THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



CHAPTER IV. FIRST COMMERCIAL PERIOD (continued). 

 BABYLONIA. 



THE alluvial plains of the Euphrates and Tigris lie eastward of 

 Syria. These two rivers unite before they flow into the Persian 

 Gulf, and form the modern Shat-el-Arab, anciently called the 

 Pasitigris. Above their confluence they enclose the plain of 

 Babylonia, of which, strictly speaking, they form the boun- 

 daries. Higher up, the streams converge again to within a few 

 miles of each other, at which point the Median Wall was 

 erected, both as a fortification and defence against the approach 

 of a hostile army and a line of demarcation between Babylonia 

 and Mesopotamia. 



Babylonia was almost a rainless region. Yet under a perfect 

 system of irrigation it attained marvellous fertility. It was 

 nearly destitute of wood, and entirely so of building-stone. 

 Babylon stood upon both banks of the Euphrates. Whole 

 pages of ancient historians are filled with descriptions of its 

 magnitude, and of the opulence of its inhabitants. Huge walls, 

 pierced with a hundred gates of brass, surrounded the city, 

 through which the Euphrates rolled between embankments of 

 masonry. The palace of the great king, with its terraces or 

 gardens, was accounted one of the world's wonders. The only 

 towns we know of which existed on these plains besides 

 Babylon were Forsath, now Bassora, and Borsippa, neither of 

 much extent ; indeed, the latter seems to have been rather a 

 district of the capital than a neighbouring town. 



The vast mud flat was subject to vernal floods, which by 

 a network of canals and reservoirs were rendered serviceable 

 to the country, that they would otherwise have devastated. 

 Remains of these watercourses are still to be seen. Bricks 

 burnt and unburnt, and cemented with bitumen of which 

 springs are still in activity on the plain formed the building 

 material of Babylon. Travellers are amazed at the mounds of 

 brick which even now line the rivers for many miles, though the 

 ruins have formed a quarry whence were taken the bricks used 

 in the building of the large towns of Ctesiphon, Seleucia, Kufa, 

 and Almadain. It has been computed that more bricks were 

 used in the walls and towers of Babylon, than in the Great 

 Wall of China, which is 1,200 miles long. 



Babylon owed its prosperity principally to the fertility of its 

 floil, which yielded abundant crops of dates and grain. The 

 latter is said to have been mown twice, and then eaten down by 

 cattle before it was allowed to come into ear, in order to check 

 its tendency to run into exuberance of leaf, and even then the 

 return was more than two hundredfold. These plains claim 

 to be the centre from which corn spread, and where it was 

 first used for food. The palm furnished bread, wine, vinegar, 

 honey, sago, an esculent something like the cabbage, food for 

 cattle, fuel, and ropes. The power and riches of Babylon were 

 partly due to other agencies over and above its fertility. 



The position of the city, as already stated, placed it in the 

 highway of the primitive land-trade east and west, and on its 

 waters were made the first attempts at river-traffic attempts 

 which opened up other lines of commerce. Food-produce in 

 abundance, at scarcely any cost of labour, was ready for traders 

 in exchange for Chinese silks, Indian gems and spices, Bactrian 

 gold and gold-dust, and Western silver and wine. At home, 

 textile manufactures of wool, linen, and cotton were carried 

 to great perfection. Sindones, as some wonderfully fine and 

 beautifully dyed cotton fabrics were called, were so costly as to 

 be restricted to royal use. Brilliant tapestries, upon which the 

 zoology of India was embroidered, were coveted by princes for 

 the choicest hangings of their palaces and harems, and from 

 these the West received its first notions of Indian natural 

 history. Carpets and coverlets from Babylonian looms were 

 treasures more precious than gold. Borsippa is mentioned as 

 famous for the finest linen and cotton fabrics, but manufactures 

 generally were carried on within the precincts of the capital. 

 The dye-stuffs were the Tyrian purple, obtained from Phoenicia, 

 Indian lac, the precursor of cochineal, and some other tropical 

 products. The production of articles of luxury minor in- 

 dustries compared with the preceding, but still of great value 

 also employed the Babylonians. Their tropical climate ren- 

 dered the use of cooling perfumed waters universal. They 

 were expert in the art of engraving stones for seals, and they 

 cut the gems of India for signet rings and jewellery. The 

 curious fashion prevailed of carrying a walking-stick of fine 

 wood, elaborately carved with a device of fruit or flowers, and 



serving, instead of costly jewels, to indicate the rank and means 

 of its owner. 



