Ancient Man certainly wasn’t stupid and they worked hard, and I bet the king didn’t hand out welfare. So many people in the United States live on welfare simply because their lazy. Instead of getting a job they figure out a way to lie and get free money. Worthless people.
The Bible is clear on Nebuchadnezzar fighting a lot, building up his kingdom and I was going to look more into warfare, but…
Ezekiel 27
The Lament of Tyrus
Aanjar is exclusively one period, the Umayyad. Lebanon’s other sites were founded millennia ago, but Aanjar is a relative new-comer, going back to the early 8th century A.D. Unlike Tyre and Byblos, which claim continuous habitation since the day they were founded, Aanjar flourished for only a few decades. Other than a small Umayyad mosque in Baalbeck, we have a few other remnants from this important period of Arab history.
Aanjar also stands unique as the only historic example of an inland commercial center. The city benefited from its strategic position on intersecting trade routes leading to Damascus, Homs, Baalbeck and to the south.
This almost perfect quadrilateral runs lies in the midst of some of the richest agricultural land in Lebanon. It is only a short distance from gushing springs and one of the important sources of the Litani River. Today’s name, Aanjar, comes from the Arabic Ain Gerrha, “the source of Gerrha”, the name of an ancient city founded in this area during Hellenistic times.
1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2 Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus;
3 And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.
“I am of perfect beauty” – for a similar prideful statement. Since Tyre is described as a stately ship in the following verses, some translate “You are a ship, perfect in beauty.”
4 Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
5 They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.
“Senir” – Amorite name for Hermon, the Anti-Lebanon mountain (or range) famed for cedar.
6 Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim.
“Kittim” – which was originally the name of the town in southern Cyprus colonized by Phoenica.
7 Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee.
“Elishah” – a city on the east side of Cyprus; also the oldest name for Cyprus.
8 The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.
Funeral Rites & Burial Among the Ancient Phoenicians Sarcophagus of King Ahiram of Byblos. Funeral rites were one of the major types of religious cultic activity among the Phoenicians. It appears that burial of an in-tact body was the preferred method for dealing with the dead, though some examples of cremation have also been found.
The wealthiest Phoenicians and members of royal families received elaborately decorated stone sarcophagi which were placed in tombs cut directly out of rock.
“Zidon’ – or “Sidon,” a harbor city 25 miles north of Tyre, which sometimes rivaled her in political and commercial importance.
“Arvad” – another Phoenician island-city off the Mediterranean coast and north of Sidon.
9 The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.
“Gebal” – Byblos, an important ancient city
10 They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.
“Lud” – “Lydia,” in Asia Minor.
“Phut” – Libya, in North Africa, west of Egypt.
“Men of war” – the ship image is abandoned and Tyre is now described literally as a city, complete with mercenary army gathered from the whole world.
11 The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect.
“Gammadims” – men of Gammad, which was either (1) northern Asia Minor or (2) a coastal town near Arvad. It’s not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible.
12 Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.
“Tarshish” – Traditionally located on the coast of southern Spain, but the island of Sardinia has also been suggested. Passages such as 1 Kgs 10:22; Job 1:3 imply that it was a long distance from the Canaanite coast. This is the town Jonah ran to in order to try and hide from God when He wanted Him to preach to Nineveh (Jon 1:3).
Helbon is near Damascus. Helbon produced fine wines named karan hulbunu, and were requested by no less than Nebuchadnezzar himself in adjunct with sacrifice and prized as “Syrian wine served at the table of Persian kings” some 600 years after the record of Ezekiel with Athaneaus recording that the “wine was so excellent that the Persian king would drink no other.”
The name of the city means fertile, and is a contrast to the dry hills of the adjacent anti-Lebanese range. The place is wind-swept and a small well watered fertile oasis in a barren and hostile mountainous range. Helbon itself means fertile.
13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.
“Tubal, and Meshech” – both in Asia Minor.
14 They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules.
“House of Togarmah” – or “Beth-Togarmah,” located in eastern Asia Minor, present-day Armenia.
15 The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony.
16 Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate.
“Syria’ – since Damascus, the capital of Aram (Syria) is mentioned in v. 18, perhaps Edom is meant here (some manuscripts read “Edom” instead of “Aram.”
17 Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm.
“Israel…thy merchants” – in the past. Since 722-721 B.C. Israel had ceased to exist as a political state.
“Minnith” – an Ammonite town, apparently famous for its wheat.
18 Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool.
Wine Press
“Damascus” – capital of Aram.
“Helbon” – a town north of Damascus, still in existence and still a wine-making center. The name occurs only here in the Bible.
19 Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs
: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market.
“Dan also” – can be read as a place name, “Vedan.” Dan was a term that Homer used for Greeks.
