The Evidence Of The Land Trade Between Arabia And India, From A Very Early
Period, Is Equally Clear And Decisive:
Petra, the capital of Arabia Petrea,
was the centre of this trade.
To it the caravans, in all ages, came from
Minea, in the interior of Arabia, and from Gherra, in the Gulf of
Persia, - from Hadraumaut, on the Ocean, and some even from Sabaea. From
Petra, the trade again spread in every direction - to Egypt, Palestine, and
Syria, through Arsinoe, Gaza, Tyre, Jerusalem, Damascus, and other places
of less consequence, all lying on routes terminating in the Mediterranean.
The Gherrheans, who were a Babylonian colony settled in that part of
Arabia, which extends along the south coast of the Persian Gulf, are the
earliest conductors of caravans upon record. They are first mentioned by
Agatharcides, who compares their wealth with that of the Sabeans, and
describes them as the agents for all the precious commodities of Asia and
Europe: he adds that they brought much wealth into Syria, and furnished a
variety of articles, which were afterwards manufactured or resold by the
Phoenicians. But the only route by which Syria and Phoenicia could have
been supplied by them, was through Petra. The particular articles with
which their caravans were loaded, according to Strabo, were the produce of
Arabia, and the spices of India. Besides the route of their caravans,
across the whole peninsula to Petra, it appears that they sometimes carried
their merchandize in boats up the Euphrates to Babylon, or even 240 miles
higher up, to Thapsacus, and thence dispersed it in all directions by land.
The exact site of the country of the Mineans cannot be certainly fixed; but
it is probable that it was to the south of Hedjaz, to the north of
Hadraumaut, and to the eastward of Sabaea. According to Strabo, their
caravans passed in seventy days from Hadraumaut to Aisla, which was within
ten miles of Petra. They were laden with aloes, gold, myrrh, frankincense,
and other aromatics.
We can but faintly and obscurely trace the fluctuations in the trade of
Petra, in the remote periods of history. We know that Solomon was in
possession of Idumea, but whether it was subdued by Nebuchadnezzar is
doubtful. This sovereign, however, seems to have formed some plan of
depriving the Gherrheans of the commerce of the Gulf of Persia. He raised a
mound to confine the waters of the Tigris: he built a city to stop the
incursions of the Arabs, and opened a communication between the rivers
Tigris and Euphrates. After this there is no account of Idumea till some
years subsequent to the death of Alexander the Great: at this period two
expeditions were sent into it against its capital, Petra, by Antigonus,
both of which were unsuccessful. These expeditions were undertaken about
the years 308 and 309 before Christ. The history of Idumea, from this
period, is better ascertained: harassed by the powerful kingdoms of Syria
and Egypt, - contiguous to both of which it lay, - it seems to have been
governed by princes of its own, who were partly independent, and partly
under the influence of the monarchs of Syria and Egypt.
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