The people of Phoenicia, once a vast empire, have been split up. It is likely that the vast majority know nothing about their heritage, a pity considering how great their people once were. There was Tyre the island city, Berytus modern day Beirut, or Hannibal’s Carthage. These were the greatest merchants of the early world and some of the most powerful cities to exist yet they are commonly overlooked for other civilizations.
The island city of Tyre, located just off the coast of Lebanon, once had one of the greatest ports in all of the Mediterranean. The city infact had two ports, however the northern port was far more important in the well being of the city. Most traffic through the Mediterranean was forced to stop in Tyre which made them very rich very fast. It was merchants of Tyre who would be the first to navigate the Mediterranean, and found colonies from northern Africa to Spain. Alas their sovereignty would eventually be taken by Alexander with his great land bridge. While Alexander the great was on his escapades conquering large portions of his known world he came to Tyre, a city on an island, due to the importance of the city economically it could not be overlooked. He concocted the plan that he would make a makeshift bridge so that he would be able to bring his ram to the gates, this plan would turn into Tyre’s demise ultimately.
Unbeknownst to many Beiruti’s they live on the grounds of one of Phoenicia’s greatest cities. In 140 AD the city was destroyed in Diodotus Tryphon whilst he was vying for control of the Macedonian throne. However from what archaeologists can find the city was one of wealth and power having the amenities found in the upper echelon of Roman cities later to come. They had many public bathes scattered across their once great city. On top of that there were theaters and circuses for entertainment. Though not much is known about Beirut now, largely due to it having been conquered many times, underneath the busy streets of modern Beirut was a once vibrant city.
Carthage, one of the only places able to stand up to Rome, has now been relegated to a tiny city in Tunisia. It was not always this way though, it was one of the Mediterranean's longest standing republics. Carthage proved itself a worthy adversary of Rome in the three Punic wars. Though their army was mighty it was made up of mostly mercenaries as opposed to the people of Carthage. However unlike their army the Carthaginian navy was made up almost exclusively of the citizenry. The navy offered stable pay and stable work something that Carthage’s citizens were happy to take. Carthage is also noted as having the most powerful mercantile fleet of its time, a feat made more impressive when one considers who Carthage shared the time with, Rome.
“A people's relationship to their heritage is the same as the relationship of a child to its mother” unlike John Clarke most people seem to forget about their heritage over time. They forget about the island city of Tyre, they forget about ancient Beirut, and they forget about the once great empire of Carthage. Phoenicia had been until the twentieth century left in the past, but due to a series of archaeological finds the people of Phoenicia will be able to slowly regain their culture.
To Moloch did the Semitic peoples of Phoenicia and Carthage (they had slightly different pantheons, i'm pretty sure, I mean i think there's a technical distinction between ba'al and ba'al hammon), of Canaan and miscellaneous, sacrifice children. Nothing too gruesome, it's an ancient fertility rite, part of the blood cult off of which christianity is based, and it's common in the region- scapegoating- casting the sins of the tribe on something pure, though yes nothing too gruesome, probably fire which hopefully means asphyxia. quite interesting though, instead of a lamb, children, fortunately lord joshua of nazareth was so pure and could handle so much sin that we never have to worry about sacrificing children or lambs again, though there's still original sin which seems almost a contradiction, or is it one? hm indeed
ReplyDeleteWhat sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination?
Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!
Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men!
Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgment! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments!
Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers are ten armies! Moloch whose breast is a cannibal dynamo! Moloch whose ear is a smoking tomb!
Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows! Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jehovahs! Moloch whose factories dream and croak in the fog! Moloch whose smoke-stacks and antennae crown the cities!
Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks! Moloch whose poverty is the specter of genius! Moloch whose fate is a cloud of sexless hydrogen! Moloch whose name is the Mind!
Moloch in whom I sit lonely! Moloch in whom I dream Angels! Crazy in Moloch! ********** in Moloch! Lacklove and manless in Moloch!
Moloch who entered my soul early! Moloch in whom I am a consciousness without a body! Moloch who frightened me out of my natural ecstasy! Moloch whom I abandon! Wake up in Moloch! Light streaming out of the sky!
Moloch! Moloch!
further, that's from howl by allen ginsberg, too obscene to post and yet.. slightly relevant,fantastic literature nonetheless
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