“Cassia” – similar to the cinnamon tree.
“Calamus” – an aromatic reed.
20 Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots.
21 Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants.
22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.
“Raamah” – a city in southern Arabia.
23 Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.
The Moon god Sin In ancient Egypt the Moon was equated with the god Thoth as the god of wisdom and science. Thoth was also in charge of the calendar which still was based on lunar months. Yet in Egypt the Moon slowly lost his ‘leadership’ over the Sun and was finally seen as having been created by the Sun god Ra to illuminate the nocturnal sky.
Other prominent Egyptian Moon gods were Chonsu and Khepera, while the latter was at times seen as a Sun god.
“Haran” – a city east of Carchemish, in present-day eastern Turkey. It was well-known in ancient times as a center both for trade and for the worship of the moon-god Sin. From here Abraham moved to Canaan.
Canneh” – of uncertain location, presumably in Mesopotamia. It’s often identified with Calneh (Is 10:9), “Calno.”
“Eden” – a district south of Haran.
“Asshur” – can mean the city, the country (Assyria) or the people (Assyrians). Here it’s probably the city south of Nineveh that gave its name to the country.
“Chilmad” – if a town, it’s yet unidentified; presumably in Mesopotamia.
24 These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.
25 The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
26 Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.
“east wind” – disastrous at sea, as well as on land. It possibly symbolizes Nebuchadnezzar.
27 Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.
Nabonidus in relief showing him praying to the moon, sun and Venus.
28 The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.
29 And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land;
30 And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes:
31 And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.
32 And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?
33 When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.
34 In the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters thy merchandise and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall.
35 All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance.
36 The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more.
Babylon Captivity: Work, Travel and Commerce, Part 2 of 2
We have already seen that the temples controlled up to half of the land of Babylon. The temples owned boats and sailed them on the canals of Babylonia to pick up produce from various agricultural units and bring it into central warehouses.
Herodotus speaking about Babylon; But that which surprises me most in the land, after the city itself, I will now proceed to mention. The boats which come down the river to Babylon, are circular, and made of skins.
The frames, which are of willow, are cut in the country of the Armenians above Assyria, and on these, which serve for hulls, a covering of skins is stretched outside, and thus the boats are made, without either stem or stern, quite round like a shield.
They are then entirely filled with straw, and their cargo is put on board, after which they are suffered to float down the stream. Their chief freight is wine, stored in casks made of the wood of the palm-tree.
Much of the goods collected in this way went out again to other parts of the country and even abroad. In the existing commercial records of the time we find the temples exchanging agricultural goods for metal, timber, cloth, and other commodities from as far away as Asia Minor.
We also discover that the temples leased boats from private concerns to carry on their business. And there are indications that secular establishments, private or government, also engaged in extensive commercial activities.
As the 6th century wore on, the economic strains became increasingly evident in Babylonia. Government expenditures to build Babylon and other cities in Nebuchadnezzar’s day and to refurbish religious centers during Nabonidus’ reign put the pressure of high taxes on the economy.
So did the cost of supporting a large standing army. Meanwhile Phoenician centers (part of the Babylonian Empire) lost much of their former wealth and commercial prowess as Greek commercial centers came into their own.
Between 600 and 550 B.C. there was an inflationary spiral while wages remained depressed.
Weights and Measures
The Hebrews encountered a more sophisticated system of weights and measures than they had access to in Judah. The Babylonians developed a system of weights and measures that was essentially sexagesimal (based on the number 60).
A series of old Babylonian weights ranging from 1 mina to 3 shekels.
These measures varied somewhat from period to period and town to town. In the Neo-Babylonian period a talent or load was the weight that a man theoretically could carry (67 pounds).
They divided this into fill minas. The mina as 1/60 of a talent was 18 ounces. The shekel was 1/60 of a mina. Measures of length were based on the cubit (about a half meter). The Babylonian mile was some ten kilometers in length or about six of our miles.
The Trades
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonians experienced a great deal of division of labor in a wide range of crafts or professions. To name a few, they had:
Boatmen, Fishermen, Leather workers and Shoemakers, Mat makers and Weavers, Confectioners and Bakers, Brewers, Oil-pressers, Coppersmiths,
Silversmiths, Goldsmiths, Iron smiths, Jewelers, Millers, Fowlers, Carpenters, Stonemasons, Brick makers, Canal diggers, Scribes.
…the city Biblos caught my eye, how important of a city was it?
Ancient Man certainly wasn’t stupid and they worked hard, and I bet the king didn’t hand out welfare. So many people in the United States live on welfare simply because their lazy. Instead of getting a job they figure out a way to lie and get free money. Worthless people.
