Book 6 — CHAPTER XI. EXPORTS AND IMPORTS.

Although we have above glanced slightly at the exports and imports of Athens and several other states, we ought here perhaps to enter into greater detail, for the purpose of rendering as complete as possible our idea of the vigorous and extensive commerce carried on by the Greeks. It will not of course be understood, that all the articles enumerated in the present chapters constituted at any one time the floating materials of Hellenic trade; the probability being, that some grew out of fashion and were succeeded by others, for which at a later period they may again have been substituted. But the mind must suppose itself to be dealing with the whole extent of authentic Grecian history, within the limits of which it will be found, that everything we here mention was trafficked in, though it seems to be now impossible to observe in these matters a strict chronology and fix the epoch at which each particular commodity came into vogue, or was abandoned for something else.

Attica itself exported comparatively few of its own natural productions;^[1751] but having obtained the raw materials from other regions, it expended upon them so much skill, and taste, and industry, that they appeared to undergo a new creation, and were issued 327from the Peiræeus like the native growth of the soil. This was the case with various kinds of arms and armour, as sabres, and scimitars, greaves, cuirasses, and helmets.^[1752] These were sometimes richly gilt or inlaid with gold, and adorned with embossed figures of rare workmanship.^[1753]

Perfumes,^[1754] also, with unguents and essences,^[1755] and odoriferous oils were among the exports of Athens, which, indeed, at one period retailed to the rest of Greece the manufactures of every country in the civilised world.

Among the articles of merchandise,^[1756] the peculiar produce of her own soil, were the fragrant gold-coloured honey of Hymettos, the best in the ancient world; olives, and olive oil,^[1757] which likewise appear to have been unrivalled; fruits of various kinds, but more especially figs,^[1758] which were transported to Persia and most of the other regions of the East.^[1759]

328A trade was carried on too in herbs and plants, which being more fragrant and possessing greater virtues here than in any other country, the citizens of the neighbouring states sought to obtain the like, by procuring slips and seeds from Athens. Thus strangers having observed that the knolls and uplands of Attica were covered with thyme,^[1760] which, flowering about midsummer, filled the air with sweetness, and enabled the owners of bees to foretell with exactness whether honey would be scarce or plentiful, desired to transplant it to the neighbourhood of their own cities. It was found however by experience, that it flourished and attained its natural luxuriance only in such situations as were reached by the sea breezes.^[1761] In Arcadia, for example, it refused to be naturalised, though the climate of that country was found to agree very well with the marjoram, and the summer savory. Among the simples employed by the ancients in their materia medica were the Attic valerian,^[1762] hemlock,^[1763] and melilot.^[1764] Kermes also were produced in this country.^[1765]

The Athenian pottery,^[1766] being the most tasteful and 329beautiful known to the ancient world, was consequently in great request and exported in immense quantities to all the countries on the shores of the Mediterranean.^[1767] At one time, however, the people of Ægina and Argos, partly out of resentment,^[1768] and partly to encourage some less costly manufacture of their own, prohibited its introduction; while the people of Aulis,^[1769] Samos,^[1770] and Rhodes,^[1771] became, in this branch of industry, the rivals of the Athenians, whom they endeavoured to undersell by producing an inferior article.^[1772]

Among the other exports of Athens we find enumerated soft fine wool,^[1773] linen and woollen cloths,^[1774] slippers,^[1775] beds, chests, books,^[1776] wine,^[1777] Sphettian vinegar,^[1778] sweetmeats,^[1779] glaucisci,^[1780] anchovies,^[1781] sheep,^[1782] live 330fowls,^[1783] Hymettian^[1784] and Pentelic^[1785] marbles, quicksilver,^[1786] ochre,^[1787] and cinnabar.^[1788]

Another class of exports consisted of statues and works of arts of all kinds, in gold, marble, bronze, and ivory, jewellery, and engraved gems.

But the most valuable and commodious of all her merchandise was that silver^[1789] of unrivalled purity and fineness which so long placed her foremost among the commercial states of antiquity, and was one of the great props of her empire both by sea and land.

