countries
colonised by or subjected to the influence of the
Phoenicians, especially in Cyprus.

Berytus shared with Byblos the glory of having had El for its founder.*
The road which connects these two cities makes a lengthy detour in its
course along the coast, having to cross numberless ravines and rocky
summits: before reaching Palai-Byblos, it passes over a headland by a
series of steps cut into the rock, forming a kind of "ladder" similar
to that which is encountered lower down, between Acre and the plains of
Tyre.

* The name Berytus was found by Hincks in the Egyptian texts
under the form. Birutu, Beirutu; it occurs frequently in the
Tel el-Amarna tablets.

The river Lykos runs like a kind of natural fosse along the base of
this steep headland. It forms at the present time a torrent, fed by
the melting snows of Mount Sannin, and is entirely unnavigable. It was
better circumstanced formerly in this respect, and even in the early
years of the Boman conquest, sailors from Arvad (Arados) were accustomed
to sail up it as far as one of the passes of the lower Lebanon, leading
into Cole-Syria. Berytus was installed at the base of a great headland
which stands out boldly into the sea, and forms the most striking
promontory to be met with in these regions from Carmel to the vicinity
of Arvad. The port is nothing but an open creek with a petty roadstead,
but it has the advantage of a good supply of fresh water, which pours
down from the numerous springs to which it is indebted for its name.*
According to ancient legends, it was given by El to one of his offspring
called Poseidon by the Greeks.

* The name Beyrut has been often derived from a Phconician
word signifying _cypress_, and which may have been applied
to the pine tree. The Phoenicians themselves derived it from
Bir, "wells."

Adonis desired to take possession of it, but was frustrated in the
attempt, and the maritime Baal secured the permanence of his rule by
marrying one of his sisters--the Baalat-Beyrut who is represented as a
nymph on Graeco-Roman coins.* The rule of the city extended as far
as the banks of the Tamur, and an old legend narrates that its patron
fought in ancient times with the deity of that river, hurling stones at
him to prevent his becoming master of the land to the north. The
bar formed of shingle and the dunes which contract the entrance were
regarded as evidences of this conflict.**