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[[File: Murex.jpg|300px|thumbnail|right|A Murex Shell]]

By the sixth century BC, the Phoenicians had effectively monopolized most trade in the Mediterranean basin. They manufactured products such as jewelry, carved ivory, bronze table vessels, bottled oils, the gum storax, and most importantly, cloth dyed in “Tyrian purple,” which was extracted from the sea snail murex. <ref> Bikai, p. 205</ref> Tyrian purple was in high demand because it was applied to white garments, turning them violet or purple, which was the color of nobility. The dye is also the origin of the term Phoenicia, which is what the Greeks called Tyrian purple.

Tyrian purple may have been the resource that the Phoenicians were most closely associated with, but it was their monopolization of the timber industry that made them wealthy. The Phoenician cities were all located close to fertile cedar and fir in the hills and mountains of Lebanon, which they utilized to make their ships and to trade with other peoples. <ref> Moscati, p. 83</ref> For instance, the Egyptians only had direct access to various palm trees, which were not suitable for ship building, so they were willing to pay the Phoenicians princely sums for their timber. The Phoenicians knew how to work the ancient markets and produced fine quality finished goods, but it was their extensive exploration and colonization of the Mediterranean that made them the most successful merchants of the ancient world.