Trachonitis (Hastings' Dictionary)

In the Bible only in Lk 3', in defining Philip's tetrarcliy : t^s Irovpalai aal TpaxiortriSof x^P"'- Traelionitis was pro])crly the country of, or round, the Trachon or Traclions (6 Tpdxuii', ol Tpdxwvfs), the name given by the (jreeks (7-pdxw<' = ' rough, rocky ground') to tho.se areas of split and shattered deposits of lava which form 80 characteristic a feature of the volcanic country S.E. of Damascus, and are known to the Arabs of to-day by the name of wa'ar ( = ' stony waste ').

IVn'ar is the equivalent of the Hebrew IV'. The latter is wrongly rendered ' forest ' in AV and RV ; at the most it can mean only 'wood,' and generally seems to be no more than ' junj;le.' Wetz-stein (Relicbencht iihr.r I/iiurati u, die Tr'irhonrn, 15, n. 3) gives good grounds for the opinion that iy" originally meant the same as the Arab, wa'ar (cf. especially Is 21 '■'"•), and that ita association with wood, for which he supplies a modern Arabic analogy, is only secondary. Strabo (xvi. 2.

20) speaks of ' the two so-called Trachones behind Dama.scus.' These are, without doubt, the two largest lava areas in the region, the Safii and the Lcja. Their edges are well delined, and visible from far on the bUiToundin;j plain — split banks of bl.ick rock with a sheen on it : about 30 ft. high. W ithin such borders the surfaces are amongst the most waste and broken upon earth. The lava in cooling has assumed the wildest shapes. Its surface has bren likened to ' a petri- fied ocean' (cf.

Merrill, E. uf Jordan, p. U) and to an ' ebony glacier with irregular crevasses ' (IKUIL* 616). Wetzstein gives a vivid descrip- tion (with sketches) of the tossed and br<d<en formation, with the volcanic vents from which it burst. ' The Safft is still, as on the day of its origin, a gush of lava, black and of a dull sheen, VOL. IV.

— i;i full of countless streams, bridged over by thin vaults, of iietrilied black, often also bright red, waves, winch roll ciown the slopes from the craters over the high plateau' (op. cit. p. 7). The Safa, ' the empty or naked,' has no water or vegetation : 'no human being can exist upon it': it lies, too, far east in the desert. The Leja, ' the refuge,' on the other hand, lies on the fertile plain of IJauran, and appears alwaj's to have been inhabited.

It is 370 square miles in extent, almost bridging the plain between Jebel Druz (from now extinct vol- canoes at the N. end of wliich, the Ghaiarat el- l^ibliyeh and Tell Sliihan, it issued) and the ranges to the E. of Hermon and S. of Damascus. It contains few springs, but with winter rains these form occasional small lakes. Soil has gathered in many of the hollows, and there are cultivated lields.

Flocks can be pastured : there are en- closures of dry stone walls, which jirove the ancient herding of cattle ; and remains of vineyards, and cisterns. The ruins of Ullages, and well-preserved ancient towns, — Musmieh, Nejrftn, Dania, Kubab, Juren, and others, — the remains of defences against the easier entrances, and numerous traces of cut- tings for roads, point to a considerable population in ancient times. The region is still partly in- habited and cultivated.

While, therefore, Strabo, as a geographer, sjioke of two Traclions, the Safa and the Leja, the former, uninhabited and lying far from the ways of men, was ignored by history, and the latter was to history the Trachon (car' i^oxriv. So an inscription in Musmieh (le Bas- Waddington, No. 2.')24), and another in Bereke (id. 2390), and so Josephus (Ant. XV. x. 1). How far back the human history of the Leja extends is quite unknown to us.

On the one hand, it is hard to think that so safe and habitable a 'refuge,' whether from Arab raids or the armies of the ancient powers, was unused by man, so long as the surrounding country was inhabited ; and equ.ally hard to suppose tliat a phenomenon of nature, so singular and conspicuous, was not frequently upon the lips of the surrounding peoples. On the other hand, in the OT there IS no certain reference to the Leja.

Arhob in Bashan was identiliod with it by the Targums, and the identification has been repeated in our days (by Porter, Hender.son, and the maps of the Pal. Expl. Kund), on the grounds that the Leja can hardly have been omitted from the 15iblical Geo- graphy, and that the phrase by which Ar^ob is descrilied, aS-jx V;n, literally the ' rope ' or ' limit ' of Argob, exactly suits the well-delined edge of the Leja, called by the Arabs of to-day the Lohf.

But 'jjT as a geographical term is properly 'dis- trict,' and applicable to any well-delined region ; and the only natural derivation of 3:nx is from 3jn, 'a clod of earth,' which no one could take as characteristic of the Leja ; while, also, Isiael's conquests very probably did not extend so far to the N.E. Argob is now generally idcntiliid with the district of Suwet, E. of tJilcad and W. of the Zumle range : to the S. of Ba.slian, but geologically connected with the latter.

Again, in the Dmn of Jer 17", ' waste tracts,' it is possible to see a refer- ence to the two Traclions, but more probably the word has the much wider reference to all those stony areas of the Arabian desert to which its Arabic equivalent harra applies (Doughty, Arnhin Ijisnrta, jinjisim and Intlcx). Porter [Giant Cities (if Bashan, 1S82, p. 1211'., etc.)

and others have taken the ancient buildings in the towns of the Leja and other parts of IJauran and Bashan to be the actual remains of the giant races who, according to the OT, preceded the Amorites in (he occupation of these lands, and of the Amorites themselves, i.e. the cities of Og king of Bashan.

