The Same Reason Which
Induced Him To Form This Port; Led Him Afterwards To The Establishment Of
Berenice; He Was Farther Led To This, As Berenice Was Lower Down In The Red
Sea, And Consequently Ships Sailing From It Reached The Ocean Sooner And
With Less Difficulty.
It appears, however, that till the Romans conquered
Egypt, the greatest portion of the trade between Alexandria and
[Egypt->India] was carried on through Myos Hormos.
The route in the time of
Ptolemy and his successors was as follows: vessels passed up the Canopic
branch of the Nile to Memphis, and thence to Coptus; from Coptus the goods
were transported in caravans to Myos Hormos: from this port the vessels
sailed for Africa, or Arabia in the month of September, and for India in
July. As the country over which the caravans travelled was the desart of
Thebais, which is almost destitute of water, Ptolemy ordered springs to be
searched for, wells to be dug, and caravanseras to be erected.
In order to protect his merchant ships in the Mediterranean and the Red
Sea, he fitted out two great fleets, one of which he constantly kept in
each sea. That in the Mediterranean was very numerous, and had several
ships of an extraordinary size: two of them in particular had 30 oars on a
side, one 20, four 14, two 12, fourteen 11, thirty 9, &c., besides a great
number of vessels of four oars and three oars on a side. With these fleets
he protected the commerce of his subjects, and kept in subjection most of
the maritime provinces of Asia Minor; viz. Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia and
Caria. The names of some of the most celebrated geographers who were
patronized by this monarch, have been handed down to us: Pliny mentions
Dalion, Bion, Boselis, and Aristocreon, as having visited Ethiopia, and
contributed to the geographical knowledge of that country; and Simonides as
having resided five years at Meroe. Timosthenes lived in this reign: he
published a description of the known sea-ports, and a work on the measure
of the earth. He sailed down the coast of Africa, probably as far as
Madagascar, certainly lower down than the Egyptians traded under the
Ptolemies, or even under the Romans.
The reign of Ptolemy Euergetes was equally distinguished, with, those of
his predecessors, by attention to commerce, and a desire to extend it. As
the navigation of the Red Sea had now become a source of great wealth to
his subjects, he deemed it necessary to free it as much as possible from
the pirates that infested it's coasts; for this purpose, as well as to
preserve a communication between Egypt and the countries which extended to
its mouth, he established governors from the isthmus of Suez, along the
Arabian and African coasts, as far as the straits of Babelmandeb; and
planted colonies of Greeks and Egyptians to carry on the commerce, and
protect the interests of his subjects. But the most extraordinary instance
of his enterprising spirit is to be found in his conquest (evidently for
the purpose of facilitating and securing the commerce of the Red Sea) of
part of Abyssinia.
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