Chapter I: Sheep’s Wool (1)

SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS--ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.

The Shepherd Boy--Sheep-breeding in Scythia and Persia--Mesopotamia and Syria--In Idumæa and Northern Arabia--In Palestine and Egypt--In Ethiopia and Libya--In Caucasus and Coraxi--The Coraxi identified with the modern Caratshai--In Asia Minor, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Samos, &c.--In Caria and Ionia--Milesian wool--Sheep-breeding in Thrace, Magnesia, Thessaly, Eubœa, and Bœotia--In Phocis, Attica, and Megaris--In Arcadia--Worship of Pan--Pan the god of the Arcadian Shepherds--Introduction of his worship into Attica--Extension of the worship of Pan--His dances with the nymphs--Pan not the Egyptian Mendes, but identical with Faunus--The philosophical explanation of Pan rejected--Moral, social, and political state of the Arcadians--Polybius on the cultivation of music by the Arcadians--Worship of Mercury in connection with sheep-breeding and the wool trade--Present state of Arcadia--Sheep-breeding in Macedonia and Epirus--Shepherds’ dogs--Annual migration of Albanian shepherds.

THE SHEPHERD BOY.

The rain was pattering o’er the low thatch’d shed
That gave us shelter. There was a shepherd boy,
Stretching his lazy limbs on the rough straw,
In vacant happiness. A tatter’d sack
Cover’d his sturdy loins, while his rude legs
Were deck’d with uncouth patches of all hues,
Iris and jet, through which his sun-burnt skin
Peep’d forth in dainty contrast. He was a glory
For painter’s eye; and his quaint draperies
Would harmonize with some fair sylvan scene,
Where arching groves, and flower-embroider’d banks,
Verdant with thymy grass, tempted the sheep
To scramble up their height, while he, reclin’d
Upon the pillowing moss, lay listlessly
Through the long summer’s day. Not such as he,
In plains of Thessaly, as poets feign,
Went piping forth at the first gleam of morn,
And in their bowering thickets dreamt of joy,
And innocence, and love. Let the true lay
Speak thus of the poor hind:--His indolent gaze
Reck’d not of natural beauties; his delights
Were gross and sensual: not the glorious sun,
Rising above his hills, and lighting up
His woods and pastures with a joyous beam,
To him was grandeur; not the reposing sound
Of tinkling flocks cropping the tender shoots,
To him was music; not the blossomy breeze
That slumbers in the honey-dropping bean-flower,
To him was fragrance: he went plodding on
His long-accustomed path; and when his cares
Of daily duties were o’erpass’d, he ate,
And laugh’d, and slept, with a most drowsy mind.
Dweller in cities, scorn’st thou the shepherd boy,
Who never look’d within to find the eye
For Nature’s glories? Know, his slumbering spirit
Struggled to pierce the fogs and deepening mists
Of rustic ignorance; but he was bound
With a harsh galling chain, and so he went
Grovelling along his dim instinctive way.
Yet _thou_ hadst other hopes and other thoughts,
But the world spoil’d thee: then the mutable clouds,
And doming skies, and glory-shedding sun,
And tranquil stars that hung above thy head
Like angels gazing on thy crowded path,
To thee were worthless, and thy soul forsook
The love of beauteous fields, and the blest lore
That man may read in Nature’s book of truth.
Despise not, then, the lazy shepherd boy:
For his account and thine shall be made up,
And evil cherish’d and occasion lost
May cast their load upon thee, while his spirit
May bud and bloom in a more sunny sphere.

The inquiry into the origin and propagation of sheep, no less than of the silk-worm, may be justly regarded as a subject of the deepest interest. For the management and use of these animals has, from the earliest dawn of human history, formed a striking feature in the condition of man. Of the materials employed by the ancients for making cloth, by far the most important was the wool of sheep. We are able to trace with great probability the process of sheep-breeding and of the use of wool for weaving. Among the bones of quadrupeds, found in ancient caves _throughout Europe_, we cannot find on consulting the works of Cuvier, Buckland, and De la Beche, that remains of sheep have ever been discovered. This fact affords some reason for presuming, that the sheep is not a native of Europe, but has been introduced there by man.

It appears to have been a general opinion among Zoologists, that the Argali, or _Ovis Ammon_ of Linnæus, which inhabits in vast numbers the elevated regions of Central Asia, is the primitive stock of the whole race of domesticated sheep. Agreeably to this supposition we find, that from the earliest times the inhabitants of Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and the North of Arabia, have been addicted to pastoral employments. The tribes of wandering shepherds, which frequent those countries, are descended from progenitors, who led the same life thousands of years ago, and whose manners and habits are preserved to the present day with scarcely the slightest change.

As might be expected, we have little precise information respecting the Scythians, who inhabited the elevated plains of inner Asia. Some of their hordes are distinguished by Herodotus, Strabo, and others, under the name of _Nomadic_ or _pastoral_ Scythians; and that this denomination was understood to imply, that they tended sheep as well as larger cattle may be inferred from what Herodotus says of their use of felt (See Appendix B.). Strabo, moreover, says of a particular tribe of the Massagetæ, that they had “few sheep,” which implies that the rest were rich in flocks; and of another tribe he says, “They do not till the ground, but derive their sustenance from sheep and fish, _after the manner of the Nomadic Scythians_[227].” But a much more distinct account of the manners of this people is given us by Justin, who says, that they were accustomed to wander through uncultivated solitudes, always employed in tending herds and flocks (_armenta et pecora_). He, however, adds, that they were strangers to the use of woollen garments, being clothed in skins and furs[228]. Hence it appears, that they were too rude and ignorant to have acquired the arts of _spinning_ and _weaving_.

[227] Strabo, l. xi. cap. 8. p. 486. ed. Siebenkees.

[228] Justin, l. ii. cap. 2.

