Arrian's Voyage Round the Euxine Sea/On The Commerce of the Euxine Sea

by Arrian of Nicomedia

ON

THE COMMERCE

OF

THE EUXINE SEA.

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ON

THE COMMERCE

OF

THE EUXINE SEA

THE first sea-voyage of which we read in profane history was performed on the Euxine sea. The Argonauts, setting out from the port of Iolchos, or Pagasæae, in Thessaly, sailed to Colchis, at the eastern extremity of this sea, and, as it appears, Visited many other places in that now unfrequented neighbourhood. This voyage is remarkable for its length, as well as for its antiquity, comprehending in extent the length of 14½ degrees upon the equator, or more than 1000 English miles.

The professed object of this expedition was the pursuit of gold; and perhaps the accounts given by Strabo and Appian may be the most probable of any, which Rate it, to be a practice of the Colchians to extend fleeces of wool across the beds of the torrents that fall from mount Gaucasus, and by means of these to entangle the particles of gold, which were washed down by the stream.

This mode of collecting this metal, which is much the same with the one practised now on the coast of Guinea, and other rivers of Africa, made Colchis be regarded as the Gold Coast^[1] of that early period.

The manners however of those remote ages oblige us to consider this expedition as rather predatory than commercial.

The trade carried on upon the Euxine sea may be regarded in two points of view, one respecting its own produce, and that of the countries bordering on it; the other respecting it as a means of conveying the produce of other countries, and particularly that of the East Indies, to Europe.

If we look at this sea in a map of the world, it appears happily situated for commerce of every kind, forming an easy communication between Europe and the north-east parts of Asia, enjoying a moderate climate, free from the hurricanes, that infestthe Southern seas, and the almost perpetual storms that distress navigation in the Northern ocean. It possesses numerous ports; many navigable rivers flow into it; it abounds with large fish, to a degree unknown in other places; and the countries bordering on it, at least the whole extent of the Southern coast, are exuberant in the produce of every material for ship-building, as timber, pitch, hemp^[2], iron, together with great plenty of provisions. These advantages caused it, in early times, to be a sea of great naval refort. Both the European and the Asiatic Greeks founded colonies on its shores, both to the north-west and to the east of the Thracian Bosporus.

Miletus, the capital of Ionia, the great school for astronomical and nautical instruction, and the prime source from whence most of the colonies ^[3] of antiquity were derived, founded several cities on the Euxine sea, and some even on its most remote shores. Among these, were on the southern coast, Sinope, Tios, Amifus, and Trapezus, and, according to Paterculus, even Byzantium and Cyzicus. On the eait, Diofcurias, the principal city in that neighbourhood. On the north, Panticapaeurn, Theodosia, and Olbia, and on the Weil, Istria and Apolloniania.

The European Greeks, as well as the Asiatic, founded cities on the same sea. Heraclea Pontica was a colony from Megara, and Athens contributed to that sent to Amisus. Apollonian in Ponto was built by emigrants from Corinth, or Corcyra. Amastris was of Greek original, and, according to Arrian, the whole of the cities on the weitern coast were Greek colonies

The commodities furnished as articles of trade by the countries bordering on the Euxine sea were neither very numerous; nor of great value. Honey, wax, hides, provisions of all kinds, and materials for building or rigging ships, were the principal. It mutt not be omitted, that linen-cloth^[4], both white and dyed, or painted, was an article of trade from this country to Greece in very early times.

But the Euxine sea itself was the great source of supply for their domestic or economical commerce. Both this sea and the Palus Mæotis abound in fish of a large size^[5], and excellent quality. This is ascribed by Pliny^[6] to its waters being less salt than those of the Mediterranean, which made them more proper for hatching the spawn, in the same manner as we observe some sea-fish, salmon particularly, come up the fresh-water rivers to deposit their ova. The Mæotis being, by the influx of the Tanais^[7], less salt than the Euxine sea, attracts them thither, as a breeding-place, and perhaps on account of its cold climate, the tunny fish being, according to Ælian, very impatient of heat.

The fish, when they have attained a convenient size, pour out through the Cimmerian Bosporus into the Black sea, and swim along the southern coast to the Thracian Bosporus, in their way to the Mediterranean. Their growth is very rapid during their passage. The fishery, according to Strabo^[8], begins about Trapezus, or Pharnacea (Cerasus); but they are seldom caught at either of these places of a time sufficient to salt as an article of trade.

