Cut the Cedars? A Council Meeting in Byblos

Weigh two plans for a crowded Phoenician port using climate, population and land-use data.

The council meets

Read the note and the scene. Then answer the questions.

About this scene: The meeting below is imagined, and so are its speakers. It is built on what historians know about the Phoenician port of Byblos, on the coast of what is now Lebanon, around 1075 BCE. An Egyptian text, the Story of Wenamun, tells of an official who came to Byblos at about this time to buy cedar logs, and of a ruler who demanded payment before any trees were cut.

The Council of Byblos

1The winter rains have ended, and ships from Egypt wait in the harbor. The king of Byblos has called the city's elders to his hall. An Egyptian official has asked for a large load of cedar logs to build a temple ship. To fill the order, woodcutters would have to clear a new valley on the mountain slopes, two days' walk inland. The king asks the council one question: should Byblos cut the new valley?

2Abdi-Eshmun, a timber merchant, speaks first. "Look at our land. Between the sea and the mountains we have only a thin strip of flat ground, and our city has outgrown it. But the mountains hold what Egypt and the cities of the Two Rivers lack: tall, straight cedars whose sweet-smelling wood resists rot. Egypt pays for them in silver, linen, rolls of papyrus, lentils and dried fish. Our forests have fed this city for more than a thousand years. Cut the valley, and our storehouses will be full."

3Hanno, who farms the slopes above the city, answers. "I have watched what happens when a slope is stripped. The cedar roots once held the soil. Now each winter the rain pours off the bare hillside, and the streams run brown with mud. The new valley is steep. If we clear all of it, its soil will be gone within a few winters. Cut only the oldest trees, and let the young ones grow. Where the trees are already gone, let us build stone walls across the slopes, fill them with earth, as I have done, and plant olives, vines and barley."

4Before the vote, the king's scribe reads the city's figures from his records. The king thanks both speakers and says the council will vote at the next new moon.

What is Abdi-Eshmun's main argument?

A. Selling cedar can bring Byblos what its small strip of land cannot.
B. Byblos should move its people inland to the mountain valleys.
C. Byblos should clear its forests fast, before Egypt finds a new seller.
D. Byblos should build terraces so it can stop trading with Egypt.

Why does Hanno describe streams that run brown with mud?

A. To show that the winter rains have grown heavier than in the past
B. To show that rain washes soil off slopes once the trees are gone
C. To show that cut cedars give off sap that spoils the water
D. To show that the streams carry rich soil that will help the farms

Circle the sentence from paragraph 3 in which Hanno describes reshaping a steep slope so that it can be farmed.

The cedar roots once held the soil.If we clear all of it, its soil will be gone within a few winters.Cut only the oldest trees, and let the young ones grow.Where the trees are already gone, let us build stone walls across the slopes, fill them with earth, as I have done, and plant olives, vines and barley.

The data

Use the two tables and the scene.

Table 1. Three Regions in the Cedar Trade (modern climate averages, rounded)
Region	Yearly rain	Rainy months	Shape of the land
Byblos coast, Lebanon	about 35 in	November–March	Narrow plain below high mountains
Nile Valley, Egypt	about 1 in	Almost none	Flat floodplain between deserts
Southern Mesopotamia	about 5 in	November–April	Flat plain between two rivers

The mountains above Byblos get even more rain and snow than the coast. Cedars of Lebanon grow there on cool, high slopes. Today only small groves of old cedars are left in Lebanon.

Table 2. The Scribe's Figures for Byblos (imagined numbers for this scene)
Item	30 years ago	Today
People living in Byblos	6,500	9,000
People its fields can feed	7,000	7,000
Uncut cedar valleys nearby	9	4

Using Table 1 and the note below it, which statement best explains why cedar forests grew near Byblos but not in Egypt or southern Mesopotamia?

A. Egypt gets more rain, but its soil is too salty for cedars.
B. Egypt and Mesopotamia were too cold in winter for tall trees.
C. Byblos lies on a flat floodplain much like the Nile Valley.
D. Byblos has wet winters and high, cool mountains close by.

Use Table 1.

The Byblos coast gets about times as much rain in a year as southern Mesopotamia.

Use Table 2.

Today Byblos has about more people than its fields can feed.

Which conclusion do the scribe's figures in Table 2 support best?

A. The number of uncut valleys stayed about the same.
B. The city's population fell as the forests were cut.
C. The city grew while its uncut forest valleys shrank.
D. The city's fields now feed more people than live there.

A ruler in southern Mesopotamia wants long, strong beams to roof a large new temple. Based on Table 1 and the scene, what would he most likely do?

A. Buy cedar that Egypt cut from its own forests
B. Trade goods for cedar shipped from distant mountains
C. Wait for a rainy year, when forests grow on the plain
D. Cut tall cedars from forests on his own river plain

Both speakers would change the environment in some way. How are their changes different?

A. Abdi-Eshmun would clear a forest; Hanno would rebuild bare slopes.
B. Abdi-Eshmun would build terraces; Hanno would clear the valley.
C. Abdi-Eshmun would plant new forests; Hanno would drain the coast.
D. Abdi-Eshmun would dam the streams; Hanno would cut the old trees.

Cast your vote

Use the scene and both tables.

10.

Claim: Cutting the whole new valley is the best way for Byblos to feed its growing population. Do you agree, disagree or partly agree? Use at least two pieces of evidence from the speeches or the tables, explain your reasoning, and answer one point from the other side.