Zaatar is a spice mix from Byblos in Lebanon, one of the oldest towns in the world, founded in 5000 B.C. During the 3rd century B.C. Byblos traded extensively with Egypt exporting cedar wood needed for Egyptian ship building, resin for mummification, wine and papyrus. The Phoenician city was an inevitable economic, political and cultural crossroads. When Alexander the Great arrived, its Semitic name “Gebal” was replaced by “Byblos” from “biblion” in Greek which means scroll, due to the papyrus scrolls exported from Byblos. This is also where the name of the Bible comes from.