Phoenicia not claimed by Cyrus—­Submits willingly to Cambyses—­Takes part in his invasion of Egypt—­Refuses to proceed against Carthage—­Exceptional privileges enjoyed by the Phoenicians under the Persians—­Government system of Darius advantageous to them—­Their conduct in the Ionian revolt—­In the expeditions of Mardonius and Datis—­In the great expedition of Xerxes—­Interruption of the friendly relations between Phoenicia and Persia—­Renewal of amity—­ Services rendered to Persia between B.C. 465 and 392—­ Amicable relations with Athens—­Phoenicia joins in revolt of Evagoras—­Supports Tachos, king of Egypt—­Declares herself independent under Tennes—­Conquered and treated with great severity of Ochus—­Sidonian dynasty of the Esmunazars.

The conquest of Babylon by Cyrus gave him, according to Oriental notions generally, a claim to succeed to the inheritance of the entire Babylonian empire; but the claim would remain dormant until it was enforced.  The straggling character of the territory, which was shaped like a Greek {L}, ascending from Babylon along the course of the Euphrates to the Armenian mountains, and then descending along the line of the Mediterranean coast as far as Gaza or Raphia, rendered the enforcement of the claim a work of difficulty, more especially in the remote West, which was distant fifteen hundred miles from Persia Proper, and more than a thousand miles from Babylon.  Cyrus, moreover, was prevented, first by wars in his immediate neighbourhood,[14242] and later on by a danger upon his north-eastern frontier,[14243] from taking the steps usually taken by a conqueror to establish his dominion in a newly-annexed region, and thus he neither occupied Syria with troops, nor placed it under the administration of Persian governors.  The only step which, so far as we know, he took, implying that his authority reached so far, was the commission which he gave to Zerubbabel and the other chiefs of the Jewish nation to proceed from Babylonia to Judaea, and re-establish themselves, if they could, on the site of the destroyed Jerusalem.[14244] The return from the Captivity which followed was in some sense the occupation of a portion of the extreme West by a Persian garrison, and may be viewed as a step intended to be “preparatory towards obtaining possession of the entire sea-coast;"[14245] but it appears to have been an isolated movement, effected without active Persian support, and one whereby the neighbouring countries were only slightly affected.

That Phoenicia retained her independence until the reign of Cambyses is distinctly implied, if not actually asserted, by Herodotus.[14246] She saw without any displeasure the re-establishment in her neighbourhood of a nation with which her intercourse had always been friendly, and sometimes close and cordial.  Tyre and Sidon vied with each other in their readiness to supply the returned exiles with the timber which they needed for the rebuilding of their temple and