The route which we have thus particularly described was sometimes deviated
from by the merchants: they carried their goods up the Oxus till it fell
into lake Aral; crossing this, they transported them in caravans to the
Caspian, and ascending the Wolga to its nearest approach to the Tanais,
they crossed to the latter by land, and descended it to the sea of Azoph.
Strabo describes another route: viz. across the Caucasus, from the Caspian
to the Black Sea; this writer, however, must be under some mistake, for
camels, which he expressly says were employed, would be of no use in
crossing the mountains; it is probable, therefore, that this land
communication was round by the mouth of the Caspian, - a route which was
frequented by the merchants of the middle ages.
As the Euxine Sea was the grand point to which all these routes tended, the
towns on it became the resort of an immense number of merchants, even at
very early ages; and the kingdoms of Prusias, Attalus, and Mithridates were
enriched by their commerce. Herodotus mentions, that the trade of the
Euxine was conducted by interpreters of seven different languages.
