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Ancient History Sourcebook
Herodotus:
Hellenes & Phoenicians, c. 430 BCE
Book I, 1-2
The Phoenicians, who had formerly dwelt on the shores of the Persian Gulf, having
migrated to the Mediterranean and settled in the parts which they now inhabit, began at
once, they say, to adventure on long voyages, freighting their vessels with the wares of
Egypt and Assyria. They landed at many places on the coast, and among the rest at Argos,
which was then pre-eminent above all the states included now under the common name of Hellas.
Here they exposed their merchandise, and traded with the natives for five or six days; at
the end of this time, when almost everything was sold, there came down to the beach a
number of women, and among them the daughter of the king, who was, they say, agreeing in
this with the Hellenes, Io, the child of Inachus. The women were standing by the stern of
the ship intent upon their purchases, when the Phoenicians, with a general shout, rushed
upon them. The greater part made their escape, but some were seized and carried off. Io
herself was among the captives. The Phoenicians put the women on board their vessel, and
set sail for Egypt. Thus did Io pass into Egypt, and thus commenced the series of
outrages. . . .At a later period, certain Greeks, with whose name they are unacquainted,
but who would probably be Cretans, made a landing at Tyre, on the Phoenician coast, and
bore off the king's daughter, Europa. In this they only retaliated. The Cretans say that
it was not them who did this act, but, rather, Zeus, enamored of the fair Europa, who
disguised himself as a bull, gained the maiden's affections, and thence carried her off to
Crete, where she bore three sons by Zeus: Sarpedon, Rhadamanthys, and Minos, later king of
all Crete.
Book V, 57-59
Now the Gephyraean clan, claim to have come at first from Eretria, but my own enquiry
shows that they were among the Phoenicians who came with Cadmus to the country now called
Boeotia. In that country the lands of Tanagra were allotted to them, and this is where
they settled. The Cadmeans had first been expelled from there by the Argives, and these
Gephyraeans were forced to go to Athens after being expelled in turn by the Boeotians. The
Athenians received them as citizens of their own on set terms. These Phoenicians who came
with Cadmus and of whom the Gephyraeans were a part brought with them to Hellas, among
many other kinds of learning, the alphabet, which had been unknown before this, I think,
to the Greeks. As time went on the sound and the form of the letters were changed. At this
time the Greeks who were settled around them were for the most part Ionians, and after
being taught the letters by the Phoenicians, they used them with a few changes of form. In
so doing, they gave to these characters the name of Phoenician. I have myself seen
Cadmean writing in the temple of Ismenian Apollo at Boeotian Thebes engraved on certain
tripods and for the most part looking like Ionian letters.
Source:
Herodotus, The History, George Rawlinson, trans., (New York: Dutton &
Co., 1862).
Scanned by: J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. of History, Cal. State Fullerton. Prof. Arkenberg
has modernized the text.
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