INDIAN SHIPPING
the ivory, garments, armour, spices, and peacocks which found customers in ancient Syria. In the Book of I Kings it is stated[1] how the ships of Solomon came to Ophir and fetched from thence gold, plenty of almug trees, precious stones, and the like. In the Book of Ezekiel, which dwells on the commerce of Tyre, there are mentioned commodities which are undoubtedly of Indian origin.[2] Thus the ivory and ebony included in them are characteristic Indian products and were recognized as such by classical writers like Megasthenes,[3] Theophrastus,[4] and Virgil.[5] Besides, another proof that the Bible really refers to the foreign trade of India may be found in the fact that there have been discovered some old Dravidian words in the Hebrew text of the Books of Kings and Chronicles of the Old
- ↑ I Kings ix. 26, 27, 28: "And King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea . . . And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon." I Kings x. 11: "And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees and precious stones."
- ↑ Ezekiel xxvii. 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." Ibid. 15: "They brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony."
- ↑ Strabo, xv. 37: "Ebony grows there."
- ↑ History of Plants, iv. 4, 6, quoted by McCrindle.
- ↑ Georg. i. 57: "India produces ivory." The Periplus also mentions logs of ebony exported from Barygaza-Broach.
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