Part 30
(2) the manner of God's relation to the world; (3) human nature.
(1) Philo's doctrine of God, like that of the neoPlatonic school, which he heralded, is thoroughly dualistic. No doubt, it is determined
5. Three largely by certain human analogies. Subjects of For example, God's existence is necesInquiry sary for the control of the world, just in the same way as man's mind must exist to furnish the principle of all human action; and, as matter is not self-determined, a principle, analogous to mind, is demanded, to be its first cause. Further, as the permanent soul remains unchanged throughout the vicissitudes of a human life, so, behind the ceaseless play of phenomena, there must reside a self-existent Being. Nevertheless, the human analogy never extends to God in His actual
After the death of Cicero (43 BC) a change, long preparing, asserted itself in ancient thought. Mixture of national, or racial, char4. Changes acteristics was consummated, and and New thoughtful men, irrespective of raceProblems origin, became persons to each other. A reorganization of standards of ethical judgment was thus rendered inevitable, and Judaism came to interfuse more freely with Gr philosophy as one consequence. AVhile it is true that "reason" preserved its traditional supremacy as the means to solve all problems, the nature of the chief quest underwent transformation. The old association of man with Nature gave way to a dualism or opposition between the world-order and another existence lying behind it as its originator or sustainer. The system of Nature having disappointed expectation, thinkers asked how they could escape it, and assure themselves of definite relations with the Divine Being. They sought the desiderated connection within their own souls, but as a distant ideal. This was the problem that confronted Philo, who attacked
Being. No human traits can attach to the Deity. Language may indicate such parallelism, nay the Scriptures are full of instances, but we must view them as concessions to mortal weakness. These accommodations eliminated, it becomes evident that man can never know God positively. Any adjective used to describe Him can do no more than point the contrast between His relationless Being and the dependence of finite things. That God is, Philo is fully persuaded; what He is, no man can ever tell. He is one and immutable, simple and immeasurable and eternal, just as man is not. "For he is unchangeable, requiring nothing else at all, so that all things belong to Him, but He, speaking strictly, belongs to nothing." This doctrine of the transcendence of Deity was an essential postulate of Philonic thought. For, seeing that He expels all the imperfections of the world, God is precisely in that condition of Being for which the whole creation then yearned. In a word, the dualism, so far from being a bar to salvation, was rather a condition without which the problem of salvation could neither be stated nor solved. Men stood in necessary relation to this Being, but, as yet. He stood in no relation whatever to them. Yet, men must return to God, but He abides so remote, in the realm of pure contemplation and completion, that He cannot approach them. Philo's familiarity with logical Gr thought debarred him from surmounting the difficulty after the manner of Jewish religion. An otiose reference to "God's choice," as distinct from His nature, could not suflSce a mind trained in Hellenic methods. The question therefore was. How could mediation be effected?
it from the Jewish side. Now Judaism, like Gr thought, had also experienced a change of heart. Jeh had been the subject of an idealizing process, and tended, like the Stoic deity, to lose specific relation with the world and man. Accordingly, a new religious question was bringing the philosophy and the faith into closer contact. Could they join forces? Philo's consequent embarrassment rooted, not simply in this fresh problem, but in the diffi-
culties inseparable from the adjustment of his available methods and materials. For, while the Jewish Messiah had passed over into the Gr Logos, the two systems preserved their separation in no small measure, Philo being the most conspicuous mediator. He was familiar with the mystic, transcendent concept of Deity extracted, thanks to long_ misin-
terpretation, from Plato's cosmogonic dialogue, Timaeus, Here God was elevated above the world. His conception of the presence, or immanence, of the Deity in the world came from the Stoics. The Jewish religion gave him the doctrine of a righteous
(2) God's relation to the world.—At this point Philo's thought assumes a phase of great interest to readers of the NT. God, being above created things, is incomprehensible and immaterial. Accordingly, He cannot be connected with the world directly. Therefore He created it and sustains it by intermediate powers. These agencies were suggested to PhUo by the Platonic Ideas. But he personalized them more or less and, as a character-
(pure) Deity, whose moral inwardness made rela-
tions with men possible. Moreover, contemporary angelology and demonology enabled him to devise
a scheme whereby the pure Deity could be linked with the gross world, notwithstanding its ineradi-
cable evil. Little wonder, then, that he compassed an amalgamation only, and this in consonance with
the theosophical drift of the age. Nevertheless, he counteracted the deistic tendencies of rabbinical
istic addition, included them in the Logos. He substituted the term "Logos" for the Platonic term
speculation by reference to Hellenistic pantheism,
"Idea" on the basis of the Scripture phrase, "Word of God." The conception was influenced further by his Hellenistic psychological notion, that a word
and, at the same time, counteracted this pantheism by the inward moralism of his national faith. The
logical symmetry of the Gr mind was reinforced by Hebraic religious intuition. The consequence was
is a "shadow" of a deed. Accordingly, the Logos
is the "shadow of God"—God being the "deed" whereby the "shadow" is cast. As a direct issue, the Logos presents two aspects. On the one side
a ferment rather than a system, but a ferment that
cast up the clamant problem in unmistakable
fashion. The crux was this: Man must surmount
Philo Judaeus Philosophy THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2382
in some sort to Aristotle's question—which of the Platonic Ideas could connect the other Ideas with sensible things? Salvation is conceived as wrought out, not by a person, but by an abstract essence flowing from Deity, an essence that found due expression rather in the cosmic order than in a person. While, therefore, Philo thinks in a cultural perspective akin to that characteristic of the author of the Fourth Gospel, two vast differences sway his doctrine. On the one hand, it is specu-
it is internal and indwelling; on the other, it is external and mediating. The scope of this distinction
is indicated very well by the epithets which Philo applies to each aspect respectively. The internal Logos is the "Firstborn," the "Second God," the "Mediator," the "Ransom," the "Image of God," "Member of the Trinity," "High Priest." The external Logos "abides in man," is the "Prophet," "Shepherd," "Ambassador," "Artist," "Elder," "Interpreter," "Shadow of God." The former represents Philo's conception of the unity of the Logos with God, the latter his provision for the manifestation of the Logos in created things. He thus
lative, not ethically personal. On the other hand,
it fails completely to determine the nature of
his mediator in itself, vacillating in a manner which shows how vague and fluid the conception
tries to preserve the transcendence of God equally with His immanence. No doubt, in previous times, the mysteriousness of the Divine nature had impressed itself upon men with at least as much force as now. But with one of two consequences. Either the particular finites and the Deity were mixed in inextricable confusion, as by oriental pantheism, or God was banished from the world, as by the extreme developments within Gr dualism. Philo attempted to combine the two tendencies, and was able consequently to face the obvious contradiction between the idea of an absolute Being and the cloudy conception of a multiplicity of phenomena in which
really was.
