Cyprus, which became the great suppliers of copper in this part of the world
in the mid- to late second millennium. Ugarit could also tap into nearby
Syrian products such as ivory (elephant herds still roamed the area) andfine
wines. Between 1400 and 1200BCEit was perhaps the greatest port in the
world of its time.
Goods from many places passed through the Canaanite ports, but the most
important were homegrown, beginning with timber from nearby mountains.
The Egyptians used this to build ships, furniture, and other wood products
and for resin in mummification. To much of the outside world the most
sought after commodities were woolen textiles, particularly high-end gar-
ments such as robes dyed reddish purple. The color came from the murex, a
marine gastropod that was collected along the shoreline. These little crea-
tures were crushed, then dumped into boiling vats from which a minute
amount of precious secretion was extracted. The Greeks called the people
who traded in this cloth the“phoinikes”(purple men), hence the name
Phoenician. Other commodities included olive oil, wine, foodstuffs ranging
from dates andfigs to honey and cheese, aromatic oils from cedar and other
woods, carpets, sandals, baskets, hardware, precious stones, glass beads, and
slaves. A thriving metallurgy industry made possible by the abundant fuel
source in nearby forests turned outfinished metal goods including bronze
swords.
Byblos and its neighboring cities became Egypt’s main commercial
outlet to the rest of the world. The Egyptians first ventured into the
Mediterranean in the fourth millenniumBCEusing river boats without keels
but having sails. Six days of coastal hugging from the Nile delta would
bring a ship to Byblos and 12 days to Ugarit under good conditions, but the
return trip would take twice as longfighting countervailing winds and
unfavorable currents. Nevertheless, a few ships could carry the equivalent of
many donkey caravans, and soon ships from both sides were scurrying back
and forth. Commercial contact escalated during the period of the Old
Kingdom in the third millennium as ships improved and sailors dis-
covered new tricks such as sailing due west on the return voyage to pick up
southbound currents and winds. By 2300BCElarge cargo vessels exceed-
ing 100 feet in length, known as Byblos ships, were sent out infleets of
40 to pick up loads of cedar. Egyptian exports included glass, jewelry, per-
fumes, and papyrus, Egypt’s most important trade commodity after gold.
Papyrus, which grew as a weed along the Nile, could be used for making
boats, cloth, sandals, and cord and even eaten if properly prepared, but its
most important use was as a material to write on (from which our word
“paper”comes). The pith of the papyrus was cut into strips, arranged cross-
wise in layers, soaked in water, dried in the sun, and pressed into rolls. As
the main supplier of Egyptian papyrus to places outside of Egypt, Byblos
became associated with the writing of books (ultimately providing the word
for“Bible”).
Land of gold 47