COMMERCE 5 



Christian era a considerable trade existed in ancient Bactria, the 

 modern Bokhara. At a very early period the Bactrians had un- 

 doubtedly made considerable progress in civilisation. The country 

 was extremely fertile, and its position rendered it a convenient centre 

 for the caravans that brought the spices and other products of India 

 and China to Persia and Egypt. From Attock, near Peshawar, in 

 the extreme north-west of India, caravan tracks led through Kabul 

 to Bactria, and from China a northerly track had the same objective. 

 From Attock similar routes passed through Assyria to the Black Sea, 

 through Syria to the Mediterranean, and through Palestine to Egypt. 

 During this period commerce was carried on almost entirely by 

 caravans, the courses of the various routes being determined partly 

 by the physical nature of the country to be traversed and partly 

 by the presence of populous cities at which intermediate markets 

 might be found ; thus the routes from Bactria to Syria passed 

 through. Her at, Ecbatana, Nineveh, Babylon, and Palmyra. 



During the rise of the Babylonian Empire (2000-1000 B.C.), 

 at the time therefore at which the papyrus of Ebers was written, a 

 considerable commerce existed between India, China, Syria (and the 

 countries bordering on and even beyond the Mediterranean), and 

 Egypt. In this commerce Arabia, favoured by its situation, took a 

 very considerable part. Boats and rafts were used for descending 

 the rivers, beasts of burden carrying the exchange back. Coasting 

 vessels navigated the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the coasts of 

 Arabia and India. Probably it was by one of these routes that 

 cassia and other spices travelled from China to Egypt, and frankincense 

 from Somaliland. 



Towards the end of this period the Phoenicians developed their 

 maritime commerce in the Mediterranean. Established at Tylos 

 and Arados on the Bahrein Islands (near the western shore of the 

 Persian Gulf) and navigating the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the 

 Indian Ocean, they practically controlled the trade between the East 

 and the West, the outlets of the latter being their ports of Tyre and 

 Sidon. Much of the extensive materia medic a of the Greeks reached 

 them through the Phoenicians, such as, for instance, gum acacia, 

 cinnamon, cassia, indigo, &c. Rhubarb, on the other hand, probably 

 travelled by caravan from Western China, passing south of the Caspian 

 Sea to the Black Sea and the Bosphorus. 



During the Persian Empire (600-400 B.C.) the caravan routes 

 were carefully tended and repaired, and every effort made to divert 

 the traffic through Persian territory. About this time Greece had 

 risen to be an important country and carried on an extensive maritime 

 commerce with the Black Sea countries, with Chios, Lesbos, and 

 other islands of the Grecian Archipelago as well as with Egypt. The 

 conquests of Alexander the Great gave a great impulse to this trade, 

 as they brought the East into contact with the West. The foundation 



