On Tue, 28 May 1996 20:42:59 David Lloyd-Jones wrote:
> I think your problem is that the proposition that the South Arabian
> frankincence monopoly was exploitative of the metropolitan centre looked
> like satire. I mean _frankincense_? Wasn't the stuff cross elastic with
> myrrh, fer goshsakes? How can you run a monopoly when there are substitutes
> on every bush? To say nothing of the guy with the funny complexion and the
> tired camel selling something he calls tiger balm...
>
> Look at it this way: if somebody had set out deliberately to write a send-up
> on this inbred flock of loons, could they possibly have come up with
> anything as wonderful as your story?
If there are any doubts about the very possibility of effective
frankincense monopoly (and, hence, the "core-exploiting periphery of
the South Arabian type"), I have to quote a bit from some original
(Classical) sources:
"Adjacent to the Astramitae is another
district, the Minaei, through whose
territory the transit for the export of
the frankincense is along one narrow
track. It was these people who originated
the trade and who chiefly practise it, and
from them the perfume takes the name of
"Minaean"; none of the Arabs beside these
have ever seen an incense-tree, and not
even all of these, and it is said that
there are not more than 3000 families who
retain the right of trading in it as a
hereditary property..." (Pliny XII.xxx.54;
transl. by H.Rackham).
"Frankincense after being collected is
conveyed to Sabota [the Hadrami capital
Shabwah - A.K.] on camels, one of the
gates of the city being opened for its
admission; the kings have made it a
capital offence for camels so laden to
turn aside from the high road" (Pliny
XII.xxxii.63; transl. by H.Rackham).
"After these, a designated harbour for
loading the Sachalite frankincense, called
Moscha Limen... Neither covertly nor
overtly can frankincense be loaded aboard
a ship without royal permission..."
(Periplus Maris Erythraei, 34; 1st
cent.CE; transl. by L.Casson).
Agatharchides on the South Arabians
("Sabaeans"; 3rd cent.BC; transl. by
St.M.Burstein):
"They transport cargoes of various sorts
including specially an aromatic plant
which grows in the interior..." (apud
Photius, Cod. 250.101, 459a).
"No nation seems to be more prosperous
than the Sabaeans and Gerrhaeans since
they the ones who distribute everything
from Asia and Europe that is considered
valuable... In general, there is a great
difference between their wealth and that
of others." (apud Photius, Cod. 250.102,
459a-459b).
"This tribe surpasses in wealth ... not
only the nearby Arabs but also the rest of
the mankind. For in the exchange and sale
of their wares, they, of all people who
engage in trade for the sake of the
exchange of silver, receive the highest
price for goods of the smallest bulk"
(Diodorus 3.47.5-8). See also e.g. Strabo
26.4.19, C778 &c.
"...They are the richest races in the
world, because vast wealth from Rome and
Parthia accumulates in their hands, as
they sell the produce they obtain from the
sea or their forests and buy nothing in
return" (Pliny VI.xxxii.162; transl. by
H.Rackham).
Cp. Periplus' description of trade in the
South Arabian port Muza:
"Merchandise for which it offers a market
are: purple cloth, ... Arab sleeved
clothing, ... blankets, in limited number,
....unguent, moderate amount; MONEY,
CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT; wine and grain,
limited quantity because the region
produces wheat in moderate quantity and
wine in greater" (Periplus Maris Erythraei,
24; 1st cent.CE; transl. by L.Casson;
emphasis added - A.K.).
"Frankincense, myrrh, cassia, cinnamon,
and ladanum grow in Arabia alone of all
countries. ... Over the trees that bear
frankincense winged snakes stand guard,
small in size and varied in appearance, a
mass of them about each tree" (Herodotus
3.107; 5th cent.BC; transl. by L.Casson).
See also similar stories in Photius, Cod.
250.98, 458b; Diodorus 3.47.1-2; Strabo
16.4.19, C778; Pliny XII. xvii. 85 &c.
Of special interest is Pliny's (1st CE)
commentary on such stories:
"... these tales having been invented by
the natives to raise the price of their
commodities" (Pliny XII.xvii.85-86;
transl. by H.Rackham).
See also e.g. Pliny XII.xxx.51-52 (transl.
by H.Rackham):
"The chief products of Arabia then are
frankincense and myrrh; the latter it
shares also with the Cave-dwellers Country
[in the African Horn region - A.K.], but
no country beside Arabia produces
frankincense, and not even the whole of
Arabia". - Of course frankincense is also
produced in the African Horn area, and the
South Arabians must have known this very
well due to their colonization of this
area and control over this area's trade
(see below). Hence, Pliny's (and many
others') data look very much like another
piece of the rather effective South
Arabian "monopoly procuring
disinformation" of the Mediterranneans.
Also with respect to the possible South
Arabian (Qatabanian?) monopoly on the
cinnamon of the African Horn (one should
take into consideration that the Ancient
cinnamon was not the South-East Asian
product we know now, but rather bark of
another plant endemic to the African Horn,
as has been convincingly shown by P.Crone
[Crone, P., Meccan Trade and the Rise of
Islam. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1987]):
"Cinnamomum, which is the same thing as
cinnamon, grows in Ethiopia, which is
linked by intermarriage with the Cave-
dwellers [Troglodytis - A.K.]. The latter
buy it from their neighbours and convey it
over the wide seas... A west-north-west
wind brings them to the harbour of the
Gebbanitae [Qatabanians? The Minaean-
Qatabanian Ahl Gab'a:n merchant league? -
A.K.] called Ocilia [the present day
Shaykh Sa`u:d Harbour on the Arabian Red
Sea coast near Ba:b al-Mandab - A.K.]...
In return for their wares they bring back
articles of glass and copper, clothing,
and buckles, bracelets and necklaces..."
(Pliny XII.xvii.86-88; transl. by
H.Rackham).
"The right of controlling the sale of
cinnamon is vested solely in the king of
the Gebbanitae" (Pliny XII.xvii.86-88;
transl. by H.Rackham).
On some East African regions as a
periphery of the South Arabian "world-
system":
"Two runs beyond this island comes the
very last port of trade on the coast of
Azania, called Rhapta [on the present-day
Tanzanian coast - A.K.]... The region is
under the rule of the governor of
Mapharites [al-Ma`a:fir/M`FRm area in the
South West of the Yemen Highlands - A.K.],
since by some ancient right it is subject
to the kingdom of Arabia as first
constituted. The merchants of Muza [most
likely the predecessor of the famous
Medieval Mocca/al-Mukha:' - A.K.] hold it
through a grant from the king and collect
taxes from it. They send out to it
merchant craft that they staff mostly with
Arab skippers and agents who, through
continual intercourse and intermarriage,
are familiar with the area and its
language. The principal imports into these
ports of trade are: spears from Muza OF
LOCAL WORKMANSHIP; axes; knives..."
(Periplus Maris Erythraei, 16-17; 1st
cent.CE; transl. by L.Casson; emphasis
added - A.K.).
See also Pliny:
"A kind [of myrrh - A.K.] highly spoken of
is also imported from islands, and the
Sabaei even cross the sea to the Cave-
dwellers' Country [in the African Horn
region - A.K.]to procure it" (Pliny
XII.xxxiii.66; transl. by H.Rackham).