If we may trust to the authority of Strabo, the Medes did not tend sheep; for he says of them, “They eat the flesh of wild animals; they do not bring up tame cattle[229].” Nevertheless, their southern neighbors, the Persians, with whom they were united under one government, had sheep in abundance. These animals are strikingly represented in the bas-reliefs of Persepolis. In one of them, which represents a long procession sculptured on the wall of a splendid staircase, two rams, attended by keepers, are accompanied in the same train by horses, asses, camels, and oxen[230]. Herodotus, in his account of the manners and institutions of the Persians (L. i. cap. 133.), mentions all these animals together in the following passage: “Of all days they are accustomed to observe most that on which each individual was born. On this day they set before their guests a more abundant feast than on any other. The wealthy provide an ox, a horse, a camel, and an ass, roasted whole in furnaces; and the poor provide the smaller cattle.” By “_the smaller cattle_,” this author always means sheep and goats.

[229] Strabo, l. xi. cap. 8. p. 567.

[230] See Ancient Universal History, vol. vi. plates 6. 8.

The superior excellence of the rich plains of Mesopotamia for the pasture of sheep as well as oxen, is attested by Dionysius Periegetes[231], and his account illustrates in an interesting manner the history of Jacob as contained in the book of Genesis, the rapid multiplication of the flocks and herds showing how well the soil and climate were adapted to this pursuit, and how well the business of tending them was there understood from the earliest times. Seldom do we find in any ancient author so beautiful a picture as is presented to us, when Jacob arrives at Padan-aram, and sees the flocks of sheep and goats assembling from the neighboring pastures in the evening to be watered at the well. Rachel appears conducting the flock of her father Laban, which she tended, and Jacob rolls from the mouth of the well the stone, which was placed to preserve the water cool and fresh, and assists his relative and future bride in watering her sheep. (Gen. xxix. 1-10.) Also on Jacob’s departure his remonstrance with Laban presents to us an animated representation of the duties and difficulties of the shepherd’s life; “These twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it: of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night. Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes.” (Gen. xxxi. 38-40.)

[231] Ὅσση δ’ Εὐφρήτου, &c. l. 992-996.

In English,

“As for the land, which lies between the Euphrates and the Tigris,
called the land _Between the Rivers_, the herdsman would not
contemn its pastures, nor he who tends flocks folded in the fields,
and honors with his syrinx Pan who has horny hoofs.”

From Ezekiel we learn, that Damascus supplied the Tyrians with wool[232], and Jerome, who well knew the country, says in his comment on the passage, that this article was still produced there in his time (A. D. 378.)[233]. Aristotle, referring to the sheep of Syria, mentions a variety with tails, which were a cubit broad[234]; and Pliny in addition to this circumstance asserts generally the abundance of the Syrian wool[235]. Probably the part of Syria appropriated more especially to the breeding of sheep, was the eastern part, which bordered on Arabia, and was distinguished by the same natural features.

[232] “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. Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied
in thy fairs: _bright_ iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy
market. Dedan was thy merchant in _precious clothes for chariots_.
Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in
_lambs_, and _rams_, and _goats_: in these were they thy merchants.
The merchants of Shebah and Raamah, they were thy merchants:
they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with
all precious stones, and gold. Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the
merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants. 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.”--_Ezekiel_ xxvii.
18-24.

[233] “Et lana præcipua, quod usque hodie cernimus.”

[234] Hist. Animalium, l. viii. cap. 28.

[235] Plinii Hist. Nat. l. viii. c. 75. ed. Bipont. See Appendix A.

In no part of the ancient world does sheep-breeding appear to have been more cultivated than in that which we are now approaching. Here were the Moabites, among whom it was _a royal occupation_, and, as it appears, the chief source of the revenues of the sovereign: for it is said in 2 Kings iii. 4. “Mesha, king of Moab, was _a sheep-master_, and rendered unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs and an hundred thousand rams with the wool.” Here on occasion of a war, which the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, whose territory was to the east of Jordan, carried on against the Hagarites, they obtained as part of their booty 250,000 sheep. (I. Chron. v. 21.) Here was Idumæa, in a part of which Job is represented to have dwelt, being possessed of 7,000, and afterwards of 14,000 sheep (Job i. 3. xlii. 12.): and we have a beautiful allusion to the pastoral habits of the same country in the language of consolation employed by the prophet Micah (ii. 12.): “I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bosrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.” Here also were the Midianites, whose flocks were so vast, that the sheep taken from them by Moses after his victory amounted to 675,000. (Num. xxxi. 32.) Jethro, the priest of Midian, was himself the owner of a numerous flock, tended by his seven daughters, whom Moses assisted in watering them, when the neighboring shepherds rudely attempted to drive them from the well. He afterwards married one of them, and was employed by the father as his shepherd; and, having occasion according to the practice of the country to conduct the flock from the plains to pasture upon the mountains of Horeb, he was thence called to undertake his extraordinary mission for the deliverance of his nation. (Exod. ii. 15-iii. 1.)

The Arabs appear from the earliest times to the present day to have bestowed no less attention upon sheep than upon horses. Isaiah also records the excellence of the sheep of Arabia in the following terms addressed by the Almighty to his people (Ch. lx. 7.): “All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.” The habits of the Nebatæi, or Arabs of Nebaioth, are depicted as follows by Diodorus Siculus: “They live in the open air, and call a land their country, which is destitute of habitations, and has neither rivers nor copious fountains, such as could satisfy an army of invaders. _Their law forbids them on pain of death either to sow corn, to plant fruit-trees, to use wine, or to build houses._ They submit to this law, because they think, that those who enjoy such conveniences may for the sake of them be readily compelled by the powerful to do what they command. Some of them rear camels, and others sheep, which they pasture in the wilderness[236].”

[236] Diod. Sic. l. xix. 94. p. 722. ed. Steph.

Strabo (l. xvi. cap. 4. p. 460. ed. Siebenkees.), speaking
apparently of another division of the Nebatæi, says they have large
oxen, camels, and white sheep.

