Some Authors Are Of Opinion That The Ancient Egyptians Did Not Engage In
Navigation And Commerce Till The Era Of The Ptolemies; But This Is
Undoubtedly A Mistake, Since Traces Of Their Commercial Intercommunication
With Other Nations May Be Found At A Very Early Period Of History.
It is
probable, however, that for a long time they themselves did not engage in
commerce, but were merely visited by traders from foreign countries; for at
this era it was a maxim with them, never to leave their own country.
The
low opinion they entertained of commerce may be gathered from Herodotus,
who mentions, that the men disdained to meddle with it, but left it
entirely to the women.
The earliest account we possess of traffic with Egypt, is to be found in
the Old Testament, where we are informed, that the Midianites and
Ismaelites traded thither as early as the time of Jacob.
Sesostris, who is generally supposed to have lived about 1650 years before
Christ, is by most writers described as the king who first overcame the
dislike of the Egyptians to the sea. That this monarch engaged in many
enterprises both by sea and land, not only for conquest, but also for
purposes of trade and colonization, there can be no doubt; though it is
impossible either to trace his various routes, or to estimate the extent of
his conquests or discoveries. The concurrent testimony of Diodorus and
Herodotus assign to him a large fleet in the Red Sea; and according to
other historians, he had also a fleet in the Mediterranean. In order the
more effectually to banish the prejudices of the Egyptians against the sea,
he is said to have instituted a marine class among his subjects. By these
measures he seems to have acquired the sovereignty and the commerce of the
greater part of the shores of the Red Sea; along which his ships continued
their route, till, according to Herodotus, they were prevented from
advancing by shoals and places difficult to navigate; a description which
aptly applies to the navigation of this sea.
His expeditions and conquests in other parts of the globe do not fall
within our object: one however must be noticed; we allude to the settlement
of the Egyptians at Colchos. Herodotus is doubtful whether this was a
colony planted by Sesostris, or whether part of his army remained behind on
the banks of the Phasis, when he invaded this part of Asia. We allude to
this colony, because with it were found, at the time of the Argonautic
expedition, proofs of the attention which Sesostris had paid to geography,
and of the benefits which that science derived from him. "Tradition,"
Gibbon observes, "has affirmed, with some colour of reason, that Egypt
planted on the Phasis a learned and polite colony, which manufactured
linen, built navies, and invented geographical maps." All the information
we possess respecting these maps is derived from Apollonius Rhodius, and
his scholiast: the substance of it is as follows: according to this
poet, - Phineas, king of Colchos, predicted to the Argonauts the events
which would accompany their return. Argus, one of the Argonauts, explained
that prediction to his companions, and told them, that the route which they
must keep was described on tables, or rather on columns, which an Egyptian
conqueror had before left in the city of Oca, the capital of Colchis; on
these columns, the whole extent of the roads, and the limits of the land
and sea were marked out. An ingenious, and by no means an improbable
inference, has been drawn from this circumstance: that if Sesostris left
such columns in a part so remote from Egypt, it is to be supposed that they
were more numerous in Egypt itself. In short, though on a point like this
it is impossible to gain clear and undoubted testimony, we are, upon the
whole, strongly disposed to coincide in opinion with Gibbon, that tradition
has some colour of reason for affirming that the Egyptian colony at Phasis
possessed geographical maps.
After the death of Sesostris, the Egyptians seem to have relapsed into
their former dislike to the sea: they indeed sent colonies into Greece, and
other parts; but these colonists kept up no relation with the mother
country. Their commerce was carried on, as it had been before the time of
Sesostris, by foreigners. The Old Testament informs us, that in the time of
Solomon many horses were brought from Egypt: and, from the same authority,
as well as from Herodotus and Homer, we learn that the Phoenicians carried
on a regular and lucrative traffic with this country; and, indeed, for a
long time, about this period, they were the only nation to whom the ports
of Egypt were open. Of the navigation and commerce of the Red Sea they were
equally negligent; so that while none of their ships were seen on it, it
was covered with the fleets of the Syrians, Phoenicians, and other nations.
Bocchoris, who lived about seven hundred years before Christ, is
represented by historians as having imitated the maxims of Sesostris, with
respect to maritime affairs and commerce. Some of his laws on these
subjects are still extant; and they display his knowledge of, and attention
to, the improvement of his kingdom. By some of his immediate successors the
ancient maxims of the Egyptians, which led them to avoid intercourse with
strangers, were gradually done away; but it is to Psammeticus, historians
ascribe the most decisive measures for rooting out this antipathy. In his
reign the ports of Egypt were first opened to foreign ships generally. He
seems particularly to have encouraged commercial intercourse with the
Greeks; though afterwards, either from some particular cause of jealousy or
dislike to this nation, or from the still operating antipathy of the
Egyptians to foreigners, the Greeks were not permitted to enter any port
except Naucratis, which they had been suffered to build for the residence
of their merchants and convenience of their trade.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 7 of 268
Words from 6180 to 7180
of 273188
