The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-01-31

Genua Geneva Genoa hist"rN ds~n-
in a bright day for those who can
execute "a very simple piece Of linguistic
research, the study OF what the polished
Greek became when worked over by the
rude IlEulign tongues. The name x
no more than the Attic JeHos, host AMI
friend; u IS an echo ont Of q ,uvsa e
past when Gterk merchants found a
welcome o. bal Oarian coast Tor their
sh.ps, place where they might Vend
their wares, a strand Oh which they
might ref, and refresh their wearled
bodies In secure hospitality. II ia a
pleasant picture that Genoa In its re-
hottest past comes upon the maps as
Welcome Town. in very deed the haven
Of all desire.
Namesivers though they were, the
Creeks were not by any means ths
first to find shelter from the Tramon-
tana under the lee OF the hills AMI
from the tossing waves at the back
Of the point which now is Capo del
Faro at the western limit OF the Porto
NecChio. In the bottom strata OF the
old town along the sands modern exca-
walton has brought to light in COM
pany with shreds OF Etruscan pottery
at least one string of amber beads. sure
proof that here was the shore terminus
of one OF the great trade routes OF
prehistory which had their beginning
on the shore OF the distant Baltic. Am
Der then was much more than ornament,
IL was a sovereign cure for the coughs
and colds OF the earliest society, It was
invoked to regulate the Affairs OF the
heart and to bring TO a brighter glow
the warmth of affection OF the coy
maiden OF the past II was so vendible
that It scored athwart the forests Of
central Europe half a dozen yet dis
coverable avenues OF commerce where
chips and fragments are still TO be
found along the way as decisive evil
dence OF this first commerce among
the savages who were our ancestors.
The most easterly OF these amber routes
has long been identified across Russia
and down to srhe Black Sea; the recent
discovery at Genoa serves to corrobo-
rate the establishment OF tho WESTERN
most route across Switzerland and over
the western passes OF the Alps 10 the
Tuscan Sea.
For whateVer value 1t may be as
sumed to have there Is record of a
tradition that Genoa was q settlement
OF Glano. one Of the Trojan princes fiee-
ing from the sack OF Troy town, a voy.
age which lacked but its sacred poet
to become an Hneid. Vergil was q
Alllntuan, Genoa was the port OF his
home country; II II permissible 10 sur
mise that in his childhood he had known
OF the uenoVese tradition which in later
life he moved TO the southern coast
in order TO bring dt within the greater
glory OF Rome and away from tho rude
provincialism of LAsuIta.
Yet other seafarers who used this
port-sometimes they abused it's hospi-
tality~-were the sailors from Tyre and
Sidon and the Carthaginisns or the
greater Punic colony on the African
coast Thus We see that in the earliest
times Genoa was in intercourse with
the eastern shores OF The Mediterranean
long before She Hellenic culture there
established itself. How far beyond Tyre
and the LeNant this trade passed into
tl,e heart OF Asia we cannot now dis
cover. but we do know that the Syrian
port was i'm the strlctest sense a mar
k-t town, it's goods We're not those OF
- own manufacture but rather the
gatherings OF the best OF Asia even
as far as China on the utmost verge.
This Chinese trade TO the LeVBnt has
recently been confirmed by valuahle
material evidence in the explorations
OF Sir Aurel Stein Ia Seistsn. for in tho
ruins OF . nost ancient caravan station