In the matter of imports we shall consider Athens in a double point of view; first as the purchaser of the surplus produce of the other Grecian states,^[1790] and second as the representative of Greece in general, collecting together in her ports the commodities of the rest of the world, and afterwards distributing them among her neighbours. With the Megaris, which once formed part of her own territory, Athens, at particular periods of her history, carried on an active traffic in the common necessaries of life,—as groats,^[1791] fish,^[1792] salt,^[1793] goats, vegetables,^[1794] leverets, poultry, pigs, and cattle.^[1795] Hemlock was likewise numbered among the exports of Megara,^[1796] together with 331jars,^[1797] and rough upper garments.^[1798] It seems probable moreover that, as numerous sheep were reared in this territory, fine wool was likewise on occasions imported thence into Attica,^[1799] together with the rich sweet wine made at Ægosthena.^[1800]

From the various divisions of the Peloponnesos, which we may here regard as one country, several useful commodities were exported. In the matter of corn these divisions of Greece were alternately exporters and importers according, probably, to the fluctuations of the season or peculiar exigencies created by the accidents of peace or war.^[1801] They perpetually, however, supplied their neighbours with cheese and wine, and various other articles of use or luxury.

The poet Alcman celebrates a fragrant wine produced in the vicinity of Sparta,^[1802] but it is nowhere stated whether it was exported or not. The little state of Phlius produced likewise a superior wine which was esteemed at Athens.^[1803] Laconia exported cheese, which, being shipped at Gythium,^[1804] was commonly supposed to be made at that place. The cheese of Tromileia in Achaia enjoyed as great a reputation throughout Greece, as the Parmasan in modern Europe. It was remarkable for the extreme delicacy of its flavour, and was made from goat’s milk with the juice of the fig-tree instead of rennet.^[1805] Sicyon carried on a considerable trade in salted conger.^[1806]

Several medicinal plants were obtained from this part of Greece, as liquorice vetch^[1807] found on the tops 332of lofty mountains where the snows lay unmelted during a considerable portion of the year. The canton which most abounded in this plant seems to have been the country round Pheneon in Arcadia.

In the neighbourhood of Psophis in the same state, the cultivation of the heraclean all-heal^[1808] was carried on to a great extent, as Arcadia traded largely in this article of the materia medica. The juice was collected in two ways, and at two different seasons of the year; first from the root when the plant began to germinate in spring. A small trench having been excavated about it, an incision was made in the root and a number of broad leaves spread around to receive the liquor which flowed forth. This, at first white, assumed externally as it dried, a saffron hue. The second method was to make an incision in the stem about harvest-time, when the fluid appears tog have been collected in the same manner as before. Near Nonacris was obtained a poisonous water which distilled slowly like dew from a rock. It was of a sharp and icy coldness, and so bitter and acrid, that no vessel whatsoever could contain it save the hoof of an ass, in which accordingly it was preserved.^[1809]

Among the poisons of the Peloponnesos was the root of the meadow-saffron,^[1810] found chiefly in Messenia, where likewise grew the æthiopis, a plant used by magicians as well as by the children of Æsculapius.^[1811] The centaury,^[1812] likewise, and the seseli,^[1813] were among the exports of this part of Greece.

From Arcadia were obtained large carbuncles,^[1814] 333which were cut and polished into mirrors, with timber of all kinds,—as deal, larch, and pine, together with the smilax,^[1815] which was sawed into thin planks, and used for necessary articles of furniture. The neighbourhood of Mantinea produced an excellent species of radish which was exported.^[1816] Arcadia likewise produced, in its rich pastures, fine herds of cattle, together with asses and horses, no way inferior to those of Thessaly.^[1817]

Argos exported also horses,^[1818] with purple garments,^[1819] wild boars,^[1820] caldrons,^[1821] shields,^[1822] and richly varied carbuncles,^[1823] found in the neighbourhood of Trœzen;^[1824] Sicyon, pictures,^[1825] wine,^[1826] and a peculiar kind of shoe which looked well with white socks or stockings;^[1827] Elis, magnificent horses,^[1828] whips,^[1829] flax,^[1830] poisons, iris unguent,^[1831] centaury from the skirts of Mount Pholoë,^[1832] nenuphar,^[1833] which was found growing on the river Anygros, and sea-coal, used chiefly by smiths;^[1834] Achaia mistletoe, parsley,^[1835] headnets, all kinds of fine linen, manufactured at Patræ,^[1836] and the Pellenian cloaks,^[1837] which were proposed as prizes in certain games. Epidauros was remarkable for its noble breed of horses;^[1838] Corinth, which was frequently supplied with corn from Epeiros, 334itself exported^[1839] carpets, ladies’ summer mantles, linen tunics,^[1840] articles of virtu in bronze and gold,^[1841] and carbuncles variegated like those of Trœzen, with purple and white, but of a paler hue.^[1842] Quinces^[1843] of the richest colour and finest flavour, were found in this part of the isthmus; and probably pears which were found every where else in Peloponnesos. Corinthia abounded also with large and excellent turnips, which were no doubt exported to the neighbouring countries.^[1844]