Various ancient authors mention that extraordinary variety of sheep among the Arabs, the tail of which grew to so great a size as to require to be supported on a wooden carriage, which was dragged after the wearer[237].

[237] The passages of ancient authors relating to this variety, with
various confirmations from modern travellers, are quoted with his
usual accuracy by Bochart, Hieroz. l. ii. cap. 45. p. 494-497. Ed.
Leusden. Lug. Bat. 1692.

We have no reason to believe, that the Phœnicians employed themselves in the breeding and pasture of sheep. The narrow strip of territory, which they occupied at the eastern extremity of the Mediterranean Sea, was in general too densely peopled to be adapted for this purpose. Their activity, intelligence, and enterprize were directed into other channels, and they supplied themselves from foreign countries with wool for their celebrated manufactures.

On the other hand, the Hebrews, who were the immediate neighbors of the Phœnicians, were altogether an agricultural and pastoral people. The history of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, presents to us beautiful images of the kind of life, which still continues with little variation among the Bedouins, or wandering Nomads of Arabia. Not only was David _a shepherd boy_; but, when he had ascended the throne, he had numerous herds and flocks superintended by distinct officers. “And over the herds that fed in Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite: and over the herds that were in the valleys was Shaphat the son of Adlai. Over the camels also was Obil the Ishmaelite: and over the asses was Jehdeiah the Meronothite: and over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagarite. All these were the rulers of the substance which was king David’s.” (I. Chron. xxvii. 29-31.) The reader cannot fail to call to mind David’s frequent allusions in the Psalms to those employments, which were no less familiar to his own mind than to the rest of his countrymen, and which supplied to them the most touching comparisons for the expression of their deepest religious convictions. The passage “The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod (or _crook_) and thy staff, they comfort me” (Psalm xxiii. 1, 2, 4.). “He shall feed (_i. e._ _tend_) his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young” (Is. xl. ii.). “The pastures are _clothed_ with flocks,” an expression denoting the vast multitudes of sheep, which overspread the mountains and plains (Ps. lxv. 13.). “Be thou diligent,” says Solomon, “to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of thy field; and thou shalt have goat’s milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance of thy maidens” (Prov. xxvii. 23. 26, 27.). We would particularly refer the reader to the thirty-fourth chapter of Ezekiel, where the prophet, reprimanding the rulers of Israel under the character of shepherds, makes some allusion to every circumstance connected with the care of sheep and goats. Language very similar is employed by our Saviour in John x. where he speaks of himself as “_the good shepherd_.” The whole system and history of the sacrifices both before and after the giving of the Mosaic law, might be produced to prove the pastoral habits of this people from the earliest times. The districts of Bashan and Carmel, seem to have attained the highest reputation in respect to the breeding of sheep. Bashan, which lay to the east of the Jordan in the country adjoining that of the Hagarites and Moabites, already mentioned, and Carmel, the mountainous range near the Dead Sea in the south of Judea. In the latter district Nabal kept his flocks, and as he is said to have been “very great,” and we are at the same time informed that “he had 3000 sheep and 1000 goats” (I. Sam. xxv. 2.), these numbers afford us a precise idea of the wealth of a considerable proprietor in this respect. That the “rams of the breed of Bashan,” were particularly celebrated, we learn from Deut. xxxii. 14; and Ezekiel mentions with distinction (ch. xxxix. 18.) a sacrifice “of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.”

It is impossible to conceive a more striking difference in manners and institutions, than that which must have presented itself to the traveller in very ancient times, when on crossing the Isthmus of Suez he passed from the deserts of Arabia and Idumæa to the richly cultivated and populous plains of Egypt. According to the statement already quoted from an ancient historian the wandering tribes of Nabaioth were forbidden by a positive law to till the ground or to construct settled habitations, and they lived on the produce of their flocks, which they continually led from place to place in pursuit of pasture adapted to the season of the year. The Egyptians, on the contrary, appear to have been originally under a prohibition of exactly the opposite kind, since they cultivated the ground with care, excelled most other nations in all the arts of life, and produced the most splendid proofs of their architectural skill, but were not allowed to keep flocks of sheep and goats. That this was the case at the time, when Jacob took his family to sojourn in Egypt, is evident from their application to Pharaoh on arriving in the land of Goshen, which was on the eastern border of Egypt adjoining Palestine and Arabia, to be permitted to remain there on the ground, that from their youth they had been accustomed to tend flocks, whereas “every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians[238].”

[238] Gen. xlvi. 28.--xlvii. 6. Compare Josephus, Ant. ii. 7. 5.

It appears that the Nabatæan law was far more effectual towards the attainment of its object than the Egyptian. For, whereas the pastoral tribes of Arabia have retained their independence and their national peculiarities even to the present day; the Egyptians, on the other hand, became a prey to foreign invasion, and among other changes in their customs we have to notice the introduction of the management of sheep. Even as early as the time of Moses the practice had commenced; for in the account of the effects of the murrain in Exodus ix. 3, we find mention of sheep, and indeed it is remarkable, that the domestic animals there enumerated, viz. horses, asses, camels, oxen, and sheep, are exactly the same, which, as we have before shown, were bred by the ancient Persians[239]. Later historians afford distinct testimony to the same fact. Thus Diodorus Siculus says, that “upon the subsidence of the waters after the inundation of the Nile the flocks were admitted to pasture, and the produce of the soil was so abundant, that the sheep were not only shorn _twice_, but also brought forth young _twice_ in the year.” Herodotus also plainly supposes, that sheep and goats were bred in Egypt, when he contrasts the inhabitants of the Theban Nome, who worshipped Ammon, with the inhabitants of the Mendesian Nome, who worshipped Mendes. The former, he says, “all abstain from sheep, and sacrifice goats;” the latter “abstain from goats, which they hold in veneration, and sacrifice sheep.” He, however, mentions that the Thebans slew a ram once a year on occasion of a particular ceremony, which he describes (ii. 42. 46.). The testimony of Strabo and Plutarch, though differing in some particulars from that of Herodotus, is to the same general effect. Aristotle (_l. c._) mentions, that the sheep of Egypt were larger than those of Greece.

