Aphaca, the only inland Phoenician town of any importance, is now Afka, and is visited by most travellers and tourists.  It was situated in a beautiful spot at the head of the Adonis river,[472] a sacred stream fabled to run with blood once a year, at the festival which commemorated the self-mutilation of the Nature-god Adonis.  Aphaca was a sort of Delphi, a collection of temples rather than a town.  It was dedicated especially to the worship of the Syrian goddess, Ashtoreth or Venus, sometimes called Beltis or Baaltis, whose orgies were of so disgracefully licentious a character that they were at last absolutely forbidden by Constantine.  At present there are no remains on the ancient site except one or two ruins of edifices decidedly Roman in character.[473] Nor is the gorge of the Adonis any richer in ancient buildings.  There was a time when the whole valley formed a sort of “Holy Land,"[474] and at intervals on its course were shown “Tombs of Adonis,"[475] analogous to the artificial “Holy Sepulchres” of many European towns in the middle ages.  All, however, have disappeared, and the traveller looks in vain for any traces of that curious cult which in ancient times made Aphaca and its river one of the most noted of the holy spots of Syria and a favourite resort of pilgrims.

Twenty-three miles south of Byblus was Berytus, which disputed with Byblus the palm of antiquity.[476] Berytus was situated on a promontory in Lat. 33º 54’, and had a port of a fair size, protected towards the west by a pier, which followed the line of a ridge of rocks running out from the promontory towards the north.  It was not of any importance during the flourishing Phoenician period, but grew to greatness under the Romans,[477] when its harbour was much improved, and the town greatly extended.[478] By the time of Justinian it had become the chief city of Phoenicia, and was celebrated as a school of law and science.[479] The natural advantages of its situation have caused it to retain a certain importance, and in modern times it has drawn to itself almost the whole of the commerce which Europe maintains with Syria.

Arka, or Arqa, the home of the Arkites of Genesis,[480] can never have been a place of much consequence.  It lies at a distance of four miles from the shore, on one of the outlying hills which form the skirts of Lebanon, in Lat. 34º 33, Long. 33º 44’ nearly.  The towns nearest to it were Orthosia, Simyra, and Tripolis.  It was of sufficient consequence to be mentioned in the Assyrian Inscriptions,[481] though not to attract the notice of Strabo.

Ecdippa, south of Tyre, in Lat. 33º 1’, is no doubt the scriptural Achzib,[482] which was made the northern boundary of Asher at the division of the Holy Land among the twelve tribes.  The Assyrian monarchs speak of it under the same name, but mention it rarely, and apparently as a dependency of Sidon.[483] The old name, in the shortened form of “Zeb,” still clings to the place.