Circumstances which led the Phoenicians to colonise—­Their colonies best grouped geographically—­1.  Colonies of the Eastern Mediterranean—­in Cyprus, Citium, Amathus, Curium, Paphos, Salamis, Ammochosta, Tamisus, and Soli;—­in Cilicia, Tarsus;—­in Lycia, Phaselis;—­in Rhodes, Lindus, Ialysus, Camirus;—­in Crete, and the Cyclades;—­in the Northern Egean; &c. 2.  In the Central and Western Mediterranean—­in Africa, Utica, Hippo-Zaritis, Hippo Regius, Carthage, Hadrumetum, Leptis Minor, Leptis Major, and Thapsus;—­in Sicily, Motya, Eryx, Panormus, Solocis;—­between Sicily and Africa, Cossura, Gaulos, and Melita;—­in Sardinia, Caralis, Nora, Sulcis, and Tharros;—­in the Balearic Isles;—­in Spain, Malaca, Sex, Abdera. 3.  Outside the Straits of Gibraltar;—­in Africa, Tingis, and Lixus; in Spain, Tartessus, Gades, and Belon—­Summary.

The narrowness of the territory which the Phoenicians occupied the military strength of their neighbours towards the north and towards the south, and their own preference of maritime over agricultural pursuits, combined to force them, as they began to increase and multiply, to find a vent for their superfluous population in colonies.  The military strength of Philistia and Egypt barred them out from expansion upon the south; the wild savagery of the mountain races in Casius, northern Bargylus, and Amanus was an effectual barrier towards the north; but before them lay the open Mediterranean, placid during the greater portion of the year, and conducting to a hundred lands, thinly peopled, or even unoccupied, where there was ample room for any number of immigrants.  The trade of the Phoenicians with the countries bordering the Eastern Mediterranean must be regarded as established long previously to the time when they began to feel cramped for space; and thus, when that time arrived, they had no difficulty in finding fresh localities to occupy, except such as might arise from a too abundant amplitude of choice.  Right in front of them lay, at the distance of not more than seventy miles, visible from Casius in clear weather,[51] the large and important island, once known as Chittim,[52] and afterwards as Cyprus, which played so important a part in the history of the East from the time of Sargon and Sennacherib to that of Bragadino and Mustapha Pasha.  To the right, well visible from Cyprus, was the fertile tract of Cilicia Campestris, which led on to the rich and picturesque regions of Pamphylia, Lycia, and Caria.  From Caria stretched out, like a string of stepping-stones between Asia and Europe, the hundred islets of the AEgean, Cyclades, and Sporades, and others, inviting settlers, and conducting to the large islands of Crete and Euboea, and the shores of Attica and the Peloponnese.  It is impossible to trace with any exactness the order in which the Phoenician colonies were founded.  A thousand incidental circumstances—­a thousand caprices—­may have deranged what may be called the natural or geographical order, and have