By the time the shoals had proceeded westward as far as Sinope ^[9], the fish were increased in fine, and were salted in great abundance. Heraclea, Tium, and Amastris, all of which lie to the west of Sinope, enjoyed the advantages of the fishery in still greater perfection, and were deeply engaged in it, as appears from Ælian^[10]. In short, the advantages of the fishery to those who inhabited the coails were such, that they abandoned all other means of getting a livelihood, and applied themselves entirely to fishing, though the ground in the neighbourhood was fertile, and the adjacent mountains rich in minerals.

As the fish proceeded further westward, they appear to have been more valued. A poetical glutton, of the name of Archistratus, cited by Athenæus, extols as a delicacy that part of the fish, which lies next the tail, pickled and broiled, as we do a red herring; and adds, that Byzantium is the metropolis^[11] of this article of luxury; in which sentiment another proficient in luxurious eating concurs. The Pontic^[12] salted meats (ταριχεία Ποντικὰ) were highly esteemed in Greece, as early as the time of Herodotus, Plato, Aristophanes, and Polybius^[13], and probably long before. Even Herod is cited, as speaking of the Bosporus as a market for these kinds of salted delicacies. They went under different names, but were mostly made of the tunny-fish, and were denominated, either from the size of the animal, the parts of it used, or the shape of the pieces into which it was cut. Thus the parts of the large fish salted were called Melyandria; theparts next the tail, Orea, quasi οὐραία; the belly-parts, Hypogastria; and when cut into cubical shaped pieces, Cybia^[14].

Those who desire more information on this subject may consult Athenæus, who is very diffuse in his account, and adds, that a jar of this pickled fish was sold for 300 drachmæ, or about 10l. English.

It was not however the plenty of fish only, which gave the nations on this coast so much advantage in this trade. Nature had very plentifully supplied them with salt also.

The river Halys, which falls into the sea between Amisus and Sinope, takes its name from the salt grounds^[15], through which it slows; and Tournefoft remarks, that all these parts are full of fossile salt, which is found even in the great roads^[16] and arable lands.

Several of the places on this coast have, I think, received their names from the trade above mentioned. Thus Halmitis Taurica, which lies near the mouth of the Cimmerian Bosporus, the great exit of the tunny-fish from the Palus Mæotis, probably took itsname from the trade carried on there, the word Ἁλμευτὴς signifying a person who deals, in salted^[17] meats, or fish. Halmydessus, or Salmydeissus, had, I suspect, a similar derivation. Cordyla, a place so called, which lies near Trapezus, expresses^[18] by its name a small or young tunny; and Strabo tells us, as I have before noticed, that these fish caught so far to the eastward as Trapezus are all small. Farther to the westward lies Thynias, an island that, I suppose, took its name from these fish, it lying to the west of Heraclea; at which place, Ælian tells us, the fish are in great perfection, as they improve when they approach the Thracian Bosporus, and do not acquire the name of Thynni, or Θύννοι, until they are grown to be large, the finall and middle-sized being called Pelamides.

The city of Thynias, in the neighbourhood of Salmydessus, had its name also, I prefume, from these fish, it being within a moderate distance of the Bosporus, their great resort, both when they leave and 'when they enter the Euxine sea.

But the great advantage, which the Euxine sea possessed in point of trade, was its serving as a means of conveyance of the commodities of the East to Europe. This appears to me to have been the most ancient method, and much prior to the communication across the Arabian gulph, to the Red sea and Alexandria. It was indeed tedious and circuitous, but the desire of possessing Indian commodities overcame all obstacles. Pliny relates, from Varro, that Pompey, when prosecuting the war against Mithridates, discovered the course of this trade.

The goods, he says, were brought out of India in seven days to the Icarus, a river of Bactriana, which falls into the Oxus, and conveyed down the river last mentioned into the Caspian sea, across which they were carried to the mouth of the Cyrus, and up that river to a place, that was five days' journey by land to the Phasis, down which they were carried to its entrance into the Euxine sea, from whence they were sent to Byzantium, and other places.