(3) Doctrine of man.—This appears further in the doctrine of man. Following current interpretations of Plato, Philo makes man partake in the rational nature of God, but denies that he embodies the highest species of reason. That is, the ideal man and the man known to us in common experience are distinguished. The former is rational as God
is. The latter is partly rational, partly irrational. The body vitiates the original angelic pm-ity of the soul and, similarly, reason is alloyed. Aid yet, although the higher nature becomes more and more debased as the years lapse, a seed of Divinity is present, ready to burst forth. Thus man must crush the flesh and its desires. At this point we note the effect of the Stoic ideal of imperturbability. When he has attained this apathy, man can enjoy the life of contemplation. 'This, in its turn, culminates in ecstasy, when the human soul attains sudden and momentary union with the Divine. For a "fair moment" man escapes the thraldom of sense. Yet the doctrine remains intellectual even here. He "who escapes from his own mind flies to the mind of the universe, confessing that all the things of the human mind are vain and unreal, and attributing everything to God." Philo's anthropology therefore ends in contempt for this life, which is in no wise worth while, and in a counsel of perfection available only for a select elite. Accordingly, the conclusion of the whole matter is, that he never saw how the Divine and the human can be united, although he stated the factors of the problem with great clearness, and felt profoundly the urgency of a solution. His gospel was for the children of culture. He saw the eternal in the temporal, and hoped that good might lurk in evO. But he never understood that "love for a Divine Person" might be so diffused throughout a human soul as to render evil and unreality the means to the attainment of good and to the revelation of truth. The salvation he contemplated was from self, not in self. Hence, as he asserts himself, harmony with God "is an incomprehensible mystery to the multitude, and
this Being ought to be present somehow, despite transcendence. He demands a God who, in His exaltation, shall be a worthy Deity; this is the Jew in him. But he also demands a definite relation between this God and His creation; this is the Greek and, in part, the Oriental, in him. Thanks to the former, he could not be satisfied with mere naturalism; thanks to the latter, no fable or picture could BufBce. A real mediator was required, who would link the world and its heart's desire. But Philo could not surmount one difficulty peculiar to contemporary thought. He was unable to connect God directly with creation and preserve His purity unsullied. Hence the obscurity which surrounds
his conception of the Logos, likewise his vacillation with respect to its personality. So we find the
different intellectual forces which he inherited playing upon him—now one, now another. Sometimes the Platonic theory of Ideas dominates him; sometimes he leans to Stoicism, with its immanent world-reason; and here he even seems to foreshadow the doctrine of the Trinity; again, the ramifications of rabbinical lore cause him to bestow upon the Logos a priestly function or an atoning office. No single aspect achieves supremacy, although on the whole mystical Platonism may be said to predominate. Thus, "The world of Ideas has its place in the Divine Logos, just as the plan of a city is in the soul of the master-builder." Accordingly, God's thought may take its place in the world by being impressed upon things; yet, on account of its subjective nature, it must tje apprehended subjectively, that is, by one who is capable of entering this sphere. The Logos thus seems to exist entirely in the same realm as Deity ; thus it can mediate between Him and creation only if an element proper to Deity be discernible in mundane things. In other words, the Logos mediates between God and the world, but partakes of the Divine nature only. This, in any case, is the inner logic of Philo's view. It accounts for creation, but has no power to persuade man to overpass the limitations placed upon him by his bodily prison. Thus the question of the personality of the Logos is never cleared. In so far as Philo needs Logos to connect God with the world, he inclines to a doctrine of personality. In so far as he makes
is to be imparted to the instructed only." Nor is this wonderful. For a God who is the reasonable "form" of the world; a "matter" which begins as an indistinguishable mass and ends as a "second principle"; and objects of sense rendered apparent by the operation of many curious intermediate forces, ranging from "angel-words" to the human soul, constitute a combination beyond the reach of any save the "initiate." More practicable is Philo's conception of the moral life—as a warfare of the soul against passion, pleasure and sensuality. Yet, even this contest is hopeless unless it be waged with the equipment of the "philosopher athlete." Escape from the "prison-house" of flesh would seem to be consequent only upon profound knowledge.
it the principle of all activities within the world, he inclines away from personality. In short, we have a "world-soul." And, as a consequence, there is an inherent tendency to reduce all finite being to
The probability is that Philo's works were written previous to his Rom embassy. They show how he tried to apply Gr philosophical conceptions to Jewish beliefs, history, and usages exclusively. The voluminous re-
illusion. Indeed, one might term the Logos a reply
2383 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Philo Judeeua Philosophy
mains which have come down to us appear to belong to three commentaries on the Pent and the Mosaic Law.
conscious speculation. No hard-and-fast line can be drawn between the two kinds of philosophy. Some of the ruling conceptions of speculation, such as God, spirit, order, causation, true and false, good and evil, were not discovered by reason, but given in experience.
In all likelihood , they are portions of Phi-
6. Philo's '°^ popular presentation, written lor the instruction and information of educated Hellenistic circles rather than for the trained "Initiate." The treatises most Important for Philo's religio-philosophical views are as follows: On the Creation of the World; On the Allegoriea of the Sacred Laws; Ori the U nchangeableness of God; On the Confusion of Languages; On the Migration of Abraham; Oil the Meeting for the Sake of Receiving Instruction; On the Life of the Wise Man Made Perfect by Instruction; The Unwritten Law; Abraham; On Special Laws; On Rewards and Punishments: That Every Man Who Is Virtuous Is Also Free; Concerning the World; and the Fragments, Some 8 works attributed to Philo are in dispute. Most conspicuous of these is Concerning the Contemplative Life, with its ascetic view of morality, and its description of the ideal community of the Therapoutao.
Works
(1) Intuitive philosophy is universal. The human mind has always and everywhere furnished itself with some kind of explanation of the universe. From the lowest animism and fetichism up to the higher reUgions, ideas are found which served men as explanations of those features of experience which attracted their attention. They were often regarded as given by vision, intuition or some other method of revelation. In the higher religions, the mind reflected upon these ideas, and elaborated them into systems of thought that bear some resemblance to the speculative theories of western thought. In China, both Confucianism and Taoism developed theories of human life and destiny that bear some resemblance to Stoicism. The religions of Assyria and Babylonia enshrined in their legends theories of the world and of man and his institutions. In India, men's belief in the Nature-gods gradually developed into pantheistic Brahmanism, which reduced the multiplicity of experience into one ultimate being, Brahma. But the desire for moral salvation and the sense of pain and evil produced a reaction, and led to the pessimistic and nihilistic philosophy of Buddhism. In Persia, the moral consciousness awoke earlier, and the attempt to systematize the multiplicity of polytheism issued in the duahstic philosophy of later Zoroastrianism. The whole realm of being was divided into two kingdoms, created and ruled by two lords: Ahura Mazda, the creator of light and life, law, order and goodness, and Anro Mainyus, the author of darkness, evil and death. Each was surrounded by a court of spiritual beings kindred to himself, his messengers and agents in the world (see Persian Religion [Ancient]). Of all these religious philosophies, only those of Assjo-ia and Babylonia, and of Persia, are likely to have come into any contact with Bib. thought. The former have some affinity with the accounts of creation and the flood in Gen; and the influence of the latter may be traced in the dualism and angelology and demonology of later Judaism, and again in the gnostic systems that grew up in the Christian church, and through both channels it was perpetuated, as a dualistic influence, in the lower strata of Christian thought down through the Middle Ages.
Literature.—E. Schiirer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, div II, vol III, pp. 321 f (Edinburgh, 1886); E. Schurer, "Philo" in EB; James Drummoud, Philo Judaeus, or. The Jewish-Alexandrian Philosophy in Its Development and Completion (2 vols, London, 1888); R. M. Wenley, Socrates and Christ: a Study in the Philosophy of Religion, chs vii, vlli (Edinburgh, 1889); H. Ewald, The History of Israel, VII, 194 f (London, 1885); A. Hausrath, A History of NT Times, div II, vol I, chs Iv-vi (London, 1885); H. Graetz, History of the Jews from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, II, 183 f, 206 f (London, 1891); E. Caird, The Evolution of Theology in the Gr Philosophers, II, lects xx-xxi, xxvil (Glasgow, 1904); art. "Philo" in Jew Enc; Ernest F. Scott, The Fourth Gospel, Its Purpose and Theology, 54 f, 145 f (2d ed, Edinburgh, 1908); F. C. Conybeare, Philo: About the Contemplative Life (Oxford, 1895). An Eng. tr has been made by C. D. Yonge in the Bohn Library (London, G. Bell & Sons). The text cited usually is that of T. Mangey. The best modem text is that of Cohn and Wendland.