Among the productions which Laconia^[1845] supplied to commerce were a bearded and somewhat light wheat,^[1846] cheese, rathe figs,^[1847] cabbage, lettuces, cucumbers,^[1848] which required much watering, the euphorbia, hemlock, second in virtue to that of Susa,^[1849] clouded canes,^[1850] beautiful green marbles,^[1851] hones and emeralds from Mount Taygetos.^[1852] The dogs of Sparta were highly prized by the rest of Greece,^[1853] and exported 335largely for the chace; according to Shakespeare, as early as the age of Theseus.

My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,

So flew’d, so sanded; and their heads are hung

With ears that sweep away the morning dew;

Crook-kneed and dew-lap’d like Thessalian bulls,

Slow in pursuit, but match’d in mouths like bell

Each under each. A cry more tuneable

Was never hollow’d to, nor cheer’d with horn

In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly.

In addition to the above, Sparta exported cothons,^[1854] a species of fictile cups of a dusky brown, and so small as to have been conveniently carried in the long-necked wicker baskets which served the soldiers of Greece in lieu of a knapsack. It had one handle, and the rim projecting inwards, kept back the grosser particles of mud contained in the water, or rather, perhaps, deceived the eye by its hue. It was, moreover, the common drinking vessel of sailors on board ship.^[1855] The manufacture of these cups formed a distinct branch of business, the individuals engaged in which were called cothon-makers,^[1856] to distinguish them from ordinary potters.

In their festivals and marriage entertainments, as well as in war which they regarded much in the same light, the Spartans indulged in the luxury of fictile vessels, but at their common tables they drank out of wooden bowls,^[1857] for the production of which, as well as of smaller goblets, Laconia was famous. It likewise, in later times at least, manufactured for exportation massive gold plate curiously chased, which, under the Macedonian kings, found its way to Egypt.^[1858] Indeed these military 336utilitarians appear to have excelled in the making of all articles of ordinary convenience, as couches, easy-chairs, and tables, which accordingly were much sought after.^[1859] Doors have likewise been enumerated among Laconian exports,^[1860] but with little probability, especially when we recollect the directions given by the Spartan legislator for the construction of this part of domestic defence;^[1861] nor is it a jot more likely that the carts and waggons which the Lacedæmonians constructed of smilax ever found their way beyond the borders of Laconia, unless employed in carrying provisions for its own armies.^[1862]

The steel and iron, however, of the Lacedæmonian forges were, as elsewhere stated, in great request for the making of carpenters’ and stonecutters’ tools, augers, files, chisels,^[1863] &c.; as were likewise the Laconian locks and keys, which were divided into three wards, and far more intricate than those in common use.^[1864] The manufactures which flourished in the city of Sparta itself, and were chiefly, perhaps, designed to supply the home-market were those of iron rings, daggers,^[1865] short scimitars, swords, spits, axes, hatchets, and scythes, together with felt,^[1866] walking-sticks,^[1867] lute and bow-strings, which, as well as several of the above, we know to have been exported.^[1868]

337The citizens of Amyclæ excelled in the making of ladies’ slippers;^[1869] and in the other parts of Laconia were produced an elegant kind of men’s shoes of red leather,^[1870] like those at present worn by the Turks.^[1871] In weaving and dyeing, also, the Lacedæmonians distinguished themselves, their mantles^[1872] and their woollen garments, whether of purple or scarlet,^[1873] having been in much esteem throughout Greece, as was likewise the purple by itself.^[1874]

If we proceed now to the states of northern Greece, commencing with Bœotia, we shall find, that their exports were little less rich or varied. For the daily consumption of life^[1875] the Athenians obtained from this country a plentiful supply of poultry and wild-fowl,^[1876] such as the francolin, the coot, ducks, divers, geese,^[1877] jackdaws, and pyctides. Cats, too, were among the exports of Bœotia, (though whether, as in Spain, they were substituted for rabbits at table, seems hard to determine,) together with foxes, moles, otters, hares, and hedgehogs.^[1878]

