Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/252

 and the Caspian, and even the silk trade of China. With the Bosphorus and the Hellespont for its gates, whoever secures possession of these important passages can always shut them against a naval enemy, and open them to the peaceable fleets of commerce.

Although the trade of the Black Sea was considerable, even in remote times, it greatly increased after the foundation of Constantinople. Across this sea a large portion of the goods of Asia found their way; while gold from Colchis; and from the surrounding coasts, corn, leather, flax, honey, wax, flocks of sheep and goats, furs, medicinal herbs, and timber suitable for ship-building, found a ready mart in the markets of the new city. The fisheries of the Euxine and the Bosphorus still maintained their ancient reputation. Sturgeon and tunny-fish, abundant in the Black Sea, had, of old, fetched excessive prices in Greece and Italy, and, under the Greek emperors, contributed largely to the revenues of the state. The city of Byzantium, also, raised large sums annually from dues levied on shipping passing through the Straits.

The Palus Mæotis, or Sea of Azov, and the Tauric Chersonesus, now the Crimea, became, after the time of Constantine, places of importance; while Theodosia (now Kaffa) and Tanais (the present city of Azov) grew to be of great commercial value when occupied by the Genoese. Of these, Azov, Panticapæum (Kertch), and Odessa (probably at or near the ancient Olbia), have retained an extensive trade in corn, wool, and tallow, to the present time, the