Both the Tigris and the Euphrates were navigated at a very 

 early period. The first boats were rude coracles of light wood 

 covered with skins. Such vessels are sculptured on the 

 Assyrian monuments, and under the name of keleks continue to 

 be used on both rivers for the transport of goods. The current 

 of the Euphrates was too strong to allow such frail rafts to 

 ascend against the stream ; they were therefore used only in 

 descending the river, and then broken up, asses being laden 

 with the skins on the return journey. By such means the wine 

 and oil of Armenia, and commodities gathered together within 

 a hundred miles of the Mediterranean, reached Babylon, then 

 the market both for the freight and the wooden framework of 

 the vessels. At Thapsacus, a station between Babylon and 

 Aleppo, on the upper course of the Euphrates, merchandise was 

 again transferred to caravans. Wind power was eventually 

 enlisted in the service of trade ; the use of sails enabled the 

 traders to enlarge and strengthen their river craft, and to 

 make them less dependent upon the force of currents, so that 

 they were able to navigate the rivers both up and down. Like 

 the Egyptians, they feared the sea, and left it entirely to the 

 daring and skill of the Phoenicians. The ports in the Persian 

 Gulf, Gerrha, half-way up the gulf on the Arabian coast, Tylos 

 and Arados, were all founded by Phoenician colonists. The 

 natural resources of these cities were few. At Tylos, one of 

 the Bahrein islands, superior cotton was cultivated, teak oak 

 was felled, and handsome sticks, streaked and spotted like the 

 skins of the tiger and the leopard, were cut ; the pearl bank, 

 not even yet exhausted, produced gems superior to those of 

 Ceylon in hardness and beauty. Muscat, Djulvar, and Ormuz 

 shared in this commerce. 



The port of Gerrha opened np a caravan trade across the 

 Arabian desert, and between all these cities and India an active 

 maritime commerce sprang up. Through Bactria came Indian 

 produce, amongst which were large dogs trained for hunting, 

 cotton, silk, and wool, both raw and manufactured. Media 

 and Hyrcania supplied timber of various kinds ; Scythia, skins ; 

 Egypt, flax, cattle, horses, and mules ; and the enterprising 

 Phoenicians sent from the Jewish ports of Elath and Ezion-geber 

 the valuable commodities procured from the shores of the Bed 

 Sea ; and their own storehouses contributed the wealth of the 

 Western world. The district around the city was called Baby- 

 lonia ; that extending lower down the river Tigris, as far as its 

 mouths, bore the name of Chaldea. The Chaldeans were Aryans ; 

 the Babylonians generally, like the Jews, Semitic. The Chal- 

 deans were the ruling caste in the state, its astrologers, seers, 

 and soothsayers, and, for that period of history, their knowledge 

 had an extensive range. Babylon was at first subject to the 

 Assyrian monarchy, but afterwards became independent, con- 

 quered Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, and razed it to the ground. 

 The Golden City, the "glory of the Chaldees' excellency," 

 attained its greatest power during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, 

 who extended the Babylonian empire from the Tigris to Egypt, 

 and from Armenia to the Arabian desert. Profuse wealth led 

 to vicious indulgence on the part of the rulers, and invited 

 aggression. Cyrus laid siege to Babylon, diverted the course 

 of the Euphrates, and entered the city by the bed of the river 

 during a nocturnal feast, B.C. 538. It became the third capital 

 of the Persian kingdom, Susa and Ecbatana being the other 

 two. Babylonian commerce declined under the Persians, who 

 put an end to the maritime traffic, fearing lest an inroad upon 

 their dominions should be the consequence of tho navigation of 

 the Persian Gulf. 



Babylon (B.C. 324) opened its gates without opposition to 

 Alexander the Great, who endeavoured to restore its commerce, 

 and to that end improved the navigation of the Tigris and 

 Euphrates. His death in the following year frustrated his 

 intention of making Babylon the capital of his empire. 



We have thus briefly sketched the oldest modes of commerce 

 practised amongst nations. We have seen how land-carriage, in 

 its nature an expensive means of transport, became combined 

 with river-traffic, and afterwards with a more extensive mari- 

 time commerce, a detailed account of which we shall give in 

 another chapter. The district traversed by caravans extended 

 from Egypt to Bokhara. Conveyance of merchandise in these parts 

 is to this day conducted in a similar manner, though railways are 

 perhaps destined in the end to supersede caravans altogether. 