Strabo gives much the same account. He says, that Ariitobulus and Eratosthenes had written, from the information of Patrocles, whose authority he highly commends in another part^[19] of his work, that Indian commodities were carried down both the Ochus and the Oxus, into the Caspian sea, and transported from thence to the opposite coast of Albania, and from thence, by means of the Cyrus^[20], and the avenues afforded by that river, carried into the Euxine sea.

It appears, that the Phasis served as the means of conveyance, being navigable as high up its stream as Sarapana, to which place the goods were carried in four days, by land-carriage, in waggons from the Cyrus^[21]. These accounts of Pliny and Strabo do nor materially vary from one another.

The river Icarus, mentioned by Pliny, is to be found in Solinus; but I think it is only copied from Pliny. Ptolemy specifies a country called Guriana, on the banks of a river, that falls into the Oxus; and Mr. Rennell's map specifies both a district and a city, named Gaur, or Zout, in nearly the same situation, on the banks of a river, that runs into the Oxus, near the city of Balk, or, as it was anciently called, Bactra, or Zariaspe, in 34° 30′ N. L. nearly, and 64° Long.

The district of Gaur joins to that of Cabul^[22], a celebrated place of trade in the East Indies, as low as the last century. The passage of the goods from thence to Europe and Asia Minor is easily conceived. They passed down the Oxus, or Jihon, northward to the Caspian sea. The Oxus is described by Arrian^[23] to be the largeitof the Asiatic rivers, those of India excepted; and Strabo speaks of it, as convenient for navigation^[24], insomuch that the goods carried down it are easily conveyed into Hyrcania, and from thence, by means of rivers, to the countries lying on the Pontic sea. How, different must the condition of those countries at that time have been from their present state! .

The breadth of the Caspian sea, from the mouth of the Oxus to the mouth of the Kur, or Cyrus, on the opposite coait of Albania, is, according to D'Anville, about 1800 stadia, or rather more than 210 English miles. The Cyrus is described by Strabo, as the largest river in that neighbourhood. It rises, he says^[25], in Armenia, and receiving several other streams from mount Caucasus, pours itself through a narrow channel into Albania, and becomes then a large stream, by the accession of four other navigable rivers; and, being thus increased, empties itself into the Cafpian sea.

From modern maps^[26], and the consideration of the large rivers, which appear to flow into it, I make no doubt, that it was navigable (for such vessels as usually trade on rivers) as high as the meridian of Sarapana, which place still retains its ancient name, and is in one place distant only about 25 miles from a branch of the Cyrus. Sarapana was a fortified place, lying, as Sarapan now does, on one of the rivers that compose the Phasis, which last: river, Strabo tells us, was also navigable so far. To this place the goods brought up the Cyrus were carried in waggons, and there re-embarked upon the Phasis, (which both Arrian and Pliny describe, as a very large river,) and carried down to its opening into the Euxine sea.

Strabo says, that the breadth of this isthmus, from the mouth of the Cyrus to Colchis, is about 3000 stadia, or 343 English miles. This seems to be nearly correct; the narrowest^[26] part is about 318 English miles wide; but as the mouth of the Cyrus lies obliquely to the southward, this deviation would increase the distance rather more, I think, than Strabo's computation, who does not indeed profess to state the distance with exactness.

Dioscurias, which lies considerably to the north of the mouth

Coins of Cities on the Coast of the Euxine Sea

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of the Phasis, was the usual centre and resort of the domestic trade of the country. But the emporium of the Indian trade was, according to Strabo, a city, called Phasis, situated on the river of the same name.

From the Phasis, Strabo tells us, that it was but two or three^[27] days sail to Amisus, or to Sinope, from both of which cities the East Indian goods were dispersed^[28] over Europe and Asia Minor; and this trade contributed, no doubt, to the aggrandizement^[29] of both those cities.

Hippocrates^[30] observes, that the country adjacent to the Phasis was, in his time, intersected with canals, which the inhabitants used for the purposes of inland navigation. He also speaks of emporia in that country, but whether for the domestic produce, or for foreign commodities, does not appear: the commodities imported were, I presume, much the same as what the Europan nations now receive from the East Indies. Cotton manufactures^[31], pearls^[32], and germs^[33], dyeing materials^[34], drugs^[35], perfumes^[36], spices^[37], and ivory^[38], were, I believe, the principal, although other. articles of less consideration might perhaps be added.

