Carne, Phoenicia

Carne (Phoenician: 𐤒𐤓𐤍,^[1] Greek: Κάρνη^[2]) or Carnos (Greek: Κάρνος^[3]) was an ancient Phoenician city opposite to the island-city Arados, north of Tartus.^[4] Carne (and not Marath) was the port of Arados on the mainland, the only port city of its dependencies.^[4][5]

Nothing is known of the history of the city as distinct from that of Aradian Paralia,^[4] which included also Tartus, Marath, Enydra, Balanaea and Paltus.^[3][6] Lycophron uses the term "Καρνῖται κύνες" (Carnite hounds)^[7] to refer Phoenician merchants.^[4] Strabo mentions it as one of the Aradian coast cities, in which its seaboard harbour is found.^[3] Pliny the Elder^[8] and Stephanus of Byzantium^[2] mention it as a city in northern Phoenicia.

Carne had a Mint, in which its Phoenician name and a date in Phoenician numerals, presumably that of Arados, were minted on its coins.^[4] Some of the coins also show the Greek letters ΚΑΡ with the Alpha and the Rho joined together.^[9] Some of them contain a palm,^[9] a common symbol of Phoenicia.^[10][11] The deities who stand out in their appearance on the city's coins are Zeus, Tyche and Eshmun-Asclepius (sometimes crowned by Nike).^[9] The types of the coins are mainly those of Arados, although the Eshmun-Asclepius type points to a special cult of the deity at Carne. The mint produced coins in three periods (all are BC): 226/225–221/220, 188/187–185/184, and 137/136, a year that saw especially a great revival of currency at Arados itself.^[12]

Nowadays, the city location is called Karnûn^[4] or Karnoun,^[13] with an -oun suffix typical for borrowed names from Greek even when they don't and with Greek suffix -ον (like Batroun, from Greek Βοτρύς).^[14]

• Hoover, Oliver D. (2006). "A Second Look at the Aradian Bronze Coinage Attributed to Seleucus I (SC 72-73)". American Journal of Numismatics. 18: 43–50. ISSN 1053-8356. JSTOR 43580522.