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.
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