R. M. Wenlet PHILOLOGUS, fi-lol'6-gus (*i.\6\o-^os, PhiU-
logos, "fond of learning," "learned"): The name of a Rom Christian to whom St. Paul sent greetings (Rom 16 15). His name is coupled with that of Julia, who was probably his wife or sister. Philologus and those united with him in this salutation formed by themselves one of the "house churches" or groups in the Christian community. The name
is found in inscriptions connected with the imperial household, with reference to one of which Bishop Lightfoot has the following note: "It has been supposed that the name Philologus was given by the master to the freedman mentioned in this inscription, as being appropriate to his office [Friedlander I, 89, 160] If so, some light is thrown on the probable occupation of the Philologus of St. Paul" iPhil, 177, n. 1). S. F. Hunter
PHILOMETGR, fil-o-me'tor. See Ptolemy VI.
fi-los'6-fi ((t>iXo(ro<|>£a, philosoPHILOSOPHY, phia)
(2) Speculative philosophy belongs mainly to western thought. It arose in Greece about the beginning of the 6th cent. BO. It began with the problem of the general nature of being, or ontology. But it was soon forced to consider the conditions of knowing anything at all, or to epistemology. These two studies constitute metaphysics, a term often used as synonymous with philosophy in the stricter sense. Speculation about ideal truth again led to inquiries as to the ultimate nature of the kindred ideas of the good (ethics) and the beautiful (aesthetics). And as these ideas were related to society as well as to the Individual, the Greeks developed theories of the ideal organization of society on the basis of the true, the good and the beautiful, or politics and pedagogics. The only branch of speculation to which the Greeks made no appreciable contribution was the philosophy of religion, which is a modern development.
1. Definition and Scope
(1) Intuitive Philosophy
(2) Speculative Philosophy
2. Greek Philosophy
3. Philosophy in OT and Judaism
(1) Of Nature
(2) Of History
(3) Post-exihc (4) Alexandrian
4. Philosophy in the NT
(1) The Teaching of Jesus Christ
(2) Apostolic Teaching
(3) Attitude of NT Writers toward Philosophy Literature
The progress of philosophy in history divides itself naturally into three main periods; (a) ancient, from the 6th cent. BO to the 3d cent. AD, when it is almost exclusively Gr, with some practical adaptations of Gr thought by Rom writers; (6) mediaeval, from the 3d to the 16th cent., where some of the ruling conceptions of Gr thought were utilized for the systematization of Christian dogma, but speculation was mainly confined within the limits of ecclesiastical orthodoxy; there were, however, some independent Arabian and Jewish speculations
Only found in Col 2 8; ht. the love and pursuit
of wisdom and knowledge. In its technical sense, the term is now used for the conscious
1. Deflendeavor of thought, by speculative
nition and process, to interpret the whole of Scope human experience, as a consistent and systematic unity, which would be the
ultimate truth of all that may be known. The term is also used, in a wider sense, of all interpreta-
(c) modern, from the 16th cent, to the present time, in wiiich thought becomes free again to speculate upon all the problems presented by experience, though it only realized its liberty fully in the hands of Locke, Hume and Kant.
tions of experience, or parts of experience, however
obtained, whether by revelation, intuition or un-
Philosophy Phlegon THE INTERNATIONAI, STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2384
cities of Asia, Syria and Egypt, but the only ex-
Gr philosophy was the only speculative system that could have had any influence upon Bib. thought. Its main development was contemporaneous 2 Greek with the later OT writers, but the two
tensive account of it remaining is found in the works of Philo, the Jewish philosopher of Alex-
andria (see Philo Junius) . He tried to graft
_^, .. , peoples were in every way so remote from PlUlOSOpny one another that no interchange of ideas was probable.
Plato's idealism upon Heb monotheism.
He starts with Plato's two principles, pure being or God, and preexisting matter. In his endeavor to bridge the gulf between them, he interposed between God and the world the powers of God, goodness and justice; and to gather these into a final unity, he created his conception of the Logos of God. In the formation of this conception, he merged together the Platonic idea of the good, the Stoic world-reason, and a number of Jewish ideas, the glory, the word, the name, of God, the heavenly man and the great high priest, and personified the whole as the one mediator between God and the world. Christian thought laid hold of this idea, and employed it as its master-category for the interpretation of the person of Christ (see Logos).
During the last two centuries BC, Gr thought spread so widely that it came to dominate the cultured thought of the world into which Christianity entered, and it would have been strange if no trace of its influence were found in the NT. In the first stage of its development, from Thales to Socrates, it was concerned almost entirely with attempts to explain the nature of reality by reducing the phenomenal world into some one of its elements. Socrates changed its center of gravity, and definitely raised the problems of morahty and knowledge to the position of first importance. His principles were developed by Plato into a complex and many-sided system which, more than any other, has influenced
There is no speculative philosophy in the OT nor any certain trace of its influence. Its writers and
actors never set themselves to pursue
3. In the knowledge in the abstract and for its OT and own sake. They always wrought for
all subsequent thought. He united ultimate reality and the highest good into one supreme principle or idea which he called the Good, and also God. It was the essence, archetype and origin of all wisdom, goodness and beauty. It communicated itself as intermediary archetypal ideas to produce all individual things. So that the formative principles
in Judaism moral purposes. But moral activity proceeds on the intellectual presuppo-
sitions and interpretations of the experiences within which it acts. Hence we find in the O'T accounts
of the origin and course of nature, a philosophy of
history and its institutions, and interpretations of men's moral and religious experiences. They all
of all existence were moral and spiritual. But it had to make all things out of preexisting matter, which is essentially evil, and which therefore was refractory and hostile to the Good. That is why
center in God, issue from His sovereign will, and
express the realization of His purpose of righteous-
ness in the world (see God) .
it did not make a perfect world. Plato's system was therefore rent by an irreconcilable duahsm of mind and body, spirit and matter, good and evil. And his mediating ideas could not bridge the gulf, because they belonged only to the side of the ideal. Aristotle was Plato's disciple, and he started from Plato's idealistic presuppositions, but endeavored to transcend his dualism. He thus applied himself to a closer and more accurate study of actual experience, and added much to the knowledge of the physical world. He organized and classified the methods and contents of knowledge and created the science
(1) All nature originated in God's creative act (Gen 2) or word (Gen 1). In later literature the whole course and order of Nature, its beauty and bounty, as well as its wonders and terrors, are represented as the acts of God's will (Isa 40-45; Pss 8
19, 29, 50, 65, 68, 104, etc). But His action in Nature is always subordinated to His moral ends.
(2) Similarly, the course and events of the history
of Israel and her neighbors are the acts of Jeh's will
(Am 1; 2; Isa 41 2; 43 3; 45 9.10.14). In the
historical books of S and K, and still more of Ch, all the events of history are represented as the acts of God's moral government. In a more general way, the whole of history is set forth as a series of covenants that God, of His free grace, made with man
of logic, which in the Christian Middle Ages became the chief instrument of the great systematic theologians of the church. He tried to bring Plato's ideas "down from heaven," and to represent them as the creative and formative principles within the world, which he conceived as a system of development, rising by spiritual gradations from the lower to the higher forms, and culminating in God, who is the uncaused cause of all things. But underneath
(see Covenant). The Noachic covenant fixed the order of Nature. The covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob accounted for the origin and choice of Israel. The covenants with Moses and Aaron established the Law and the priesthood, and that with David, the kingship. And the hope of the future lies in the new covenant (Jer 31 31-35). God's covenants were all acts of His sovereign and gracious will.
all the forms still remained matter as an antithetical element, and Aristotle rather concealed than solved the dualism of Plato.
