There is an interesting custom connected with Egypt that many people who travel there do not know about. Twice every year, large amounts of wine are brought into Egypt. This wine does not come from one place only. It arrives from many regions of Greece and also from Phoenicia. The wine is carried by sea and stored in earthenware jars, which are strong clay containers commonly used in the ancient world for transport Psammenitus Prepares to Defend Egypt.
When ships reach Egypt, these jars are unloaded and the wine is sold in towns and cities throughout the country. Because this trade happens regularly, one would expect to see many empty wine jars scattered across Egypt. Surprisingly, this is not the case. In fact, travelers can go through the whole land and hardly see a single empty jar.
This strange situation naturally raises an important question: what happens to all these jars?
The Collection of Empty Wine Jars
The answer lies in an organized system managed by local officials. In every town, the burgomaster, or chief local authority, is responsible for collecting all the empty wine jars in his district. These jars are not left behind or reused locally. Instead, they are carefully gathered together and transported to the city of Memphis Ephesus Tours Guide.
Memphis was an important administrative center in ancient Egypt. Once the jars arrived there, the people of Memphis filled every one of them with water. After this, the jars were loaded again and sent onward, not back into Egypt, but toward a desert region in Syria.
This process explains why Egypt appears to have no empty jars, even though huge numbers enter the country every year. Every jar that comes in with wine eventually leaves Egypt filled with water and travels toward the desert.
Supplying Water for the Desert Route
The desert region between Egypt and Syria was dry and difficult to cross. Water was scarce, and travelers could not survive without reliable supplies. The water-filled jars were placed along this desert route to make the passage safer and more usable. Over time, this system turned the empty wine jars into life-saving water containers.
All the jars that entered Egypt each year followed the same path. Older jars had already been sent ahead, and new ones replaced them, ensuring a constant supply of water along the route.
Persian Rule and the Time of Cambyses
This method of storing water in the desert began after the Persians took control of Egypt. Once they became masters of the country, they understood the importance of keeping the route into Egypt open and secure.
However, at the time being described, the system had not yet been fully established. When Cambyses, the Persian king, planned his march, the desert route was still dangerous. To solve this problem, he followed the advice of a guest from Halicarnassus.
Cambyses sent messengers to the Arabian ruler who controlled the region and asked for safe passage. The Arabian agreed, and both sides promised to respect the agreement. This alliance made it possible for Cambyses and his army to cross the desert safely.
This account shows how trade, administration, and politics were closely connected in the ancient world. Something as simple as a wine jar played an important role not only in commerce but also in travel, survival, and imperial control.