[239] It should be observed, that the Hebrew word translated _sheep_ in
Ex. ix. 3. included goats.

But, although these passages show, that sheep were bred in Egypt, we think it evident that their number was very limited. Egyptian wool cannot have been of the least importance as an article of commerce. What was produced must also have been consumed in the country. For, although the chief material for the clothing of the Egyptians was linen, and they were forbidden to be buried in woollen or to use it in the temples, yet Herodotus (ii. 81.) states, that on ordinary occasions they wore a garment of white wool over their linen shirt. They also used wool for embroidering. According to Pliny[240] the Egyptian wool was coarse and of a short staple. Tertullian records a saying of the Egyptians, that Mercury invented the spinning of wool in their country[241].

[240] Hist. Nat. l. viii. 73. See Appendix A.

[241] De Pallio, c. 3.

Strabo in an instructive manner contrasts the Ethiopians with the Egyptians. Having observed, that the boundary between the two nations was the smaller cataract above Syene and Elephantine, he says, that the Ethiopians led for the most part a pastoral life without resources, both on account of their intemperate climate and the poverty of their soil, and also because they were remote from the civilized world; whereas the Egyptians had always lived in a refined manner and under a regular government, settled in fixed habitations, and cultivating philosophy, agriculture, and the arts[242]. Thus do we find the nomad life recurring immediately to the south of Egypt. Strabo further states, that the Ethiopian sheep were small, and instead of being woolly were hairy like goats, on which account the people wore skins instead of woollen cloth[243]. That these sheep were held in some estimation by the Egyptians is, however, manifest from the fact, that in the splendid procession exhibited at Alexandria by Ptolemy Philadelphus, there were 130 sheep from Ethiopia, 300 from Arabia, and 20 from Eubœa[244]. Also, that the pastoral habits of the Ethiopians were known to the Romans may be inferred from the allusion, which Virgil makes to them in his Tenth Eclogue (l. 64-68.):

No toils of ours can change the cruel god,
Though we should flee him through each new abode;
Whether we drink, where chilling Hebrus flows,
And winter reigns amid Sithonian snows;
Or, where the elms beneath hot Cancer bend,
Our Ethiopian sheep we fainting tend.

[242] Strabo, l. xvii. c. 1. § 3. p. 476, 477. ed. Siebenkees.

[243] Cap. 2. § 1. 3. p. 621. 626. Strabo’s account is illustrated and
confirmed by the traveller, Dr. Shaw, who describes a variety of
sheep in the interior of Africa with “fleeces as coarse and hairy
as those of the goat.”--Travels in Barbary, part iii. chap. 2. § 1.

[244] Callixenus Rhodius, apud Athenæum, l. v. p. 201. ed. Casaub.

We find, that the people of Libya had attained to some distinction in the management of flocks. What Diodorus says of the Egyptian sheep is asserted by Aristotle of those of Libya, viz. that they produced young _twice_ in the year[245]. That sheep-breeding had extended hither in very early times appears from a passage in the Odyssey, which, however, in consequence of the remoteness of the situation and the imperfect knowledge of geography in the time of the writer, is mixed with fable, inasmuch as it represents, that the ewes brought forth not only twice, but even _three_ times in the year, and that the lambs were immediately provided with horns[246].

That happy clime! where each revolving year
The teeming ewes a triple offspring bear,
And two fair crescents of translucent horn
The brows of all their young increase adorn;
The shepherd swains, with sure abundance blest,
On the fat flock and rural dainties feast;
Nor want of herbage makes the dairy fail,
But every season fills the foaming pail.

_Pope’s Translation._

[245] Aristot. Problem. cap. x. sec. 46.

[246] Odyss. iv. 85-89.

Pindar (_Pyth_. ix. 11.) distinguishes Libya by the epithet πολύμηλος, “abounding in flocks.” To the same district of Africa, Virgil alludes in the following passage of the Georgics, which is surpassed by few as a happy example of the art of the poet in describing the various modes of pastoral life.

Why should I sing of Libya’s artless swains;
Her scatter’d cottages and trackless plains?
By day, by night, without a destined home,
For many a month their flocks all lonely roam;
So vast th’ unbounded solitude appears,
While, with his flock, his all the shepherd bears,
His arms, his household god, his homely shed,
His Cretan darts, and dogs of Sparta bred.

_Georg._ iii. 339-345.--_Warton’s Translation._

It is to be observed, that, although the Libyan shepherd according to Virgil’s description led a migratory life, conducting his sheep from place to place in search of pasture, yet the scale, upon which he carried on his operations, was widely different from that which has always characterized the nomadic tribes of Asia. The poet represents the Libyan shepherd as a solitary wanderer, bearing with him all his arms and implements, just as a Roman soldier (l. 346.) carried his military accoutrements. On the other hand, as we have seen, the Syrian or Arabian shepherd goes in a kind of state, with camels and horses to carry his wife and children, his tents, and the rest of his equipage; and he is followed by thousands, instead of hundreds or perhaps scores, of sheep and goats.

Let us now pursue the progress of this employment in another direction, viz. towards the north-west, and across the Euxine Sea and the straits connected with it into Europe.

Near the eastern extremity of the Euxine Sea we meet with a very remarkable instance of the attention paid to the produce and manufacture of wool in a tribe called _the Coraxi_. Strabo alludes to the value of their fleeces in a passage which we shall produce in speaking of the wool of Spain, to which it more directly refers. At present we shall only consider the following evidence preserved by Joannes Tzetzes.

