Final answer:
Goods like grain, wine, and olive oil were easily transportable by sea in the Hellenistic era, while luxury goods such as silk and spices that traveled over the Silk Road were more difficult and expensive to transport due to multiple handoffs and regional taxes.
Step-by-step explanation:
When examining a map from the Hellenistic era and considering the transportation of goods during that time, we must differentiate between the ease of moving various commodities. On one hand, goods such as grain, wine, and olive oil could be transported relatively easily. This is because areas like Egypt, which served as the Roman Empire's breadbasket, allowed for the centralized production of such agricultural commodities, which were then shipped in amphorae aboard vessels, utilizing the Mediterranean Sea's trade routes. However, transporting luxury goods such as silk, spices, or ceramics required traversing the Silk Road, a network of interconnected roads that included various obstacles and where goods often changed hands many times, increasing their price.
Long-distance overland trade was costly and slow, impacted by factors like territorial disputes and taxation by middlemen. Therefore, these luxury items were more difficult and expensive to transport compared to bulkier and more robust agricultural produce. Moreover, during the Middle Ages and later, European explorers motivated by the desire for direct access to Eastern goods, religious zeal, and new trade routes, embarked on maritime exploration, equipped with advancing technology such as the lateen sail, cannons, and magnetic compass.