Meanwhile, the moral principles of Socrates were being developed with a more directly ethical interest, by the Cyrenaics and Epicureans, into a system of Hedonism, and, by the Cynics and Stoics, into a doctrine of intuitive right and duty, resting inconsistently upon a pantheistic and materialistic view of the universe. But the spiritual and ethical elements in Stoicism became only second to Platonism in the preparation of the Gr world for Christianity. During the last two and a half centuries BC, Gr philosophy showed signs of rapid decline. On the one hand, PjTrho and his school propounded a thoroughgoing skepticism which denied the possibility
(3) In post-exilic times, new experiences, and perhaps new intellectual influences, drove the Jews to probe deeper into the problem of existence. They adhered to the cardinal principle of Heb thought, that God's sovereign will, working out His purpose of righteousness, was the first cause of
all things (see Righteousness). But they found
it difficult to coordinate this belief with their other ideas, in two ways. Ethical monotheism tended to become an abstract deism which removed God altogether out of the world. And the catastrophes that befell the nation, in the exile and after, raised the problem of suffering and evil over against God's goodness and righteousness. Therefore in the Wisdom lit. we find some conscious speculation on these subjects (see Wisdom).
of all knowledge whatsoever. On the other hand, the older schools, no longer served by creative minds, tended to merge their ideas into a common eclecticism which its teachers reduced into an empty and formal dogmati,sm. The most fruitful and fateful product of Gr thought in this period was its amalgamation with Jewish and oriental ideas in the
(q) The Book of Job discusses the problem of evil, and repudiates the idea that hfe and history are the process of God's rewards and punishments, (b) Eccl comes to the conclusion that all phenomenal experience is vanity. Yet its ultimate philosophy is not pessimistic, for it finds an abiding reality and hope in the fear of God
great cosmopolitan centers of the Gr world. There
are evidences that this process was going on in the
2385 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Philosophy Phlegon
and in the moral life (12 13.14'). The f5ame type of thought appears in Ecclu.s. Both boolis have been attributed to the circle of the Sadducees. Some would find in them traces of the influence of Epicureanism. (c) In Prov a more optimistic side prevails. Wisdom is gathered up into a conception or personification which is at once God's friend, His agent in creation, His vicegerent in the world, and man's instructress and guide (ch 8). (d) The teaching of the Pharisees esp. reveals the tendency to dualism or deism in later Judaism: they interposed between God and the world various agents of mediation, the law, the word, the name, the glory of God and a host of angels, good and bad. They also fostered a new hope of the future, under the double form of the Messianic kingdom, and of resurrection and immortality. How far these tendencies were due to the influence of Pers dualism cannot here bo considered. (e) Essenism represents another effort to get from the world to God by a crude kind of mysticism and asceticism, combined with an extensive angelology.
(Lightfoot, ad loc), the first beginnings of Gnosticism in the Christian church. Paul warns his readers against it, as he also does the Corinthians against the "wisdom" of the Greeks (1 Cor 1 19 ff; 2 5.6). A similar tendency may be in view in the warning to Timothy against false doctrines (1 Tim 14; 4 3; 2 Tim 1 14.16 ff). But with the true spirit of philosophy, as the pursuit of truth, and the endeavor to express more fully and clearly the nature of reality, the spirit and work of the NT writers were in complete accord.
Literature.—Intros to philosophy by Kiilpe, Paulsen, Hoftding, Watson and Mackenzie. Hists of Gr philosophy by Ritter and Preller, Burnet, and ZeUer, and of general philosophy by Erdmann, Ueberweg, Windelband and Rogers; E. Caird, The Evolution oj Theology in the Gr Philosophies; Hists of the Jews by Schiirer, Graetz and Kent; OT Theologies by Schultz and Davidson; NT Theologies by Beyschlag and Weinel; Philo's works and treatises thereon by Dahne, Gfrorer and Drummond; Harnack, What Is Christianity f Bigg, The Christian Platonists of Alexandria; Lightfoot, Col.
(4) Among the Hellenistic Jews in Alexandria, Aristobulus, the authors of Wisd and 4 Mace, and preeminently Philo, all deal with the two chief problems of Judaism, dualism and evil. But they approach them under the direct influence of Gr thought. The Heb idea of wisdom was merged into the Gr conception of the Logos, and so it becomes the mediator of God's thought and activity in the world.
T. Rees PHINEES, fin'S-es (i^.vth, Phinees, B [Swete],
Philosophy appears in the NT as intuitive, speculative and eclectic. (1) Jesus Christ came to fulfil the law and the prophets, and, out of
<i>ei.vWs, Fheinees [1 Esd 8 2]):
(1) Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron (1 Esd 5 5; 8 2.29; 2 Esd 1 2; 1 Mace 2 26; Sir 45 23).
4. In the His filial consciousness of God, He NT propounded answers to the practical demands of His time. His doctrine of God the Father was a philosophy of Nature and
(2) The father of Achias and son of Heli (Eli), a descendant of (1), and one of Ezra's progenitors (2 Esd 1 2); but this link is not found in Ezra's genealogy (1 Esd 8 1 f), nor in Ezr 7 1 ff; 1 Ch 6, and its insertion in 2 Esd 1 2 is a mistake, since Ezra's descent was from Eleazar, while this Phinees (Phinehas) was a descendant of Ithamar, the youngest son of Aaron.
life which transcended all dualism. In the kingdom of heaven, the good would ultimately prevail over the evil. The law of love expressed the ideal
of conduct for man as individual, and in his relation to society and to God, the supreme and ultimate
(3) A Levite, the father of Eleazar (1 Esd 8 63) = "Phinehas" of Ezr 8 33. But it is just possible that the well-known Eleazar (1) is referred to here, and so not another and different Phinees.
reality. This teaching was given in the form of revelation, without any trace of speculation.
(2) The apostolic writings built upon the teaching and person of Jesus Christ. Their ruling ideas are the doctrines which He taught and embodied. In Paul and John, they are realized as mystical experiences which are expressed in doctrines of universal love. But we may also discover in the apos-
(4) AV = RV "Phinoe" (1 Esd 5 31). S. Angus PHIIfEHAS, fin'5-as, -az, fin'e-has, -haz (DnpS
, pin'hSf, "mouth of brass")
(1) Son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron (Ex 6 25; cf 1 Ch 6 4; Ezr 7 5, where he is seen to be an ancestor of Ezra). He took a leading part in cleansing Israel from whoredom at Shittim. He there punished the brazen licentiousness of Zimri, prince of Simeon, by slaying both him and the Midianite woman he had brought into camp (Nu 25 6-18). This incident is referred to in Ps 106 30.31
tolic writings at least three strands of speculative philosophy, (a) Paul employed arguments from natural theology, similar to those of the Stoics (Acta 14 1.5-17; 17 22-31; Rom 1 19 ff), which involved the principles of the cosmological and
teleological arguments, (b) John employs the Philonic term "Logos" to interpret the person of Christ in His universal relation to God, man and the world; and the main elements of Philo's scheme are clearly present in his doctrine, though here it is no abstract conception standing fjetween God and man, but a living person uniting both (Jn 1 1-18). Although the term "Logos" is not mentioned, in this
(cf 1 Mace 2 26.54; Sir 45 23.24). As priest he accompanied the expedition sent by Moses against Midian (Nu 31 6). He was chief of the Korahite Levites (1 Ch 9 20), and succeeded his father as high priest. While he was in that office the civil war with Benjamin occurred, and it was he who delivered the oracle's decision to fight Benjamin (Jgs 20 28 ff). His faithful services secured to his house the succession of the priesthood (Nu 25 11-13). He was sent as ambassador to inquire into the reported idolatry of Reuben, Gad and part of Manasseh
sense, in Paul or He, the Philonic conception has been employed by both writers (Rom 5 8; 8 29;
1 Cor 15 24.2.5; 2 Cor 5 18.19; PhU 2 6; Col
1 15-17; ,2 9.10; He 1 1-3. .5.6). Paul also expresses his conception of Christ as the mani-
festation of God under the category of wisdom
(Josh 22 13 ff.30-32). According to LXX he was buried with his father in Ephraim on the hill Gibeah Phinehas (see Josh 24 33). His character was marked with strong moral indignation and fine integrity.
