Travels in Ethiopia, above the second cataract of the Nile

by G. A. Hoskins

Meroe, therefore, possessed local advantages far greater than have been enjoyed by many great commercial states; and I now hope to show, that her internal resources, until exhausted or decayed, were sufficient to insure a continuation of that prosperity. Her great superiority over other states would consist, not only in the productions of the soil, but principally in her standing singly pre-eminent in civilisation. That science and knowledge of the arts, when applied to commerce, enriched her citizens, and enabled them to indulge their taste for luxury, for architectural ornament, and to encourage her artists. What was of greater importance, it would afford to many the means of devoting their lives to the pursuit of literature; the same activity would, of course, to a certain degree, be applied to the improvement of her manufactures, and the production of useful and ornamental articles, for which the natives of the interior would gladly give in exchange that precious metal, which is only valuable for what it procures.

My article on the state of the arts at Meroe will show the skill and science possessed by her inhabitants; which, with their wealth and commercial habits, would be employed in useful and elegant inventions, with their monopoly of which their uncivilised neighbours would be unable to interfere. I have stated in my topographical description of the pyramids of Meroe, how the evidence of all travellers—that a great part of the soil of Egypt, and the whole of the Delta, has been brought down from Ethiopia by the Nile,—agrees with the testimony of the historians, particularly of Diodorus, and the information they received in a country, the natives of which were more likely to conceal than invent such an account.

The first great source of the power of Meroe was probably the extreme fertility of her soil, and the abundance of her harvests. Those banks, which are now in a great many instances entirely covered by the sands of the desert, were doubtless then overspread with that rich soil which astonishes the traveller in Egypt, and her country was resorted to perhaps by the natives of less favoured climes, as the richest under the sun.[86] With regard to her mines, notwithstanding what Diodorus says, I suspect, as formerly stated, that this great source of her wealth was derived more from the centre of Africa; but it is true that the interior of the island has never yet been fully explored. If any remains of those riches now exist, access to them is almost impossible, at all events for an individual, in consequence of the number of ferocious and terrible animals with which that tract is infested.

I have described Meroe, such as she must have been in the zenith of her greatness,—the emporium of the commerce of interior Africa, the cradle and early seat of arts, science, and civilisation. Such was she in the height of her prosperity; but, as the sun which rises must set, and nation must succeed nation in the career of improvement, I must now endeavour to account for her gradual decline, and the chain of circumstances which finally caused her name to be erased from the list of kingdoms. The first cause perhaps was the failure of her internal resources, in consequence of the Nile carrying down yearly to Egypt a portion of her richest soil, and the deserts encroaching on her plains. She thus became dependent on foreign countries for an adequate supply of those necessaries, of which her territory perhaps formerly produced a superfluity. Those mines also, whether on her own territory or farther in the interior, which furnished such an abundance of the precious metal, would in course of time become exhausted; or accidental circumstances might interrupt her commercial intercourse with the countries which supplied them. Her inhabitants, finding the soil swept away by the Nile, would follow the course of the river, and establish themselves in Egypt. The latter country, besides the extraordinary advantages afforded by it to the cultivators, would, by instructions received from these Ethiopian colonies, almost immediately rise to an equal rank of civilisation and knowledge. We have seen that the same religion, the same mysteries, the same writing, and the same style of architecture, existed in the two countries. The land of Egypt would increase every year in fertility, and the tree of knowledge, planted in that genial soil, would spread wide its branches. The activity too of a more northern region, and the energies of a less corrupted nation, would raise the people of Egypt above those of Ethiopia, then perhaps become more luxurious, and consequently more indolent.

In the earliest ages, Meroe might have profited by a commerce with her Egyptian colonies; the markets of the latter country might, for a short time, have been supplied with produce and manufactures of Arabia and the Indies, from the mother country; but it is not to be supposed that the Egyptians would have been so deficient in intelligence, and the Arabians in common sense, as not to perceive the advantage of a direct communication.[87] The Egyptian ports of Myos Hormos and Berenice, and others, possessed also the advantage of being less distant from the river, and afforded to the Arabians the means of supplying rich and populous Egypt with the productions of the Indies and the peninsula. Philostratus (2 de Vitâ Apollonii, l. iii. c. 35.) says, that a certain prince named Eythus (who is supposed by some, but, I conceive, erroneously, to be Esau) dispossessed the Egyptians of their trade in the Red Sea, making a law, that they should not navigate that sea with more than one merchant ship at a time; but the Egyptians built one of immense size, to supply the place of several. Their trade at that time could not have been very extensive, if it could be carried on by any one vessel; but perhaps, as in the time of Joseph, who (see Genesis xxxvii. 25.) was sold by his brethren to a company of Ishmaelites, the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar, 1730 B.C., travelling from Gilead, with their camels, bearing spices and myrrh for the Egyptian market, they had a considerable land commerce with the Arabians: the caravan I have just alluded to must, by the nature of the produce, have come from Arabia.

The Jews, in the time of Solomon, carried on a great trade in the Red Sea, and imported gold from Ophir. “And Huram sent him, by the hands of his servants, ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence 450 talents of gold, and brought them to King Solomon.” (2 Chron. viii. 18.)—“And the Queen of Sheba (chap. ix. 9.) gave King Solomon 120 talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones.” And in the same chapter, 13th and 14th verses, we find that Solomon received, “in one year, 666 talents of gold, beside that which chapmen and merchants brought; and all the kings of Arabia brought gold and silver to Solomon.” These passages are important, as showing one particular district of Ethiopia, where gold was found in abundance. The gold brought by the chiefs of Arabia, I conceive not to have been the natural production of that country, but the fruit of their industry and commerce with the Ethiopians. As Solomon was son-in-law to the Pharaoh of Egypt, the latter was, probably, not excluded from the commerce. Ezekiel mentions Ethiopia as one of the upholders of Egypt; and (chapter xxx. verse 9.) he says, “In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt.” The expression “careless,” I conceive, alludes to the security which they, no doubt, felt in their power, and the natural protection their rocky cataracts afforded them for resisting an invader. Their being afraid of ships almost leads me to suppose that they could have had little or no navy, or wherefore that apprehension? for there is no doubt that their land army, even in the most distant times, was very great. I have shown, in my historical chapter, that Zerah, the Ethiopian, marched with a host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots.