For the reasons stated above, we may well bcliev« 802 TKACHOXITIS TRADE AND COMMERCE that the sites of these cities were occupied at a very early historical period ; and the visitor to those in Bashan itself (as the present wrilu* recently verified) may still note rude fortiiicatious (uniier or near the obviously later city walls) which resemble the Amorite remains recognized in other parts of Palestine.

But, on the other hand, the peculiar architecture in the Leja and surrounding countrj' (whether above or under ground), in which I'orter claimed to have dis- covered the ' Giant Cities of Bashan,' bears no proofs of an origin earlier than the eve of the Chris- tian era ; that is, after the Greeks settled east of tlie Jordan. Practically, therefore, the history of the Leja opens with the apjiearance of its Greek name, Trachon. The Greeks, who began to settle on the E.

of Jordan soon after Alexander the Great's Syrian campaign, seem to have made no impres- sion on the Leja, which was occupied by Nabattean Arabs down to the arrival of Pompey's legions at Damascus, in B.C. 65 and 64. The Itomans, coming to the aid of the Greek cities, crushed all the Semitic powers in Qauran, whether Jewish or Arab, but do not appear to have occupied ^auran itself. In B.C.

25 one Zenodorus is said to have ruled over part of the Ituriean territory on the slopes of Hermon, Auranitis ( = l^auran, Jos. A tit. XV. X. 2), and Traehonitis, i.e. the Trachon along with some territory round it (Jos. Ant. XV. x. 1 1pax'-iy II BJ XVll. 11. 1, etc. T/jaxwrnj). Joaephus and Ptolemy enal^ile us to define aiiproximately the then limits of this territory. Aeeordin" to Ant. XV. X. 3 it touched in the N.W. tlie districts of Ulatha and Paneas, about the sources of Jordan at the S.

foot of Hermon ; according to Ant. xvn. ii. 1, 2 it aiarched with Batana?a ; and accord- ing to Ptolemy, v 15. 4, it extended towards Mons Alsadt-n-j, ,,ue present Jebel Druz. Ptolemy speaks of the Tpoxwiroi 'Apa/3es ' under ' that mountain. About B.C. 25 these Arabs raided tlie Greeks of 5auran, and the Greeks complained to Varro, governor of Syria. Varro appears to have himself inflicted some chastisement upon them (Jos. BJ 1. XX. 4).

But subsequently orders came from Au^stus that Varro should replace Zeno- dorus by Herod, who had already (from his towns Gadara and Hippos eastward : Ant. XV. vii. 3 ; BJ I. XX. 3) some experience of fighting with the Trachonite Arabs {Ant. XV. v. 1 ; BJ I. xix. 2). Herod subdued them for a time {Ant, XV. x. 1 ; BJ I. XX. 4) ; but they, apparently unable to live upon the meagre crops of the Leja itself, again, during Herod's absence in Rome, raided the fertile lands to the W. of them {Ant.

xvi. ix. 1). Herod's soldiers defeated them and drove them into Nabatiiea (to the S. of Hauran), with the exception of a few, who remained in the Leja, and the most of whom Herod himself, when he returned, slew. The remainder, in alliance with the Nabatieans, kept up a series of attacks on Herod's borders.

He put a force of 3000 Iduiiueans into Traehonitis, and placed the command in the hands of Zamaris, a Jew from Babylonia, for whom he built forts in Batansea and at Bathyra, perhaps the present Busr (el-Hariri), on the S. border of the Leja {Ant. xvn. ii. 1-3).

Zamaris — it is not mentioned that he conquered the Leja itself — quieted the sur- rounding country, and Herod built a temple near Kanatha, in the ruins of which an inscription still records the erection of a statue to him (le Bas-Waddington, 2364). By Herod's testament, his son Philip in B.C. 4 received ' Traehonitis,' along with the rest of the country between the Yarniuk and Hermon, as his tetrarcliy {Ant, XVII. viii. 1, xi. 4, xvill. iv. 6; BJ n. vi. 3). Strabo (xvi. 2.

20) describes, about A.u. 2.j, the general security of the country under Philip. PhUo {Legal, ad Gaium, 41) gives the name Traehonitis to the whole of Philip's tetrarcliy. When the latter died, in 34, Traehonitis and the rest of his tetrarcliy was comprised in the province of Syria until 37, when Caligula gave it to Agrippa, wlio held the country as far as the eastern slopes of the Jebel Druz (cf. his inscrip- tion, still extant at el-Mushennef [Wadd. 2211]).

It was from Agrippa's reign onward that the architecture of the district increased, according to the numerous inscriptions ; though the Roman road through the Leja itself may be as early aa the time of Varro (see above). From A.D. 44, when Agrippa died, the whole of Palestine was directly governed by Roman officials tUl 50, when Chalcis, and 53, when the tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias, were given to Agrippa XL, whose in- scriptions are numerous throughout Traehonitis. In A.D.