(1 Cor 1 20; 2 7; Eph 1 8; Col 2 3). (c) Both
in Paul and He appear original speculations designed
to interpret individual experience and human history as they culminate in Christ. Paul's interpre-
tation consists of a series of parallel antitheses,
(2) The younger son of Eli (1 S 1 3; 2 Esd 1 2, "Phinees"). See Hopni and Phinehas.
flesh and spirit, sin and righteousness, law and grace, works and faith, Adam and Christ. But the author
(3) Fatherof a priest named Eleazar (Ezr 8 33; cf ver2; 1 Esd 8 63, "Phinees"). Henry Wallace
of He adopts the Platonic view that the world
of history and phenomena is but the shadow or suggestion of the spiritual and eternal reality which
PHINOE, fin'6-5 (*iv6€, Phinde; AV Phinees) Name of one of the families of temple-servants who went up from Babylon with Zerubbabel (1 Esd 5 31) = "Paseah"of Ezr 2 49; Neh 7 51.
lies behind it, and which partially expresses itself through it.
(3) In the one place in which the term philosophy appears in the NT (Col 2 8), it seems to mean "subtle dialectics and profitless speculation .... combined with a mystic cosmogony and angelology"
PHLEGON, fle'gon, fleg'on (*X^va)v, Phlegon): The name of a Rom Christian to whom Paul
Phoebe Phoenicia THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2386
sent greetings (Rom 16 14). Of him nothing is known
Tyre, and it still grows on the coast, though not in great abundance. The width of the land also was
indefinite, not extending inland beyond the crest
PHOEBE, fe'be (^oipi], Phoibe; AV Phebe) Described by St. Paul as (1) "our sister," (2) "who
of the two ranges of mountains, the Bargylus (Nusairi Mountains) and the Lebanon, which run parallel to the coast and leave but little space between them and the sea for the greater portion of their length. It is doubtful whether the Phoenicians occupied the mountain tracts, but they must have dominated them on the western slopes, since they derived from them timber for their ships and temples. The width of the country probably did not exceed 25 or 30 miles at the most, and in many places it was much less, a very small territory, in fact, but one that played a distinguished role in ancient times.
is a servant of the church that is at Cenchreae,"
(3) "a lielper of many, and of mine own self" (Rom 16 L2). (1) "Our [Christian] sister": Paul calls the believing husband and wife "the brother or the sister" (1 Cor 7 15), and also asks, "Have we no right to lead about a wife that is a sister?" (1 Cor 9 5m). The church was a family. (2) The Gr word tr'' "servant" is didkonos. "Servant" is vague, and "deaconess" is too technical. In the later church there was an order of deaconesses for special work among women, owing to the peculiar circumstances of oriental life, but we have no reason to believe there was such an order at this early period. If Phoebe had voluntarily devoted herself
There are few harbors on the whole coast, none in the modern sense, since what few bays and inlets there are afford but slight shelter to modern ships, but those of the ancients found sufficient protection in a number of places, esp. by means of artificial harbors, and the facility with which they could be drawn out upon the sandy beach in winter when navigation was suspended. The promontories are few and do not project far into the sea, such as Theu-prosopon S. of Tripolis, Ra,? BeinXt and the broad projection S. of Tyre including Ras el-'Abyadh and Ras en-Naktlra and Ras el-Musheirifeh (see Ladder or Tyre). The promontory of Carmel
' 'to minister unto the saints' ' by means of charity and hospitality, she would be called diakonos. (3) The Gr word prostdtis tr'^ "helper" is better "patroness." The masc. is "the title of a citizen in Athens who took charge of the interests of clients and persons without civic rights" (Denney). Many of the early Christian communities had the appearance of clients under a patron, and probably the community of Cenchreae met in the house of Phoebe. She also devoted her influence and means to the assistance of "brethren" landing at that port. Paul was among those whom she benefited. Gilford thinks some special occasion is meant, and that Paul refers to this in Acts 18 IS. The vow "seems to point to a deliverance from danger or sickness" in which Phoebe may have attended on him.
is rather more marked than the others, and forms quite an extensive bay, which extends to Acre. The promontory rises to a height of 500 ft. or more near the sea and to more than double that elevation in
its course to the S.E.
Mt. Lebanon, which forms the background of P. for about 100 miles, is a most striking feature of the landscape. It rises to a height of 10,200 ft. in the highest point, E. of Tripolis, and to 8,500 in Jebel Sunnin, E. of Beirut, and the average elevation is from 5,000 to 6,000 ft. It is rent by deep gorges where the numerous streams have cut their way to the sea, furnishing most varied and picturesque scenery. It was originally heavily wooded with cedar, oak, and pine trees, which are still found in considerable numbers, but by far the larger part of the mountain has been denuded of forests, and the slopes have been extensively terraced for the cultivation of vines and fruit trees and the mulberry for silk culture. The plains along the coast are not extensive, but generally very fertile and bear abundant crops of wheat, barley and other cereals, where not given to the culture of the mulberry, orange, lemon, fig, apricot and other small fruits. In its greatest extent P. included the broad plain of Sharon and that of Acre, between Carmel and that city, and a portion of the region watered by the Kishon, but the plains of P., strictly speaking, are much more restricted. They are: the plain of Tyre, long but narrow, extending from Ras el-'Abyadh to Sarepta; the plain of Sidon extending from Sarepla to the Bostrenus {Nahr el-'Auly); the plain of Beirtit ( Berylus) between the extensive sand dunes along the shore and the rocky cape on the W. and the foot of Lebanon, 10 or 12 miles long but only one or two wide, containing one of the largest olive groves in Syria; the very small plain of Tripohs, including that city and its port; and, the most extensive of all, the plain of Marathus, extendingfrom Arka to Aradus or even beyond, including the river Eleutherus {Nahr el-Kebir). These plains furnished only a portion of the food needed by the inhabitants who were more or less dependent on their neighbors for it (1 K 5 11; Acts 12 20). The rivers of P. are comparatively short and small; the Litany rises in the Buka', between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, and finds its way in a deep and narrow gorge between Lebanon and Mt. Her-
It is generally assumed that this letter was taken to Rome by Phoebe, these verses introducing her to the Christian community. In commending her, Paul asks that the Rom Cliristians "receive her in the Lord," i.e. give her a Christian welcome, and that they "assist her in whatsoever matter she may have need" of them (Rom 16 1.2).
