[2106]. Lucian. Dial. Meret. vii. Andocid. adv. Alcib. § 11.

[2107]. Athen. vii. 86. 87. Aristoph. Eq. 361.

[2108]. Lucian. Dial. Meret. xiv.

[2109]. Athen. xiv. 75.

CHAPTER XII.
EXPORTS OF THE ISLANDS, ITALY, GAUL, AND SPAIN.

Before we describe the trade of Syria, Egypt, and the farther East, we shall endeavour to give some account of that carried on by the numerous islands of the Mediterranean, together with Italy, Gaul, and Spain, and the whole northern coast of Africa. The commodities furnished to commerce by the various groups and larger islands of the Ægæan and Ionian seas scarcely yielded in number to those of Asia Minor. Of these the most important were the wines, which fluctuated in value, strength, and flavour, according to the soil, temperature, and elevation above the sea, of the vineyards which produced them.

The island of Lesbos, during the flourishing ages of the Athenian republic, formed part, as it were, of the territory of that great maritime state which compelled it to carry its wines exclusively to Athens.[[2110]] Among these was the Pramnian,[[2111]] which, also produced in Achaia, was a strong, harsh wine, apparently resembling port. Most, however, of the islands,[[2112]] both large and small, supplied wine—as Tenedos,[[2113]] Chios,[[2114]] Cypros,[[2115]] which furnished, among others, a curious fig wine;[[2116]] Thasos,[[2117]] where one particular kind was somniferous,[[2118]] Peparethos, Lesbos, Eubœa,[[2119]] Crete, where among others was found the Malmsey;[[2120]] Leucadia, Cos,[[2121]] and Corcyra.

Few of the islands grew more corn than they could consume, except Eubœa,[[2122]] which was for many years the granary of Athens. Lesbos,[[2123]] too, produced the most superb barley, which was grown upon the hills round Eresos, the birthplace of Theophrastus. The Thasians, likewise, cultivated an inferior kind of barley which, from the extreme productiveness of the island, seems occasionally to have been exported, though I remember no authority in proof of the fact. Samos furnished Greece with the best olive oil next to that of Attica.[[2124]]

But of all the minor islands none appear to have supplied so many articles to the coasting trade of Greece as Thasos, whose productions were singularly rich and varied. There, in the earlier ages, the Phœnicians discovered and worked gold mines which in after times became exhausted, but the fertility of the island and the industry of its inhabitants seem never to have failed. From hence were exported radishes,[[2125]] fish sauce, pickles,[[2126]] almonds, and walnuts,[[2127]] with the trees of which the island was thickly shaded.