100, on Agrippa's death, the direct Roman administration seems to have been resumed ; and in 106, by the creation of the further province of Arabia, Traehonitis became part of the inner province of Syria. The bulk of the remains of its ancient civUizatiou date from the subsequent period. The road just mentioned and others through the province may be wholly or mainly the work of the Antonines. In 295 'Traehonitis was joined to the province of Arabia.

The question, whether in the time at which Lk 3' was wTitten the Ituraean district and Traehonitis were two distinct portions of Philip's tetrarchy, or two equivalent or overlapping names for it, has already been fully discussed under ITUILEA. LiTERATi'RB. — Besides Wetzstein's Reiseberieht quoted above, see Ritter. Erdkuiuie, xv. ; Porter, Five JVar« in bamascu^, ii., and The iiiant Citiesof Bashan ; Selah Merrill, Eoit of Jordan ; Schiirer, HJf I. ii. App. 1, etc.

; de Voi,'Ue, Syrie Cent rale : Architecture Cirite et Retigieu^e; Gutlie, Fischer, and Stubel, in the ZDPV, 1890, 225 ff.; the present WTiter's HGUL, 543, 015 ff.; Major-General Heber- Percy, A ViMt to Bashan and Argob, 1S95, with good photographs; Rindlleisch in ZDPV, 1898, p. Iff.; V, Oppenheim, \ oiii Mitteimeer zum Pers. Got/, i. cha. iii. and vi. (w-ith photo^'raphs of e^-^a), 1899 ; Bncye. Bibl. artt. ' Argob,' * Bashan,' and ' Bosor.' G. A. Smith. TRADE and COMMERCE.— i Terms.

— 'Trade' in AV of Gn 46'', ** means 'occupation,' and has no equivalent in the Hebrew. In Ezk 27'^"" it represents the Heb. \m ' gave ' ; in Gn Si'"- "^ it is the rendering of nno shr. The participle of this last verb is used for ' merchant ' ; and cognate nouns, inp, "inc, '"H"?, ni;?, for ' place of traffic,' ' merchandise,' 'profit,' traffic,' and, by the use of abstract for concrete, ' traffickers ' (Gr. iinropevet- 9ai, Ifiiropos, i/jLiropla ; Lat.

negoti/iri, negotiator, institur, negotititio, mercatiis). The root shr= ' travel,' and describes the merchant as a travelling trader. Similarly from S^t rkl, originally ' to travel,' connected with regel, ' foot," we have rckhel, 'merchant' {IpLvropos, institor, negotiator, venditor, etc.), ri^2-i ' traffic ' {iinropla., negotiatio), n73-)a ' place of traffic' {IIV 'merchandise,' iiitropia, negotiatio). The Heb. words of this group cliielly occur in Neh 3. 13, Ezk 26-28.

Similarly in 1 K 10", 2 Ch 9" MT couples 'anshe hat-tdrim (EV 'chapmen') with sohirim, ' merchants ' ; and tarim, which should mean ' spies,' is explained as ' those who go to and fro,' ' trallickers' ; but the text is corrupt. Kittel (' Clironicles ' in SBOT) proposes to read 'Osher me'drim, ' that which came from the cities.' The proper names Kena'an (Is 23'), Kina'dni (Pr 31-^ etc.), are also used to mean 'merchant.' In Neh 10^' n^n"?, from np'?

' to take,' is used in the sense of ' goods for sale ' (EV ' ware ') ; and in Ezk 27 XP^yj IS used for ' thy wares,' so KV (not, as AV, ' thy fairs'). The roots of the following seem to ha^e had originally the meaning ' exchange " or ' barter ' : TEADE AND COMMERCE TRADE AND C0:MMERCE 803 aip ' traffic,' and its derivative 3-y^5 'merchandise' or 'traffic,' onlj' in Ezk 27, cf.

DiouT, Pledge; with the allied group td ' to exchange or barter,' and n-ii:a 'exchange,' 'barter,' 'price'; tc' price paid for a wife,' and its denom. i^o ' to buy a wife ' ; •130 ' to sell,' and ^:■J ' wares or price ' ; Tnp ' price.' The common word for 'buy,' n;p, is a general term meaning 'possess' and 'acquire'; so n:;:^, njpp, ' possession, sonietinies mean 'purchase' or ' price. Another term for ' buy ' is mD ; and np'? Make' is sometimes tr. 'buy.' 12V usually means * to buy com.'

Other words for 'price' are ij;, lit. 'value,' and TrT;''an equiviilent." l''or 'caravan 'we have nni.x «Gn 37", Is 21", Job G'"' '»), nj-^n (so only Job 6'» poet.), and .n;p? (1 K IU-«=2 Ch l'«), and 7i-<v (Ezk 27"), lit. 'company' or 'band.' A special class of merchant ships were styled 'ships of Tarshish.' See Tarshish. The tr. 'make merchandise' in Dt 21" 24' is a mistake.

The meaning of the word ("cynn, only in these two passages) is prob- ably ' play the master ' (LXX in Zv KoxoSwaa, TtCira^) ; see Driver's note. In the NT we have for ' merchandise,' iiiropia ; to trade,' dpydj^ofiaif i/nropeCo/jiai ; ' to buy,' dyop6.^Wj Uf^ofiai ; ' to sell,' dTodiSujfu, viirpiaKcv^ jrwX^w ; ' nierch.ant,'/M'''o/'05; 'banker' or ' money-changer,' Tpairfi^iTTjs ; seller of purple,' Tropf/ii'pJTTwXts ; 'bank* or ' counter,' TpdTrefa (lit.

