Trade, the beginning of a journey
- Necklace from Achaemenid Iran
Trade provides a way to connect different worlds. The Ancient Near Eastern societies were no exception. From the earliest times onwards, raw materials and goods were transported within this network of commerce. These first connections started rather small and close to home.
However, when central states arose and gained power, facilities to trade further across land and seas became accessible. For instance, Egypt exchanged wood and precious oils with the Levant through ‘The Way of Horus’.
Over time, routes and pathways expanded. Meanwhile, international relations were more of a rule than an exception. Specialist techniques were developed to produce precious objects out of raw matter, such as jewelry of gold. Such objects were extremely popular among the elite of the Ancient Near Eastern societies. Thus, besides the commerce of raw materials, finished prestigious objects were also traded. These objects exhibited typical motifs from the country of origin.
At first, the Ancient Near Eastern empires, such as Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria, were largely independent in this network of exchange. They controlled their own borders and were mostly governed by native rulers. This came to a final end when Persia, led by Cyrus ‘The Great’, began a series of conquests in the Near East around 550 BCE (Fig. 2). Eventually, he was succeeded by Cambyses and then Darius (Fig. 3), who established the Achaemenid Persian Empire, which stretched over the entire Near East (Fig. 4).
Fig 2: The ‘Cyrus Cylinder’, describing the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus ‘The Great’– The Trustees of the British Museum – 90920
Fig 3: The Persian Darius depicted as Egyptian pharaoh – The Trustees of the British Museum – EA37496
Fig 4: The Achaemenid Persian Empire around 490BC – wikicommons