AI Economy in Antiquity 20: Ports and Markets

On the gradual return of the Jews to work in ports and on ships after the Great Revolt, and the economy of markets and fairs

Ants

Josephus testifies that the Jews were not coastal dwellers (to the west of course) considering a natural conclusion from Pompey's decrees of 63-67 BC, by which Jews were excluded from the population of the coastal cities and the situation was obviously aggravated as a result of the great rebellion (73-66 AD). However, over time there was a return to the coastal area, which was manifested in the development of maritime trade, for example, and we pointed to this in the previous chapter. This is how the midrash teaches us: "Rabbanan Amri - for istrologos (astrologer and in a broad sense -
The watcher on the lighthouse, as in the Hellenistic Pharos in Egypt), who was sitting at Petah Halman (limen in Greek means port and was mistaken in the Hebrew language), and would warn all the passers-by and say to them: A certain pragmatia goes out in such a place and a certain pragmatia comes out in such a place" (Kohelat Rabbah 1:35 ). Parables and images in this language imply Jewish accessibility to the Hellenistic/Roman coastal ports.

There is evidence, albeit literary, of a Jewish presence in the ports of the coastal cities, such as Tire and Sidon, and especially in the former which was an important port for oil, wine, glass and ceramics products. Sage sources testify to sailing permits from Tire and Sidon even on Shabbat evening.
Acre used to be a central port city for the goods of the Galilee and the valley and the expression "Namila dako" (Talmud Babili Avoda Zerah lat p. 2) and it can be assumed that the hand of the presidency was involved, as Acre served as an important port for the export of the goods of the president's house and a center for his ships.
Next to it, the city/port of Haifa/Shakmona became known, and the inscriptions from the third century AD on the Jewish community based there. And just to the south of this the port became known as Dar/Dor.

The Herodian enterprise of the city of Caesarea and Nemela, in terms of an international outline, was unprecedented for its time and this is what the archaeological sources that confirm what is told in the Protorot in the writings of Josephus in both the Antiquities of the Jews and the Jewish Wars will testify to this. The elaborate and enormous Herodian harbor cast quite a shadow over the Athenian Piraeus on the one hand and the Alexandrian on the other. After the revolt of Ben Kusava, Jews began to populate the city and even Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi encouraged them to settle ("Rabbi Hatir Kiserin" - Yerushalmi Talmud Damai chapter 32 p. 3) and to trade in it and the community phrase "Rabbanan Dakiserin" became known (Yerushalmi Talmud Shabbat chapter 14 Hand p. 4) Many Jews from Babylon settled in Caesarea, and there were similar trade routes between Judah and Babylon. And by the way, I learned from my teacher and rabbi, Prof. Shmuel Safrai, that reading the Shema in Caesarea proved that the Jews, at least those who visited it from abroad, were on the cross.

To the above list we will add the port in Akhziv, in Jaffa ("Lamina of Jaffa" - Tosefta Damai 11:XNUMX) and Rabbi Haya the merchant excitedly told about ships that frequent the port of Jaffa).
The port of Yavneh (Yamnia), the port of Ashkelon, whose area was permitted by Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi for Jewish settlement, Gaza, Rafah (Rafia) and the port of Eilat, whose area was permitted by Rabbi Hanasi. We will also mention the port of Ein Gedi and Kinneret, which Sepania asked Rabbi Hanina with interesting questions.

markets and fairs

The market or fair was the center of commercial life in Israel. The villagers would come there on Mondays or Thursdays to sell their produce. The market was located in the center of the city, near the main road. The midrash tells about Antoninus (one of the emperors of Rome) who visited the market in Caesarea with the president and the best members of the Sanhedrin next to him.
In the cities of Polis, the fairs were found, the going to which was a bone of contention among the sages, perhaps due to the dangers of impurity that beset the visitors, and the strict feared in general that there would be confusion between Jews and foreigners at those fairs. And there were fairs that sages specifically forbade attending due to the difficult historical past, when Jews were sold into slavery after the rebellion of Ben Kosba. In this regard, a number of permits were published in favor of the commercial normalization between Jews and foreigners out of a desire to develop economic ties between them, such as "you go to a fair of Gentiles and you are healed by them for the healing of money, but not the healing of souls" (Tosefta Avoda Zerah 5:XNUMX).
In this context, it is worth noting the famous confrontation between members of the Sanhedrin regarding the urbanization process that plagued the Roman East in the second century AD and onwards, when most of the members sided with, for example, the Roman initiative in the form of: "How beautiful are the actions of this nation - buy markets, buy bridges, buy baths..." , and the fanatical, rebellious minority claimed to the extreme that "everything we bought, we won't buy unless necessary themselves (such as): buy markets (in order to put prostitutes in them)..." (Talmud Babli Shabbat lg p. 2). After all, you have two approaches - a pragmatic one and an extreme one. when the former rejected the latter by an absolute majority.
That joint meeting of Jews and Gentiles probably caused many difficulties in the field of the laws of pagan worship such as this: "Before their idei (chagam) three days it is forbidden to negotiate with them, to borrow and borrow from them, to lend and borrow from them, to repay and to repay from them. Rabbi Yehuda says: We will repay from them... (Mishna Avodah Zera, 1:4). Beyond the assumption that these prohibitions actually pointed to a reality that has to be prevented on the one hand and the desire on the other hand to offer permits in this regard, as Rabbi Yehuda's initial work. And it continued in view of the prohibition, for example, of selling a white rooster to foreigners, when Rabbi Yehuda permitted the sale of "a white rooster among the roosters", as if by mistake one was paired with the other, and the pragmatic realization from then on is really not difficult to find. Or: "A city in which there is foreign worship (mostly pagan), and there were decorated shops (probably decorated with pagan symbols) and those that were not decorated. This was an act in Beit Shan, and the Sages said: Decorated ones are forbidden and those that are not decorated are permitted" (Mishna Avoda Zera, XNUMX:XNUMX) , regarding "scratching the left ear with the right hand", when the duration of the permit process is only rational and clear, and perhaps even stems from the principle of "Because of the settlement of the state"..
Another excuse in this regard is given by the Yerushalmi by saying that "a shop of foreign labor is not allowed to rent. (But) if it raised wages for the state (probably a tax to the authorities), even though it is necessary for foreign labor, it is allowed to rent" (Mishna Avoda Zera 4:3). In other words, for the sake of principled and pragmatic cooperation with the authorities, the Sanhedrin was ready to turn a blind eye to the option of economic partnership between Jews and foreigners. And more such as what appears in the Addendum Abode Zera (XNUMX:XNUMX ff.): And in the house of a Gentile it is forbidden" and also - "We take from the Gentiles grain and legumes and grains (dried figs), garlic and onions from everywhere, and there is no fear Because of impurity..."