'table 'i ; ' inart,'^M'''o/)io>' ; 'price,' ti^it) ; 'valuable,' 'expensive,' •■oXi/reXijt, »oXi>Ti^os ; ' lading of a sliip,' yufios. ii. Data. — 1. General. — The natural features of a country indicate the character and extent of its commerce. Given harbours or practicable land routes, etc., it will export what it produces easily, and import what it pro<luces with difficulty or cannot produce at all. See articles on the various countries of the Bible.

Again, references to the possession of articles of foreign production imply commerce with the place of production. See articles on Goi.D, Silver, Dress, etc. 2. Trade in OT. — There are numerous scattered references, but the leading cases are the accounts of Solomon's commerce (1 K 5. g^"-" 10"-2»), and of the unsuccessful attempt of Jehoshapliat to imitate him (1 K 22-''); and of the Sabbath trading at Jeru.siilem (Neh 13""^). The commerce of Tyre is described in Is 23, Ezk 26. 27.

A caravan trade in spices, etc., with K^ypt is mentioned in Gn 37^(J), and implied in 43" (J). 3. Trade in tite Apocrypha, NT, Josephus, Talmud, etc. — In 1 Mac 14° .Simon makes Joppa a port, and in To 4' !)" we read of a deposit of money repaid on the production of a receipt. In the Nl' commerce furnishes our Lord with many illustra- tions ; St. Paul sails in tniding vessels, and meets with Lydia, 'the dealer in purple' (Ac l(i"), and the manufacturers of silver shrines for Diana (Ac 19").

The commerce of Home, under the name of Babylon, is described in a passage. Rev 18, atlapted from Ezk 27. There are scattered references in Josephus. The Talmud often refers to the articles and conditions of commerce in its discussions on tithes, and on the ritual questions, uncleanness, etc., arising out of relations between Jews and Gentiles. These notices can be applied only with caution to periods earlier than the compilation of the Ta;:^u<ls (a.d. 400-GOO). 4. Other Authorities.

— The immense collection of F'gyplian, Assj-rian, and Itabylonian documents and inscriptions atl'ord much information as to commerce m general, and some, direct and in- direct, as to that of Palestine. The classical authorities, especially Strabo and Plin^, furniHli OS with information as to commerce in general In the GriH'k and Roman periods. iii. Commerce ok tiik Ancient East.— The Tel el-Amarna tablets show that in B.C.

14i,)0 there was an extensive commerce between Babylonia and other States of the farther East, and Syria and Egj'pt. The letters passing between the Eastern kinjrs and the kings of E^ypt are full of references to the journeys, to and fro, of caravans, and to the interchange of numerous commodities.

Three lists of articles sent by a king of Egypt to the king of Babylon, and of the wedding presents or dowry of an Eastern princess who married a kin^ of Egypt, occupy 14 l;ii;;u octavo pages in small tj'pe (vVinckler, p. 3<J91l. ). Evidence is furnished by inscriptions, etc., of such commerce from an even earlier period, onwaids throughout the Bible history. The series of commercial documents, contract tablets, etc., in Babjlonia from about B.C. 2400, and in Ass3ria from about B.C.

900, bear direct evidence to the existence of considerable internal trade, and imply foreign commerce. At a later time such documents enaV)le us to trace the history of the great Babylonian banking firm of Egibi from the reign of Nebuehadnezzar to that of Darius. In the Times of 10th Oct. 1899 Conder ? noted a letter, which he dated about B.C.

2000, rora an Assjrian merchant to a corresi)ondent in Uai)padocia, asking, ' Can I settle and trade in Cappadocia on payment of a tax, and by living as a son of the land ? ' As.syria and Babylonia received merchandiio from the farther East, and transmitted it westward.

The Phoenicians from Tyre and Sidon and other cities were the inter- mediaries of a great sea traffic between Western Asia and the shores of the Mediterranean and the Eastern Atlantic, and also, for the most part, of the sea traliio between Egypt, Syria, and other Mediterranean countries ( lirman, Life in Ancient Egypt, l'"ng. tr. 15). Later on, this traffic was more and more shared by the Greeks. Egj'pt received the produce — ivory, ebony, skins, slaves, etc.

— of Nubia and other countries to the south, andoccasionally sent trading vessels to the ' incense countries,' Punt, etc., i.e. Southern Arabia, Somaliland, and perhaps farther east. The cele- brated queen Hatsh(j]isut (c. B.C. 1.5H0) sent such an expedition (Petrie, IlLit. of Egypt, ii. 79). There was also trade by land between Arabia and Syria, and, by way of the Isthmus of Suez, with Egypt. In later times four main causes tended to promote and systematize the comnierce of Western Asi.

i, and its trade relations with Egypt ami the other Mediterranean countries; (1) tlie establish- ment of the Persian dominion over Western Asia and Egypt, including the Greek cities of Asia Minor and many of the Greek islands ; (2) the conquests of Alexander, the establishment of Greek States with political relations with Macedonia and Greece, ami the founding of numerous Greek colonies throughout Syria ; (3) the dispersion of the Jews; (4) the establishment of the authority of Rome over the Mediterranean countries and Western Asia.

iv. Extent and Development of Israelite Commerce. — We know hardly anything of Israelite trade during the nomad period. Proliably the clans sometimes carried merchiindise between Syria and Egypt (Gn 37'-^ 43"), or e.sco'-ted trading caravans ; and at other times levied tolls or black- nmil upon caravans passing through districts which they occupied.

