Carthage, founded on the northern coast of Africa (in
modern-day Libya) in 814 b.c.e. by Phoenician traders from
the city of Tyre in Lebanon, became one of the great trad-
ing civilizations of its time. Th e basis of Carthaginian power
was its navy, which included as many as 350 warships that
continuously patrolled the Mediterranean, primarily to keep
trade routes open and to drive off competitors. Carthage also
maintained a large fl eet of merchant ships, each capable of
carrying 100 tons of goods. Much of the empire’s trade was
based on the Iberian Peninsula (present-day Spain and Por-
tugal), which had rich deposits of lead, silver, and tin ore. Tin
was especially important because it was mixed with copper to
make bronze, the key material for weapons, armor, and other
vital implements. Th e Carthaginians also traded for tin with
Britain and possibly the Canary Islands, giving Carthage a
monopoly on the tin trade and therefore on bronze.
Besides Iberian silver, Carthage had access to silver mines
in North Africa, providing a solid foundation for Carthagin-
ian wealth. But perhaps the single most-valued commodity
carried in Carthaginian ships was a dye called Tyrian purple.
Painstakingly made in tiny amounts from the secretions of
certain marine snails, this dye was so esteemed in the ancient
world that a pound of it sometimes brought a price equal in
value to 20 pounds of gold. Other important commodities
included textiles (silk, wool, cotton), spices, perfumes, pot-
tery, incense, glasswork, wood, bronze, alabaster, precious
stones, plows, mirrors, cabinetry, household items (pillows
and bedding, for example), slaves, horses, and weapons. Food
commodities included fi sh and a range of agricultural prod-
ucts, such as wine, olives and olive oil, grapes, dates, nuts, and
fruits. Much of Carthage’s wealth came from brokering trade
in these goods. Carthage’s infl uence also spread southward
with caravans sent deep into the continent to trade for ebony,
ivory, salt, timber, gold, hides, and such animals as apes and
peacocks. To the north they obtained amber from the Scandi-
navian countries. Th e Carthaginians’ skills in storage, trans-
portation, and buying and selling (they invented the auction)
brought their empire wealth and power.EGYPT
BY PANAGIOTIS I. M. KOUSOULIS
Th e broader Mediterranean region, which includes 25 nations
today, witnessed the development of some of the most im-
portant and magnifi cent cultures of the past: ancient Egypt,
Greece, and Rome. Th e Mediterranean Sea facilitated this de-
velopment through cross-cultural exchanges, which took the
form of diplomatic aff airs, wars and treaties, social, religious,
and artistic imports and exports, and, of course, trade.
Even in very early times Egypt had an extensive network
of direct and indirect commercial and cultural contacts with
foreign populations. Egyptian ships sailed across the Medi-
terranean probably as early as the Second Dynasty (ca. 2770–
ca. 2649 b.c.e.), mainly to obtain raw materials. We can only
estimate the size of such ships, although a cedar ship builtin the Fourth Dynasty (ca. 2575–ca. 2465 b.c.e.) was said to
have been 100 cubits, or 172 feet, long. Excellent representa-
tions of ships from the royal expedition of Queen Hatshepsut
(r. 1473–1458 b.c.e.) to the mysterious land of Punt (perhaps
in modern-day Somalia) are recorded in wall car vings at Deir
el-Bahri in southern Egypt.
Th e main Mediterranean shipping routes follow sea cur-
rents and winds that go northward and westward along the
Levantine and Anatolian coasts to the Aegean and those that
go southward and eastward from Crete to Libya and Egypt.
Ancient navigators considered May to September the best
time for sailing the Mediterranean and might put out to sea
as early as March or as late as November, but in winter the risk
of storms made seafaring too dangerous, and captains kept
their ships in port. Trade goods included amphorae (large
clay jars used in ancient times for storage and transport) and
other containers, jugs, bowls, and vases in ceramic, stone, and
glass, and fi gurines of various materials, especially including
scarabs, the carved stone beetles that Egyptians regarded as
talismans. Besides ordinary trade there was considerable ex-
change of precious materials and other valuable items as gift s
between royal authorities and foreign parties for diplomatic
purposes. Many clay tablets excavated at Amarna in southern
Egypt preserve lists of goods sent by Near Eastern rulers to
the pharaoh as gift s.
Numerous other offi cial writings, inscriptions, and carv-
ings testify to an extensive trade network both within Egypt
and externally. Some record expeditions to desert mines and
quarries; others describe journeys to barter for goods with
foreigners. Th e Egyptian sources report all royally authorized
expeditions in standardized accounts that are all more or less
alike. Th ey record the date, the mission that the king set for
the leader, and the destination. Th e accounts usually end with
a happy and successful homecoming.
For modern readers perhaps the most striking thing in
these accounts is the lack of interest in trade for the sake of
profi t. Th e aim of the expedition leaders seems to have been
solely to carry out the orders of their superiors or to follow
the divine will of whichever deity protected their missions.
Th us the description of Hatshepsut’s expedition to Punt em-
phasizes the god Amon’s desire for the products of that land.
Similarly, the Twentieth Dynasty (ca. 1196–ca. 1070 b.c.e.)
Report of Wenamun tells the story of an offi cial who went
abroad to obtain wood for building a boat to carry the sa-
cred image of Amon. He had no interest in buying wood for
any other purpose, and he had no means of making a profi t
through the expedition, since he had sent from Egypt only
enough commodities to obtain what he needed for the boat.
Royal control over the trade economy, especially during
periods of powerful pharaohs and strong central government,
left no place for private merchants. Private traders appeared
only in times of weak or nonexistent central government, such
as during the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2134–ca. 2040
b.c.e.) and the Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1640–ca. 1532
b.c.e.) or aft er the New Kingdom (ca. 1550–ca. 1070 b.c.e.).trade and exchange: Egypt 10970895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1097 1097 10/10/07 2:31:03 PM