The best nitre[[2028]] known to the ancients came from Philadelphia, near the source of the Cogamos in Lydia. That of Magnesia, in Caria, was esteemed inferior. From Colophon,[[2029]] in early times was obtained that liquid resin which distils from the pine and pitch trees, on which account it obtained the name of Colophonia.[[2030]]
Medicinal chalk[[2031]] and dry pitch, of which there were two kinds,[[2032]] were imported from Lycia and Mysia.[[2033]] From the same country likewise, as well as from Galatia, came the best wild cumin,[[2034]] a low plant found growing along the slopes and crests of hills. Herb mastic,[[2035]] resembling origany in fragrance, was produced in Magnesia and around the Lydian city of Tralles. Both Lydia and Cilicia exported saffron.[[2036]] That, however, which enjoyed among the ancients the greatest celebrity grew upon the heights of Mount Corycos,[[2037]] in the neighbourhood of the Corycian cave.[[2038]]
The saffron of Lycia was likewise the produce of a mountain, being found chiefly on the Olympos of that country.[[2039]]
The kermes,[[2040]] with which alone before the discovery of America and the introduction of cochineal, a bright scarlet dye could be produced, were obtained from various parts of Asia Minor, Galatia, Lycia, and Cilicia, where they were found feeding on the leaves of the scarlet oak.[[2041]] The gathering of these insects, then, however, supposed to be mere tubercular excrescences, formed an important branch of industry, carried on entirely by women, who separated them from the leaf with a crooked iron instrument, and not with the mouth as has been inferred from a wrong reading in Dioscorides.[[2042]] At present the nail only is used in this operation, which is performed before sunrise, while the dew is still on the tree.[[2043]]
Chervil[[2044]] and oil[[2045]] were exported from Cilicia; wild spikenard came from Phrygia;[[2046]] madder from Caria, where it was cultivated in the interspaces between the olive-trees, and produced an immense return;[[2047]] wormwood[[2048]] and the blue flowers of a species of wild thyme from Cappadocia and Pamphylia;[[2049]] and centaury from the neighbourhood of Smyrna and from Lycia.[[2050]] In the gathering of this last plant the rizotomists observed certain rules. Going forth at peep of dawn into the fields, they were careful to cull it immediately before the rising of the sun, and during serene weather, when the virtues of plants are in great perfection.
From this country as well as from Cappadocia was obtained the lycion,[[2051]] a syrup about the consistence of honey, regarded as a remedy against ophthalmia.
The hyssop of Cilicia[[2052]] was in great esteem for flavouring wine, as were likewise its mountain spikenard,[[2053]] its pickled cactus,[[2054]] its agrostis,[[2055]] its œnanthe,[[2056]] its tragoriganon,[[2057]] its hemlock,[[2058]] its silybos, whose young shoots were eaten as food, while the juice of its root was employed as an emetic,[[2059]] its fossil verdigris,[[2060]] and its cyperus comosus,[[2061]] used in giving a body to perfumes.[[2062]]
From Galatia and Cappadocia came the white hellebore,[[2063]] southernwood,[[2064]] and wild rue;[[2065]] from Pisidia, the most fragrant lilies for perfumes;[[2066]] from Mount Ida, in the Troad, timber,[[2067]] pitch,[[2068]] and the æthiopis,[[2069]] a species of verbascum, used by enchanters to open locks and stay the course of rivers; from Sigeion and Lecton, now Cape Baba, on the confines of the same country, and from Æolia, purple fish;[[2070]] from Abydos oysters; from Parion sea urchins;[[2071]] from Colophon mustard;[[2072]] from Galatia and Cilicia agaric, where it grew among the cedars;[[2073]] from Ionia carobs;[[2074]] from Mount Amanos, on the confines of Syria, stone parsley,[[2075]] and cœrulescent wormwood.[[2076]]
Among the exports of Pisidia and Cilicia was the gum styrax,[[2077]] which being usually burned on the altars of the theatre during the performance of Phrygian airs it was observed by one of the Greeks to be redolent of that wild music.[[2078]] The tree from which this gum was obtained resembled that of the quince. A kind of artificial styrax, in appearance like macaroni, was manufactured in the following manner, and preferred by the ignorant to the gum itself. Taking a quantity of wax and perfumed lard, and working it up into a paste with a certain proportion of styrax, they placed it in the sun during the hottest days of the year, when, having been thus rendered nearly liquid, it was passed through a coarse sieve into cold water.[[2079]]
Iris unguent[[2080]] was exported from Perga, a city of Pamphylia; a sarcophaginous stone used in making coffins,[[2081]] scammony,[[2082]] and beans from Mysia; from Smyrna[[2083]] a superior kind of lettuces.[[2084]] At present the bees make much honey in the neighbourhood of this city, from the flower of the hypecoum recumbens.[[2085]] Caria exported slaves,[[2086]] excellent oil and vinegar,[[2087]] gum sycamore,[[2088]] purple fish, figs,[[2089]] and carobs,[[2090]] which were grown in the neighbourhood of Caunos and Cnidos; Paphlagonia chestnuts and splendid almonds;[[2091]] Cappadocia the finest horses known to the ancients;[[2092]] Phrygia slaves,[[2093]] cheese made of mares’ and asses’ milk,[[2094]] hams of the finest qualities cured at Cibyra,[[2095]] carpets, oil,[[2096]] and fine black wool, which latter commodities were also among the merchandise of Miletos.[[2097]]