With the sclflement in Can'ian, the Israelites would grndually become involved in the system of internal trade, and of trade with Arabia, Egypt, Pluenicia, and the East which had been established for centuries. I'or .some time this trade would remain in the hands of the original inhabitants, from whom the Israelites would obtain foreign commodities, partly by luir- chnse, [)artlv by plunder, e.g.

Achans Babylonish mantle (Jos' 7^')- 804 TRADE AND COiOIERCE TRADE AND COISIMERCE In timp the extension of the Israelite territory, tncrease of wealth, and '"volyed the ^J^^«'^ «^ more largely in the commerce of Syna. 1 he iiniu The towns must have supplied tlieir ;^n« '™^ the country, and in turn furnished tl.e ^urae^s ^ith some n.an«faeturea articles. J^t hrst,.^no <^°V^*>,t?

f but Jhe %ZthVf Szi^tion would subjects t«>e r^iit j j^nce, obtains from Ben- r«:d°a^Xri:^htto'la;e'stLtsMn^^ • , »n Ur^e ite trading quarter or bazaar IK 2;^1 ipowerfu king°obtained large quantities orfore^n^commoditief as presents or tnVte, e.g. he ^fts of the queen of Sheba and other princes, the giiis oi uic 4 ioi»»l The kuig made etc., to SoU.

mon (1 K 4 lu h^ Moreover, a similar presents in return (1 ^V^ K J'^^rtkles of ^vealthv sovereign would need f°^eign art Ues ol luxury for his court, raatenals for 1»3 buildings StlTkS n'-s^aid for his tim^ in A^ anroil 5"-). and there were tbe 'presents to friendly princes. David's conquest of bdom (- » ^')hai^pven Israel a nort, EziON-GEBER on t^ie Red Sea, from which Solomon sent ?■ trading lieet partly manned with Phcenician sailors, to 0 L r Fsee Dphiu) for gold, precious stones, etc.

(1 Iv ^^r In 10^ this traffic with Ophir is said to Lvebeen conducted by Solomon and Hiram con- • ■„^^„ h.T, mpnns of a navy which sailed e\ery {ree'yea7s,"nTbrought 'g|d silver, ivory apes, fl.nd neacocks.' Further, Solomon not only im- nortercrses and chariots from Egypt,, but also sold then, to the Hittite and Syrian kings (1 K ^^!^.») The wide extent of Solomons dominions save him an opportunity, of wh.cli he doubtless ^:iued™.

imse/f,' to provide for the safety and comfort of the caravans from tie East to 1 ales IZi Naturally the -nimercebvas no entirely in Solomon's hands, and 1 K 10 reters to *^tron'; othe1""ef:rence to the trade ^om F7ion. sober to Opbir U the statement that fZsha^lhat made an unsuccessful attenint to jenosnapii^i. Probably in the troubles at SeTlo^ of Soloinon's r:Sn,'judah lost its free ^e^ to the Red Sea, and the trailic ce.-ised once f^iQ Otherwi.

se what we read of the commeice oTi^lomon's reign will hold good, ^n -ry.ng^ le^ PTees for the period of the monarchy. Ihe Sfwences of the prophets of the eighth century to the prosi^rity and luxury of the two kingdoms . , K a»-M and loaa clearly rcler to the same traffic. The kinu had sh.ps that f'"' *? 'J"?;, 7 k 22« • Jehoshaphat made tion of the sf .tt-fli f^ 0?hir' (Herzfeld, Ilawlrll,csch. der diips ot Tarshish to. go to Ol'"^ .^."(^^^o „„ ., ch 0-n.

,ih"ir[Sft^l^loSoi^L2£edHa-^^ Vn^, o^„f Chron.'i'th'^TeS^nce to Tadmor In the latter ■. due to a migunderetttudii g ot the tormer. under Uzziah, Joth:im, and Ahaz of Judah, and unaer ^"';" • , . ■ , demand for foreign Jeroboam II. oi i»raei, umnj' a. "v- o6. 7. n ously affected its commerce. fradina It is doubtful whether the Israelites had trading vessels on the Mediterranean before the bxile. H«z eld a c p. 17) contends for a considerable Sari[C^fe^traffi'c mainly in the hands of Zebulun.

In the Song of Deborah we read in RV of J g & • Aiid Dan, wh.v did he remain in shM'S? Asher sat still at the haven (m. shore) ot the sea. And abode by his creeks.' This nassa-^e seems to imply seafaring habits on ulTpaTof-the tribes on the Med^^eiranea^coa. }' h ''°r;nv;«'shy"oPr to re*^d/r^e first 'meadows for mix snips . ui t .up shins'' line ' Why does he live nei-hbour to the smps^ Moore), or 'Why does he fear the ships ^£^». too must be the northern Dan.-In the Blessing of Ja"ob (n.c.

1000-850) RV ^«"^''^'\^° f,'"" . Zebulun shall dwell at the haven ("Vfjf,'^^) o the Be^ And he shall he for an haven (m beach) 01 snips , And his Ijorder shall be upon Zidon. RV translates Dt 33'»- '»- • Eejoice, Zebulun, in thy going oat ; ^^;S'c='Jiirhe''/eo';euntothemount^^^^ There *all thev offer sacnfices of r-ghteobsnesa. For the" shall suck the abu.idance of the seag. And th4 hidden treasures of the sand.

