Sailing Around Erythraean Sea: Twenty Eight

In the previous Section the unknown sailor gives us a picture of the markets of Yemen and its trading partners. It was a period of integration of tribes into larger societies, and this integration was not uniform. So the hunter-gatherers and pastrol tribes were dispersed in pockets in the periphery of port cities, and beyond. Merchants have played the leading role in this integration and we see the gradual  rise of chieftains and chiefdom. Continue to read:

There are imported into this place (ports of Yemen) from Egypt a little wheat and wine as at Muza (Mocha); clothing in the Arabian style plain and common and most of it spurious; and copper and tin and coral and storax and other things such as go to Muza; and for the king usually wrought gold and silver plate, also horses, images [Greek andriantes: male statuary], thin clothing of fine quality. And there are exported from this place, native produce, frankincense and aloes, and rest of the things that enter into the trade of the other ports. The voyage to this place is best made at the same time as that to Muza, or rather earlier.

My Search:-

1. Plain and common cloths imported were of duplicate or spurious. Wrought gold are used to make jewellery. They come in sheet, wire or molded form.

2. Storax is a type of resin obtained from the bark of storax trees (styrax officinalis) They are used in alternative medicine, perfumes and incense. 

3. Frankincense is a resin obtained from Bosewellia trees, native to Arabian peninsula and the Horn; used in incense and perfume.

4. Aloe is Aloe vera a succulent plant native to Africa, Mediterranean and India, used in skin care and perfumes 

End of the Section 


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