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).