I was a priest in the city-state era

Chapter 423 The City of Tyre in the Phoenician Region

Mesopotamia and the Nile River Basin are known as the two major civilizations in human history.

The northeast connects the Mesopotamian Plain, and the southwest connects the Phoenician region of Egypt. It is like a corridor where the Mesopotamia and the Nile River Basin communicate with each other. The advanced civilization of the Mesopotamia has been spreading from the Phoenician region. to Egypt.

Although the Phoenician region was able to absorb the advanced civilization of the Mesopotamia, the Phoenicians living here did not establish a powerful kingdom.

This is certainly not a problem with the Phoenicians themselves.

In the history of another world, the Phoenicians were able to establish the Carthaginian Empire in the Tunisian region in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, which competed with the Greeks and Romans for hegemony in the Mediterranean Sea. This is enough to prove that the Phoenicians could not rise in the Phoenician region entirely because The Phoenician region was simply too barren.

The area of ​​the Phoenician region is only about 20 square kilometers, and there are many mountains and few plains here, and the food produced can only feed [-] people.

In addition to the barren land, the resources in the Phoenician area are also very barren.

Iron, copper, lignite and other minerals here are not only small in reserves, but also not easy to mine.

Even if the Phoenician ruler had ambitions, he could not mine a large amount of copper ore to cast bronze weapons and arm his soldiers to conquer the Mesopotamia or Egypt.

It is precisely because of the poor resources in the Phoenician region that neither the overlords who conquered the Mesopotamia nor the overlords who conquered Egypt have any interest in including the Phoenician region into their territory.

The Phoenician region was not conquered by the Egyptian Empire until the No.18 dynasty of Egypt was established.

From before 2000 BC, the food in Phoenicia could no longer feed the ever-increasing population.

Therefore, in order to survive, the Phoenicians began to use their increasingly mature navigation technology to explore the Mediterranean coast westward.

There are two main types of goods that the Phoenicians used to trade food with residents along the Mediterranean Sea. The first is the potassium salt abundant in the Dead Sea, and the second is cotton that is widely grown in Egypt, West Asia, and India.

In the history of another world, it was not until the ninth century AD that the cultivation technology of cotton spread to the continent of Europa.

Therefore, in the 3000-year history, cotton cloth has always been a luxury commodity in the Europa continent.

In this era before 600 BC, only the royal family and nobles could wear cotton clothes.

Under Roy's direction, the Athenian Empire had begun to grow cotton on a large scale.

In a few years, the cotton clothing of the Athenian empire would be a cheap commodity worn by commoners.

In the mythology of another world, the cities of Tire and Sidon in the Phoenician region were two wealthy and powerful city-states, and the ruler here was the Phoenician king Agenor.

Princess Europa, who became the human wife of Zeus, was the daughter of the Phoenician king Agenor.

Cadmus, the founder of the city of Thebes, was the son of Agenor, king of Phoenicia.

Mythology is of course not the same as history.

The prototype of Europa is the goddess of the earth worshiped by the Knossos in Crete.

In Greek mythology, Europa was set as the daughter of the Phoenician king, probably because the myth-makers believed that the Knossos were descendants of the Phoenicians who were good at seafaring.

However, excavations in modern society have proved that Crete has Neolithic cultural relics from 1 BC to 3000 BC.

And the Minoan culture in Crete appeared in 600 BC.

Even if it is true that immigrants from West Asia brought advanced civilization to Crete and allowed Crete to enter the Minoan civilization period, it should be the residents of the Asia Minor peninsula closest to Crete, who migrated to Crete due to the increase in population. Ritter Island.

However, the Cretans in Crete and the Phoenicians in the Phoenician region can indeed be regarded as distant relatives.

Because the Cretans and Phoenicians who immigrated to Crete from the Asia Minor peninsula were both West Asian groups who worshiped goddesses.

Before 3000 BC, before the ancient Aryans invaded, the goddess Europa and Pandora worshiped by the Cretans, the goddess Aphrodite worshiped by the Phoenicians, the goddess of the earth worshiped by the Pilaski, The sun goddess and earth goddess of the Hittite kingdom probably originated from the same goddess.

Pilaski, Cretans, Phoenicians, Hittites—

These goddess-worshiping groups may have been branches of the same group in ancient times.

Just like the Thracians, Etruscans, Mycenaeans, Hyksos, Amorites and other ethnic groups, they are all branches of the ancient Aryans.

Tyre.

Roy came to this Phoenician city with an army of [-], and saw that the Phoenicians were very numb to the arrival of foreign invaders.

From 3000 BC, various subgroups of the ancient Aryans had come to the Phoenician region.

But they all ended up leaving on their own.

Because the Phoenician area is too barren.

Even the local Phoenicians have to rely on navigation to obtain food and other supplies needed for survival from other regions.

Non-productive nomads who came to the Phoenician region soon became unable to bear the barrenness here.

So the Phoenicians summed up an experience, as long as foreign invaders do not attack their easily defended and difficult cities, the land outside the city can be occupied by them at will.

In the end anyway, the foreign invaders will leave on their own.

Before Roy's army attacked the city of Tire, the city of Tire sent a middle-aged envoy in a purple padded robe to negotiate with Roy.

Before negotiating with the Phoenician envoy, Roy first asked the Phoenician envoy.

"Messenger of Tire, is the king of your city called Agenor?"

"Who is Agenor?"

The Phoenician envoy replied suspiciously.

"Our king of Tyre is not Agenor."

"Then do you know Cadmus, Prince of Phoenicia?"

"Know!"

The Phoenician envoy nodded and said.

"He is the prince of a small city-state in the Phoenician region. Because the Hittite kingdom began to conquer the Syrian region ruled by the Amorites, some Amorites who were forced to migrate began to occupy our Phoenician territory. The city-state of Cadmus was After the Amorite conquest, Cadmus left the Phoenician region with some followers."

"Is this the big fish eating the small fish?"

After listening to the Phoenician envoy's explanation, Roy couldn't help laughing.

"The Hittite kingdom occupied the territory of the Amorites, and the Amorites came to occupy the territory of the Phoenicians. Cadmus, a Phoenician, was deprived of his territory, so he ran to the Greek region, trying to make a living in the backward civilization. The Greek region will be established as a king."

"Great emperor of Athens, can we start negotiating now? As long as you promise not to attack Tire, we are willing to give you all the land outside the city and pay tribute to you."

"It seems that all the food in your city of Tire is transported from other places by cargo ship."

Roy said with a playful smile.

"Message from Tire! My purpose in coming to the Phoenician region is not only to conquer the land of Phoenicia, but also to conquer you Phoenicians. After all, population is the most important thing. Now go back and tell Tyre The kings and nobles of the city, if they surrender obediently, I can exonerate them from the crimes they committed when they were pirates, and let them become legal merchants of the Athenian Empire. If they refuse to surrender, I will not only confiscate all their property, but also confiscate All the men and women of their family were reduced to slaves for life."

　I almost forgot again, thank you book friend Li Yi'an Shanghong for rewarding one hundred coins!
　　Thanks a lot for your support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)