or more properly PHOENICE, the ancient name of a country lying between the 34th and 36th degrees of north latitude; bounded by Syria on the north and east, by Judea on the south, and by the Mediterranean on the west. Of its name there are various derivations given. Some derive it from a chief named Phoenix; others from the Greek word Phoenix, signifying a palm or date; as if that tree had abounded remarkably in this country. According to Bochart, Phoenicia; its most probable etymology is Phene Anak, that is, "the descendants of Anak."

It is universally allowed, that the Phoenicians were descendants of the Canaanites. Their country, however, small as it was, comprehended several kingdoms, viz. Sidon, Tyre, Aradus, and Byblus. Of none of these we have any certain history excepting Tyre and Sinon, which is given under these articles in the order of the alphabet. But their language and religion were diffused over several nations who proceeded from them as colonies, particularly the Carthaginians, and are therefore better known.

The language of the Phoenicians was little different from that of the ancient Canaanites, and consequently a dialect of the Hebrew. Their characters were either the very same with the Samaritan, or but little different from them. The same may be said of the language of the Carthaginians, who, being a Phoenician colony, must originally have spoken the same with that of the mother-country. However, it is probable that in after-ages it differed considerably. This indeed has been fully proved by Selden, Scaliger, Pitt, and Bochart, the last of whom has collected a number of Punic words, and traced all of them up to the Hebrew or Phoenician. A few of these words are given in the following table.

| Hebrew or Phoenician | Punic | |----------------------|-------| | Zachæus | Sichæus | | Amalec | Amilco, or Himilco | | Hinnon, or Hanun | Hannu | | Hannabaal, or Baal-Hanan | Hannibal | | Ezra, or Ezdras-Baal | Ashfrubal | | Barac | Barca | | Magog | Mago | | Adar, or Ader-baal | Adherbal | | Mehir, or Maher-baal | Malerbal |

According to Priscian and St Austin, the Punic or Carthaginian language had an admixture of the Chaldee and Syriac; and Salmasius intimates, that, according to some, the Punic language agreed in many respects with the Egyptian. Nay, M. Maius, professor of the Greek and Oriental languages in the Ludovician University of Gießen, published a small piece in the year 1718, wherein he shows, that the language of the modern Maltese has a great deal of the old Punic in it, and that these words are farther distant from the Arabic than from the ancient Hebrew or Chaldee.

With regard to religion, the Phoenicians were the most gross and abominable idolaters. The Baal-berith, Baalzebub, Baalfamen, &c. mentioned in Scripture were some of the Phoenician gods; as were also the Moloch, Ashtaroth, and Thammuz, mentioned in the sacred writings.—The word Baal, in itself an appellative, was no doubt applied to the true God, until he rejected it on account of its being so much profaned by the idolaters. The name was not appropriated to any particularly deity among the idolatrous nations, but was common to many; however, it was generally imagined that one great God presided over all the rest. Among the Phoenicians this deity was named Baal-famen, whom the Hebrews would have called Baal-jebemin, or the God of heaven. In all probability this was also the principal Carthaginian deity, though his Punic name is unknown. We have many religious rites of the Carthaginians handed down to us by the Greek and Roman writers; but they all bestowed names of their own gods upon those of the Carthaginians, which leads us to a knowledge of the correspondence between the characters of the Phoenician and European deities. The principal deity of Carthage, according to Diodorus Siculus, was Chronus or Saturn. The sacrifices offered up to him were children of the best families. Our author also tells us, that the Carthaginians had a brazen statue or colossus of this god, the hands of which were extended in act to receive, and bent downwards in such a manner, that the child laid thereon immediately fell down into a hollow where there was a fiery furnace. He adds also, that this inhuman practice seemed to confirm a tradition handed down to the Greeks from very early antiquity, viz. that Saturn devoured his own children.

The goddess Cœlællis, or Urania, was held in the highest veneration by the Carthaginians. She is thought to have been the same with the queen of heaven mentioned in Jeremiah, the Juno Olympia of the Greeks. According to Hesychius the same word applied in the Punic language both to Juno and Venus. Nay, the ancient Greeks frequently confound Juno, Venus, and Diana or the moon, all together; which is to be attributed to the Egyptians and Phoenicians, from whom they received their system of religion; who seem in the most ancient times to have had but one name for them all. Besides these there were several other deities of later date, who were worshipped among the Phoenicians, particularly those of Tyre, and consequently among the Carthaginians also. These were Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, and Bacchus. Jupiter was worshipped under the name of Belus or Baal. To him they addressed their oaths, and placed him for the most part, as there is reason to believe, at the head of their treaties. The same name was also given to the other two, whence they were frequently mistaken for one another. Apollo or the sun went either by this name simply, or by others of which this made a part.

The Carthaginian superstition, however, was not confined to these deities alone. They worshipped also the fire, air, and other elements; and had gods of rivers, meads, &c. Nay, they paid divine honours to the spirits of their heroes, and even to men and women themselves while yet in life; and in this adoration Hannibal the Great had for some time a share, notwithstanding the infamous conduct of his countrymen towards him at last. In order to worship these gods with more conveniency on all occasions, the Carthaginians had a kind of portable temples. These were only covered chariots, in which were some small images representing their favourite deities; and which were drawn by oxen. They were also a kind of oracle, and their responses were understood by the motion impressed upon the vehicle. This was likewise an Egyptian or Libyan custom, and Tacitus informs us that the ancient Germans had something of the same kind. The tabernacle of Moloch is thought to have been a machine of this kind, and it is not improbable that the whole was derived from the tabernacle of the Jews in the wilderness.

Besides all the deities above-mentioned, we still find another, named the Danus or Genius of Carthage, mentioned. mentioned in the treaty made by Philip of Macedon and Hannibal. What this deity might be, we know not; however, it may be observed, that the pagan world in general believed in the existence of demons, or intelligences who had a kind of middle nature between gods and men, and to whom the administration of the world was in a great measure committed. Hence it is no wonder that they should have received religious honours. For when once mankind were possessed with the opinion that they were the ministers of the gods, and trusted with the dispensation of their favours, as well as the infliction of their punishments, it is natural to suppose that they would be desirous of making their addresses to them.