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]