Phoenicia Author:George Rawlinson General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1889 Original Publisher: G.P. Putnam's sons Subjects: Phoenicia History / General History / Ancient / General History / Ancient / Greece History / Ancient / Rome History / Ancient / Egypt History / Middle East / General Social Science / Archaeology Notes: Th... more »is is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: V. EARLY PHOENICIAN ENTERPRISE -- SIDONIAN ROVERS IN PRE-HOMERIC TIMES. IF we would appreciate aright the extreme hardihood, and indeed audacity, of the early leaders of Phoenician enterprise, we must, first of all, have a correct idea of the vessels in which they embarked to affront the perils of the sea. Their earliest ships were little more than open boats, being partially decked at PHOENICIAN COIN. the utmost, and thus liable to be swamped by the mere dash of the waves over their sides and prows. They were made of fir or cedar planks, very insufficiently seasoned, and were caulked probably with bitumen, a poor substitute for vegetable tar. The build of some of their vessels was broad and round, PHCENICIAN GALLEYS. PHOENICIAN GALLEY FROM A PAINTING. PHOENICIAN RIREME. like that of Dutch merchant ships in former times; but the better sort of ship was always of a longer make, and was called a " long ship," while the other kind was called a gaulos, or " round" one. The earliest vessels of which we have any representation were impelled both by sails and oars. A number of rowers, varying between thirty and fifty in the later times, in the earlier probably fewer -- perhaps no more than ten or twelve -- occupied seats on either side of the vessel, and impelled it with oars made fast to the vessel's side by means of a peg and a strap. These rowers sa...« less