into a vessel moored upon the spot, whence supplies were carried to
the island.[445] The phenomenon still continues, though the modern
inhabitants are too ignorant and unskilful to profit by it.[446]

On the mainland Aradus possessed a considerable tract, and had a number
of cities subject to her. Of these Strabo enumerates six, viz. Paltos,
Balanea, Carnus--which he calls the naval station of Aradus--Enydra,
Marathus, and Simyra.[447] Marathus was the most important of these. Its
name recalls the "Brathu" of Philo-Byblius[448] and the "Martu" of the
early Babylonian inscriptions,[449] which was used as a general term by
some of the primitive monarchs almost in the sense of "Syria." The word
is still preserved in the modern "M'rith" or "Amrith," a name attached
to some extensive ruins in the plain south-east of Aradus, which have
been carefully examined by M. Renan.[450] Marathus was an ancient
Phoenician town, probably one of the most ancient, and was always looked
upon with some jealousy by the Aradians, who ultimately destroyed it and
partitioned out the territory among their own citizens.[451] The same
fate befell Simyra,[452] a place of equal antiquity, the home probably
of those Zemarites who are coupled with the Arvadites in Genesis.[453]
Simyra appears as "Zimirra" in the Assyrian inscriptions, where it is
connected with Arka,[454] which was not far distant. Its exact site,
which was certainly south of Amrith, seems to be fixed by the name
Sumrah, which attaches to some ruins in the plain about a mile and a
half north of the Eleutherus (Nahr-el-Kebir) and within a mile of
the sea.[455] The other towns--Paltos, Balanea, Carnus,[456] and
Enydra--were in the more northern portion of the plain, as was also
Antaradus, now Tortosa, where there are considerable remains, but of a
date long subsequent to the time of Phoenician ascendancy.

Of the remaining Phoenician cities the most important seems to have