V TRADERS AND CRAFTSMEN 139 Thus most of the horses came from abroad, and the saying 4What kind of horses?' was used when some strange matter was discussed *• Dogs and cattle came from the Molossians, and he-goats from Cilicia, but that probably indicated the breed rather than their immediate provenance.- When vases of alabaster were used for ointment, either the vase or the material was imported. The word alabastros was often used for clay-vases of the shape originally made in alabaster, but a 'box for alab astro f contained probably the real thing; there were other domestic utensils of more elaborate manufacture which came to Athens from abroad.3 Also the material for all the statues and other objects in bronze was not to be found in Attica The rope which marked off the assembly was dyed with ruddle, this was chiefly needed for ship-painting, and came from 'ruddle-mines' in several places such as Keos, which in the middle of the fourth century renewed an earlier agreement with Athens about the supply of ruddle.4 Gold and ivory for temples and statues, jewellery and plate, naturally, were of foreign origin.5 When Peithetairos complains of the cost of building temples, he mentions marble and gold> in order to indicate how cheap it would be to worship birds on trees and in groves; it is significant perhaps of the general economic outlook that he finds the cost too high, but makes no distinction between Attic marble and foreign gold 6 All these passages give instances of the many and varied imports which reached Athens from everywhere inside and even outside the Mediterranean world. The most famous description of the great variety of imported goods is given in the long fragment of Hermippos already mentioned.7 Import was in the hands of both foreign and Athenian emporo^ and their chief business was to provide Athens with the necessary wheat, partly bought by the State for public distribution or C 122, 1298) Prof J L. Myres, Cl Rev 47 (1933), 124* and 53 (I939)> 9* gives some ingenious arguments to prove that those initials were of Egyptian and Phoenician origin, and meant Egyptian or Phoenician breed On coins the Corin- thian Pegasos sometimes has the o on his hind-quarters (BMC Corinth, nos 162, 167) 1 Metagenes 7 2 Th4i6f, adesp 18, 696 — adesp 806 3frg 548 — Pherekr 8$,Eupolis 58. * A 22, E 378 - Ameips 15 -/