Puie 'i^mdes ' werellied ' to the mountain ' to a is never mentioned by pre-ex lie ^"'X^Ttraelites. I ^^btfiii if ^:^^^,::''^^jt^^ ^^"Ta'Vnte est on tie commerce of Solomon """'h Trdv have mentioned Mediterranean would surelv nave mc who e, there- trallic if it liad existed On the w uo fore the extant evidence f ai s to pro\e ^ ,. Is aelites had trading vessels on h«/IulUer_ ''■ *■ . gi8.» is perhape an interpolation.

TRADE AND COMMERCE TRADE A:\D COiMMERCE 805 Another question is as to liow far, in the time of tlie monarchy, tlie comiiierce of Israel was in Israelite hands. The fact that in Job 41' and Pr 31" ' Canaanite,' and in Hos 12' ' Canaan,' is used to mean 'merchant'; and apparently in Is 23", Zeph 1" 'Canaan' is used for ' the merchant people,' suggests that in early times the trade of Israel was largely carried on by the Phcenicians.

Tlie various codes and the prophets make scant reference to trade. In view of the keen interest in the comnierce of Tyre shown by Is 23, Ezk 2G. 27, we should have expected more detailed notice of Israelite trade if it had been largely in native hands. Hos 12', indeed, ' He [Epliraim] is a trafficker [lit. ' Canaan '],' * implies the develop- ment of native commercial activity in the Northern Kingdom in the last period of its independence.

But this seems to have been a new development, speedily cut short by the fall of Samaria. Again, Lzk '2l)^ represents 'lyre as exulting over the fall of Jerusalem, ' the gate of the peoples,' and ex- pecting to prolit — perhaps commercially — by her ruin : ' I shitll be replenished, now that she is laid waste.' No doubt, Jerusalem was to some extent a commercial city.

On tlie other liand, it is to a Canaanite merchant that the Israelite housewife sells her cloth (Pr 31**) ; the merchant is not men- tioned amongst the notables in such lists as Is 3- ' ; and, except Solomon and his agents, no Israelite merchants are mentioned before the Exile. Probably much of the internal traffic, and most of the import and export trade, were in the hands of Phoenicians and other foreigners.

The restored Jewish community in Palestine during the Persian period was small and poor (Hag 1'-" 2"'- ", Zee 7' 8^- «■ '", Mai 3•^ Neh P '2" i'' 5), and its commerce must have been very limited. Still the Jewish settlement was a city, — Jerusalem and its territory, — and a city implies local and other trade (so Neh 3^'- '^ 13"*'^, where we find the trade partly in the hands of the ' men of Tyre').

There is evidence that during this period Dor, Jo|)pa, and Ashkelon were held by the Phoenicians ((i. A. Smith, IIGIIL 12'J). Prob- ably must of the external and some of the internal trade of the Jewish community in Palestine was in the hands of the Phoenicians. When Jonah set sail from Joppa for Tarshish, it was in a Gentile ship (Jon P).

By the time the Greek period was reached, the restoration of the temple, tlie reforms of Neliemiah, and the natural growth of the community must have led to some development of trade, which would be further stimulated by the Greek coloniza- tion of Western Asia. Some token of a growing interest in commerce may be seen in the Bk. of Sirach, which refers to the subject more frequently and precisely than does Proverbs.

Many of the references, indeed, are quite general, to the dangers of suretiship (Sir 8" 29"-', as in Pr ll" 17'" 20'") ; or to the obligation to deal fairly (Sir 5" 2'J-' 41'", as in Pr IG" 20"'- *") ; or to other general topics (Sir 37", as in Pr 11="). But Sir 42'-» implies a more intimate acquaintance with commerce, e.g. ▼.' — ' Whatsoever thou bandejit over, let it t>e by number and w^•i^;ht ; And in giving and receiving let all be in writing.

In Other [lassages we discern the protest of tradi- tional sentiment against a growing predilection fur business life. Thus — ' Hate not laltorioua work ; Neither huabandr}', which the Mort High hath ordained' (Sir 7"). A merchant shall hardly keep himaeU from wrong-doing' (8ir26»). • RVm rendeni, • As for Cnnaan . .' ; but even so the foUow- tng verse implies thai Kphraiui had imitated Canaan.

On the ol her hand, the silence of Ecclesiastes as to trade still illustrates the comparative indillerence of the Palestinian Jew to commerce. Ec 3 does not state that 'there is a time to buy and a time to sell.' This silence is the more signilicant in a book written in the name of Solomon, the merchant- king.

The restoration of Jewish autonomy, ind the extension of their territory by the Maccabees, must have further promoted trade, more especially the acquisition of Jojjpa by Simon as a Jewish port (1 Mac 14'). Thioughout the Persian and Greek periods the growing commerce of the Jewish Dis- ^lersion (see below) must have done something to loster trade in Palestine ; which would be further encouraged by the frequent resort of the Jews of the IJispersion to Jerusalem, especially for the Passover.