Τὸ παλαιὸν περὶ στρωμνὰς ἦν τῇ Μιλητῷ φήμη·
Ἔρια τὰ Μιλησία καλλίστα γὰρ τῶν πάντων,
Κᾂν ὦσι τῶν Κοραξικῶν φέροντα δευτερεῖα[247].

[247] Jo. Tzetzes, Chiliad. x. 348-350, in Lectii Corp. Poetarum
Græcorum.

“Anciently Miletus was famed for carpets: for of all fleeces the Milesian were the most beautiful, although the Coraxic bore the second prize.”

Περὶ τῶν Μιλησιῶν ἔφαν πολλοὶ ἐρίων·
Περὶ ἐρίων Κοράξων ἐν πρωτῷ δὲ Ἰαμβῷ
Ἱππῶναξ οὗτως εἴρηκε, μέτρῳ χωλῶν Ἰάμβων,
Κωραξικὸν μὲν ἠμφιεσμένη λῶπος.[248]

“Of the Milesian fleeces many have spoken: and to the Coraxic Hipponax has alluded in his Choliambic measure, where he mentions ‘a woman enveloped in a Coraxic shawl.’”

[248] Ib. 378-381.

Hipponax, who is here cited by Tzetzes, was a satirical poet of Ephesus, and flourished about 540 B. C. In confirmation of his testimony it may be proved, that his countrymen and contemporaries had constant intercourse with a port in the vicinity of the Coraxi. We learn from Pliny (l. vi. cap. 5.)[249], that the Coraxi were situated near Dioscurias, which, though deserted in his time, had been formerly so illustrious that 300 nations, _speaking different languages_, resorted to it. As we learn from other authorities, Dioscurias _was a colony of Miletus and one of its chief settlements_. Miletus also in the time of Hipponax had risen to the summit of its prosperity, and was the greatest commercial city in the world next to Tyre and Carthage[250]. Its chief trade was towards the north and as far as the extremity of the Euxine Sea. Among the numerous Asiatic tribes, which were accustomed to bring their productions to Dioscurias and exchange them for Grecian merchandise, the Coraxi were, as we may conclude from the evidence now produced, a nation of superior enterprize and intelligence, who sent to the shores of the Ægean in the vessels of Miletus their fine wool, as well as the _carpets_ and _shawls_, which they made from it.

[249] See Appendix A.

[250] Heeren, Handbuch, iii. 2. 2. p. 185. Mannert, Geographie, 6. 3.
p. 253, &c.

If we had no more exact information than that which has been already cited, we might infer, that the Coraxi occupied part of the modern Circassia, a mountainous region admirably adapted to the breeding of sheep. The Circassians of the present day have numerous herds of cattle and vast flocks of sheep and goats. Their vallies are distinguished by beauty and fertility. A late traveller says, that from whatever country you enter Circassia, “_you are at once agreeably impressed with the decided improvement in the appearance of the population, the agriculture, and the beauty of their flocks and herds_[251].” With respect to Dioscurias, we are informed, that “the memory of its ancient name is still preserved in the present appellation of Iskouriah[252].” Sir John Chardin, who visited it and calls it Isgaour, commends its safety in summer as a road for ships, but says that it is a complete desert, where he could obtain no provisions, the traders who anchor there being obliged to construct temporary huts and booths of the boughs of trees for their accommodation, whilst awaiting the arrival of the natives of Mingrelia and Caucasus[253].

[251] Travels in Circassia, &c. in 1835, by Edmund Spencer, Esq., vol.
ii. p. 355. Julius von Klaproth, in the work quoted below, says,
(p. 582.), that the wealth of the Circassians consists principally
in their sheep, from whose wool the women make coarse cloth and
felt. In the summer they drive their sheep into the mountains, but
feed them under cover in winter, and at other times in the plains.

[252] Dr. Goodenough, in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,
vol. i. p. 110. See also Major Rennell’s Map of Western Asia.

[253] Chardin’s Travels, vol i. p. 77. 108. of the English Translation.
London, 1686.

But, besides the general inference that the Coraxi occupied part of the modern Circassia, we are able to determine their abode with still greater precision, and even obtain some insight into their distinctive characters as a nation.

At the south-eastern extremity of Chirkess, or Circassia, on the northern declivity of Mount Elborus, and about the sources of the Kuban, the ancient Hypanis, we find a mountain clan, consisting of rather more than 250 families, which appears to retain not only the manners and habits, but even the very name of the Coraxi. Julius von Klaproth, to whom we are principally indebted for our knowledge of them, calls them the Caratshai[254]. From him we learn the following particulars respecting their appearance, manners, and employments. They are among the most beautiful of the inhabitants of Caucasus, and more like the Georgians than the wandering Tartars of the Steppe. _They are well formed, and have fine features, which are set off by large black eyes and a white skin._ Their language resembles that of the Nogay-Tartars. They live in very neat houses, built of pine. Their children are _strictly_ and _well_ educated; and in general it may be said of them, that they are the most cultivated nation in Caucasus, surpassing all their neighbors in refinement of manners. They are very _industrious_, and subsist chiefly by agriculture. Their soil is productive, and, besides various kinds of grain, yields abundance of grass for pasture. The country around them is covered with woods, which abound with wild animals, such as bears, wolves, wild goats, hares, and wild cats, whose skins are much prized, and martins. _Their dress is chiefly made of woollen cloth, which they weave themselves from the produce of their flocks, and which is admired throughout the whole of Caucasus. They sell their cloth_, called by them _Shal_[255], their _felt_ for _carpeting_, and their furs, partly to the Nogay-Tartars and Circassians, from whom they purchase articles of metal, and partly _at Souchom-Kalé, a Turkish fort on the Black Sea_, which contains shops and ware-houses, and carries on a considerable trade with the Western Caucasus. They receive here in return goods of _cotton_ and _silk_, tobacco and tobacco-pipes, needles, thimbles, and otter-skins. While the men are employed out of doors, the women stay at home, make gold and silver thread, and sew the clothes of their fathers and brothers.

