While Gerrha was the chief commercial city of Arabia to the east, Petra,[217] the capital of the Nabathæans, may be considered as occupying a similar position in the north-west of that country. A city equal in opulence to Gerrha, it constituted the chief western mart of the Arabian spices and frankincense, of which immense quantities were consumed in Egypt. Here important fairs were periodically held for the exchange of different commodities; and here the traders from the south met the merchants of Syria, and bartered the luxuries of the East for the manufactures of Tyre, and of the other cities of Phœnicia and Syria.
According to the testimony of Ezekiel, the whole of this trade was carried on by barter, being an exchange of merchandise for merchandise, in which even the precious metals were included.
Intercourse between Syria and Babylon.
Many of the caravans of the northern route unloaded their merchandise on the banks of the Euphrates, whence it was shipped for Babylon and Susa, or conveyed through the canals, some of which were of considerable magnitude.[218]
Value of the trade of Babylon.
Situated between the Indus and the Mediterranean, with a productive soil, and commanding, by means of the Euphrates and Tigris, every communication with the interior, and, by the Persian Gulf, with India and the eastern shores of Arabia, the Babylonians, until they were brought under the yoke of Persia, carried on a commercial intercourse with surrounding nations which for many ages was second only to that of the Phœnicians. Babylon stood in its relations with the East somewhat as Tyre in its dealings with the West. Hence the traffic between these two great centres of ancient commerce was necessarily of an important character. Nor indeed was it ever seriously interrupted, except when the ambition of Nebuchadnezzar vainly prompted him to attempt the capture,[219] if not the destruction, of Tyre. Each had its own spheres of commerce and its own means of usefulness, and those of Tyre must have been materially impaired, if not annihilated, by the siege of thirteen years, whether the Babylonian monarch did or did not succeed. While Tyre increased in strength and wealth, spreading her colonies over the west, Babylon continued her dealings with her and with the nations dwelling on the Euxine and the Caspian Seas. By means of her caravans, canals, and rivers, Babylon became also the chief entrepôt for Western Asia, where the merchants of many countries assembled to exchange their merchandise; and such it remained for ages. Neither the heavy yoke of Asiatic despotism, nor the devastating sword of conquering nations, could destroy, though they might for a time overshadow, its splendour. It was only when the Persians, feeling no interest in sea-borne commerce, and dreading the incursions of the maritime powers, blocked up the Tigris, that its commercial greatness began to decline.
B.C. 604.
Although Babylon did not reach the zenith of its power till Nebuchadnezzar made it his capital, everything leads to the supposition that, for many ages, it had been the seat of science and civilization, and had carried on an extensive intercourse with distant as well as with neighbouring nations. Highly skilled in astrology and in astronomical observations, to which the clearness of the sky and the brightness of the stars offered every encouragement, the Babylonians were, however, not familiar with either the science or practice of navigation; but that they, in connexion with the Chaldeans, possessed an over-sea maritime commerce when their power was at its height, may be inferred from the writings of Isaiah:[220] “Thus saith the Lord, your deliverer; For your sakes have I sent to Babel, and thrown to the ground all obstacles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in their ships.” While however they carried on a large inland trade in vessels of their own, their oversea commerce was most probably conducted by the Phœnician ships of Tylos, or by the Arabians. Indeed, Heeren,[221] quoting Agatharchides, shows that the merchants of Gerrha sent to Babylon in their own ships the produce of India, as well as frankincense and other perfumes from Arabia Felix. Of these the consumption must have been enormous, for Herodotus states that no fewer than a thousand talents were annually consumed by the Chaldeans in the temple of Belus alone.[222] Besides, there was a large overplus, which was conveyed up the Euphrates to Thapsacus, and then distributed by caravans over the whole of Western Asia.
Caravan routes from that city, to Candahar,
While Babylon constituted the emporium on the river Euphrates, the city of Opis,[223] on the Tigris, a few miles above Baghdad, formed another centre of commerce, to which the merchants of Gerrha had, with much success, directed their navigation from very early times, until interrupted by the Persians. From Opis, an important caravan route lay across Mesopotamia to Aradus, near Tyre; while from Susa, taking first a northerly direction, there diverged another route almost due east to Candahar, and thence by one of the branches of the Indus into Cashmir,[224] running almost in a continuous line with the road through Asia Minor mentioned by Herodotus. This great eastern route has been fully described by both Strabo and Pliny, who derived their knowledge chiefly from the writings of the companions of Alexander.