Phoenicia in
Smiths Bible Dictionary. (land of palm trees) a tract of country, of which Tyre
and Sidon were the principal cities, to the north of Israel, along the coast of
the Mediterranean Sea bounded by that sea on the West, and by the mountain range
of Lebanon on the east. The name was not the one by which its native inhabitants
called it, but was given to it by the Greeks, from the Greek word for the palm
tree. The native name of Phoenicia was Kenaan (Canaan) or Kna, signifying
lowland, so named in contrast to the ad joining Aram, i.e. highland, the Hebrew
name of Syria. The length of coast to which the name of Phoenicia was applied
varied at different times. 1. What may be termed Phoenicia proper was a narrow
undulating plain, extending from the pass of Ras el-Beyad or Abyad, the
Promontorium Album of the ancients, about six miles south of Tyre, to the Nahr
el-Auly, the ancient Bostrenus, two miles north of Sidon. The plain is only 28
miles in length. Its average breadth is about a mile; but near Sidon the
mountains retreat to a distance of two miles, and near Tyre to a distance of
five miles. 2. A longer district, which afterward became entitled to the name of
Phoenicia, extended up the coast to a point marked by the island of Aradus, and
by Antaradus toward the north; the southern boundary remaining the same as in
Phoenicia proper. Phoenicia, thus defined is estimated to have been about 120
miles in length; while its breadth, between Lebanon and the sea, never exceeded
20 miles, and was generally much less. The whole of Phoenicia proper is well
watered by various streams from the adjoining hills. The havens of Tyre and
Sidon afforded water of sufficient depth for all the requirements of ancient
navigation, and the neighboring range of the Lebanon, in its extensive forests,
furnished what then seemed a nearly inexhaustible supply of timber for
ship-building. Language and race. --The Phoenicians spoke a branch of the
Semitic language so closely allied to Hebrew that Phoenician and Hebrew, though
different dialects, may practically be regarded as the same language. Concerning
the original race to which the Phoenicians belonged, nothing can be known with
certainty, because they are found already established along the Mediterranean
Sea at the earliest dawn of authentic history, and for centuries afterward there
is no record of their origin...
https://free-bible.com/smiths/P/Phoenice,+Phoenicia/
Phoenicia
Region. (Phoenix, plur. Phoenices, in Greek means 'purple'). The name Phoenicia
also appears as Phenice and Phenicia. These people were Canaanites, and in the
9th century B.C. the Greeks gave the new appellation Phoenicians to those
Canaanites who lived on the seacoast and traded with the Greeks. Phoenicia was a
narrow coastal territory from Mount Carmel, or from Acco, north to Acco or Nahr
el-Kebir (Eleutherus), in some periods reaching 200 miles in length. At some
points the territory was included from Mount Carmel to the Orontes River.
By 1250 B.C. the Phoenicians were well established as the navigators and traders
of the Mediterranean world, enjoying the commerce that had once been in the
hands of the Aegeans. Their communities were organized into city-states; the
greatest of these were Tyre and Sidon; others were Tripoli, Aradus, and Byblos.
These were the home cities, but wherever the Phoenicians journeyed across the
Mediterrean they founded posts and colonies that later became independent
states. Of these the most important were Utica and Carthage (founded in the 9th
century B.C.).
In NT times Phoenicia extended as far S as Dor, sixteen miles S of Tyre. Its
main cities were Tyre and Sidon. In Roman times the cities continued to exist,
but Hellenistic culture had absorbed the last traces of Phoenician civilization.
At the present time it consists of the Republic of Lebanon and South Latakia.
Obad. 1:20; Acts 11:19; 15:3; 21:2.
Click on the Map
Phoenicia in Bible Cities
More about Ancient Phoenicia
Phoenicia Scriptures including Tyre and Sidon
Acts 21:2 - And finding a ship sailing over unto Phenicia, we went aboard, and set forth.
1 Kings 9:11 -
([Now] Hiram the king of Tyre had
furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to
all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of
Galilee.
2 Chronicles 2:14 -
The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father [was] a man of Tyre,
skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in
timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any
manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with
thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father.
