Chapter 428 The Three Phoenician City-States

The Dead Sea is the lowest lake in the world and the third saltiest body of water in the world.

The high concentration of salt in the Dead Sea is about nine times that of ordinary seawater, which makes it impossible for any organisms to survive in the Dead Sea. Even on the land along the Dead Sea, there are few organisms other than aquatic plants. This is one of the reasons why people named it the Dead Sea.

In addition to the salt in the water, a large amount of salt is also stored in Mount Sedom on the southwest shore of the Dead Sea.

Since ancient times, people around here have come here to collect salt for a living.

When the Phoenicians entered the era of maritime trade, they regarded the salt here as a high-value commodity for maritime trade.

Because the Dead Sea is like a golden mountain symbolizing infinite wealth, a large number of people gathered here, allowing the city of Jericho near the Dead Sea to develop into a city-state with a population of 30,000.

After Roy took over the city of Tyre, he wanted to take over the city of Jericho.

In another world, the city of Jericho is one of the oldest settlements in the world, dating back to 9,600 BC.

There is also the oldest known city wall in the world.

Jericho was originally a settlement because the springs here could sustain a large population.

In the native language of Phoenicia, Jericho means moon.

This shows that in ancient times, the residents of Jericho were a group that worshipped the moon.

In the long historical evolution, as waves of foreign groups occupied Jericho, the moon god, who was once the patron god of Jericho, disappeared in history along with the group that worshipped her.

It is certain that the moon god who guarded Jericho had nothing to do with the patron god of Ur, four thousand miles away, the moon god Nanna, the king of gods who once reigned over the Mesopotamian plain.

Just like the goddess Aphrodite worshipped by the Phoenicians had nothing to do with the patron god of Uruk next to Ur, the queen of gods who once reigned over the Mesopotamian plain.

Roy brought 1,000 Athenian soldiers and 4,000 Egyptian soldiers to Jericho, and saw that Jericho was located in the Jordan Valley, with abundant water resources, which irrigated fertile land.

This beautiful oasis not only grows food, but also produces vegetables and fruits.

The king who ruled Jericho was not a Phoenician.

Upon learning that Roy's army had arrived outside the city, the king of Jericho immediately sent an envoy to negotiate with Roy, hoping that Roy's army would leave his territory.

Roy also asked the envoy to tell the king of Jericho his request.

Even if the Phoenicians lost their royal and noble status and privileges, they could still obtain a lot of wealth through maritime trade and continue to live a rich and noble life.

The king and nobles of Jericho mainly relied on the fertile land outside the city and the salt mines of the Dead Sea to obtain wealth.

Roy wanted to incorporate Jericho into the territory of the Athenian Empire, which was equivalent to cutting off the source of wealth for the king and nobles of Jericho and making them farmers like civilians.

So it was no surprise that the king and nobles of Jericho refused to surrender to Roy.

Although the walls of Jericho were known as the oldest walls in the world and were monuments worth preserving, in order to capture Jericho, Roy personally led his soldiers to tear down the walls and occupied Jericho with overwhelming advantage.

As a city-state with a population of 30,000, Jericho had a standing force of 2,000 soldiers, and only 1,000 of them used bronze weapons, while the other 1,000 used weapons such as wooden spears and wooden swords.

In front of Roy's 5,000 troops, the defenders of Jericho were naturally vulnerable.

After occupying Jericho, Roy demoted all the royal family and nobles of Jericho to slaves.

Then he implemented the policies of the Athenian Empire here, allocating land to each household, recruiting soldiers, and listing the salt mine resources of the Dead Sea as the emperor's personal assets.

After completing the transformation of Jericho, Roy returned to Tyre alone and led an army of 10,000 to Sidon.

Sidon was also a port city ruled by the Phoenicians.

Two thousand years before Christ, the Phoenicians built Sidon.

Later, Tyre developed into a city as famous as Sidon, and surpassed Sidon to become the most powerful Phoenician city.

As an older city than Tyre, Sidon had a developed handicraft industry and was famous for dyes and glass products.

The Phoenicians in Sidon not only developed maritime trade, but also established many strongholds in the Mediterranean.

In the history of another world, the Persian king wanted to conquer Sidon, and the 40,000 residents of Sidon swore to die and never surrender, and eventually all 40,000 residents died.

Whether it was the 40,000 residents of Tyre or the 40,000 residents of Sidon, they swore to die and never surrendered in the face of the invasion of Alexander and the Persian king.

It was precisely because the Phoenicians were such a tenacious and powerful nation that they were able to establish the Carthaginian Empire that competed with the Greeks and Romans for hegemony in the Mediterranean.

In order to avoid war, Roy brought Hiram with him, wanting Hiram to persuade the king and nobles of Sidon to surrender as an envoy.

Under Hiran's persuasion, the King of Sidon took the nobles to the Temple of Aphrodite to seek the oracle. As a result, Aphrodite's oracle also hoped that Sidon would submit to the Athenian Empire.

So the King of Sidon came outside the city at Hiran's request and negotiated with Roy in person.

Roy promised to give Sidon the same treatment as Tyre. The King of Sidon took Roy to the Temple of Aphrodite in Sidon and let Aphrodite witness Roy's promise.

After the goddess Aphrodite witnessed Roy's promise, Sidon was also incorporated into the territory of the Athenian Empire by Roy.

After taking down the two major Phoenician city-states of Tyre and Sidon, Roy set his sights on the oldest Phoenician city-state, Byblos.

3,000 years BC was the golden age of Byblos.

Influenced by the invasion of the ancient Aryans, the Phoenicians who worshipped the goddess Aphrodite migrated to Byblos, built cities here and assimilated local residents.

For thousands of years afterwards, the Phoenicians have been worshipping the Phoenician goddess Astarte [Aphrodite] here.

Around 2,100 BC, the Amorites, a branch of the ancient Aryans, conquered Byblos.

As a symbol of the Phoenicians' submission to the Amorites, the ancient Aryan god of thunder used the name of Baal [Zeus] to become the patron saint of Byblos, and the Phoenician goddess Astarte [Aphrodite] was forced to become the sister and vassal of Baal [Zeus].

But after the Amorites' power declined, the Phoenicians immediately set fire to the temple of Baal [Zeus].

Because the city of Byblos had been oppressed by the Aryans for thousands of years, Roy came to Byblos with 5,000 troops, and the Phoenicians here had no resistance to Roy.

After Roy made the same promise as the cities of Tyre and Sidon, promising that they would not be invaded by the Amorites again, the Phoenicians in Byblos joined the army of the Athenian Empire very enthusiastically, which was enough to show how much hatred the local residents had accumulated against the Amorites who worshiped Zeus.

After taking the city of Byblos, Roy also learned an important news.

Mursili, the king of the Hittite Kingdom, had sent a large army to occupy the northern part of the Syrian region of the Babylonian Kingdom.

If Roy entered the southern part of the Syrian region, he would border the area controlled by the Hittite Kingdom.