During the Roman or Hcrodian period tlie same causes were at work, aide<i by tlie security and facility of communication due to the imperial government. Uerzleld (pp. 06-130) shows that the Mishna and Jerusalem Talmud make frequent references to the trade of Palestine, and enumer- ates, mainly from these souices, 135 foreign articles imported into Palestine. On the other hand, Josephus (c. Apion. i.

12) denies that the Jews occupied any territory on the coast, or cared to engage in commerce : 'H/ifis toiVi/k oCre Xihpav oUoO^ev irapdXiov, out' ifnropiais x^^P'^f^^''* '^^^^ Tats Tpbs dWovs oia tovtuv iinp-i^lais. He makes this statement to explain why the ancient Greeks never heard of the Jews, and doubtless handles his facts with the rhetorical licence of an advocate, more suo. Yet his words probably represent the attitude of old-fashioned Palestinian Jews.

The Dispersion of the Jews which began with the fall of Samaria had, before the beginning of the Christian era, scattered Jewish communities over all the Mediterranean lands, together with Arabia and the ancient Assyria and Babylonia. These communities are found in all the great commercial cities — Rome, Ant loch, Thessalonica, Corinth, Alexandria, etc.

Their circumstances militated against their holding land, even when it was nut legally forbidden to tliem ; on the other hand, their relations with felluw-countrj'meu all over the known world gave them then, as now, exceptional facilities for commerce ; so that we may conclude that the Jews of the Dispersion were largely occupied with commerce. This con- clusion i.s supported by references to Jewish mer- chants and trade in various countries. ios.(A)it. XX. ii.

3, 4) mentions a Jewish merchant at the court of Adiabene ; Philo (in Flaccum, 8) mentions Jewish shipmasters and merchants at Alexandria ; and Herzfeld (p. 219) quotes Talmudic references to Jewish traders in Mesopotamia. V. TuAUE Routes, Maj;kets, Harbours, etc. — 1. Transport uf Commuditics. In times of peace, in the more settled countries, merchants (cf.

above, 'Terms'), travelling singly or in small companies, carried their wares to their customers, or to mar- kets (Neh 13""), and visited the scattered farm- steads to purchase farm proiluce, or clothing made by the housewife or her maids (Pr 31-'^). The more iiiijiortant international traffic was carried on by caravans of camels (Gn 37-°), asses ((in 42'-'' 43'" 4.5-=', Ezr '2'"), mules (2 K 5", 1 Ch 12'"'), oxen (1 Ch 12''"), and slaves (2 K b'").

Horses were not used OS bea-sts of burden or for draught, only for riding and chariots. In Gn 45"' -'■'■" 40' waggons {'dgCduth) are sent to fetch the a<'ed Jacoli and the women and children (cf. the Egyp. 'acjvU, a liaggago-waggon drawn by oxen, Erman, Egypt, Eng. tr. p. 491). In Nu 7', 1 SO' waggons drawn by oxen are used to carry the tabernacle furni- ture and the ark. In the pictures of convoys of 806 TRADE AND COMMERCE TRADE AND COMMERCE prisoners taken by tl.

e Assyrians, the baf^sase and the sick are sometimes carried in waggons (MisDcro Anc. Egypt and As.iyna, i-ng. tr. S But thereTno mention of . waggons in tlie description of the great canuan m t-zr . , and they cannot have been largely used. Ihe caravans\vere usually accompanied by an arnied escort (Ezr 8-^^).-2. Trade Eoutes. Caravan routes ?ed from S W. Arabia along the Red Sea from Elat • and also from the Persian Gulf across AK.bii to Petra.

From Petra there 7>:e/2}'te^ to E"VPt, to Gaza, and along the east of the Dead Sea an^d the Jordan to Damascus. The gjeat rou e from the East le.l from Babylon, across the Euph- n.tes and the desert, by the oasis of 1 almyra, o the Plain of Jezr'ee/and the Med terranean. Another route, partly coinciding ^nth this, started from Gilead, passe/ over the P «;'" "4 f^'^'^^''^' and went on by Gaza to Egypt (Gn 3,-=).

An- other route went from Damascus by Scytliopo lis and the Plain of Jezreel to Accho. I'roni bcjtho- polls routes led to Samaria, Shechem, and Jeru- salem Also from Jerusalem a route by Jericho (Lk 10»») crossed the Jordan, and joined the route last of the river; other routes led to Joppa (Ezr 3'), and, in NT times at any rate, to Gaza Ac 8 ) and, by Antipatris, to Cssarea (Ac ^f "■'-)■ l.'f combination of these routes connected Baby on a, etc.

, Damascus, Samana, Phcenicia, Pbilistia, Gilead, Jerusalem, Arabia, and Egypt- ^"^ Roman roads in Palestine are mostly later than the Bible period. There ^'^^-e """^e^'^^"'""/ routes (Herzfeld, pp. 22, 46 141 ;G A- Smith /TGi/X 149-154, 388 ff., 423-430, 59/ tt., 626). An important Egyptian caravan route led fron, Coptos on the Nile to Sauu ( U'ddy Gasus) on the Red Sea (Erman, p. 505).

In NT times a great system ot Roman roads connected the East with Rome ; the most important route was Rome to Brun.lusium (Via Appia), and from Dyrrachium by Thessalomca to UyzsLntinm (Via Egnatia). -,1, fi.a Bv sea there was traffic from Babylonia with the East by the Persian Gulf ; from Edom and Egypt with the East from ports on the Red Sea ; from the Phoenician cities with all the Mediterranean lands and the farther West.

