Cochin, the historic port of ancient maritime trade attracted traders and merchants from the great civilizations of both the Western and Eastern worlds. In Biblical times, during King Solomon's reign the Queen of Sheba presented the ruler with gold, ivory, pepper and other exotic spices which is believed to have originated from Cochin. In 1000 B.C. the Phoenicians who were trading with Cochin supplied the Pharaohs of Egypt with aromatic oils and spices which were used to preserve the embalmed bodies of the Egyptian Kings and Queens after their death. When Rome conquered Egypt they discovered this trade route which was a closely guarded secret; and soon Roman galleys were carrying the same goods to imperial Rome; where pepper, the most prized import was worth its weight in gold. St. Thomas arrived in the first century AD. bringing Christianity to these shores and established Christian Communities here even before Rome. The Jews arriving here in the wake of the Diaspora were given sanctuary and titles of land and established a flourishing trading community in Cochin. For the next thousand years the spice trade was controlled by the Arabs who supplied these exotic wares through the Italian City State of Venice. Marco Polo in his travelogue writes about a flourishing trade between Cochin and China when he visited these parts.