Phoenicia is the long narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean from the mouth of the Orontes in the north to Mount Carmel in the south. Its eastern boundary, the Lebanon chain, is rarely more than 12 miles from the coast. The most important cities were Arvad, Gubal or Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre; other cities were Marathus, Berytus (Beirut), and Ecdippa. By an arbitrary change of terminology, the Canaanites are called Phoenicians after 1200.
