Akademik

   Egypt was largely self-sufficient in agriculture and raw materials; nevertheless, trade developed in the Levant beginning in the Predynastic Period for such luxury imports as wine, olive oil, lapis lazuli, and later for such necessities as copper and cedar wood. External trade was regarded as a royal monopoly and was controlled by the court. It was largely in the hands of foreign traders who were of ficially stated to be bringing tribute to the king and then rewarded for doing so. Royal expeditions were occasionally sent to the south and the Levant, presumably to seize goods when able or trade for them if required, and by sea to the Levant in the search for cedar and other woods. Temples used agents for internal trade, and local markets flourished, but a thriving merchant class never developed. Foreign traders settled in Egypt during the New Kingdom in Memphis and Pi-Ramesse and later during the Saite Period when Greeks were assigned the town of Naukratis.