[254] Reise in den Caucasus, cap. 24. The author thus spells the name
in German characters, _Ckaratschai_. Father Lamberti, a missionary
from the Society of the Propaganda at Naples, who remained twenty
years in that part of Asia in the seventeenth century, calls them
“_i Caraccioli_,” in which name we observe the addition of an
Italian termination. See his Relatione della Colchide, hoggi delta
Mengrelia, Napoli, 1654, cap. 28. p. 196.

[255] The origin of the English _shawl_.

Such is the account given by a recent and most competent witness of the actual condition of this interesting nation, who, though now perhaps reduced in number, occupy probably after the lapse of 2500 years their original seat at the distance of from forty to eighty miles to the north-east of the same coast, to which they have always resorted for commercial purposes[256].

[256] Souchom-Kalé is only twelve miles from _Iscuria_, a single
promontory intervening between the bay and river of the former
harbor and those of the latter. See Spencer’s Travels, vol. i. p.
295-297, and his Map at p. 209.

We cannot survey the now deserted Iscuria without observing, what a mournful contrast the Euxine presents under the sway of both Russia and Turkey to the useful energy, which more than 2000 years ago promoted life and the arts of life, and brought into close and peaceful contact the most refined and the most uncultivated nations, under the direction of the Ionians of Miletus. The beauty, the bravery, the activity, and the independence of a highland clan still represent the skill and enterprize of the ancient Coraxi; but the commerce, which rewarded their industry, and extended their reputation through the civilized world, has sunk into insignificance.

Besides the above notices of the Coraxi in Strabo and Tzetzes we find little said concerning the breeding of sheep in this part of Asia. Aristotle, however, mentions the sheep of “Pontus near Scythia,” and says that they were without horns[257]. The Melanchlæni also, who are mentioned by Herodotus in his account of the Scythian tribes, and who lived to the north of the Coraxi, were so called, because they wore black palls.

[257] Hist. Anim. viii. 28.

There can be no doubt, that the use and management of sheep were known from the earliest times throughout nearly the whole of Asia Minor, and that some nations in this region had attained to a superiority in the art before the settlement in it of the Grecian colonists.

The imagery of the Homeric poems (supposed to be written about 900 B. C.) affords abundant evidence of these facts. They continually mention shepherds, who had the care of sheep, as well as goat-herds, who managed goats. They speak of the folds, in which the flocks were secured at night to preserve them from the attacks of wild beasts. The dangers to which the flocks were exposed from both wolves and lions, are in accordance with similar expressions and incidents in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, arising from the existence of the same ravenous and destructive quadrupeds in Palestine. Also, the language both of the Scriptures and of the Homeric poems _is precisely the same_, in which the king, ruling his people is compared to the shepherd tending his flock, or to the strong and large ram, which leads the sheep[258]. It is to be observed, that the geographical knowledge expressed in the Homeric poems extended as far as the promontory of Carambis on the south coast of the Euxine Sea, and included all Phrygia, Ionia, and the western half of Asia Minor.

[258] See Bochart’s Hierozoïcon, l. ii. cap. 44. De Gregum Pastoribus.

The Greek mythology affords similar evidence. The well-known story of Paris, adjudging the golden apple, is founded on the pastoral scenes of Ida. Marsyas also was a shepherd on mount Ida[259]: the river Marsyas, famed for his contest with Apollo, was among the Phrygian mountains[260].

[259] Hyginus, Fab. 165.

[260] It appears not impossible, that, when Theocritus in Idyll. iii.
46, represents Adonis as “tending flocks upon the mountains,” he
may have referred to the mountains of Phrygia or of Ionia. For in
another Idyll. (i. 105-110,) he seems to connect the love of Venus
for Adonis with her love for Anchises, as if the scene of both were
in the same region. Among the various accounts of Adonis, one makes
him the offspring of Smyrna; and Cinyras, _the father of Adonis,
is said to have founded the city of Smyrna in Ionia, calling it by
that name after his daughter_. (Hyginus, Fab. 58 and 275.) This
supposition accounts most satisfactorily for the production of the
beautiful elegy on the death of Adonis by Bion, who was a native of
Smyrna.

The historical evidence to which we now proceed, though referring to times much posterior to the mythological, is more exact as well as more entitled to absolute credit.

According to Strabo the branches of Mount Taurus in _Pisidia_ were rich in pastures “for all kinds of cattle[261].” The chief town of this region was _Selge_, a very flourishing city, and hence Tertullian, in a passage, mentions “oves Selgicæ,” Selgic sheep, among those of the greatest celebrity. The superior whiteness of the fleeces of _Pamphylia_ is mentioned by Philostratus.

[261] Lib. xii. c. 7, § 3.

We have reason to believe, that the _Lydians_ and _Carians_ bestowed the greatest attention on sheep-breeding and on the woollen manufacture before the arrival of the Greek colonists among them. The new settlers adopted the employments of the ancient inhabitants, and made those employments subservient to a very extensive and lucrative trade. Pliny (viii. 73. ed. Bip.) mentions the wool of Laodicea (See Appendix A.) in Caria; and Strabo (xii. c. 7. p. 578. Casaub.) observes, that the country about this city and Colossæ, which was not far from it, produced sheep highly valued on account of the fineness and the color of their fleeces.

Aristophanes mentions a _pall_, made of “Phrygian fleeces[262]:” and Varro asserts, that in his time there were many flocks of wild sheep in Phrygia[263].

[262] Aves, 492.

[263] De Re Rusticâ, ii. 1.

The passages above quoted from Strabo and Joannes Tzetzes allude to the very great celebrity of the wool of _Miletus_ and of the articles woven from it.

The passages, which will now be produced from both Greek and Latin authors of various ages, conspire to prove the distinguished excellence of the wool of Miletus, although in many of them the epithet _Milesian_ may be employed only in a proverbial acceptation to denote wool of the finest quality. The animals, which yielded this wool, must have been bred in the interior of Ionia not far from Miletus.