A similartrade existed, chiefly in the hands of the Plia;nician3 and the Greeks, from the coast of the Delta. T "s de- veloped immensely after the foundation of Alex- andria. The rivers Euphrates, Tigris, and the NUe were great trade routes. , „ „ The chief seaports of Syria are Tyre and ZlDON, and the other Phoenician cities, and JOPPA (ct. above). , _ , ,,, As to markets, the Maktf.

sh of Zeph 1" seems to have been a trading quarter of the Phcenicians in Jerusalem ; and Dt 33i«- '» has been supposed to refer to a fair connected with a religious festival held on the borders of Zebulun and Phojnicia. Markets must have existed in the cities, and e se- whcre, probably especially in the neighbourhood of 'lii<'h places,' but ancient Israel had no 'commercial cities ^ In the NT the market-place (aaora) is often referred to (Mt ll'Setc.)

; and we read of a market held in the temple . precincts (Mk 11", Jn 2' )• Herzfeld (pp. 130, 324) gives Talmudical references to shops and markets, especially some that seem to imply weekly markets on Monday and 1 hursday. In some cases Israel enjoyed the privilege of a tradin" quarter, 'streets' or bazaars, in foreign cities ;°and granted similar privUeges to foreigners (1 K 20»^, Zeph 1"). ^L u- t f vi. Articles of Commebck.

— The chief exports from Palestine were com, oil, wine, balsam, smces, cattle, wool, fish, and slaves. Honey, balsam, wheat, and oil were exi.orted to Pliuinicia (IK 5 , Ezr 3', Ezk 27", Ac 12-"), also oaks from Bashan (Ezk 27«). To Egypt were exported spices, balm. myrrh, honey, pistachio nuts, almonds, oil (G" 37" 4^1' Hos 12'). For the slave-trade see Serv.\NT. Other exports may be interred f™'" t'^e ^.

^''^t^"^* of fertile vineyards and pasture lands, and of the fisheries on the Sea of Galilee. Every article grown or manufactured in Palestine would be exported at some time or another ; at any rate, in small quan- thies. Conversely, most of the products of countriea with which the Jews had commercial relations would be imported at some tune or another ct above §iii.)

But the chief imports were timber :„d artisani from Phcenicia (1 K 5" Ezr 3 ) ; corn horses, and chariots from Egypt (Gn 41 , 1 K 10^ 29 Dt 17'«) ; gold and silver, spices, timber, precious stones, ivory, apes and Peacocks gold and silver plate and ornaments, armour, and nmles f^rom Arabia, Ophir, and other countries IK 10 ), wool and sheep from Moab (2 K 3*, Is 16').

The special products of each district would be articles of internal commerce with other districts ; farm produce was sold in the cities ; the produc s of the industry of the cities were bought for the country; and foreign imports ^vere distributed fi^om the cities through the country Salt (see SALT) ^as supplied from the districts by the Dead Sea ; cattle, wool, etc., from the pastures to the east and south corn, etc.

, from the fertile arable land in Esdraelon '"'ifong lisrof the articles of Tyrian commerce is ^'vii" The^ Government and Commerce.— Both in Israel and elsewhere, commerce was often earned on bv the kings themselves, e.g. Solomon Uiram a K 10=^)! andljehoshaphat (1 K 22«).

The pres- ents interchanged between fnen'lly^P,"'"'^ J^^^^ really barter on a large scale ; in the Tel el- Amama tablets the kings of° Eg>pt haggle ON-er the exact value of the 'presents' they give and receive in true Oriental fashion (Winckler, p. 61 f.) llie tribute from dependent States, the 'presents or prices paid for princesses given in mf"''?,!''^' ^\"!

a one-sided commerce carried on for the benefit of *^Thrfoveniments of ancient States intervened, as we have seen, to obtain special trading piivi; le"es for their subjects in foreign countries (1 K ou") ; also to secure for them protection and re- dress for injuries (Winckler, Amama Tablets, ^'Irom the analo-y of other States we should suppose that the f/raelite kings levied taxes on mports and exports, and tolls on merchandise passing through the country.

In one of the Cam°a tablet's (Winckler p. 93) a fo-^e-gn k'"!, stipulates that his property « >''^1' J?° ,^^^«„^tms with by the customs of Egypt. In >T the customs officers of the Herods anitfie Romans are referred to (Mk 2" etc.) ; see Publican. viii. commerce of the Roman Empire., In NT times the empire possessed a highly developed and elaborate commercial system, largely adnnin*- tered by great trading corporations, and involving credit and other features of modem banking.

The most important branch of Roman commerce >vas the corn trade between Egypt and Rome (Ac 27 ^^ix' ETHICS OF Commerce., The Bible deals directly with only two or three elementary points, such as the duty of fair dealing, and the danger of greed of gain (see Servant). MnvFV On the general subject cf. the articles MONEY, Solomon, WEALTH; also the articles on countries, dress, ornaments, etc. I iTPRATLUE -Nowttck, Lfhrb. itr Ueh. Arch. \. pp. 247-251; \LmT^^!^DuV:^al^n VerLuniM. der I^aditen, pp.

76 ; 8charer,'H^P(' Trade,' In Index). Bennett. TKADES TRANSFIGUKATIO^■, THE SO?