We read once of the shambles (fjidKe\\ov = macellum, 1 Co 10'"), which in reality was a meat and provision market, with many booths or shops, such as every great city of the time could boast. The market-place (dyopd, forum, Ac 17'''), although put to many other uses, was not without signifi- cance as a trade centre.
Specialized forms of agriculture, relating to the vine, the olive, and the fig, are less frequently alluded to (Ja 3'^ ; cf. Ro IV"-^, 1 Co 9^ Rev 6'3 11* 14'*'-)i hut the products of wine and oil are named
as matters of common knowledge (Rev 6* IS'"). The importance of the olive in particular has been shown bj' Deissmann (»S'^ Paul, London, 1912, p. 39 flF. ; cf . Ramsay, Pauline and other Studies, do. 1906, p. 219 tf. ). It may be noted that the palm figures only in Rev 7**, although at this time it was also an important culture (Jos. Ant. XIV. iv. 1). Certain articles of commerce enumerated in Rev 18'^ — cinnamon, spice, etc. — presuppose at some point or other an activity in intensive arboriculture. For basket-making, see art. Basket.
The rearing of cattle, sheep, horses, etc. is but slightly referred to (1 Co 9^ Ja 3^, 1 P 2-5, Rev 18'=*), but products come to light in the industries of tan- ning and weaving. From the prevalence of sacrifice, pagan (Ac 14'3- 's 1520> 29 g^gj jjq jggg j^j^^n Jewish, we may also infer that this gave support to several important branches of industry.
2. Next to the arts concerned with food supplies come those connected with clothing and shelter. Spinning and weaving were fundamental industries, then, as aforetime, embracing tlie coarser fabrics involved in the tent-cloth (see Tent, Tent-making) made of goat's hair, for which Cilicia was famed, and at the making of which St. Paul and his companions, Aquila and Priscilla, wrought (Ac 18^ 203*, 1 Co 4'2, 2 Co 119, I xh 2», 2 Th i% and the finer sorts for human wear, culminating in articles embroidered, inwrought with gold and silver, adorned with precious stones and pearls, such as the royal apparel of Ac 122' (cf. 1 Ti 2^, 1 P 33, Rev., passim). The treatment of the material, probably while in the raw state, with dye (producing purple, scarlet, etc.), and with minerals for bleaching (i.e. the process of fulling), was an allied industry (see especially Ac 16'* and cf. art. Clothes, etc.). The art of the tailor was less in evidence, perhaps, his place being taken by the weaver and by the women in the home (cf. Ac 93**), although in Talmudic times he figures among other artisans.
3. The care of the person was then carried to a great degree. The elaborate system of baths which prevailed must have provided work for many, including the apothecary, who supplied unguents and salves (Rev 3'^ 18'3). The barber (Ac 18"* 212*, 1 Co 11"-) had also a well-established position.
4. The tanner has been brought into prominence by one instance (Simon [_q.v.'], Ac 9*3 lO"' 32). While an important craft, tliis was a despised one, and the fact of Simon's house having been by the seaside was due as much to enforced separation from the town as to the necessities of business. The prepara- tion of leather for foot-wear (see Shoe, Sandal) was but a small part of the tanner's occupation. He was a necessary coadjutor of the maker of articles for house-furnishing, and also of the harness-maker.
5. Building arts. — The first part of the Apostolic Age witnessed great activity in building within Palestine, notably the com])letion of Herod's ambi- tious projects. The Temple was finished, only to be demolished again by the Romans. The con- querors took up the like work for themselves, but along lines of their own. References to building in the Apostolic writings are, however, few. The work of the mason underlies such passages as Ro 1520, 1 Co 38ff-, 2 Co 5'"-, 1 P 2»fl'-, He 33'-. Specific parts of buildings are named in the ' middle wall of partition' (Eph 2'*, perhaps reminiscent of the Temple), the ' foundation ' and ' chief corner-stone ' (Eph 2-"). The builder's measuring-rod (reed) is mentioned in Rev 11'. Carpentry appears only metaphorically in 1 Co 3'2, and in the figure of speech employed in Col 2'*.
6. Workers in metal. — The numerous references to arms within the apostolic writings show that the art of the smith must have been familiar in those days. No doubt it was largely extraneous
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to Palestine, being maintained, however, for behoof of the conquering' Romans. There and elsewhere it was an industry that attected the early Christians adversely, being associated for the most part with prisons and detention, e.g. spearmen, etc. (Ac 23-3), chains (Ac 12« 213^28-", Eph 6-», 2 Ti li«), iron gate (Ac 12^"). The Apocalypse is especially rich in warlike imagery : breast-plates of iron (9^), chariots (9» IS'^), sword (P" 2^2 etc.). See also Eph G'sff-, 1 Th 58. Cf. art. Armour.
In connexion with ships and boats the smith's (and carpenter's) art must also have been largely in evidence : anchor (He 6'"), rudder (Ja 3*) ; cf. the narrative of St. Paul's voyage. It must be remem- bered tiiat navigation was itself an art, requiring a shipmaster and mariners (Rev 18'^), a steersman (Ja 3''), etc. But, as in the case of arms, this activity stood largely apart from the life of the early Church.