S. F. Hunter PHOENICE, fg-ni'se (*oivi^, Pholnix). See Phoenix .
PHOENICLA., fg-nish'i-a, PHOENICIANS, fenish'anz:
1. The Land 2. The Colonies 3. The People 4. Arts and Manufactures 5. Commerce and Trade The term "Phoenicia" is Gr (foi^ixij, Phoinike, "land of dates, or palm trees," from pholnix, "the
6. Language and Culture 7. Religion 8. History LlTER.\TURE
date-palm"). It occurs in the Bible
1. The only in Acts (11 19; 15 3; 21 2), the Land land being generally designated as the "coast" or "borders of Tyre and Sidon" (Mt 15 21; Mk 7 24.31; Lk 6 17). In the OT we find it included in the land belonging to the Canaanites or to Sidon (Gen 10 19; 49 13; Josh 11 8; 1 K 17 9). The Kmits of P. were indefinite also. It i,s sometimes used by classic writers as including the coast line from Mt. Cassius on the N. to Gaza or beyond on the S., a distance of some 380 miles, or about 400 miles if we include the sweep of indentations and bays and the outstretching of the promontories. But in the stricter sense, it did not extend beyond Gabala (modern Jehleh) on the N., and Mt. Carmel on the S., or some 150 miles. The name was probably first applied to the region opposite Cyprus, from Gabala to Aradus and Marathus, where the date-palm was observed, and then, as it was found in still greater abundance farther S., it was applied to that region also. The palm tree is common on the coins of both Aradus and
2387 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Phoebe Phoenicia
mon to the S., and finally turns westward and reaches the sea a few miles N. of Tyre, where it is called the Kasimlyeh. About 12 miles N. of Beirllt
Their colonics were mostly factories for the exchange of their manufactured articles for the products of the lands they visited. They cared little about building up new states or for extending their civilization and molding barbarous tribes and imparting to them their culture. In this they were tar surpassed by the Greeks whose colonies profoundly modified the peoples and lands with which they came in contact.
is the Dog River (Lycus), a very short stream but noted for the famous pass at its mouth, where Egyp, Assyr and Bab kings engraved their monuments; and a few miles S. of Jebail (Gebal) is the Adonis {Nahr Ibrahim), which comes down from ^Afka (Apheca = Aphek, Josh 13 4), noted for the rites of Venus and Adonis (see Tammuz); and the Eleutherus, already mentioned, which runs through the valley between Bargylus and Lebanon and provides the pass between these two mountains into the in-
The Phoenicians were the same as the Canaanites, under which name they are known in the OT, as well as Sidonians (Gen 10 19; Nu
3. The 13 29). They were of Sem stock, if People we may judge by their language and characteristics. It is true that in Gen 10 6 Canaan is called a son of Ham, but it is also true that the language of Canaan is identified with Heb (Isa 19 18). If the early Phoenicians spoke a different tongue, they entirely lost it before their contact with the Hebrews. Their writings and all the references to them in ancient authorities show that their language was purely Sem. As to their origin and the time of their migration to the Syrian coast, it is more difficult to determine. Herodotus (i.2; vii.89) says that they lived at first on the Erythraean Sea, which is identified with the Pers Gulf, and modern authorities have not found evidence to refute the statement. It is quite certain that they were not the aborigines of the country, and must have come in with some of the various migrations from the E., which we know, from Egyp and Bab monuments, occurred in the 3d, perhaps in the 4th, millennium BC. Semites are found in S3Tia as early as the IVth Egyp Dynasty, about 3000 BC, and we may fairly conjecture that the Canaanites were in possession of the seacoast as early as 2500 BC. It is possible that they were among the Hyksos invaders of Egypt (Paton, Syria and Pal, 67).
terior. The other rivers are very short, but furnish a perennial water-supply to the coast dwellers.
The products of the land, as well as the climate, are very varied on account of the difference in elevation of the tracts suitable to culture, ranging in temperature from the semi-tropical to Alpine. How far the ancients cultivated the mountain sides we do not know, but they certainly profited largely by the forests of cedar and pine, esp. the former, which was the most valuable for shipbuilding and architectural purposes, and was highly prized, not only by the Phoenicians, but by Egyptians, Assyrians and Babylonians, who transported it to their own countries for buildings. The mineral products are few, and the Phoenicians depended on their colonies and other lands for what they needed of these.
The narrowness of the land and the difficulty of expansion on account of the lofty mountain ranges and the
hostility of the tribes of the interior led 2 The ^^® Phoenicians to turn seaward for an ^' , . outlet to their increasing population. We UOiOnieS have only one instance of their attempt to colonize the Hinterland, and that ended in disaster (Jgs 18). Hiram, king of Tyre, was not pleased with Solomon's gift of 20 cities in Galileo, probably not desiring to assume responsibility for their defence. The people early became mariners, and the dominion of the sea was more inviting to them, and they found room for expansion in the islands and on the coast of the Mediterranean, where they established colonies far and wide. Their first over-sea possessions were in Cyprus, the coasts of which they occupied in the 2d millennium BC. probably about 1500. On the southern coast they planted various colonies, such as Citium (Larnaca). Amathus, Curium and Paphos, and on the eastern, Salamis, Ammachosta and Soli, and, in the interior, Idalium and Golgi, besides other less important settlements. The evidences of the Fhoen occupation of Cyprus are numerous. The southern portion of Asia Minor also attracted them at an early date, esp. the rich plains of Cilicia. and Tarsus became the most important of their colonies there. Its coins bear Fhoen types and legends, among which Baal is conspicuous. Other points along the coast were occupied, and the island of Rhodes as well as certain ports on the south coast of Crete, and most of the islands of the Aegean. Their presence in Attica is vouched for by inscriptions, and legend connects Thebes with them in the person of Cadmus, the reputed son of Agenor, king of P. But it is doubtful whether they really colonized the mainland of Greece. They were more attracted by the lands farther to the W.
That the Phoenicians took to the sea at a very early date and became the most skilful mariners of the ancient world is certain. Their enterprise
in this direction is attested by classic writers, and the references to it in the OT are numerous. This was coupled with great industry and skill in the manufacture of the various articles which furnished the materials of their extended commerce. They exhibited a boldness and audacity in braving the perils of the sea in their little ships, which, for the age, demands our admiration. They were the first who dared to push out of sight of land in their voyages and sail beyond the Pillars of Hercules into the ocean. But in their commercial dealings they were often unscrupulous, and their greed of gain often led them to take unfair advantage of the barbarous races with whom they came in contact. The purchase of the land on which the citadel of Carthage was built may illustrate the opinion of the ancients regarding them, but we ought to remember that
trickery and deceit are charged against them by their enemies, who alone have handed down accounts of them. The Heb prophets speak of their pride and vanity (Ezk 28 17), and violence (ver 16), and Amos hints at a traffic in captives taken in war, but whether of Hebrews or not is not clear (Am 1 9). Slaves were among the articles of merchandise in which they traded (Ezk 27 13; Joel 3 6), but this could hardly be charged against them as a great sin when slavery was universal. The chief reason for
The greatest of their colonies was in Africa. They occupied Utica first, probably in the 12th cent. BC, and others in the same region until in the 9th cent. Great Carthage was founded, which was destined to become the richest and most powerful of all and the dreaded rival of Rome. All are familiar with the story of Elisa, or Dido, the reputed Tyrian queen who led her followers to the place and founded the city. The story is perhaps legendary, but that Carthage was a colony of Tyre there
is no reason to doubt. Other colonists occupied portions
of Sicily, such as Motya, Erix, Soli and Panormus (Palermo). They also crossed over to Sardinia and the Balearic Isles, and planted colonies on the south coast of Spain and the northwestern coast of Africa, within and beyond the straits of Gibraltar. Of their settlements
their being denounced by the prophets was their corrupt practices in worship and the baleful influence of the Baal and Astarte cult introduced by them into Israel through Ahab's marriage with Jezebel (1 K 16 31-33). This evil influence was
in Spain Gades (Cades) and Tartessus were the most noted, the latter being probably the Tarshish of Scripture (1 K 10 22), Malaca (Malaga) and Abdera, within the straits, were likewise important settlements, and there were others of less note.
