ABSTRACT
Like the sea trade into Egypt, the overland trade in aromatics which reached Arabia already had a long history by the time of the Roman entry into the affairs of the East in the first century BC. The Arabian perfumes of frankincense and myrrh had long been prized among the peoples of the Near East, and were an important part of both Near Eastern and Mediterranean religious practices. Accordingly, a strong market already existed for these commodities in the Mediterranean world, and the inhabitants both of the incense-producing regions and of those regions on the trade routes were able to exploit this market to their advantage.
