Notes

1. manna compared to the coriander seed in color (Exodus 16:31)
2. spices, such as cinammon and cassia, commanded by God to Moses to mix in with other substances for the "holy annointing oil" (Exodus 25:6)
3. references to spices in Song of Solomon (Parry 22)..."In the seventh chapter of Proverbs, we have an example of the latter in the story of the lady of easy virtue who uses the sweet odor of cinammon to ensnare "a young man void of understanding" (Parry 22)
4. New Testement doesn't speech that frequently of spices
a. St. Matthew 13:31 and 17:20: Christ likens kingdom of heaven to a grain of mustard seed
b. Revelation of St. John the Divine - fortells of the fall of Babylon - distress of merchants, who have been made rich from trading costly goods "And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her;...And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments...thou shalt find them no more at all"

Cassia and cinnamon in the ancient Middle East
1. made their way through Asia w/ least resistance to travel: China, west through mt. ranges Kuen-Lun and Thian-Shan, through Tarim River valley, to Bokhara, then to ancient port of Hormozia on Persian Gulf/Basra.
2. other possibility: to rivers of Tigris and Euphrates
3. from N. India: from the Indus through Gedrosia to Hormozia and continue to provinces of Persis and Susiana to Basra.
4. "Difficult mountain ranges, swift-moving rivers, miles of barren plains and arid deserts, lack of provisions for traders and pasture for animals, the great distances between waterholes, the chill of mountain passes and the heat of the desert sun, all militate against the idea of caraban movements in such early ages" (Parry 26)
5. Phoenicians and Arabians as founders of trade with Eastern spice land
a.