It seems, however, that the Indian coasts in general were also called Ophir. Three years were required in order to accomplish a mercan tile expedition to Ophir and to return with car goes of gold, algum-wood, ivory, silver, monkeys, peacocks, and other Indian produce. Some names of these products are Indian transferred into He brew, as almuggim; Sanscrit valgu, or, according to the Decanic pronunciation, valgum; shen-hab bint (ivory) ; Sanscrit ibha; kokh (ape).; Sanscrit kapi; tukkiyini (peacock) ; Sanskrit cikhi, ac cording to the Decanic pronunciation (compare z Kings ix :27; x:11, 22). (See COM MERCE ; OPH IR.) It seems, however, that these mercantile expedi tions to India were soon given up, probably on account of the great difficulty of navigating the Red Sea. King Jehoshaphat endeavored to re commence these expeditions, but his fleet was wrecked at Ezion-geber (1 Kings xxii :40. About B. C. 616 or 6oz, Phcenician seamen undertook, at the command of Pharaoh-Necho, a voyage of discovery, proceeding from the Red Sea round Africa, and returning after two years through the columns of Hercules to Egypt (Herod. iv, 42). The 27th chapter of Ezekiel mentions the com merce by land between India and Phcenicia.
The names of mercantile establishments on the roasts of Arabia along the Persian Gulf have partly been preserved to the present day. In these places the Phcenicians exchanged the prod uce of the west for that of India, Arabia, and Ethiopia. Arabia especially furnished incense, gold, and precious stones. The Midianites (Gen. xxxvii :28) and the Edomites (Ezek. xxvii :16) effected the transit by their caravans. The forti fied Idumxan town Petra contained probably the storehouses in which the produce of southern countries was collected. From Egypt the Phce nicians exported especially byssus (Ezek. xxvii: 7) for wine. According to an ancient tradition, the tyrant of Thebes, Busiris, having soiled his hands with the blood of all foreigners, was killed by the Tyrian Hercules. This indicates that Phcenician colonists established themselves and their civilization successfully in Upper Egypt, where all strangers usually had been perse cuted.
At a later period Memphis was a place where most of the Phcenicians in Egypt were estab lished. Phcenician inscriptions found in Egypt prove that even under the Ptolemies the intimate connection between Phcenicia and Egypt still ex isted.
From Palestine the Phcenicians imported, be sides wheat, especially from Judma, ivory, oil, and balm; also wool, principally from the neigh boring nomadic Arabs. Damascus furnished wine (Ezek. xxvii:5, 6, 17, 18. 21), and the mountains of Syria wood. The tribes about the shores of the Caspian Sea furnished slaves and for instance, the Tibarxans (Tubal), and Moscm (Meshech). Horsemen, horses, and mules came from the Armenians (Togarmah).
The treasures of the East were exported from Phcenicia by ships which sailed first to Cyprus, the mountains of which are visible from the Phce nician coast. Citium was a Phcenician colony in Cyprus, the name of which was transferred to the whole of Cyprus, and even to some neighbor ing islands and coasts (Gen. x:4; Is. xxiii 12). Cyprus was subject to Tyre up to the dine of Alexander the Great. There are still found Phce nician inscriptions which prove the connection of Cyprus with Tyre. At Rhodes also are found vestiges of Phcenician influence. From Rhodes the mountains of Crete are visible. This was of great importance for the direction of navigators, before the discovery of the compass. In Crete, and also in the Cycladic Isles, are vestiges of Phcenician settlements. On the Isle of Thasos, on the southern coast of Thrace, the Phcenicians had gold mines; and even on the southern shore; of the Black Sea, they had factories. However, when the Greeks became more powerful, the Phcenicians sailed more in other directions. They occupied also Sicily and the neighboring islands, but were, after the Greek colonization, confined to a few towns, Motya, Soloes, Panormus (Thuc. vi. 2). The Phcenician mercantile establishments in Sardinia and the Balearic Isles could scarcely be called colonies.
Carthage was a Phcenician colony, which prob. ably soon became important by commerce with the interior of Africa, and remained connected with Tyre by means of a common religion. After Phcenicia had been vanquished by the As syrians, Babylonians, and Persians, the settle ments in Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain came into the power of Carthage. The Phcenicians had for a long period exported from Spain gold, silver, tin, iron, lead (Ezek. xxxviii :13), fruit, wine, oil, wax, fish, and wool. Their chief settlement was Tarshish, which means subjection.
There are other names of towns in Spain which have a Phcenician derivation: Gades and Malaga, on account of much salt fish thence exported. The voyage to Tarshish was the most important of those undertaken by the Phcenicians. Hence it was that their largest vessels were all called ships of Torshish, although they sailed in other direc tions (z Kings x:22).
It appears, also, that the Phcenicians exported tin from the British Isles, and amber from the coasts of Prussia. Their voyages on the western coasts of Africa seem to have been merely voy ages of discovery, without permanent results. The Spanish colonies were, probably, the principal sources of Phcenician wealth, and were founded at a very remote period. The migration of the Phcenician, Cadmus, into Bceotia, likewise belongs to the earlier period of Phcenician colonization. Phcenicia flourished most in the period from Da vid to Cyrus (B. C. zo50-55o).