PHCENICIA AND THE PHCENICIANS (ft !Ash-a and the f6-nish-anz).
(1) Name. The Greeks called those merchants who came from that coast of the Mediterranean Sea which runs parallel with Mount Lebanon, ,Dolmices, foy'nee-kehs. This name probably arose from the circumstance that the chief article of the commerce of these merchants was cpoti,6s, fiurfile.
The name "Plicenicia" does not occur in the Old Testament; in the New Testament it appears once as "Plicenicia" and twice as "Phenice" (Acts xxi:2; xi:19; xv:3). There are numerous prophecies in the Old Testament, however, concerning the over throw of cities in this country, which -have been signally fulfilled. (See TyRE AND SIDON.) - (2) Country. The country inhabited by the Phcenicians was called by the Greeks foy-nee' kay, (Doiylkn, and by the Romans Plicenice. In Cicero (De Fin. iv. 2o) there occurs the doubtful reading Phcenicia. (Compare the Vulgate in Num. xxxiii :51). However, this latter form of
the name has come into general use.
This name was used by the ancients some times in a wider, sometimes in a narrower sense. Phcenicia, in its widest signification, embraces the whole coast of the Mediterranean situated between the river Orontes and Pelusium (comp. Strabo xvi p. 754, sq.) When Ptolemzeus and Strabo speak of Phcenicia in a more restricted sense, they mention the river Eleutheros as the northern boundary ; and Ptolemxus states also that Dora, situated to the south of the promontory Carmel, and north of the river Chorseus, was the most southern of the maritime towns of Phcenicia.
Phcenicia is situated between about lat. 33° and 35° N., and under long. 33' E. The whole of Phcenicia is situated at the western declivity of Mount Lebanon. (Compare the article LIBANUS