All These Were Exported By The Corinthians In Great Quantities, And Formed
Very Lucrative Articles Of Trade.
Paper and sailcloth from Egypt; ivory
from Lybia; leather from Cyrene; incense from Syria; dates from Phoenicia;
carpets from Carthage; corn and cheese from Sicily; apples and pears from
Euboea; - filled the warehouses of Corinth.
As soon as Corinth resolved to participate in maritime commerce, she
applied herself to this object with great industry and success: she built
ships of a novel form, and first produced galleys with three benches of
oars; and history assures us that the Greeks obtained their first maritime
experience during the naval war between the Corinthians and the inhabitants
of Corfu; and by their instruction the Samians put to sea those powerful
fleets for which they were distinguished.
Besides Athens and Corinth, there were no states in ancient Greece, the
consideration of whose maritime and commercial affairs will detain us long.
Lacedaemonia was favourably situated in these respects; but either her laws,
or the disposition and pursuits of her inhabitants, prevented her from
taking advantage of her situation. All the south part of Laconia was
encompassed by the sea, and on the east and north-east was the Argelic Bay:
on its coasts were a great number of capes, the most celebrated of which
were those of Malea and Tanara; they were also furnished with a great
number of sea-port towns and commodious harbours. In consequence of the
capes extending far into the sea, and the deepness of some of the bays, the
ancients took three days to navigate the length of the coast in vessels
wrought by oars, following, as they generally did, all the windings of the
land. The little river Pameros, which divided Beotia from Laconia, formed
one extremity, and the port of Prais, on the Gulf of Argelis, formed the
other. The most difficult and dangerous part of this navigation consisted
in doubling Cape Malea.
The most convenient and frequented sea-ports in Laconia were Trinassus and
Acria, situated on each side the mouth of the Eurotas; and Gythium, not far
from Trinassus, at the mouth of a small river on the Laconic Gulf. The
mouth of this river, which was navigable up to Sparta, was defended by a
citadel, the ruins of which were remaining in the time of Pausanias. As the
Lacedaemonians regarded this town as their principal port, in which their
naval forces, as well as the greater part of their merchant ships
assembled, they employed considerable labour and expence in rendering it
commodious and safe; for this purpose they dug a very spacious basin which,
on one side was defended by motes, and on the other by numerous
fortifications: the strength of these may be judged of from the
circumstance, that even after the armies of Sparta had been utterly
defeated by Epaminondas, and Philip, the son of Demetrius, neither of these
conquerors could capture this sea-port. In it were deposited all the
requisites for their naval force, and from it sailed their merchant ships
with cargoes to Crete, Africa, and Egypt; to all of which countries,
according to Thucydides, the Lacedaemonians carried on a lucrative and
regular traffic.
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