Page 355 - Four Thousand Years Ago by Geoffrey Bibby

present factor in the life of the coastal cities. It seemed likely to
go on forever, with the armies based upon the fortified cities near
the frontier, and the light chariotry and the mercenary companies

probing the enemy line for weaknesses or withdrawals. The worst
fears of the coast merchants were realized; trade along the land
routes was practically at a standstill.

Not that there was any blockade, or prohibition of trade.
The coastal shipping still carried goods between north and
south. But armies in the field were notoriously uncommercial in
their dealings with passing traders, and few caravans could be

found to risk the passage through the lines, and still fewer
merchants willing to pay the exorbitant freight charges they re­
quired for running that risk.

On the other hand, there were fortunes to be made in sup­
plying the troops at the front. As the boys of Ascalon grew up
and began to earn their livings, a very large proportion of them
found their livelihood in connection with the long-drawn-out

war. There were foundries and large-scale carpenters’ workshops
now in Ascalon, turning out equipment and munitions for the
army, and there were continuous supply trains convoying goods

to the depots behind the front. Jobs were available as store­
keepers and cobblers and grooms and cooks. And always there
were the ships plying up and down the coast, bringing equipment

and reinforcements from Egypt to the northern ports.
Still the years went by, and the young men of Ascalon grew
older and married and had young sons of their own. It became

more and more clear that the Hittite-Egyptian war, most often
cold but occasionally blazing up, was a useless drain on the re­
sources of both sides. Rameses had long ago stopped coming
north for the spring campaign, and was engaged in a grandiose

program of buildings and public works in Egypt. He still held
large forces at the Hittite frontier and along the coastal supply
road. But he had withdrawn the Egyptian garrisons from the

towns in the interior of Palestine, and relied for law and order
there on the local militia of the tributary princes.
Travelers coming into Ascalon from the interior during these
years brought constant tales of clashes between the forces of the