Babylon.
There is reason to believe that it was not many years before the time of David that the great cities of Mesopotamia, strictly so called, Babylon, and Nineveh, made themselves known as commercial entrepôts, for the storing of goods on their way from the East to the West; and that at first, and for a considerable period, Babylon was of the two the most important. Placed advantageously so as to make available both the Euphrates and Tigris, Babylon secured easy communication with the interior of Asia, and was able, therefore, to supply all the surrounding populations with the produce of the far East. She soon became what the prophet calls her, “a land of traffic—a city of merchants,” partly, no doubt, because the navigation of the Persian Gulf presented fewer difficulties and dangers than that of the Red Sea, while her traders were largely aided by the Phœnician settlement of Tylos among the Bahrein Islands and by Gerrha, a port on the western shores of the Persian Gulf.[138]
In Babylon itself there were manufactories of cotton and linen, which, with the maritime imports not required for the use of the great city, were carried by water as far as Thapsacus and thence distributed by caravans all over Asia.
Gerrha and Tylos.
Gerrha was a place of large trade, and its merchants and ship-owners are probably as old as any recorded in history, for they were not merely the factors for the precious commodities of Asia and Europe, but, in conjunction with the Midianites and Edomites, conducted the first caravans on record. From the remotest times they carried on an extensive trade with the Phœnicians in spices and aromatics, and with Babylon in mineral salt and cotton, which the island of Tylos produced in great abundance. Indeed, the words of Herodotus in his first chapter clearly indicate the existence of such an ancient trade conducted by aid of the Phœnicians.
Babylonian commerce.
Though frequently interrupted by the great internal revolutions of Asia, in which Babylon was constantly compelled to take part, and though the trading routes between Babylon and Tyre lay through wild and inhospitable deserts, the intercourse between them continued for many centuries, nor ceased, so far as we know from history, till the final overthrow of Babylon by Cyrus and the Medes and Persians.
Of the objects of this commerce a tolerably certain account has been preserved; and among these are found corn (which has been supposed to be indigenous in Babylonia), dogs of an extraordinary breed, carpets, cotton and woollen fabrics, woven and embroidered with figures of mythic animals and famous alike for their texture and workmanship and for the richness and variety of their colours. These native products were exchanged for spices, ivory, ebony, cinnamon and precious stones. The sindones, or flowing garments, of Babylon had a great reputation from remote times, for it was “a goodly Babylonian garment,” which tempted Achan to his destruction (Josh. vii. v. 21); and, centuries after Babylon had almost ceased to be counted among the nations, an Edict of Diocletian, A.D. 284, the purpose of which was to regulate the maximum prices of articles in the empire, speaks of several products of Babylonian manufacture.[139]
Herodotus[140] has given a curious description of the boats seen by him when he was at Babylon—made of willows from Armenia, sewn round with hides, so that they must have as much resembled the Welsh coracles still in use, as they do some of the boats on the Assyrian monuments.
Assyrian boats.