Trade was the most obvious mechanism of connection.

Egypt had abundant agricultural surplus, generated by the predictable flooding of the Nile that deposited rich silt on the fields every year.

It had gold, available from Nubia to the south.

It had papyrus, used for writing and baskets.

It had fine linen.

It needed timber — particularly the cedar of Lebanon, essential for shipbuilding and monumental construction — which it obtained through trade with the Levantine city of Byblos, one of the longest-standing commercial relationships in the ancient world.

It needed copper, which came primarily from the Sinai Peninsula and from Cyprus.