At this point it is convenient to mention what little is known about the constitution of the Phoenician states. All Canaanite analogy speaks for kingship as the oldest form of Phoenician government. In the native inscriptions the chief of the city in Phoenicia itself and in Cyprus is always called king. The royal houses claimed divine descent, and the king could not be chosen outside their members. His power, however, was limited by the wealthy merchant families, who possessed great influence in public affairs. The priest of Melkarth at Tyre was the second man in the kingdom. Associated with the prince was a council of elders; such was the case at Gebal (Byblus) from the earliest times to the latest (Ezek. xxvii. 9) ; at Sidon this council consisted of zoo members (Diod., xvi. 45), perhaps also at Tyre (NSI. p. 129). Inscriptions of the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. mention a Rab (chief) in Sidon, Cyprus and Gaulus (Gozo) ; what his position was it is difficult to say ; in the colonies he may have been a district governor. During Nebucha drezzar's time, as we have seen, a republic took the place of the monarchy at Tyre, and the government was administered by a succession of suffetes (judges) ; they held office for short terms, and in one instance two ruled together for six years. Much later, in the 3rd century B.C. an inscription from Tyre mentions a suffete (NSI. No. 8) without adding more to our knowledge. Carthage, of course, was governed by two suffetes, and these officers are frequently named in connection with the Carthaginian colonies (NSI. p. 115 seq.); but we must be careful not to draw the infer ence that Phoenicia itself had any such magistrates. Under the Persians a federal bond was formed comprising Sidon, Tyre and Aradus, whose duty it was to contribute 30o triremes to the Per sian fleet (Herod., vii. 89), the lesser towns being under the com mand of the great cities. But federation on a larger scale was never possible in Phoenicia, for the reason that no sense of political unity existed to bind the different states together. Com mercial interests dominated everything else, and while these stimu lated a municipal life not without vigour, civil discipline and loyalty were but feebly felt. On occasion the towns could defend their independence with strenuous courage ; the higher qualities which make for a progressive national life the Phoenicians did not possess.
Phoenicia now became part of the fifth satrapy of the Persian empire, and entered upon a spell of comparative peace and growing prosperity. At this period Sidon occupied the position of leading state ; in the fleet her king ranked next to Xerxes and before the king of Tyre (Herod., viii. 67) ; her situation afforded advantages for expan sion which Tyre on its small and densely populated island could not rival. In the first half of the 4th century Straton I. (in Phoen. (Abd-tashtart or Bod-casktart) was king, c.
He culti vated friendly relations with Athens, indicated in a decree of proxenia (Michel, Rec. d'inscr. gr. No. 93=C/G. No. 87) ; and the extent to which phil-Hellenic tendencies prevailed at this time in Sidon is shown by the royal sarcophagi, noble specimens of Greek art, which have been excavated in the necropolis of the city. It was in the reign of Straton that Tyre fell into the hands
of Evagoras, king of Salamis, who had already supplanted Phoeni cian with Greek civilization in Cyprus (Isocr., Evag., 62, Paneg., 161; Diod. xv. 2). Straton made friends with Nicocles, son of Evagoras, and with him came to an untimely end through their implication in the great revolt of the satraps, 362 B.C. A new revolt of Sidon against the Persians took place under King Tennes; with the aid of Nectanebus of Egypt, the Sidonians car ried the rest of Phoenicia with them and drove the satraps of Syria and Cilicia out of the country. Tennes, however, betrayed his people and opened the city to Artaxerxes III. ; then he was executed after he had served the ends of the great king (346 B.C.; Diod., xvi. 41-45). The last king of Sidon was Straton II. (`Abd lashtart, 346-332) before the Persian empire came to an end.
Towards the close of the 5th century the Phoenician coins begin to supplement our historical sources. From the time of Darius the Persian monarchs allowed their satraps and vassal states to coin silver and copper money at discretion. Hence Aradus, Byblus, Sidon and Tyre issued a coinage of their own, of which many specimens exist the coins are stamped as a rule with the emblem or name of the
sometimes with the ruler's name. Thus from the coins of Byblus we learn the names of four kings, 'El-pa'al, 'Az-ba'al (between 36o and 340 B.c.), Adar-melek, `Ain-el; from the coins of the other cities it is diffi cult to obtain much information. The native inscriptions, how ever, now become available, though most of them belong to the period which follows, and only a few have been discovered in Phoenicia itself. One of the earliest of these is the inscription of Byblus (CIS. i. 1=----NSI. No. 3), dating from the Persian period; it records a dedication made by Yeklaw-milk, king of Gebal, and mentions the name of the king's grandfather, Uri milk, but the exact dates of their reign are not given.
When Alexander the Great entered Phoenicia after the battle of Issus (333 B.c.), the kings were absent with the Persian fleet in the Aegean; but the cities of Aradus, Byblus and Sidon welcomed him readily, the last-named showing special zeal against Persia. The Tyrians also offered submission, but refused to allow the conqueror to enter the city and sacrifice to the Tyrian Heracles. Alexander was deter mined to make an example of the first who should offer oppo sition, and at once began the siege. It lasted seven months. With enormous toil the king drove out a mole from the mainland to the island and thus brought up his engines ; ships from the other Phoenician towns and from Cyprus lent him their aid, and the town at length was forced in July 332; 8,000 Tyrians were slain, 30,00o sold as slaves, and only a few notables, the king Azemilkos, and the festal envoys from Carthage who had taken refuge in the sanctuary of Melkarth, were spared (Diod., xvii. 4o-46). It is not unlikely that Zech. ix. 2-4 refers to this famous siege. For the time Tyre lost its political existence, while the foundation of Alexandria presently changed the lines of trade, and dealt a blow even more fatal to the Phoenician cities.