<P> The Ptolemaic dynasty exploited the strategic position of Alexandria to secure trade with the subcontinent . The course of trade with the east then seems to have been first through the harbor of Arsinoe, the present day Suez . The goods from the East African trade were landed at one of the three main Roman ports, Arsinoe, Berenice or Myos Hormos . The Romans repaired and cleared out the silted up canal from the Nile to harbor center of Arsinoe on the Red Sea . This was one of the many efforts the Roman administration had to undertake to divert as much of the trade to the maritime routes as possible . </P> <P> Arsinoe was eventually overshadowed by the rising prominence of Myos Hormos . The navigation to the northern ports, such as Arsinoe - Clysma, became difficult in comparison to Myos Hormos due to the northern winds in the Gulf of Suez . Venturing to these northern ports presented additional difficulties such as shoals, reefs and treacherous currents . </P> <P> Myos Hormos and Berenice appear to have been important ancient trading ports, possibly used by the Pharaonic traders of ancient Egypt and the Ptolemaic dynasty before falling into Roman control . </P> <P> The site of Berenice, since its discovery by Belzoni (1818), has been equated with the ruins near Ras Banas in Southern Egypt . However, the precise location of Myos Hormos is disputed with the latitude and longitude given in Ptolemy's Geography favoring Abu Sha'ar and the accounts given in classical literature and satellite images indicating a probable identification with Quseir el - Quadim at the end of a fortified road from Koptos on the Nile . The Quseir el - Quadim site has further been associated with Myos Hormos following the excavations at el - Zerqa, halfway along the route, which have revealed ostraca leading to the conclusion that the port at the end of this road may have been Myos Hormos . </P>

Emergence of the trading empires in the indian ocean