But these remarks regard chiefly the navigation, for whether the produce was brought in the vessels of Eythus (whom I conceive to have been an Arabian king), of the Jews, or of the Tyrians (Strabo, c. 16.), or Syrians (Id. 17.), and eventually by the ships of the Ptolemies and Cæsars, little affects the question, as Egypt was, in every case, the emporium of the merchandise. That enterprising spirit and activity which always characterise a rising nation, would lead the Egyptians into the markets of the centre of Africa, and thus inflict another blow on the prosperity of Meroe. We know what Alexandria became, from the immense commerce with the East which it continued to enjoy, notwithstanding the impediments occasioned by the ignorance and barbarism of its governments, until the Portuguese discovery of the passage by the Cape. After that event, which led the commerce of the Indies into another channel, Alexandria and Kosseer dwindled into obscurity, having lost, as Meroe had previously done, that great source of wealth.

Strabo says, quoting from Cicero, that Auletes, the father of Cleopatra, drew from Egypt 12,500 talents, more than two millions and a half sterling. Diodorus only calculated the revenue at half that sum. The observations which Strabo afterwards makes are important. “If,” says he, “the revenue was so considerable, under the negligent and bad rule of that prince, what will it be now that it is governed with so much care, and that the commerce of the Indies and of the country of the Troglodites is increased so much; for formerly,” said he, “they counted only twenty vessels, who dared to advance beyond the entrance of the Arabian Gulf, whilst now considerable fleets sail to the Indies and to the extremities of Ethiopia, whence the most precious merchandise is brought into Egypt, and thence sent into other countries. In this manner they have a double tax on the imports and exports, in proportion to the value of the merchandise;” and he adds, that “Alexandria is the principal depôt for their merchandise, and the place of commerce which furnishes other countries with it in great abundance.” This account is curious, as it shows that, until the time of Strabo, the Egyptian trade with the Indians was not very extensive: its increase would naturally diminish the commercial relations of Meroe.[88]

It is also remarkable, that about the time when Meroe began to decline, Egypt was most famous for her commerce. Psammetichus, who reigned six centuries and a half before our era, almost immediately after the expulsion or retirement of the Ethiopian dynasty, gained great wealth by trade before he was King of Egypt. The richest and most magnificent tombs of private individuals, now remaining at Thebes, belong chiefly to that era, proving a degree of opulence unequalled at any other period.

I have shown, in my historical chapter, that, notwithstanding the diminution of the trade of Meroe with India and Arabia, she was still able to resist the armies of the Egyptians. The pyramids of Geezah and the tombs of Beni Hassan are proofs of the great wealth and power of the latter, even so early as the 16th dynasty; and during the 18th dynasty the Kings Thothmes, Amunoph, &c. invaded Ethiopia. Yet, notwithstanding the power of those princes, it seems, according to the evidence of Herodotus[89], and of the monuments themselves, that Rameses II. was the only Egyptian king who subdued Ethiopia; but a hero sprang up in the 8th century, who, in return, conquered Egypt. Shabak, and his successors Shabatok and Tahraka, reigned over that country forty-four years. The power of Meroe must have been very great, even at that period, to have enabled her armies to make such an important conquest, and extend her sway from Meroe to the Mediterranean. It is also wonderful that it should have been so little impaired by the diminution of her commerce, and the decline of her internal resources. I have described the power of the priests, whose influence was so great at the time of Ergamenes, who was contemporary to Ptolemy, that that prince, who had received a liberal education, had recourse to the violent measure of attacking and slaying them at their altars. The chief cause of the decline of Meroe was probably the injury this theocratic government had inflicted on the country; for we cannot suppose that the people would have submitted to the destruction of the ministers of their religion, had there not been some deep causes of complaint, and a general consciousness that their mismanagement and bigotry had plunged the country into distress. The lamentable decline of the arts at this period proves that the resources of the country were entirely occupied in maintaining a force sufficient to defend it from invasion, and its diminished commerce and wealth offered less means of encouragement to artists. War, not the fine arts and intellectual cultivation, was become the necessary occupation of the nation. The resources of Meroe, even for some time afterwards, must have been considerable, that their Queen Candace could check the Roman arms; but the expedition of Petronius, already described, ruining all the country between Syene and Napata, and destroying the cities which had escaped from the previous desolating war between the Ethiopians and the Egyptians, must have inflicted a deep blow on the prosperity of Meroe. That queen, indeed, followed the Roman army in its retreat, and finally, drove them from Premnis; but the long series of wars would, of course, hasten the decline of a country whose internal resources had long been gradually diminishing. Pliny says[90], that at the time of Candace, which name for many years the Ethiopian queens had assumed, there were few edifices in the city of Meroe; but, after mentioning the holy shrine of Hammon, and the small temple and chapels on the road, bearing testimony to the power of the Ethiopians, he describes the island as once of great renown, having an army of 250,000 men, and 400,000 artificers. The number of artificers, supposing even that in that class are comprised artists, craftsmen, manufacturers, and all labourers not agriculturists, is enormous, and proves a vast degree of industry and civilisation.