14 A SHORT HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



who work the copper mines draw from the rough ore one quarter of 

 the weight in pure metal.' . . . The Phoenicians not only brought 

 the mineral wealth of Spain to the Eastern world, but they had also 

 a great trade in wheat, wine, oil, fruits of all kinds, and fine wool. 

 They provided Asia with the products of Spain and Gaul, Sicily and 

 Africa with the products of Asia. But this maritime commerce could 

 only be supplied by an inland trade, which served to connect the 

 countries that were a long distance from the sea. Phoenicia found 

 itself one of the ports of Asia, the merchandise of distant countries 

 was brought to it, and from it was exported all the produce of the 

 Asian continent. The caravans supplemented the fleets, and the 

 fleets distributed the burdens of the caravans. The land trade was 

 chiefly in three directions to the south it followed the route to 

 Arabia and India ; to the east, that to Assyria and Babylon ; to the 

 north, that to Armenia and the Caucasus. 



The Phoenicians were not only the great maritime, the great 

 commercial, and the great mining power of antiquity, they were also 

 one of the chief manufacturing powers. Like the Egyptians and 

 Assyrians, they were skilful potters, and they discovered the art of 

 making glass. 'It is said,' writes Pliny the elder, 'that some Phoeni- 

 cian merchants, having landed on the shores of the river Belus, were 

 preparing their meal, and not finding suitable stones for raising their 

 saucepans, they used lumps of natron, contained in their cargo, for 

 the purpose. When the natron was exposed to the action of the fire, 

 it melted into the sand lying on the banks of the river, and they saw 

 transparent streams of some unknown liquid trickling over the ground ; 

 this was the origin of glass.' No matter how it may have originated, 

 there is no doubt that the Phoenicians manufactured glass on a large 

 scale, and their glass-work became celebrated all over the world. 

 Dyeing works, however, take the first rank among Phoenician indus- 

 tries, and Tyrian purple was one of the chief objects of luxury among 

 the ancients. The word ' purple ' was not used only for a single colour, 

 but for a particular kind of dye, for which animal colours obtained 

 from the juice of certain shellfish were used. The dyeing works could 

 not be carried on without cloths, for the Phoenicians dyed woollen 

 materials chiefly with their famous purple. The wool came from 

 Damascus, and the greater part of their export of woollen stuffs was 

 doubtless of their own manufacture. Sidon was the first town that 

 became noted for these fabrics. Homer often mentions tunics from 



