Objects of Trade Between Palestine and Egypt in Roman Times

Abstract

Commercial contacts between Palestine and Egypt existed already in the third millenium B.C.E.'). It was natural that these two neighbouring countries should supplement each other's natural resources and fill in the gaps in each other's local industries. A wealth of material from the third century B.C.E. demonstrates this admirably. The Zenon papyri mention trade in Syrian slaves, wheat, oil, wine, fish, meat and other foodstuffs. There were regular trips from Pelusium to Gaza, only about a two day journey by boat, and also by overland route across the desert made by camel caravans 2). During the early Roman