Oriental and mediterranean
At the beginning of the 6th century BCE, the city of Corinth began its domination of the perfume trade in the ancient world. Ideally placed between the East and the West, Corinthian perfumers exported their perfumed oils in stone vases called alabasters or aryballs. Perfumes and resins traveled in leather gourds aboard small boats that ran along the shores of the Gulf of Corinth.