Situated between the Indus and the Mediterranean, with a productive soil, and commanding, by means of the Euphrates and Tigris, every communication with the interior, and, by the Persian Gulf, with India and the eastern shores of Arabia, the Babylonians, until they were brought under the yoke of Persia, carried on a commercial intercourse with surrounding nations which for many ages was second only to that of the Phœnicians. Babylon stood in its relations with the East somewhat as Tyre in its dealings with the West. Hence the traffic between these two great centres of ancient commerce was necessarily of an important character. Nor indeed was it ever seriously interrupted, except when the ambition of Nebuchadnezzar vainly prompted him to attempt the capture,[219] if not the destruction, of Tyre. Each had its own spheres of commerce and its own means of usefulness, and those of Tyre must have been materially impaired, if not annihilated, by the siege of thirteen years, whether the Babylonian monarch did or did not succeed. While Tyre increased in strength and wealth, spreading her colonies over the west, Babylon continued her dealings with her and with the nations dwelling on the Euxine and the Caspian Seas. By means of her caravans, canals, and rivers, Babylon became also the chief entrepôt for Western Asia, where the merchants of many countries assembled to exchange their merchandise; and such it remained for ages. Neither the heavy yoke of Asiatic despotism, nor the devastating sword of conquering nations, could destroy, though they might for a time overshadow, its splendour. It was only when the Persians, feeling no interest in sea-borne commerce, and dreading the incursions of the maritime powers, blocked up the Tigris, that its commercial greatness began to decline. [Sidenote: B.C. 604.]