We do not distinctly hear of Sidon has having been engaged in any war during the period of her ascendancy, excepting that with the Philistines.  Still as “the Zidonians” are mentioned among the nations which “oppressed Israel” in the time of the Judges,[1438] we must conclude that differences arose between them and their southern neighbours in some portion of this period, and that, war having broken out between them, the advantage rested with Sidon.  The record of “Judges” is incomplete, and does not enable us even to fix the date of the Sidonian “oppression.”  We can only say that it was anterior to the judgeship of Jephthah, and was followed, like the other “oppressions,” by a “deliverance.”

The war with the Philistines brought the period of Sidonian ascendancy to an end, and introduces us to the second period of Phoenician history, or that of the hegemony of Tyre.  The supposed date of the change is B.C. 1252.[1439]

2.  Phoenicia under the hegemony of Tyre (B.C. 1252-877)

Influx of the Sidonian population raises Tyre to the first place among the cities (about B.C. 1252)—­First notable result, the colonisation of Gades (B.C. 1130)—­Other colonies of about this period—­Extension of Phoenician commerce—­Tyre ruled by kings—­Abi-Baal—­Hiram—­Hiram’s dealings with Solomon—­His improvement of his own capital—­ His opinion of “the land of Cabul”—­His joint trade with the Israelites—­His war with Utica—­Successors of Hiram—­Time of disturbance—­Reign of Ithobal—­of Badezor—­of Matgen—­of Pygmalion—­Founding of Carthage—­First contact of Phoenicia with Assyria—­Submission of Phoenicia, B.C. 877.

Tyre was noted as a “strong city” as early as the time of Joshua,[1440] and was probably inferior only to Sidon, or to Sidon and Aradus, during the period of Sidonian ascendancy.  It is mentioned in the “Travels of a Mohar” (about B.C. 1350) as “a port, richer in fish than in sands."[1441] The tradition was, that it acquired its predominance and pre-eminence from the accession of the Sidonian population, which fled thither by sea, when no longer able to resist the forces of Ascalon.[1442] We do not find it, however, attaining to any great distinction or notoriety, until more than a century later, when it distinguishes itself by the colonisation of Gades (about B.C. 1130), beyond the Pillars of Hercules, on the shores of the Atlantic.  We may perhaps deduce from this fact, that the concentration of energy caused by the removal to Tyre of the best elements in the population of Sidon gave a stimulus to enterprise, and caused longer voyages to be undertaken, and greater dangers to be affronted by the daring seamen of the Syrian coast than had ever been ventured on before.  The Tyrian seamen were, perhaps, of a tougher fibre than the Sidonian, and the change of hegemony is certainly accompanied by a greater display of energy, a more adventurous spirit, a wider colonisation, and a more wonderful commercial success, than characterise the preceding period of Sidonian leadership and influence.