Note 137 — Chapter X · SYRIA AND THE LAND OF THE NABATAEANS.

Totius orbis descriptio, c. 24: nulla forte civitas Orientis est eius spissior in negotio. The documents of the statio (C. I. Gr. 5853; C. I. L. x. 1601) give a lively picture of these factories. They serve in the first instance for religious ends, that is, for the worship of the Tyrian gods at a foreign place; for this object a tax is levied at the larger station of Ostia from the Tyrian mariners and merchants, and from its produce there is granted to the lesser a yearly contribution of 1000 sesterces, which is employed for the rent of the place of meeting; the other expenses are raised by the Tyrians in Puteoli, doubtless by voluntary contributions.