The island of Delos calls for our particular attention, as the grand mart of the Athenians, as well as of the rest of Greece, and of the other countries in the Mediterranean, which at this period were engaged in commerce.  The peace of this island always remained undisturbed, from an opinion that it was under the special protection of Apollo and Diana; and when the fleets of enemies met there, out of respect to the sacredness of the place, they forbore all manner of hostilities.  There were also other circumstances which contributed to render it a place of great importance to commerce:  its commodious situation for the navigation from Europe into Asia; its festivals, which brought immense crowds to it (and as we have just observed, wherever a multitude of Greeks were collected, by superstitious rites or amusements, commerce was mingled with their duties and pursuits); and the bias which its original, or at least its very early inhabitants, had to commerce:  all these combined to render it a place of great importance to commerce.  Its trade consisted chiefly in slaves:  according to Strabo, in the time of Perseus, king of Macedonia, above 10,000 slaves came in and went out daily.  The corn, wine, and other commodities of the neighbouring islands; the scarlet linen tunics, manufactured in the island of Amorgos; the rich purple stuffs of Cos; the highly esteemed alum of Melos, and the valuable copper, which the mines, of Delos itself (that had been long worked,) and the elegant vases, manufactured from this copper,—­were the principal commodities exported from Delos.  In return and exchange, foreign merchants brought the produce and manufactures of their respective countries; so that the island became, as it were, the storehouse of the treasures of nations; and the scene, during this mixture of religious festivals and commercial enterprise, was peculiarly gay and animated.  The inhabitants were, by an express law, which is noticed by Athenaeus, obliged to furnish water to all the strangers who resorted thither; to which, it would appear, they added, either gratuitously, or for a small remuneration, cakes and other trifling eatables.

The Athenians were so anxious to protect and extend the commerce carried on in Delos, that they gave encouragement to such strangers to settle there as were conversant in commerce, as well as strictly guarded its neutrality and privileges.  On the destruction of Tyre, and afterwards of Carthage, events which gave a new direction to the commerce of the Mediterranean, a great number of merchants from these cities fled to Delos, where they were taken under the protection of the Athenians; and it appears by an inscription found in the 17th century, that the Tyrians formed a company of merchants and navigators there.  The Romans traded to it, even before their war with Philip, king of Macedon.  After the restoration of Corinth, the Athenians used all their efforts to keep up the commerce of Delos; but the wars of Mithridates put an end to it; and in a very short period afterwards, it seems to have been entirely abandoned by the merchants of all nations, and, as a commercial place, to have fallen into utter neglect and decay.