The Indian trade in early ages mutt have been carried on to extreme disadvantage, even in Pliny's time, when the knowledge of the navigation of the Arabian gulph had facilitated the intercourse with India. Pliny says^[39], that it never drained the Roman empire of less than 403,645 l. annually paid for Indian commodities, which were again sold for an hundred times the original cost; and in another place^[40] he tells us, that India, Seres, and the peninsula of India, took from the Roman empire no less annually than double that sum.

As a large proportion of the vast increase of price of these goods, when sold again in Europe, must have arisen from the necessary expences attending their importation, this circumstance must have brought back to the frontier countries a considerable proportion of the wealth, which Rome attracted, as sovereign of the world.

But when the revolution, caused by the religion and by the conquests of Mahomet, put a stop to the East Indian trade down the Red sea, and across the Arabian gulph, his followers, being rather of a military than a commercial disposition, and not inclined to share with Christians what they retained of this commerce, the East Indian trade reverted, in a good measure, into its ancient channel, and contributed to the support and prosperity of Constantinople, which by this communication supplied Europe with East Indian commodities.

 

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1. Strabo, lib. i. et xii.
2. Strabo, p. 498.
3. Super octoginta urbium per cuncta maria genitrix, Plin. Nat. Hifi. lib. v. c. 29. Primæ in Ionia fundatæ et matris multarum et magnarum urbium in Ponto atque Ægypto, atque pluribus locil mundi Milefiorum civitatis Senatus et Populus &c. &c. Transat. of a Greek Inscription in Chandler, pag. 17. No. xliii.
4. Strabo, lib. xi. Herodot. lib. ii. c. 5.
5. Piscium genus omne, præciua celeritate adolescit manime in Punto. Plin. lib. ix. c. 15. xxxii. c. 11. Strabon. lib. vii. p. 320. Ed.Paris
6. Plin. lib. 9. c. 15.
7. Polyb. lib. iv. c. 5. The shallowness of the Palus Mæotis may perhaps be an inducement to go thither to breed. Polybius says, in most places it is not more than five or seven fathom: deep.
8. Strabon. lib. vii. p. 320.,
9. A medal steuck at Sinope has a tunny on its reverse. Patin. 317. Piscis in nummo cælatus pelamis est, ad denotandam thunuorum seu pelamidum versus ejus littus abundantiam et piscationem, de qua tradit Strabo, lib. vii. p. 320. Nascitur autem in paludibus Mæotidis, cumque aliquid virium cepit, ac ad liltus Asianum dwferuntur usque ad Trapezuntem et Pharnaciam, atque ibi primum capiuntur: sed ea piscatio copiosa non est, quia justam magnitudinem pelamidee non sunt assocutæ, Σινώπην προΐουσα ὡραιτέρα πρός τε τὴν θήραν, ϗ̀ τὴν ταριχείαν ἐϛίν, Postquam ad Cyanaes appulere, easque præteriere ad Byzantium et ad cornu ejus oonvertuntur, ibi sit tertia piscatio. Vaillant. Numm. Ær. p. 84. part. 2.
10. Ælian. de Animal. lib. xv. c. 5.
11. Athen. lib. vii. p. 303. Tunnies are still caught in vast quantities at Constantinople. See Petrus Gyllius, and Tournefort's Travels. A medal of Plotina, struck at Byzantium, has on its reverse a dolphin between two tunnies, and two on a medal of Sabina. Vaillant. Patin. p. 188.
12. Athen. lib. iii. p. 118, 110.
13. Polyb. lib. iv. c. 5.
14. Athen. lib. vii. p. 303.
15. Strab. lib. xii. p. 546.
16. Tourneforts Travels, vol. iii. p. 49.
17. Τῆς λίμνης ταριχεία. Strabo. The trade of Casss, or Theodosia, at present is, in a great measure, in {ls}}alted fish and caviar, as formerly Arrowsmith's chart.
18. Cordyla, et hæc pelamin pusilla, cum in Pontum e Mæotida exit, hoc nomen habet. Plin. lib. xxxii. c. 11
19. Μάλιϛα πιϛεύεσθαι δικαίος. Strab. lib. iii
20. Strab. lib. xi, p, 498
21. Strab. lib. xi. p. 509
