shell-fish which produced the purple dye were most abundant, and
remained in the hands of the Phoenicians during all the political
changes which swept over Syria and Palestine to a late period.[491] It
had fallen to ruin, however, by the time of Jerome,[492] and the present
remains are unimportant.

The extreme Phoenician city on the south was Japho or Joppa. It lay in
Lat. 32º 2´, close to the territory of Dan,[493] but continued to be
held by the Phoenicians until the time of the Maccabees,[494] when it
became Jewish. The town was situated on the slope of a low hill near the
sea, and possessed anciently a tolerable harbour, from which a trade was
carried on with Tartessus.[495] As the seaport nearest to Jerusalem,
it was naturally the chief medium of the commerce which was carried on
between the Phoenicians and the Jews. Thither, in the time of Solomon,
were brought the floats of timber cut in Lebanon for the construction
of the Temple and the royal palace; and thither, no doubt, were conveyed
"the wheat, and the barley, and the oil, and the wine," which the
Phoenicians received in return for their firs and cedars.[496] A similar
exchange of commodities was made nearly five centuries later at the same
place, when the Jews returned from the captivity under Zerubbabel.[497]
In Roman times the foundation of Cæsaræa reduced Joppa to
insignificance; yet it still, as Jaffa or Yáfa, retains a certain amount
of trade, and is famous for its palm-groves and gardens.

Joppa towards the south was balanced by Ramantha, or Laodicea, towards
the north. Fifty miles north of Aradus and Antaradus (Tortosa), in
Lat. 35º 30´ nearly, occupying the slope of a hill facing the sea, with
chalky cliffs on either side, that, like those of Dover, whiten the sea,
and with Mount Casius in the background, lay the most northern of all
the Phoenician cities in a fertile and beautiful territory.[498] The