This state, likewise, furnished the rest of Greece with reeds^[1879] for the manufacture of pipes and flutes: they were produced on the banks of the Melas, a river which, according to the ancients, resembled in character and productions the Egyptian Nile. The wheat of Bœotia, where such is the fertility of the soil, that it returns fifty for one, was of old observed 338to be so heavy and full of nourishment, that the athletæ^[1880] considered a chœnix and a half of it as equal to two chœnices of that produced in Attica. If any country, therefore, could, in the matter of bread, have been expected to be independent of its neighbours, it would doubtless have been Bœotia, which, nevertheless, we find importing, in times of scarcity, corn from Thessaly.^[1881]

The remaining exports of this state may be thus enumerated: cucumbers,^[1882] radishes, leeks from Ascra, turnips from Thebes,^[1883] mustard, heraclean all-heal,^[1884] pennyroyal, wild marjoram, nenuphar, or madonia, found in the river Haliartos,^[1885] the best black hellebore from Mount Helicon,^[1886] lampwicks, mats,^[1887] locusts, cheese,^[1888] wine and stock-fish from Anthedon,^[1889] and eels from Lake Copais.^[1890] Granite, likewise, and a valuable kind of marble, now called brocatello, was obtained from the quarries near Thebes.^[1891]

The magnet^[1892] also was found in this country, as well as a species of myrrh extracted from the root of a tree,^[1893] and resembling in fragrance and medicinal qualities the celebrated Arabian gum. Of manufactured goods no great quantities seem to have been sent out of Bœotia,^[1894] though its helmets and chariots, together with its apothecaries’ mortars^[1895] and the pottery of Aulis enjoyed a great reputation.^[1896]

339Phocis exported a celebrated kind of cutlery,^[1897] manufactured at Delphi, golden tripods,^[1898] fans which found their way even to Cypros,^[1899] together with excellent wheat and barley grown in the neighbourhood of Elatea,^[1900] an inferior kind of deal,^[1901] black^[1902] and white hellebore from Anticyra,^[1903] apples from the uplands around the shrine of Apollo,^[1904] agrostis from Parnassos,^[1905] purple fish caught at Bulis,^[1906] and kermes from the plain between Ambryssos and Stiris:^[1907] the colouring matter it was known proceeded from an insect which, however, was supposed to exist in the fruit of the tree.^[1908]

The principal articles which Thessaly supplied to commerce were shoes,^[1909] easy chairs, slaves, branded on the forehead, and usually shipped at Pagasæ,^[1910] horses,^[1911] cattle, wheat,^[1912] chironean all-heal,^[1913] the best black hellebore,^[1914] the nymphæa nelumbo from the waters of the Peneios,^[1915] gypsum,^[1916] poisonous water, like that of Nonacris,^[1917] found near Tempè, and medicinal chalk.^[1918]

340From Epeiros were obtained wheat,^[1919] gypsum, shepherds’ dogs,^[1920] a large superior sort of round apple,^[1921] excellent horses, a breed of oxen remarkable for their size,^[1922] magnificent oak timber,^[1923] and acorns in large quantities for the planting of forests in other parts of Greece;^[1924] Ætolia, saffron,^[1925] black hellebore,^[1926] and guinea-fowls,^[1927] or, perhaps, wild turkeys, of which it was the original country; Narycia, in the territories of the Epicnemidian Locrians, tar;^[1928] Acarnania, slings,^[1929] mother of pearl,^[1930] and gold and silver-coloured pyrites.^[1931]

The productions which Macedonia and Thrace contributed to the commerce of the ancient world were numerous, and, in many cases, of the highest value; as, for example, gold and silver,^[1932] of which there were mines^[1933] both in Mount Pangæos,^[1934] Scapte Hyle,^[1935] and several other places along the coast. History makes particular mention of those which existed in the neighbourhood of Crenides,^[1936] afterwards 341Philippi, contending for which the Athenian general, Sophanes, lost his life in a battle with the Edonians.^[1937] In the country of the Pœonians the husbandmen, cultivating the fields, often turned up bits of virgin gold with the plough. To these we may add ship timber, pitch, and tar,^[1938] upon which the Athenians in the later ages of the republic, chiefly depended for the construction of their navies, with rich and fragrant wines, such as those of Mendè and Maronea.^[1939]

From the gardens at the foot of Mount Pangæos the rose of a hundred leaves appears to have been propagated throughout Greece.^[1940] Rue, the leaves and seeds of which were much used in ancient medicine,^[1941] abounded in a certain district of Macedonia, but does not appear to have been introduced into commerce because it was esteemed a poison, and flourished in a district greatly infested with vipers. The rose-root,^[1942] exported from Macedonia, resembled that of the costus in form, and diffused an odour analogous to the perfume of the rose. It was applied with oil of roses to remove the head-ache.