Ctesias describes the softness of camels’-hair by comparing it to Milesian fleeces[264]. A woman in Aristophanes (Lysist. 732.) says, she must go home to spread her Milesian fleeces on the couch, because the worms were gnawing them. In a fragment of a Greek comedy, called Procris, of a somewhat later age (ap. Athen. l. xii. p. 553), a favorite lap-dog is described, lying on Milesian fleeces:

Οὐκοῦν ὑποστορεῖτε μαλακῶς τῷ κυνί·
Κάτω μὲν ὑποβαλεῖτε τῶν Μιλησίων
Ἐρίων.

Therefore make a soft bed for the dog: throw down for him Milesian fleeces.

[264] Ctesiæ fragmenta, a Bähr, p. 224.

The Sybarites wore _shawls_ of Milesian wool[265]. Palæphatus explains the fable of the Hesperides by saying, that their father Hesperus was a Milesian, and that they had beautiful sheep, such as those which were still kept at Miletus[266]. Eustathius says, the “Milesian _carpets_[267]” had become proverbial. Virgil represents the nymphs of Cyrene spinning Milesian fleeces, dyed of a deep _sea-green_ color:

The nymphs, around her placed, their spindles ply,
And draw Milesian wool, of glassy dye.
_Georg._ iv. 334.

[265] Timæus apud Athenæum, xii. p. 519. B.

[266] De Incred. § 19.

[267] In Dionysium, v. 823.

He also alludes to the high price of Milesian fleeces in the following passage:

Let rich Miletus vaunt her fleecy pride,
And weigh with gold her robes in purple dyed.
_Georg._ iii. 306.--_Sotheby’s Translation._

The comment of Servius on the latter passage is as follows:

Milesian fleeces, most valuable wools; for Miletus is a city of Asia, where the best wools are dyed.

The ancient Greek version of Ezekiel (xxvii. 18.) enumerates Milesian fleeces among the articles of Tyrian importation.

Columella (vii. 2.) and Pliny (viii. 48.) assert the celebrity of the flocks of Miletus in former times, although in their time they were surpassed by the sheep of some other countries.

In soft Milesian wool as fine as possible.--Hippocrates, vol. i. p. 689. ed. _Fœsii_.

Ye are hairs of sheep, although Miletus may boast of you, and Italy be in high repute, and though the hairs be guarded under skins.--Clemens Alexandrinus, Pæd. ii. 30.

Lying on Milesian carpets.--Aristoph. Ranæ, l. 548.

Nor do I speak of the sheep of Miletus and Selge and Altinum, nor of those, for which Tarentum and Bætica are famous, and which are colored by nature.--Tertullian de Pallio, 3.

If, from the beginning the Milesians were occupied _in shearing sheep_, the Seres _in spinning the produce of trees_, the Tyrians _in dyeing_, the Phrygians _in embroidering_, and the Babylonians _in weaving_.--Tertullian de Habitu Muliebri.

We may now notice Samos, as being near the Ionic coast. Athenæus (xii. p. 540. D.) cites two ancient authors who assert that, when Polycrates was introducing into Samos the most excellent of the different breeds of animals, he chose the dogs of Laconia and Molossis, the goats of Scyros and Naxos, and the sheep of Miletus and Attica.

Respecting the breeding of sheep in _Samos_ it may be proper to quote the remark of Ælian (Hist. Anim. xii. 40.), that the Samians gave some religious honor to this animal, because a consecrated utensil of gold, which had been stolen from one of their temples, was discovered by a sheep.

It appears probable, that the shepherd life was established in Thrace as early as in any part of Europe; for in the Homeric poems it is called “the mother of flocks” (Il. v. 222.). In a much later age the sheep of Thrace are mentioned by Nicander (Nicand. Ther. 50.). We learn from Plato (De Legibus, l. vii. p. 36. ed. Bekker) that in Thrace the flocks were entrusted to the care of the women, who were there compelled like slaves to work out of doors.

Aristotle speaks of the sheep of Magnesia, and says that they brought forth young twice a year[268].

[268] Problem. cap. x. sec. 46.

A little further south we find sheep from the earliest times in Thessaly near the river Amphrysus. Here was Iton, which Homer also calls “the mother of flocks[269].” It was celebrated for a temple of Minerva, who was called from it _Itonis_, or _Itonia_[270], and whose worship was transferred from hence to Bœotia.

[269] Il. B. 696.

[270] Strabo, l. ix. c. 2. § 29. p. 458; and c. 5. § 14. p. 614. ed.
Siebenkees. Apollonius Rhodius, Argon. i. 551; and Schol. ad locum.
Alcæi Reliquiæ, a Maththiæ, No. 54.

That Eubœa was famous for sheep we know from the testimony of two different authors cited by Athenæus. That of Callixenus Rhodius has been already produced; and that of Hermippus occurs in his metrical enumeration of the most excellent and characteristic productions of different countries[271].

[271] Athen. Deip. l. i. p. 27. D.

Bœotia appears from very early times to have been rich in flocks. The tragic history of Œdipus supposes, that his father Laius, the king of Thebes, had flocks on Mount Cithæron. According to Sophocles (Œd. Tyr. 1026-1140.) Œdipus was delivered to one of the royal shepherds to be there exposed, and this shepherd through pity committed him to another, and thus saved his life[272]. Seneca in his free version of Sophocles (Œd. Act. iv. v. 815-850.) has added a circumstance, as it appears, from the practice established in other cases. He says, that the shepherd of Laius, whom he calls _Phorbas_, had many others under him. But, although it may be doubted whether the flocks of Laius were so numerous as to require a head shepherd placed over many others, we learn that his possessions of this description excited contest and warfare among his descendants. Their countryman, Hesiod, represents them fighting at the gates of Thebes “for the flocks of Œdipus” (Op. et Dies, 163.), an expression, which must at least be understood to imply, that sheep constituted a principal part of the king’s wealth.