22. The province of Cabul is, according to Mr. Rennell, highly diversified, being made up of mountains, covered with eternal snow, hills of moderate height, and easy ascent, rich plains, and stately forests, and these enlivened by innumerable streams of water. The situation of the city of Cabul is spoken of in terms of rapture by the Indian historians, it being no less romantic than pleasant, enjoying a wholesome air, and having within its reach the fruits and other products both of the temperate and torrid zone. In a political light, it is considered as the gate of India towards Tartary, as Candahar holds the same place with regard to Perfia. Rennell's Memoir of a Map of Hindostan, p. 152, 153.
23. Exped. Alex. lib. iii. p. 146. lib. viii; p. 295.
24. Strab. lib. ii. p. 73.
25. Strab. lib. xi. p. 500.
26. Map of the country between the Black and Caspian seas, 1788. Edwards.
27. Strab. lib. xi. p. 498.
28. Strabo speaks of the communication of Amifus and Sinope with Colchis, Hyreania, Bactria, and the parts lyingtowwda the East. Lib. xi. p. 68.
29. Sinope is called magna et opima by Valerius Flaccus. Argon. lib. v. veril 108, 109.
30. De mere, aquis, et locis.
31. Cotton is mentioned by Hemdotus, as an Indian production, and used in the manufacture of cloth. Strabo relates, on the authority of Nearchus, that it was woven into the finest and best constructed cloths, which, Pliny says, were of very high price. They are repeatedly mentioned in, Arrian's Voyage of Nearchus. Herodot. lib. iii. Stub. lib. xv. p. 694. Plin. lib. xii. c. 10. Arrian, Rer. Ind. p. 179. et alibi.
32. Pliny and Strabo both speak of the Indian pearls, as the finest. Fertilissima est Tapmbane, et Toidis, item Perimula promontorium Indiæ. Plin. lib. ix. c. 35. lib. vic. 22. Strab. p. 717. Elisa. Hist. Anim, lib. xv. c. 8. Hill's Theophmitus, p. 92.
33. The Indian diamonds are mentioned by Pliny, as first in excellence. The emerald; of the same country were much esteemed. Plin. lib. xxxvii. c. 45.
34. India is mentioned by Strabo, as abounding in materials for dyeing. p.694,699. Pliny tells us, that Indico (Indigo) was brought from thence, and Dioscorides speaks of it as an Indian production. lib. xxxv. c. 6. The red resin, commonly called Dragon's blood, was, and still is, brought from India. Plin. lib. xxxiii. c. 7. lib. xxxv. c. 7. Draconum sanies. Another dyeing mterial, of the cochineal kind, was imported from the same country. It is described by Ctesias, and after him by Elian; and as scarlet and purple colours were in such esteem at Rome, it is probable that this dye was made use of there.
35. Strabo says, that many drugs were produced in India; and Dioscoridea specisies a considerable number, which were in use in his time. Many of the ingredients in those exuberant and voluminous compositions, the confectio Darnocratis, usually called Mithridate, and the .Theriaca Andromache, better known by the name of Venice treacle, are of Indian production. The admission of such into the former of these compositions, forms a presumption, that the countries bordering on the Euxine sea had a connection with the East Indies.
36. Perfumes appear to have been an article of trade with the East Indies, although more with Arabia. Mala bath rum, amomum, nardus, agallochum, and many others, were all the produce of India. Heliogabalus, as we are told by Lampridius, burnt Indian perfumes by themselves, to impregnate the air of the vapour-rooms at the baths. As this is mentioned as an infiance of extreme extravagance, it may serve to prove the value set on Indian perfumes at Rome.
37. Cinnamon, mace, long pepper, ginger, and oil of nutmegs, are all ingredients in the confectio Damocratia, and of course well known in the countries adjacent to the Euxine sea.
38. Ivory was, I believe, principally brought from Africa, but some from India, and the largeit teeth were brought from thence. Plin. lib. viii. c. xr.

    India mittit ebur———Virgil

39. Plin. lib. vi. c. 23.
40. Plin. lib. xii. c. 18.