342Among the other exports of Thrace and Macedonia were wine flavoured with wormwood,^[1943] truffles,^[1944] beans from about Philippi,^[1945] heraclean all-heal,^[1946] the juice of which was called opopanax, odoriferous roots some of which exhaled the perfume of spikenard,^[1947] the meon,^[1948] alum,^[1949] corn,^[1950] cheese,^[1951] salt-fish,^[1952] mullets from Abdera,^[1953] delcani from the lake Delcon,^[1954] eels from the Strymon,^[1955] skates from Ænia,^[1956] enormous horns of wild bulls,^[1957] timber for ships^[1958] and oars,^[1959] chrysocolla,^[1960] alum, reddle, jet from the neighbourhood of Bena,^[1961] dark carbuncles,^[1962] and earths for preserving corn found near Olynthos.^[1963]

From the countries situated on the Bosporos and the Black Sea, Greece imported numerous valuable commodities, among which the principal were corn,^[1964] salt-meat,^[1965] and fish,^[1966]—as thunnies, corduli, turbots, the kolias, a kind of mackerel, Tethæan oysters from Chalcedon, amiæ,^[1967] mullets,^[1968] sturgeons, 343oxyrunchi,^[1969] coracini, skates, herrings,^[1970] crabs,^[1971] and the edible mussel.^[1972] The way in which some of these fish were caught in the Euxine is perhaps worth describing:^[1973] the natives pitching, in winter, their tents on the ice,^[1974] cut therein large open spaces, towards which the fish thronging to enjoy the light, were taken in great numbers.

To the above may be added^[1975] nuts, chestnuts, walnuts,^[1976] honey, wax,^[1977] tar, wool, rigging, leather, goatskins, timber,^[1978] horses^[1979] and pheasants from the Phasis,^[1980] and slaves, particularly archers.^[1981] The honey of Heraclea, like that of Mazanderân, and certain poisons, is said to have produced a temporary 344madness.^[1982] From the kingdom of Pontos was obtained that medicinal root denominated rha,^[1983] which has sometimes been confounded with rhubarb,^[1984] though the latter be laxative, the former astringent, together with isinglass,^[1985] used in cosmetics, for smoothing the wrinkles of the face, liquorice-root, brought also from Cappadocia,^[1986] wild spikenard found growing on shady mountains,^[1987] wormwood which fattened sheep and diminished their gall,^[1988] amomon,^[1989] and germander.^[1990]

Melilot^[1991] was exported from Chalcedon, and Cyzicos, where there was likewise an extensive manufactory 345of unguent of marjoram,^[1992] a plant which appears to have grown abundantly amid the neighbouring hills, and was commonly wreathed in garlands. The making of this article of commerce was a complicated operation, and numerous ingredients entered into its composition,—as oil of green olives, and of acorns, balsam wood, odoriferous rushes and reeds perfumed with marjoram, spikenard, costus, amomon, cassia, carpobalsamon, and myrrh. To render the ointment still more precious cinnamon was sometimes intermingled with it, the vessel in which it was kept moistened with wine, while honey was made the basis of the paste.

The shores of the Propontis furnished wine flavoured with wormwood,^[1993] cardamums,^[1994] and the substance called halcyonion, supposed by the ancients to have been that indurated froth of the sea,^[1995] with which the halcyon built her nest. It was obtained as well on the continent as from the island of Besbicos, now Kalolimno.^[1996] A very similar substance, called Adarces, was found in Cappadocia,^[1997] about the rivers and marshes, where it hung suspended on the tops of reeds. Aconite^[1998] and origany came from the country of the Maryandinians,^[1999] and agaric from Sarmatia,^[2000] doubtless by way of the Dnieper. The Sea of Marmora produced black coral, as also a sort of floating petroleum.^[2001]

