Transit Trade
In addition to these exports and imports, the Phoenicians also conducted an important transit trade, especially in the manufactured goods of Egypt and Babylonia (Herodotus, i, 1). From the lands of the Euphrates and Tigris regular trade routes led to the Mediterranean. In Egypt the Phoenician merchants soon gained a foothold; they alone were able to maintain a profitable trade in the anarchic times of the 22nd and 23rd dynasties (c. 945-c. 730 BC). Though there were never any regular colonies of Phoenicians in Egypt, the Tyrians had a quarter of their own in Memphis (Herodotus, ii, 112). The Arabian caravan trade in perfume, spices, and incense passed through Phoenician hands on its way to Greece and the West (Herodotus, iii, 107).