The Phoenician History Fragments is a prose work of uncertain origin, spuriously attributed to Histiaeus of Miletus. It survives only in a handful of quotations preserved by later authors, offering no indication of its original scope or narrative structure. The title suggests a focus on Phoenician history or mythological traditions. The extant fragments include an etymology for the city of Berytus, linking its name to a Phoenician word for a well, and a reference to priests traveling to Sennaar in Babylonia with sacred objects. The work's transmission is obscure, with no known manuscript tradition or details about the compilers who preserved the fragments. The attribution to the famous tyrant of Miletus from the Ionian Revolt is historically implausible, as he is not otherwise recorded as an author. A later, likely Hellenistic-era writer named Histiaeus, noted for a work titled Persica, is a more plausible candidate for the authorship. The work's scant attestation renders its very existence somewhat uncertain, but it represents a minor, shadowy example of Greek historiographical interest in Near Eastern subjects.
ΦΟΙΝΙΚΙΚΑ.
Στέφανος ὁ Βυζάντιος : Βηρυτὸς, πόλις Φοινίκης, ἐκ μικρᾶς μεγάλη, κτίσμα Κρόνου. Ἐκλήθη δὲ διὰ τὸ εὔυδρον· βὴρ γὰρ τὸ φρέαρ παρʼ αὐτοῖς. Ἱστιαῖος δʼ ἐν πρώτῃ τὴν ἰσχὺν βηρουτὶ Φοίνικας ὀνομάζειν, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ τὴν πόλιν, ὡς Ἑλλάδιός φησιν.
Ἰώσηπος ὁ ἱστορικός : Μάνεθως ... Βηρωσσὸς ... Μῶχός τε καὶ Ἑστιαῖος, καὶ πρὸς αὐτοῖς ὁ Αἰγύπτιος Ἱερώνυμος, οἱ τὰ Φοινικικὰ συνταξάμενοι, συμφωνοῦσι τοῖς ὑπʼ ἐμοῦ λεγομένοις.
Ἰώσηπος ὁ ἱστορικός : Περὶ δὲ τοῦ πεδίου τοῦ λεγομένου Σενναὰρ ἐν τῇ Βαβυλωνίᾳ χώρᾳ μνημονεύει Ἑστιαῖος, λέγων οὕτως· «Τῶν δὲ ἱερέων τοὺς διασωθέντας, τὰ τοῦ Ἐνυαλίου Διὸς ἱερώματα λαβόντας, εἰς Σενναὰρ τῆς Βαβυλωνίας ἐλθεῖν.»