346The orpiment^[2002] of Pontos and Cappadocia enjoyed but a secondary reputation; the first place being given to that of Mysia. The lapis lazuli^[2003] of Scythia necessarily found its way into Greece by the Black Sea, as did, likewise, the cinnabar of Colchis, said to have been discovered amid inaccessible rocks and precipices,^[2004] whence it was brought down by darts and arrows. Probably, also, brass was exported from Colchis.^[2005] In the Homeric age great quantities of silver^[2006] would seem to have been obtained from the country of the Halizones, as in later ages of steel and iron from that part of Asia Minor inhabited by the Chalybes,^[2007] who are said to have worked their mines naked. The finest kind of minium was excavated from certain caverns in Cappadocia,^[2008] and transported by land to the city of Sinope, whence it was sent into Greece.^[2009] It was of three kinds,—the one deep, the other extremely pale, and the third sort a shade between the two. There were likewise in the same district mines of ochre, and both were so infected with damp and malaria, that the workmen, as in our own coalpits, were constantly in danger of their 347lives.^[2010] Many of the commodities of this place were probably distributed through Greece and Asia by the travelling merchants, who resorted, at the annual festival of the goddess, to the great fair of Komana.^[2011]

In speaking of the Black Sea we have already entered upon that of Asia Minor, which, taken altogether, was perhaps the richest and most important anywhere carried on by the Greeks. Every province of this fertile and beautiful division of Asia abounded in costly or useful articles of merchandise, and its roads and rivers incessantly poured towards Greece not only the productions of its own soil, but those also of Central Asia, brought thither by the caravans from both shores of the Caspian. Gold dust^[2012] was collected from the sands of the Pactolos;^[2013] marbles of the most brilliant whiteness were exported from Ephesos, (whose inhabitants decreed divine honours to the shepherd Pyxodoros,^[2014] 348by whom the quarries were discovered), and from Synnada in Phrygia;^[2015] large veins of lapis specularis, a stone so transparent^[2016] that it served the ancients instead of glass for windows, were found in Cappadocia; the precious gem called alabandine^[2017] was procured from the district round Miletos, jet^[2018] from Lycia, not far from the river Gagas, and the fortress Plagiopolis. The places whence this mineral is chiefly obtained at present are Inspruck, in the Tyrol,^[2019] where it is rolled down by the waters of a certain stream, and Wirtemberg,^[2020] where it is wrought into all kinds of ornaments.

The touchstone was found in great quantities in the bed of the river Tmolos.^[2021] It resembled in form a flat pebble, though considerably larger, and the side which had lain uppermost exposed to the sun was supposed to exercise a greater power over metals than the side opposite, which was more saturated with moisture. Basalt and the green marble called verdello are now often used instead of it in making experiments on the purity of gold.^[2022] From this part of the world also was first obtained that extraordinary stone whose properties slightly observed by the ancients have since effected so wonderful a change in the science of navigation; I 349mean the magnet, found originally in Lydia, near the city of Heraclea.^[2023]

In the neighbourhood of Ephesos there was a manufacture of cinnabar,^[2024] which was produced in the following manner: taking a quantity of sand of a bright scarlet colour, they triturated it to a very fine powder in stone mortars, after which it was washed in brazen vessels, and the remainder pounded and washed as before till the whole had been reduced to the fineness required.

The fossil and mineral salt called alum,^[2025] was dug out of the earth near Hierapolis in Phrygia, from which country also the best salt^[2026] was procured. It was found, as at present, on the shores of Lake Tatta, on which account it obtained the name of the Tattæan salt.^[2027] A causeway traverses the lake nearly through the centre, as in the case of the lake Tritonis in northern Africa.

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 350Mysia.^[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]

351Chervil^[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 352fossil 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 353the 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, 354which latter commodities were also among the merchandise of Miletos.^[2097]

From this city were likewise obtained the sheep that produced the celebrated fleeces, together with water-cresses,^[2098] roses,^[2099] rich tapestry, soft beds,^[2100] and cypress wood;^[2101] chestnuts, eunuchs, and fine scarlet cloths, with richly-figured carpets of double pile, were also brought from Sardis.^[2102] The wines of Asia Minor in most estimation were those of Ephesos, Miletos,^[2103] Phygela, Armata, Clazomenè,^[2104] and that denominated Catakekaumenitis.^[2105] Physicians condemned those of Mount Tmolos as generative of headache. Ephesos exported tents and jewellery;^[2106] Miletos sea wolves^[2107] and cockles; Smyrna squills; and Patara, in Lycia, seems to have been famous for its gilded sandals.^[2108] The same country, likewise, supplied hams of a superior quality.^[2109]

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