felt even after the captivity when the rites of the Phoen Tammuz were practised in Jerus (Ezk 8 14). But the earlier relations of the Phoenicians with
The colonial enterprise of the Phoenicians was remarkable for the age, and was only surpassed in ancient times by the Greeks who came later, the former being the pioneers. The energy and daring of the Phoenicians in pushing out into unknown seas, with the imperfect means at their disposal, is evidence of the enterprise of
Israel in the days of David and Solomon were
friendly and mutually beneficial. On the whole the judgment of history assigns to this people a high
this people. Their chief object, however, was trade.
Phoenicia THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2388
living by other means. They applied themselves to industrial arts, and this led them to seek the means
position for their enterprise and skill in carrying on their trade, and in being the pioneers of civilization in many of the Mediterranean lands, esp. by their introduction of alphabetical writing, which was by far the most valuable of all their contributions to the culture of the ancient world.
for distributing their wares. Trade
5. Comwas essential to them, and they sought merce and outlets for it by sea and land. Their Trade position was esp. favorable for commerce. In the very center of the ancient world, with the great rich and populous nations of antiquity at their back and on either side, they faced the young, vigorous and growing nations of the West, and they served them all as carriers and producers. Their caravans threaded all the well-beaten routes of the East, the deserts of Ai-abia and the mountain defiles of Armenia and Asia Minor, and their ships pushed boldly out to sea and explored the Mediterranean and the Euxine and did not hesitate to brave the unknown dangers of the Atlantic and perhaps even penetrated to the Baltic, emulating the mariners of a later day in their zeal for discovery and search for new avenues of trade. Could we find a detailed account of their voyages and discoveries, it would be a most interesting document, but we have little except what others have written about them, which, however, gives us a pretty fair idea of the extent of their commercial enterprise. The prophet Ezekiel has given us a remarkable catalogue of the wares of Tyre and of the countries with which she traded (Ezk 27). There we have mention of nearly all the regions of Western A,sia, Egypt, Greece and the islands, and Spain, indicated by the names of races, tribes and countries. The materials of their traffic include the most important known to the ancient world, the products of agriculture, such as wool, linen, oil, balm, spices, frankincense, wine, corn, etc; of metals, such as gold, silver, copper (brass), tin, iron, lead, etc; precious stones and the articles of manufacture, the "multitude of handiworks," which they were so skilful in producing. They traded in animals also, horses, mules, lambs, rams and goats, and, what is less to their credit, in the persons of men (ver 13). The range of their trade was much wider than is indicated by Ezekiel. We know they reached the Scilly Isles in Britain, and probably the Baltic, whither they went for amber, though this might have been brought overland to the Adriatic and received into their ships there. They passed along the western coast of Africa as far as Cape Non, and perhaps farther, for Herodotus tells us that Pharaohnecoh dispatched a crew of Phoen sailors to circumnavigate Africa, which they accomplished in 3 years. We know that they had a fleet in the Red Sea sailing from Elath or Ezion-geber (1 K 9 26.27), and it is quite possible that they were allowed by some of the kings of Egypt to avail themselves of ports on the other branch of the Red Sea. They must have visited the eastern shore of Africa and perhaps struck across the Indian Ocean, after skirting the coast of Arabia, and thus carried on trade with India. The Ophir mentioned in connection with these voyages has not been definitely located, but was perhaps in Southern Arabia, though possibly in Southeast Africa (see Gold).
(1) The Phoenicians were celebrated for their textile fabrics of silk, wool, linen and cotton. The materials of the last three were ob-
4. Arts and tained from Syria and Egypt, but the Manufacsilk came from the Far East through tures Persia. The dyeing of these fabrics was by a process invented by the Phoenicians, and the luster and permanence of color were unequaled by the ancients and made the Tyrian purple famous throughout the world. The finer qualities of it were so precious that only the very wealthy, or kings and princes, could obtain it, and it became at last a synonym of royalty. This dye was obtained from the shell-fish which was abundant in the Mediterranean, esp. along the Phoen coast, species of the Murex and the Buccinum. The mode of manufacture is not definitely known and was probably kept a secret by the Phoenicians. At least they had a monopoly of the business.
(2) Glass was another well-known product of the country, and although not invented by the Phoenicians as formerly supposed, it was made in large quantities and exported to all countries about the sea. See Glass.
(3) Pottery was also an article of manufacture and export, and some of the examples of their work found in Cyprus show considerable skill in the art of decoration as well as making. In this, however, they were far surpassed by the Greeks.
(4) Bronze was a specialty of the Phoenicians, and they were for centuries the leading producers, since they controlled the sources of supply of the copper and tin used in its manufacture. The remains of their bronze manufactures are numerous, such as arms for offence and defence, knives, toilet articles, axes, sickles, cups, paterae, and various other household utensils. Articles for artistic purposes are not of high value, although the pillars named Jachin and Boaz, the molten sea, the bases, lavers and other articles cast by Hiram of Tyre for the temple of Solomon must have exhibited considerable artistic merit. Their bronze was of good quality and was tempered so as to serve well for edgecl tools. The composition was about 9 parts copper to 1 of tin. They seem also to have made iron (2 Ch 2 14), and some specimens have come down to us, but we cannot judge from their scarcity as to the extent
of their manufactures in this metal, since most of the articles have perished by corrosion.
Aesthetic art among the Phoenicians was of low grade, as it was among the Semites generally, and where we find some works of moderate merit they undoubtedly manifest the influence of Gr art, such as those found in Cyprus by General Di Cesnola and others. In Phoenicia proper very little of artistic value has come to light that can be ascribed to native artists. In sculpture the style is stiff and conventional, much of it exceedingly rude, and lacks e.icpression. The animal forms are generaUy grotesque often absurd, reminding one of children's attempts at plastic art. The antliropoid sarcophagi discovered at Sidon were modeled after the Egyp, and the magnificent ones, of different design, from the same place, now in the JN'Iuseum of Constantinople, were certainly the work of Gr artists of the age of Alexander the Great. The architecture of the Phoenicians was characterized by massiveness, rather than elegance. The substructures of some of their temples and castles are Cyclopean, like those of the temple at Jerus (1 K 7 10), and other examples are found at Sidon. Gebal. Marathus and other places in Phoenicia itself. Their work seems lacking in symmetry and grace, showing a want of aesthetic taste.
The ships in which the Phoenicians made these voyages were small as compared with the great vessels of the present day, but the largest known in their age, as we may infer from the long voyages they made. Their superiority is testified to by classical writers. In the famous expedition of Xerxes to Greece the Phoen ships excelled all others in speed, and the king chose one of them when he embarked upon the sea (Herod. vii.lOO). These ships were impelled both by sails and oars, as we know from illustrations upon the coins (see Coins). The ancients attributed the invention of the alphabet to the Phoenicians. This is now regarded as doubtful, and there are no reliable data for determining what people first analyzed speech to its ultimate elements, but to the Phoenicians belongs
Trade was the very life of Phoenicia. The contracted limits of the land forbade any extensive agriculture, and the people were forced to get their
2389 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Phoenicia
the merit of bringing the invention to the knowledge of the western world. It is quite certain that the alphabets of Western Asia and those
"lord" or "master"; Baal-samin, "lord of heaven"; Eliun, "supreme," etc. These terms imply either one God or one who is supreme among the gods and their ruler. But this belief was changed before the Phoenicians came into contact with the Hebrews, and polytheism took its place, though their gods were less numerous than among most polytheistic races. One of the most corrupting tendencies we notice was the ascription of sexual characteristics to the chief deities of their pantheon, such as Baal and Ashtoreth, which led to licentious rites of the most abominable character.
