"Tall Tales" Concealed Source of Spices
The Nabataeans were an ancient nomadic culture with an empire that once spanned from present-day Iraq to the Sinai, and from Syria south to Yemen. For more than a thousand years their camel caravans dominated the trade in frankincense, myrrh, and other spices traveling across the Arabia deserts. Used in temple ceremonies, in healing rituals, for mummification, and as royal tribute, incense was equivalent in value to precious gems and gold.
After the conquests of Alexander the Great, the Nabataeans became one of the most prosperous civilizations in the ancient Near East, controlling both the land and sea routes of the spice trade. They developed an elaborate system to provide water to their camel caravans, independent of local tribal wells and mastered knowledge of the seaports that linked the import of eastern goods with western markets.
Over the centuries the Nabataeans never constructed permanent houses, temples, or towns, but sometime in the 300s BCE, they built the magnificent city of Petra. Hidden deep in a canyon with 100-meter walls, this magnificent trading destination became known throughout the ancient world as goods traveling across the Silk Road came to the west. The Nabataeans were able to monopolize the trade between east and west.
By land it could take more than two months for frankincense to be transported from the Sabean Kingdom at Marib north to Gaza. Eventually the Roman Empire became determined to gain access to frankincense at its source, but the Nabataeans concealed their profitable desert roads. Likewise their knowledge of the maritime routes continued well into the first century to keep control of the lucrative import of goods to western (and eastern) markets. Over the centuries the Nabataeans became known as the tellers of "tall tales."
Read these to see what you think:
Obtaining Frankincense
"Arabia is the last of the inhabited lands towards the south, and it is the only country which produces frankincense, myrrh, cassia, cinnamon, and laudanum. The Arabians do not get any of these, except myrrh, without trouble. The frankincense they procure by means of the gum styrax, which the Greeks obtain from the Phoenicians; this they burn, and thereby obtain the spice. For the trees which bear the frankincense are guarded by winged serpents, small in size, and of varied colors, whereof vast numbers hang about every tree. They are of the same kind as the serpents that invade Egypt; and there is nothing but the smoke of the styrax which will drive them from the trees. The Arabians say that the whole world would swarm with these serpents, if they were not kept in check in this way. Such, then, is the way in which the Arabians obtain their frankincense."
Obtaining Cassia
"Their manner of collecting the cassia is the following: They cover all their body and their face with the hides of oxen and other skins, leaving only holes for the eyes, and thus protected go in search of the cassia, which grows in a lake of no great depth. All round the shores and in the lake itself there dwell a number of winged animals, much resembling bats, which screech horribly, and are very valiant. These creatures they must keep from their eyes all the while that they gather the cassia."
Obtaining Cinnamon
"Still more wonderful is the mode in which they collect the cinnamon. When the wood grows, and what country produces it, they cannot tell -- only some, following probability, relate that it comes from the country in which Bacchus was brought up. Great birds, they say, bring the sticks which the Greeks, taking the word from the Phoenicians, call cinnamon, and carry them up into the air to make their nests. These are fastened with a sort of mud to a sheer face of rock, where no foot of man is able to climb.
So the Arabians, to get the cinnamon, use the following artifice. They cut all the oxen and donkeys and beasts of burden that die in their land into large pieces, which they carry with them into those regions, and place near the nests. Then they withdraw to a distance, and the old birds, swooping down, seize the pieces of meat and fly with them up to their nests; which, not being able to support the weight, break off and fall to the ground. Hereupon the Arabians return and collect the cinnamon, which is afterwards carried from Arabia into other countries. Concerning the spices of Arabia let no more be said. The whole country is scented with them and exhales an odor marvelously sweet."
Vocabulary
cassia - tree bark (related to cinnamon) used as incense and flavoring
styrax - gum resin (similar to frankincense) from small trees
myrrh - aromatic resin from a thorny tree
Source: http://www.nabataea.net/nab6.html
The Nabataeans were an ancient nomadic culture with an empire that once spanned from present-day Iraq to the Sinai, and from Syria south to Yemen. For more than a thousand years their camel caravans dominated the trade in frankincense, myrrh, and other spices traveling across the Arabia deserts. Used in temple ceremonies, in healing rituals, for mummification, and as royal tribute, incense was equivalent in value to precious gems and gold.
After the conquests of Alexander the Great, the Nabataeans became one of the most prosperous civilizations in the ancient Near East, controlling both the land and sea routes of the spice trade. They developed an elaborate system to provide water to their camel caravans, independent of local tribal wells and mastered knowledge of the seaports that linked the import of eastern goods with western markets.
Over the centuries the Nabataeans never constructed permanent houses, temples, or towns, but sometime in the 300s BCE, they built the magnificent city of Petra. Hidden deep in a canyon with 100-meter walls, this magnificent trading destination became known throughout the ancient world as goods traveling across the Silk Road came to the west. The Nabataeans were able to monopolize the trade between east and west.
By land it could take more than two months for frankincense to be transported from the Sabean Kingdom at Marib north to Gaza. Eventually the Roman Empire became determined to gain access to frankincense at its source, but the Nabataeans concealed their profitable desert roads. Likewise their knowledge of the maritime routes continued well into the first century to keep control of the lucrative import of goods to western (and eastern) markets. Over the centuries the Nabataeans became known as the tellers of "tall tales."
Read these to see what you think:
Obtaining Frankincense
"Arabia is the last of the inhabited lands towards the south, and it is the only country which produces frankincense, myrrh, cassia, cinnamon, and laudanum. The Arabians do not get any of these, except myrrh, without trouble. The frankincense they procure by means of the gum styrax, which the Greeks obtain from the Phoenicians; this they burn, and thereby obtain the spice. For the trees which bear the frankincense are guarded by winged serpents, small in size, and of varied colors, whereof vast numbers hang about every tree. They are of the same kind as the serpents that invade Egypt; and there is nothing but the smoke of the styrax which will drive them from the trees. The Arabians say that the whole world would swarm with these serpents, if they were not kept in check in this way. Such, then, is the way in which the Arabians obtain their frankincense."
Obtaining Cassia
"Their manner of collecting the cassia is the following: They cover all their body and their face with the hides of oxen and other skins, leaving only holes for the eyes, and thus protected go in search of the cassia, which grows in a lake of no great depth. All round the shores and in the lake itself there dwell a number of winged animals, much resembling bats, which screech horribly, and are very valiant. These creatures they must keep from their eyes all the while that they gather the cassia."
Obtaining Cinnamon
"Still more wonderful is the mode in which they collect the cinnamon. When the wood grows, and what country produces it, they cannot tell -- only some, following probability, relate that it comes from the country in which Bacchus was brought up. Great birds, they say, bring the sticks which the Greeks, taking the word from the Phoenicians, call cinnamon, and carry them up into the air to make their nests. These are fastened with a sort of mud to a sheer face of rock, where no foot of man is able to climb.
So the Arabians, to get the cinnamon, use the following artifice. They cut all the oxen and donkeys and beasts of burden that die in their land into large pieces, which they carry with them into those regions, and place near the nests. Then they withdraw to a distance, and the old birds, swooping down, seize the pieces of meat and fly with them up to their nests; which, not being able to support the weight, break off and fall to the ground. Hereupon the Arabians return and collect the cinnamon, which is afterwards carried from Arabia into other countries. Concerning the spices of Arabia let no more be said. The whole country is scented with them and exhales an odor marvelously sweet."
Vocabulary
cassia - tree bark (related to cinnamon) used as incense and flavoring
styrax - gum resin (similar to frankincense) from small trees
myrrh - aromatic resin from a thorny tree
Source: http://www.nabataea.net/nab6.html