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Her commercial leanings early induced Phoenicia to establish colonies. The coasts and islands of the Mediterranean were rapidly covered with settlements, the Pillars of Hercules were passed, and cities built on the shores of the ocean. At that period, about B.c. 1050, Phoenicia had no serious commercial rival, and the trade of the world was in her hands. It is recorded that "Hiram, King of Tyre, sent messengers to David, and cedar-trees, and carpenters, and masons; and they built David an house (2 Sam. v. 11). About the middle of the ninth century B.C. the expeditions of the Assyrians reached Syria, and Phoenician independence was lost; but the Babylonian yoke was not firmly fixed upon the Phoenician people until the time of Nebuchad

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The history of the countries, already named, during the next two centuries is a portion of the history of Persia. Notwithstanding many revolts, and the terrible corruption of her own court, Persia continued to hold these kingdoms in subjection until her defeat by Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, first at the battle of Issus, B.C. 883, and finally at the battle of Arbela (the

modern Arbil, a few miles distant from the site of Nineveh), when the power of Persia was entirely broken, and its empire came to an end.

The countries comprised in the Asiatic Turkey of the present day remained under the domination of the Macedonians until the death of Alexander, B.C. 323, when the kingdom was divided, and the greater portion, including Cappadocia, part of Phrygia, Upper Syria, Mesopotamia, and the Valley of the Euphrates, was given into the hands of the Seleucidæ.

Referring to this time a modern writer states: "War had now raged over most of the countries conquered by Alexander for the space of twenty years. The loss of life and the consumption of treasure had been immense. Nowhere had there been much attempt at organisation or internal improvement. Still the evils of constant warfare had been, out of Greece at any rate, partly counterbalanced (1) by the foundation of large and magnificent cities; (2) by the habits of military discipline imparted to a certain number of the Asiatics; and (3) by the spread of the Greek language and of Greek ideas over most of Western Asia and North-Eastern Africa. Know

ledge rapidly progressed; for not only did the native histories of Egypt, Babylon, Phoenicia, Judea, and other eastern countries become now, for the first time, really known to the Greeks, but the philosophic thought and the accumulated scientific stores of the most advanced Oriental nations were thrown open to them, and Greek intelligence was able to employ itself on materials of considerable value which had hitherto been quite inaccessible. A great advance was made in the sciences of mathematics, astronomy, geography, ethnology, and natural history. Commerce, too, in spite of the unsettled state of the newly-occupied countries, extended its operations."

The territory handed to the Seleucidæ remained under the power of Greece until conquered by Pompey, the Roman general, B.C. 64, when the whole of Asia, within the Euphrates, was subjugated by him; and proceeding through Colé Syria to Judea he besieged and took Jerusalem, and entered the Holy of Holies.

While Palestine was subject to Rome-but nominally governed by "Pontius Pilate, in Judea ; Herod, in Galilee; Philip, in Ituria and the region of Trachonitis; and Lysanius, in Abilene"

--Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, was born. God, manifest in the flesh, then trod the dust of the Judean roads, works of omnipotence were done in the Jewish towns and cities, words fell from the lips of Him, who spake as 66 never man spake," and were received into the depths of faithful loving hearts-then was consummated the most awful of crimes, man crucifying his Creator; and as darkness spread over the doomed city of Jerusalem the sentence went forth, a sentence to be most terribly executed by the armies of Rome a few years hence.

From the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem on the east, Christ, our Emmanuel, having led His disciples out as far as Bethany, "lifted up His hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into Heaven" (Luke xxiv. 50, 51).

At a spot, where the streams flowing from Lebanon lose themselves in the sand of the Syrian desert, there has stood, from far remote ages, a city-Damascus, once the centre of a kingdom, and even now a city of much importance. At its immense bazaars may be seen

the representatives of all civilised nations, and above 200 merchants are here permanently settled. Foreign trade is now carried on by the fine new macadamised road to Beyrout, opened in 1863, which is 75 miles in length. To this city Saul, having received letters from the high priest and elders at Jerusalem, set out A.D. 35, "and as he journeyed, he came near Damascus ; and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven; and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?”

During the course of his missionary tours Paul visited most of the cities of Asia Minor, as well as several in Syria. Patmos, now known as Patino, a small island in the Archipelago, was the place of John's banishment, and while there he wrote the book of the Revelation. The seven churches of Asia were situated in Asia Minor, and are now represented by Ephesus, Smyrna, Bergamo, Akhisar, Sart, Alah-sher, and Eski-hissar. Upon the decline of the Roman empire the western countries of Asia passed into the hands of the Saracens, and from them to the Turks of the present day.

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