This permit and similar ones obviously indicate the process of reconciliation of the Jewish leadership with the reality of the legality of the Roman rule in the province, and especially after the rebellion of Ben Khosva. The fair, as opposed to the market, carried a more foreign character, and an echo of this is found in the following Midrash: "You (Esau, symbolizing the foreign side), you have fairs and he (Yaakov) has markets." Economic and other visit permits for foreign fairs were found in uniforms from the fairs in Ashkelon, Acre, Antipatris, Beit Govrin, Petros Market (near Lod) and more.
An interesting case is related to the matter of a "treasure", that is, a fund/treasure, a reservoir sometimes shared and/or shared between Jews and foreigners in mixed cities, such as "Israel's treasure and Gentiles deposit (hoarders, investors) in it..." (Tosefta Demai 13:XNUMX) . In this context, "Treasure of Yavne" or "Treasure of Regev" (Yishov in Bashan) became known.

Among the markets in the Land of Israel we find the Tiberian market which is divided geographically into upper and lower. In the city of Tiberias, specific markets of professional associations such as "Shoka Dagriva", "Shoka Dagargira", "Shoka Daskai", "Shoka Dagzora", "Shoka Darmai" were known, as well as evidence of various "domes", each one dedicated to a different craft. All these come to teach about the economic-commercial activity that took place in this city.

The central market of Tiberias, which was mainly used by the farmers, is the "Dormos", whose Greek name indicates its shape or its use on certain days, since the "Dormos" and precisely in my language - the "Dromos", was nothing but the Greek-Hellenistic stadium and especially the running track in it. In this dormouse, the price thresholds for consumers were determined, and as such we saw that "there is no Puskin (the price) on the fruits until the gate is released. The gate is released - Puskin (to prevent price dictates and control them through the market manager headed by the "Agronomus"). And although this does not have For this, he was first to the harvesters, ruling with him on the gaddish and the abit of grapes and the maten of olives and the eggs (the clay balls of the ceramic artists) and the lime. When he sinks it (transfers it, puts it in) a furnace and rules with him over the dung all the days of the year..." (Bava Metzia 7:XNUMX). And the Tiberian scholar Rabbi Yochanan declares that "all the towns adjacent to Tiberias, because a gate of Tiberias Fuskin came out (determine the price)" (Talmud Babli Baba Metziya XNUMXb p. XNUMX), and this is how they behaved in relation to all the central cities.

The upper and lower markets were also known in Tzipori, with Rabbi Yossi testifying that, during the voyage of course, one hundred and eighty thousand sellers of "tsiki kadira" were found there, and there was also a place for weavers and surveyors. It should be noted that one of the officials of the Roman government was recorded in the market of Tsipouri, perhaps for the needs of tax collection or some kind of supervision.

The markets were also known in Jaffa, in Miron (which is in Caesarian territory and near which a Roman unit of the 6th "Iron" legion lived, and was an important source of economic consumption), in Kobol, in Kfar Imra (where, as Rabbi Yochanan testified, eighty weavers' shops were found), Tel Kasila (A large building was discovered there between the third and fourth centuries AD).

The market, as we showed above, consisted of shops-shops, those that belonged to professional associations and which indicates an important commercial organization.

A prominent figure in the life of the market was the "aguranomus", that is, the supervisor of the markets on behalf of the municipal authority, and mainly of the measures and weights but not of the prices, and this until the period of rampant inflation in the Roman Empire between 284-235 AD, at which time the agoranomus was also known as the supervisor of Market prices. It is also known that the general agoranomus supervised several markets and in the language of the Sages he was called "Agronomon of a country". It should be noted that the agoranomous appears in several ancient inscriptions in the Province of Palestine, and in one of them, in Jaffa, a Jewish agoranomous is told.

Sometimes a person in this position was recorded as inspecting the contents of the goods as indicated in the original: "Igranimin Shabokin the wine" (Tosefta Avodah Zerah 6:XNUMX), and perhaps even as being supervised and controlled by a functionary called the "baal of the market".

For previous articles in the series

• AI Economy in Antiquity 19 – Caravans on the Roads and Traders in the Days
• AI economy in antiquity: roads, highways and infrastructures in the Roman period
• AI economics: From persuasive to pragmatic - an introduction