likely by
way of Damascus. Another took a more northern line by the Mons Masius to
Harran and Seruj, crossing the Euphrates at Bir, and thence
communicating both with Upper Syria and with Asia Minor. The former of
these two routes is marked as a line of traffic by the foreign objects
discovered in such abundance at Arban, by the name Tiphsach, which means
"passage," and by the admitted object of Solomon in building Tadmor. The
other rests on less direct evidence; but there are indications of it in
the trade of Harran with Tyre which is mentioned by Ezekiel, and in the
Assyrian remains near Seruj, which is on the route from Harran to the
Bir fordway.

Towards the north, probably, the route most used was that which is
thought by many to be the line followed by Xenophon, first up the valley
of the Tigris to Til or Tilleh, and then along the Bitlis Chai to the
lake of Van and the adjacent country. Another route may have led from
Nineveh to Nisibis, thence through the Jebel Tur to Diarbekr, and from
Diarbekr up the Western Tigris to Arghana, Kharput, Malatiyeh, and Asia
Minor. Assyrian remains have been found at various points along this
latter line, while the former is almost certain to have connected the
Assyrian with the Armenian capital.

Armenian productions would, however, reach Nineveh and the other great
central cities mainly by the Tigris, down which they could easily have
been floated from Tilleh. or even from Diarbekr. Similarly, Babylonian
and Susianian productions, together with the commodities which either or
both of those countries imported by sea, would find their way into
Assyria up the courses of the two streams, which were navigated by
vessels capable of stemming the force of the current, at least as high
as Opis and Thapsacus.

We may now proceed to inquire what were the commodities which Assyria,
either certainly or probably, imported by these various lines of land
and water communication. Those of which we seem to have some indication
in the existing remains are gold, tin, ivory, lead, stones of various
kinds, cedar-wood, pearls, and engraved seals.

Many articles in gold have been recovered at the various Assyrian sites
where excavations have been made; and indications have been found of the
employment of this precious metal in the ornamentation of palaces and of
furniture. The actual quantity discovered has, indeed, been small; but
this may be accounted for without calling in question the reality