The Historians' History of the World 01

Another great military road, described by Herodotus, from station to station, and leading to Sardis and other Greek commercial towns in Asia Minor, was made by the Persian kings at a vast expense. It is not, indeed, to be doubted that political reasons were a principal inducement to the formation of this road, because the Persians, when they were engaged in war with the Greeks, scarcely set so high a value upon any of their provinces as they did upon Asia Minor, with which they were very desirous to further and maintain an uninterrupted communication. But we moreover learn from the description of Herodotus, that it was a commercial road, upon which caravans travelled from the chief cities of Persia into Asia Minor. According to him the road began from Susa, and not from Babylon; yet the vicinity of these two cities and their intimate connection, which has been remarked above, renders this a circumstance of no importance.

This principal road of Asia, once so famous, having undergone no other alteration than that occasioned by its different limits, is now commonly used by caravans from Ispahan to Smyrna; Tavernier has given us a full description of it. Its present course is from Smyrna to Tokat, and thence to Erivan. Only the last half has varied; for, in order to be in the direction of Ispahan, the traveller now proceeds northeast, beyond the lake of Urumiyeh; whereas the ancients, on the contrary, without going so far east, inclined more to the south, and followed the course of the Tigris.

On the whole, however, the ancient and modern roads agree in one particular, the reason of which we are told by Herodotus; that is to say, they chose the longer in preference to the shorter way, that they might travel through inhabited countries, and in security. The direct road would have led them through the midst of the steppes of Mesopotamia, where security would have been quite out of the question, on account of the roving predatory hordes. Therefore in ancient times, as well as the present, they chose the northern route along the foot of the Armenian Mountains, where the traveller enjoyed security from molestation.

As to the rest, the division into stations was evidently adopted for the advantage of the caravans. According to Herodotus, the distance between each station was five parasangs, a journey of seven or eight hours; and this we learn from Tavernier is exactly the space which caravans consisting of loaded camels are accustomed to traverse in the course of a day; but those of horses travel much faster. As this road, however, was perfectly safe, there can be no doubt that single merchants and travellers performed the journey alone.

A third branch of Babylonian commerce in the interior of Asia had a northern direction, particularly to Armenia. The Armenians had the advantage of the Euphrates to convey their wares to Babylon, and amongst these wine, which the soil of Babylonia did not produce, was the principal. Herodotus has described this navigation; and we learn from him that the ships or floats of the Armenians were constructed similarly to those which are at present seen on the Tigris, under the appellation of kilets. The skeleton only was of wood; this had a covering of skins overlaid with reeds; and an oval form was given to the whole, so that there was no difference between the stern and prow. They were filled with goods, especially large casks of wine, and then guided down the stream by two oars. The size of these barks varied considerably; Herodotus observed some which were rated at more than five thousand talents’ burthen [i.e. about 12,000 tons by the least estimate]. On their arrival at Babylon, the conductors sold not only the cargo, but also the skeleton; the skins, however, were carried back by land on asses, which they brought with them for the purpose; since, as the historian has remarked, the force of the stream rendered it impossible for them to return up the river: thus, in Germany, the market boats which go down the Danube to Vienna never return, but are sold with the commodities which they convey.