Athens.
Athens, too, though in a less degree than Corinth,
was also a place of commercial importance; for
though at some distance from the sea, it possessed
three harbours—the Piræeus, Munychia, and Phalerum,
themselves forming a city as large as, if not
larger than, Athens herself. From the harbour of
the Piræeus a large foreign trade, chiefly in corn,
was carried on with the countries bordering on the
Black Sea and the Crimea, as well as with Palestine
and Egypt. The Piræeus contained extensive warehouses
for the reception of various descriptions of
produce, as well as a large portico or arcade, where,
after the fashion of eastern bazaars, manufactures of
every description were exposed for sale.
This portico (technically called the Deigma, or Show-Place) was in fact the Royal Exchange of Athens, where her merchants transacted business with those of Syria and of Asia Minor, who resorted thither in great numbers; and though Athenian commerce, even at its best times, was small when compared with that of Tyre, Carthage, or Miletus, Athenian merchants held a high position in ancient times.[1]
But, if commercially inferior to some other states, Athens maintained the highest rank among the naval cities of the ancient world, though it is difficult from such records as still exist to determine either the size or the number of the vessels belonging to her or to other Greek states.[2]*
- ↑ The actual boundary stone of the mercantile port of the Piræeus, of the date of the Peloponnesian war, was found in situ in 1842 (Ulrich's Athen. 1843). Themistocles planned, and Pericles carried out the building of this port-town (Paus. i. 1; Schol. Arist. Equit. 974; ibid. 547).
- ↑ The few following facts are, perhaps, worth recording. Thus, an