6. Language of Europe were derived from the Phoen and Culture characters. This is what we should have expected from their wide commer-
cial relations. The alphabetic writing was in fact one of their exports and was by far the most important of them all. The world owes a great debt to this people for this invaluable aid to literature, science and culture (see Alphabet).
The Phoen alphabet comprises 22 letters and is deficient in signs to indicate vowels, which were left to be supplied by the reader. This defect is common to the Sem alphabets, but was soon remedied when the Greeks adopted the Phoenician. Some of the letters have to serve for two sounds, such as the signs for s and sh, for P and ph, for t and th; besides, there is a redundant sign for the sound of s. Also the sounds of y and w are unrepresented.
Baal (Phoen 5375 , ba^al) was the chief deity and was universally worshipped, being usually designated by the locality in each place: Baal of Tyre or Baal-Tsur, Baal-Sidon, Baal-Tars (Tarsus), Baal-bek, etc. He was regarded as the god of the generative principle in Nature, and his statues were sometimes flanked by bulls. He was identified with Zeus, and he appears on the coins under the Gr type of Zeus, seated on a throne, holding an eagle in the outstretched right hand and a scepter in the
The origin of the letters is probably to be found in the hieroglyphic signs for words and syllables used by the Egyptians and others, since the similarity of some of them to these signs is evident, but in some cases it is more hkely that the Phoenicians adopted hieroglyphics of their own. Thus the first letter, 'dleph, which means "ox," was evidently derived from the picture of an ox's head and then reduced to a conventional form.
left. Sometimes his head is encircled with rays showing him to be the sun-god.
Ashtoreth (Phoen fTICTlJy, ^ashtoreth) was the great Nature-goddess, the Magna Mater, queen of heaven (Jer 7 18), and as Baal was the solar deity, so she was often represented under the lunar aspect, Ashteroth-karnaim, "Ashteroth of the two horns"
The Phoen alphabet and language were common to the Canaanitish tribes ajid the Hebrews, as we know from the many inscriptions found in Western Asia. The M S testifies to their use E. of the Jordan, and the Siloam Inscription likewise for Israel, and the same characters have been found in North Syria. This would be natural, for people of these regions had become largely Sem by the 9th cent. BC, when we suppose that the Phoen alphabet was
(Gen 14 5). Sometimes she is represented holding the dove, the symbol of fecundity, of which she was the goddess. She was commonly identified with Aphrodite or Venus. She, like Baal, had temples everywhere, and kings were sometimes her high priests, and her worship was too often accompanied with orgies of the most corrupt kind, as at Apheca
in general use.
It is strange that the Phoenicians, who had an alphas bet so early, and made it so widely known to the world, made so little use of it for literature. The remains of their language are very scanty, mostly inscriptions, and these generally very brief. The longest ones in Phoen proper are those from Sidon, the most famous of which
(see Ashtoreth; Tammdz). Among the other gods we may mention: El, or
II (5S , 'el), originally the designation of the supreme God, but afterward a subordinate deity who became the special divinity of Byblus (Gebal), and was regarded by the Greeks as the same as Kronos. Melkarth {fifpb'O ,melkarth, "kingof thecity")originally was the same as Baal, representing one aspect of that god, but later a separate deity, the patron god of Tyre whose head appears on many of its coins, as well as his symbol, the club, since he was identified with Hercules. Herodotus describes his temple at Tyre to which he attributes great antiquity, 2,300 years before his time. Dagon
is that of Esmunazer, king of Sidon, comprising 298 words. Some lew others, pertaining to the same dynasty, have been discovered in tombs and on the waUs of the temple of Asmun, and show the Phoen character and style in its best form. Only two works of any length are known to us by tr or references in Gr authors. The
first is the Phoen History of Sanchoniathon, of BeirQt, which Philo of Byblus claims to have tr<i from the Phoen original. This, however, is doubted, and both the author and the history are suspected to be mythical. The other work is genuine; the short account of the voyage of a Carthaginian king beyond the PiUars of Her-
cules, called the Periplus of Hanno, is not without merit as a narrative, and indicates that the Carthaginian branch of the Phoen race, at least, may have had a lit. of some value, but it is unfortunately lost. We cannot suppose, however, that it was very extensive or very important, as more of it would then have been preserved. The conclusion is natural that the Phoenicians were so absorbed in commercial enterprise and the pursuit of wealth that they neglected the nobler uses of the invaluable instrument of culture they had found in alphabetic writing.
CJIj^, daghon) seems to have been the tutelary
deity of Aradus, his head appearing on the early autonomous coins of that city. He seems to have been regarded as the god of agriculture by the Phoenicians, rather than of fishing as generally sup-
posed. Adonis CiTl^, 'ddhon, "lord") was regarded as the son of Cinyras, a mythic king of Gebal and the husband of Ashtoreth. The myth of his death by the wild boar led to the peculiar rites celebrating it, instituted by the women of Gebal at Apheca and on the river named after him (see Tam-
A very prominent role was assigned to religion in
the life of the Phoenicians. As a Sem people, such a characteristic was but natural and
7. Religion they seem to have possessed it in large measure. Their religious ideas are important on account of the influence they had on
the Hebrews, which is so apparent in the OT. The worship of the Canaanitish Baal and Ashtoreth, or
mdz). Esmtin CJIOIBi?, 'esmun) one of the sons of Siddik, the father of the Cabiri, was esp. honored at Sidon and Beirdt. At Sidon a great temple was built in his honor, the ruins of which have been recently explored and various inscriptions found dedicating it to him. His name signifies "the eighth," i.e. the eighth son of Siddik, the others being the Cabiri, or Great Ones, who were regarded as presiding over ships and navigation, and as such were worshipped in many places, although their
Astarte, led the Israelites astray and produced most
disastrous results.
There can be little doubt that the chief deities
of the Phoenicians, as well as the forms of their cult, were derived from Babylonia, brought with them probably when they migrated to the W., but afterward modified by contact with Egypt and Greece. Some regard the earliest conception of the deity among the Semites to have been monotheism, and we find traces of this in the attributes ascribed by
special seat was Beirtit. Although they were called "Great" they are represented as dwarfs, and an image of one of them was placed on the prow, or
the Phoenicians to their chief god. He is Baal,
Phoenicia Phoenix THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2390
stern, of each Phoen war galley. The goddess Tanith {TCP, , tanith) occupied a lofty place in the pantheon, since in inscriptions she takes the precedence over Baal when the two names occur together. She was esp. honored at Carthage and to her most exalted names are given, such as "the parent of all"; "the highest of the gods"; "the mistress of the elements," etc. Besides some other gods of less note originally worshipped by the Phoenicians, they introduced some foreign deities into their pantheon. Thus Poseidon appears frequently on the coins of Beirut and became its patron deity in Rom times; Isis and her temple at Gebal are likewise represented on its coins, the Dioscuri or their symbols on those of Tripolis and Beirilt, etc.