Antiquaries, like M.Clermont-Ganneau and MM.

Perrot and Chipiez, have subjected the remains to careful examination and criticism, and have definitively fixed the character of Phoenician Art, and its position in the history of artistic effort.
Researches are still being carried on, both in Phoenicia Proper and in the Phoenician dependency of Cyprus, which are likely still further to enlarge our knowledge with respect to Phoenician Art and Archaeology; but it is not probable that they will affect seriously the verdict already delivered by competent judges on those subjects.

The time therefore appeared to the author to have come when, after nearly half a century of silence, the history of the people might appropriately be rewritten.

The subject had long engaged his thoughts, closely connected as it is with the histories of Egypt, and of the "Great Oriental Monarchies," which for thirty years have been to him special objects of study; and a work embodying the chief results of the recent investigations seemed to him a not unsuitable termination to the historical efforts which his resignation of the Professorship of Ancient History at Oxford, and his entrance upon a new sphere of labour, bring naturally to an end.
The author wishes to express his vast obligations to MM.

Perrot and Chipiez for the invaluable assistance which he has derived from their great work,[03] and to their publishers, the MM.