[272] This transaction is represented in Plate VIII. Fig. 5.

Among the Elgin marbles in the British Museum we have an interesting inscription relating to a contract made between the city of Orchomenos in Bœotia and Eubulus of Elatea in Phocis, _according to which Eubulus was to have for four years the right of pasturage for 4 cows, 200 mares, 20 sheep, and 1000 goats_. In the opinion of Professors Böckh[273] and Ottfried Müller[274] this inscription may be referred to the time of the Peloponnesian war. The supposed effect of the waters of the Melas and Cephisos on the fleeces of sheep is a testimony of a much later date, but proves that sheep, both black and white, were bred in that country[275]. Varro (De Re Rust. ii. 2.) mentions the practice of covering sheep with skins in order to improve and preserve their fleeces. The Attic sheep, thus clothed with skins, are mentioned by Demosthenes under the name of “soft sheep[276].” The hilly part of Attica was of course particularly adapted for sheep as well as goats; and accordingly a letter of Alciphron (iii. 41.) describes flocks of them at Decelia near Mount Parnes about fifteen miles to the north of Athens. The fame of the Attic wool is also alluded to by Plutarch (De audiendo, p. 73. ed. Steph.), and by the Roman poet Laberius, who died in the year 43 B. C.

No matter whether in soft Attic wool,
Or in rough goats’-hair you be clothed[277].

[273] Corpus Inscrip. Græcar., vol. i. p. 740.

[274] Orchomenos, p. 471.

[275] Vitruvius, viii. 3. p. 218. ed. Schneider. See also Dodwell’s
Tour, vol. i. p. 242. It was imagined that the water of the Melas
rendered the wool black, and that of the Cephisos white.

Dr. Sibthorp, in crossing the plain of Bœotia near Platæa in
November A. D. 1794, says, “Flocks of sheep, whose fleeces
were of remarkable blackness, were feeding in the plain; the
breed was considerably superior in beauty and size to that of
Attica.”--Walpole’s Memoirs on Eur. and As. Turkey, p. 65.

[276] Contra Everg. et Mnesid. p. 1155. ed. Reiske.

[277] Apud Non. Marcellum.

We learn from Theocritus, that the shepherds of Acharnæ, one of the Attic demi, excelled in playing on the pipe[278].

[278] Idyll. vii. 71.

In the adjoining country of _Megaris_ was a temple of great antiquity in honor of Δήμητηρ Μαλοφόρος. It was said, that Ceres was worshipped under that title, THE BRINGER OF FLOCKS, by those who first kept sheep in the country[279]. Theognis (v. 55.) mentions, that the people of Megaris used before his time to wear goat-skins, which shows the late introduction of the growth and manufacture of wool. Here, as in Attica, it was usual to protect the sheep with _skins_; and, as the _boys_ were sometimes seen _naked_ after the Doric fashion, Diogenes, the cynic, said in reference to these practices, _he would rather be the ram of a Megarensian than his son_[280].

[279] Paus. i. 44. 4.

[280] Diog. Laert. vi. 41. Æliani Var. Hist. xii. 56.

In the Peloponnesus, _Arcadia_ was always remarkable for the attention paid to sheep.

Arcadia claims our especial consideration, because in it the shepherd life assumed that peculiar form, which has been the subject of so much admiration both in ancient and modern times. Here the lively genius and imaginative disposition common to the Greek nation were directed to the daily contemplation of the most beautiful and romantic varieties of mountain and woodland scenery, and hence their employments, their pleasures, and their religion, all acquired a rustic character, highly picturesque and tasteful, and, as it appears to us, generally favorable to the development of the domestic and social virtues. To attempt a full investigation of this subject, and to show in what degree the want of higher attainments _in religious knowledge_ and _moral cultivation_ was supplied by the peculiar rites, ideas, and customs of Arcadia, would lead us too far from our proper subject. We only wish to bring forward the principal facts and authorities, and to give a succint account of the genuine Arcadian system of religion and manners without attempting to refute at length the opposite views, which have been adopted by ancient and modern writers.

The peculiar Divinity of Arcadia, whose worship had a constant and manifest reference to the principal employments of the inhabitants, was _Pan_. Hence he is called by Virgil and Propertius “the God of Arcadia[281].” According to Herodotus (ii. 145.), Pan, the son of Mercury (who was born at Cyllene in Arcadia, where Mercury was previously worshipped,) first saw the light after the Trojan war, and about 800 years before his own time. Thus we are able to refer the supposed birth of Pan, and consequently the commencement of his worship to about the year 1260 B. C.[282].

[281] Virg. Buc. x. 26. and Georg. iii. 385. See also Propert. i. 17.

[282] Hist. d’Herodote, par Larcher, tome vii. p. 359, 582.

The circumstances of the birth of this divinity, with his habits and employments, are described as follows in the most ancient document which we have relating to him, viz. Homer’s Hymn to Pan. Mercury tended rough flocks at Cyllene in the service of a mortal man, being enamored of a beautiful nymph. In the course of time she bore him a son, _having the feet of a goat, two horns upon his forehead, a long shaggy beard, and a bewitching smile_. This was Pan, who became the god of the shepherds, and the companion of the mountain nymphs, penetrating through the densest thickets, and inhabiting the most wild, rough, and lofty summits of the sylvan Arcadia. There it is his business to destroy the wild beasts; _and when, having returned from hunting, he drives his sheep into a cave, he plays upon his reeds a tune sweet as the song of any bird in spring_. The nymphs, delighting in melody, listen to him when they go to the dark fountain, and the god sometimes appears among them, wearing on his back the hide of a _lynx_, which he has lately killed, and he joins with them in the choral song and dance upon a meadow variegated with the _crocus_ and the _hyacinth_. He is beloved by Bacchus, and is the delight of his father Mercury, and he celebrates their worship beyond that of all the other gods.