Joshua 19:29 -
And [then] the coast turneth to Ramah, and to the strong city Tyre;
and the coast turneth to Hosah; and the outgoings thereof are at the sea from
the coast to Achzib:
1 Kings 7:14 -
He [was] a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father [was] a man of Tyre,
a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning
to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his
work.
Acts 12:20 -
And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and
Sidon: but they came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the king's
chamberlain their friend, desired peace; because their country was nourished by
the king's [country].
2 Chronicles 2:3 -
And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre,
saying, As thou didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to
build him an house to dwell therein, [even so deal with me].
2 Chronicles 2:11 -
Then Huram the king of Tyre answered
in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the LORD hath loved his people, he
hath made thee king over them.
1 Kings 5:1 -
And Hiram king of Tyre sent
his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in
the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David.
Isaiah 23:5 -
As at the report concerning Egypt, [so] shall they be sorely pained at the
report of Tyre.
Luke 10:13 -
Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had
been done in Tyre and
Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting
in sackcloth and ashes.
2 Samuel 5:11 -
And Hiram king of Tyre sent
messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built
David an house.
Joel 3:4 -
Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre,
and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and
if ye recompense me, swiftly [and] speedily will I return your recompence upon
your own head;
Matthew 11:21 -
Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works,
which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and
Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Acts 21:3 -
Now when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed into
Syria, and landed at Tyre:
for there the ship was to unlade her burden.
Ezra 3:7 -
They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and
drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre,
to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant
that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.
Mark 3:8 -
And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and [from] beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and
Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came
unto him.
Mark 7:31 -
And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and
Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of
Decapolis.
1 Chronicles 22:4 -
Also cedar trees in abundance: for the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought
much cedar wood to David.
Luke 6:17 -
And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his
disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and
from the sea coast of Tyre and
Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases;
Isaiah 23:17 -
And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will
visit Tyre,
and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the
kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
Isaiah 23:1 -
The burden of Tyre.
Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no
entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
1 Chronicles 14:1 -
Now Hiram king of Tyre sent
messengers to David, and timber of cedars, with masons and carpenters, to build
him an house.
Nehemiah 13:16 -
There dwelt men of Tyre also
therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath
unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.
Isaiah 23:8 -
Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre,
the crowning [city], whose merchants [are] princes, whose traffickers [are] the
honourable of the earth?
2 Samuel 24:7 -
And came to the strong hold of Tyre,
and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out
to the south of Judah, [even] to Beersheba.
Psalms 87:4 -
I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia,
and Tyre,
with Ethiopia; this [man] was born there.
Psalms 45:12 -
And the daughter of Tyre [shall
be there] with a gift; [even] the rich among the people shall intreat thy
favour.
Psalms 83:7 -
Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;
Mark 7:24 -
And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and
Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know [it]: but he could
not be hid.
Acts 21:7 -
And when we had finished [our] course from Tyre,
we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day.
Acts 12:20 -
And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon:
but they came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the king's
chamberlain their friend, desired peace; because their country was nourished by
the king's [country].
Genesis 10:19 -
And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon,
as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and
Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
Luke 10:13 -
Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had
been done in Tyre and Sidon,
which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in
sackcloth and ashes.
Matthew 11:21 -
Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works,
which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Mark 3:8 -
And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and [from] beyond Jordan; and they about
Tyre and Sidon,
a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.
Mark 7:31 -
And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon,
he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.
Luke 6:17 -
And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his
disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and
from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon,
which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases;
Acts 27:3 -
And the next [day] we touched at Sidon.
And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave [him] liberty to go unto his
friends to refresh himself.
Luke 4:26 -
But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, [a city] of Sidon,
unto a woman [that was] a widow.
Mark 7:24 -
And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon,
and entered into an house, and would have no man know [it]: but he could not be
hid.
Genesis 10:15 -
And Canaan begat Sidon his
firstborn, and Heth,
Matthew 15:21 -
Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
Matthew 11:22 -
But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at
the day of judgment, than for you.
Luke 10:14 -
But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at
the judgment, than for you.