I was a priest in the city-state era

Chapter 428 The Three Great City-States of the Phoenicians

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

The high concentration of salt in the Dead Sea is about nine times that of ordinary sea water. As a result, no living things survive in the Dead Sea. Even the land along the Dead Sea rarely has creatures other than aquatic plants. This is one of the reasons why people call it the Dead Sea.

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

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

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

Because the Dead Sea is like a golden mountain that symbolizes infinite wealth, a large number of people gather here, making the city of Jericho near the Dead Sea develop into a city-state with a population of 3.

After Roy took Tire, he then wanted to take Jericho.

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

It is also home to the oldest known city walls in the world.

The city of Jericho was originally a settlement because of the springs that supported the large population.

In the Phoenician language, Jericho means moon.

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

In the long historical evolution, as wave after wave of foreign groups occupied the city of Jericho, the moon god who used to be the patron saint of Jericho has disappeared into history together with the groups that worshiped her.

What is certain is that the moon god who guards the city of Jericho has nothing to do with the patron saint of the city of Ur four thousand miles away—the moon god Nanna, the king of the gods who once ruled the Mesopotamian plain.

Just like the goddess Aphrodite worshiped by the Phoenicians, it has nothing to do with the patron saint of Uruk next to the city of Ur, Inanna, the queen of the gods who once ruled the Mesopotamian plains.

Roy came to Jericho with [-] Athenian soldiers and [-] Egyptian soldiers. He saw that Jericho was located in the Jordan Valley and was rich in water resources, irrigated with fertile land.

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

The king who ruled the city of Jericho was not a Phoenician.

Knowing that Roy's army had come 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 messenger to tell the king of Jericho his request.

Even if the Phoenicians lose their royal and noble status and privileges, they can still obtain a lot of wealth by relying on maritime trade and continue to live a wealthy life.

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

Roy wanted to include the city of Jericho in the territory of the Athens Empire, which was tantamount to cutting off the source of wealth of the king and nobles in Jericho, making them farmers who cultivated the land just like ordinary people.

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

Although the city wall of Jericho is known as the oldest city wall in the world and is a historic site worth preserving, in order to take Jericho, Roy personally led the soldiers to tear down the city wall and occupied Jericho with the advantage of crushing. Columbia.

As a city-state with a population of 3, Jericho has a standing force of [-] soldiers, and only [-] soldiers use bronze weapons, and the other [-] soldiers use wooden spears, wooden knives and other weapons.

In front of Roy's [-] troops, the defenders of Jericho were naturally vulnerable.

After occupying Jericho, Roy degraded all the royal families and nobles in Jericho into slaves.

Then the policy of the Athenian Empire was implemented here, allocating fields for each family, recruiting soldiers, and listing the salt mine resources of the Dead Sea as the emperor's personal property.

After completing the transformation of Jericho, Roy returned to Tire alone and headed for Sidon with an army of [-].

Sidon was also a port city ruled by the Phoenicians.

2000 BC, the Phoenicians built the city of Sidon.

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

As an older city than Tire, Sidon had a well-developed handicraft industry and was famous for its 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 the city of Sidon, and the [-] residents of Sidon city swore to die, and all [-] residents died in the end.

Whether it is the [-] residents of Tire or the [-] residents of Sidon, they will not surrender in the face of the invasion of Alexander and the King of Persia.

It is precisely because the Phoenicians are such a tough 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 Sheeran over, hoping that Sheeran would act as a messenger to persuade the king and nobles of Sidon to surrender.

Under Hiram'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 surrender to the Athens Empire.

So the king of Sidon City came to the outside of the city at the request of Hiran and negotiated with Roy in person.

Roy promised to give Sidon the same treatment as Tire, and the king of Sidon took Roy to the Temple of Aphrodite in Sidon to let Aphrodite witness Roy's promise.

After the goddess Aphrodite witnessed Roy's promise, the city of Sidon was also included in the territory of the Athens Empire by Roy.

After taking down the two major Phoenician city-states, Tire and Sidon, Roy targeted Byblos, the oldest Phoenician city-state.

Before 3000 BC, it was the golden age for the development of Byblos.

Influenced by the invasion of the ancient Aryans, the Phoenicians who worshiped the goddess Aphrodite migrated to Byblos, where they built a city and assimilated the local residents.

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

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

As a symbol of the Phoenician 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] Forced to become the sister and subject of Baal [Zeus].

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

Because the city of Byblos has been oppressed by the Aryans for thousands of years, Roy came to Byblos with an army of five thousand. The Phoenicians here did not have any resistance to Roy.

After Roy made the same promise as Tire and Sidon, and guaranteed that they would not be invaded by the Amorites again, the Phoenicians in Byblos joined the army of the Athenian Empire very enthusiastically, which is enough to see that the local What an enormous hatred the inhabitants had amassed against the Amorites who worshiped Zeus.

After taking Byblos City, Roy also learned an important news.

Mursiri, king of the Hittite kingdom, has sent a large army to occupy the northern part of the Syrian region of the Babylonian kingdom.

If Roy enters the southern part of Syria, it will border on the territory controlled by the Hittite Kingdom.

(End of this chapter)