they do not break up paragraphs while remaining close to the text they illustrate.
Illustration captions have been harmonized and made consistent so that the same expressions appear in the text and in the List of Full Page Illustrations.