only in Crete itself, but also throughout the Ægean and the coasts of Asia Minor and Palestine.

In course of time, as the art of ship-building advanced and the mariners' skill and experience increased, no doubt more extensive and better-equipped enterprises were undertaken. [For a concise summary of the evidence see [3], pp. 120 et seq.] Instances of this are provided by the famous expedition to the land of Punt in Queen Hatshepsut's reign (6) and the exploits of the Minoan seamen of Crete.

Such commercial intercourse cannot fail to have produced a slow diffusion of culture from one people to another, even if it was primarily of the nature of a mere exchange of commodities. But as the various civilizations gradually assumed their characteristic forms a certain conventionalism and a national pride grew up, which protected each of these more cultured communities from being so readily influenced by contact with aliens as it was in the days of its uncultured simplicity. Each tended to become more and more conscious of its national peculiarities, and immune against alien influences that threatened to break down the rigid walls of its proud conservatism.

It was not until the Minoan state had fallen and Egypt's dominion had begun to crumble that a people free from such prejudices began to adopt (7) all that it wanted from these hide-bound civilizations. To its own exceptional aptitude for and experience in maritime exploits it added all the knowledge acquired by the Egyptians, Minoans, and the peoples of Levant. It thus took upon itself to become the great intermediary between the nations of antiquity; and in the course of its trafficking with them, it did not scruple to adopt their arts and crafts, their burial customs, and even their gods. In this way was inaugurated the first era of really great sea-voyages in the world's history. For the trafficking with these great proud empires proved so profitable that the enterprising intermediaries who assumed the control of it, not only of bartering their merchandise one with the other, but also of supplying their wants from elsewhere, soon began to exploit the whole world for the things which the wealthy citizens of the imperial states desired [P].

There can be no doubt that it was the Phoenicians, lured forth into the unknown oceans in search of gold, who first broke through the bounds of the Ancient East (8) and whose ships embarked upon these earliest maritime adventures on the grand scale. Their

achievements and their motives present some analogies to those of the great European seamen of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries who raided the East Indies and the Spanish Main for loot. But the exploits of the Phoenicians must be regarded as even greater events, not only by reason of the earlier period in which they were accomplished, but also from their vast influence upon the history of civilization in outlying parts of the world, as well as for inaugurating new methods of commerce and extending the use of its indispensable instrument, gold currency (Perry, vide infra).

Their doings are concisely set forth in the twenty-seventh chapter of the Book of Ezekiel, where Tyre is addressed in these words: "Who is there like Tyre, like her that is brought to silence in the midst of the sea? When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many peoples: thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches, and of thy merchandise."

Many circumstances were responsible for extending these wider ramifications of maritime trade, so graphically described in the rest of the same chapter of Ezekiel. As I have already explained, it was not merely the desire to acquire wealth, but also the appreciation of the possibilities of doing so that prompted the Phoenicians' exploits. Not being hampered by any undue respect for customs and conventions, they readily acquired and assimilated to themselves all the practical knowledge of the civilized world, whether it came from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, or the Ægean. They were sprung from a pre-eminently maritime stock and probably had gained experience in seamanship in the Persian Gulf and when they settled on the Syrian Coast they were also able to add to their knowledge of such things all that the Egyptians and the population of the Levant and Ægean had acquired for themselves after centuries of maritime adventure. But one of the great factors in explanation of the naval supremacy of the Phoenicians was their acquaintance with the facts of astronomy. The other peoples of the Ancient East had acquired a considerable knowledge of the stars, the usefulness of which, however, was probably restricted by religious considerations. Whether this be so or not, there can be no doubt that the Phoenicians were not restrained by any such ideas from putting to its utmost practical application the valuable guide to navigation in the open sea which this astronomical learning supplied.

They were only able to embark upon their great maritime enterprises in virtue of the use they made of the pole-star for steering. This theme has been discussed in great detail by Mrs. Zelia Nuttall (9); and although I am unable to accept a great part of her argument from astronomy, the evidence in substantiation of the use made of the pole-star for navigation, not only in the Mediterranean, but also by seamen navigating along the coasts of Asia and America, cannot be questioned.

Within recent years there has been a remarkable reaction against the attitude of a former generation, which perhaps unduly exaggerated certain phases of the achievements of the Phoenicians.

But the modern pose of minimizing their influence surely errs too much in the other direction, and is in more flagrant conflict with the facts of history and archaeology than the former doctrine, which its sponsors criticize so emphatically. Due credit can be accorded to the Egyptians, Minoans, and other ancient mariners, without in any way detracting from the record of the Phoenicians, whose exploits could hardly have attained such great and widespread notoriety among the ancients without very real and substantial grounds for their reputation. The recent memoirs of Siret (10), Dahse (11), Nuttall (9), and the writer (M) have adduced abundant evidence in justification of the greatness of their exploits. Professor Sayce says: "They were the intermediaries of the ancient civilizations"; and that by 600 B.C. they had "penetrated to the north-west coast of India and probably to the island of Britain". "Phoenician art was essentially catholic . it assimilated the art of Babylonia, Egypt, and Assyria, superadding something of its own. . . . The cities of the Phoenicians were the first trading communities the world has seen. originally mere marts and their voyages of discovery were taken in the interests of trade. The tin of Britain, the silver of Spain, the birds of the Canaries, the frankincense of Arabia, the pearls and ivory of India all flowed into their harbours" (quoted by Mrs. Nuttall (9), op. cit., p. 520).

.

Their colonies were

These were the distinctive features of the Phoenicians' activities, of which Mr. Hogarth (8, pp. 154-159) gives a concise and graphic summary. But, as Mr. Perry has pointed out (12), they were led forth above all in search for gold. As he suggests, the Phoenicians seem to have been one of the first peoples to have assigned to gold the kind of