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ROME AND HE DISAN EAS: RADE ROUES O HE ANCIEN LANDS OF ARABIA, INDIA AND CHINA
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Rome and the Distant East rade Routes to the Ancient Lands o
Arabia, India and China
Raoul McLaughlin
Continuum UK Continuum US Te ower Building 80 Maiden Lane 11 York Road Suite 704 London SE1 7NX New York, NY 10038
www.continuumbooks.com Copyright © Raoul McLaughlin 2010
All rights reserved. No part o this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any orm or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or any inormation storage or retrieval system, without prior permission rom the publishers.
First published 2010
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record or this book is available rom the British Library.
ISBN 9781847252357
ypeset by Pindar NZ, Auckland, New Zealand Printed and bound by MPG Books Group Ltd
and Elizabeth erry McLaughlin
Acknowledgements
Tis book is based on a doctoral thesis completed at Queen’s University Belast in 2006. When I was looking or a place to study Eastern trade I applied to many universities, but none could accommodate a subject so broad and ambitious.
Tis work could only have been written in Belast and I greatly appreciate how I was allowed to ollow my academic interests under constructive direction and encouragement. I would like to thank my doctoral supervisor Dr John Curran, or without his guidance and support I would not have had the opportunity to investigate this subject. I would also like to thank Proessor Brian Campbell and Dr Colin Adams or agreeing to be my doctoral examiners and acknowledge how much I have beneted rom their advice.
I was educated at Lagan College in Belast, the rst cross-community integrated school to be established in Northern Ireland. Te college was ounded with the aim
o giving young people the opportunity to understand and respect all cultural and religious backgrounds without the divisions o race or social class. I have come to realize how skilully the teaching staff, led by the principal Dr Brian Lambkin, promoted this ethos among us, without ever discouraging independent thought or undermining the social, or political, views o each individual. I have remained in contact with my school riends throughout my time at university. I especially thank Jenny Kirkwood or helping me with modern language translations and Mawuli Amoaku or offering me the opportunity to visit China.
Te early stages o my doctoral research were paid or by the Northern Ireland
Department o Education and Learning, but I have unded subsequent study rom my own resources. Queen’s University Belast has hosted both my under- graduate study and my postgraduate research. I greatly value my university and I respect the skills and attitudes o its people, who have never discouraged me or disparaged my ideas. In Belast, Ancient Historians are able to study in the same department as Social Anthropologists and Modern Historians. In this environment, history has a global context and the study o distant cultures has a distinct value. Doctor John Curran and Proessor David Whitehead have given me the opportunity to teach tutorial classes in Republican Roman and Classical Greek
history at the university. Tis experience has been invaluable and my position at Queen’s has given me access to library resources and research materials that I would not otherwise have been able to acquire. Tis has permitted me to pursue my studies long enough to complete this book.
I would like to acknowledge my ellow ancient historians Chris McCoubrey and Jonathan Eton. Tey have offered me practical help and because they are scholars o the Roman military, our conversations have always been lively and interesting.
A CKNO WLE D G E ME NS viii
In particular Jonathan Eton has read early versions o my manuscript and has been able to provide valuable constructive criticism. Shaun McDaid is studying modern Ulster history, but he has always offered me support. Claire Rush, who
has a background in Irish history, has also obtained rare books on my behal and or this I owe her a debt o gratitude. As a student o Social Anthropology Gemma Wieberg uniquely understands the complexities o human society and I have valued her insights.
his book is dedicated to my parents William and Elizabeth McLaughlin. Tey have had to accept that turning my doctoral research into a book has meant nancial hardship and my ather has worked beyond retirement age to offer me assistance. I must thank my brother Leon or taking the time and trouble to draf my maps and check my ancient reerences. My whole amily, especially my sister
Tayna, have given me immeasurable support and encouragement. o all the above, I acknowledge receipt o your kindness and consideration.
Without you this book would not have been possible. Raoul McLaughlin
Belast June 2009
2 Roman Egypt and the Sea Routes to India 23
3 Rome and the Arabian rade Routes 61
4 rade Routes through Asia and the Silk Road Connection 83
5 Diplomatic Contacts with the Distant East 111
6 Te Economic Impact on the Roman Empire 141
Appendix A: Te Products o the Roman Empire 179
Appendix B: Eastern imports into the Roman Empire 181
Appendix C: Te Prices o Eastern Goods 182
Notes 183
Select Bibliography 220
Index 231
Maps
1 Te empires and territories o the Ancient World (rst century AD).
2 Te Indian Ocean (rst century AD).
3 Te Middle East (rst century AD).
4 Strabo’s world view (early rst century AD).
5 Pliny’s world view based on details in his Natural History (mid rst century AD).
6 Claudius Ptolemy’s world view (mid second century AD).
Between pages 108 and 109.
Plates
1 A group o Romans assembled near a merchant ship to hear a speech
by the Emperor rajan (illustration drawn rom rajan’s Column). 2 Detail rom the Peutinger Map showing the Roman emple o
Augustus at Muziris in amil India.
3 A Palmyrene relie showing wealthy merchants leading a camel.
4 A gold coin o the king Kushan Huvishka. Te reverse shows the god Pharro (Hermes–Mercury) holding a purse.
5 A Gandharan sculpture showing the death o the Buddha with a
Greco-Roman gure in attendance. 6 A Gandharan carving depicting a scene rom the rojan War.
7 A Roman grave relie rom Italy depicting the Peticii merchant amily who had business interests in the distant East (Museo dell’Aquila).
8 An Indian statuette ound at a house in Pompeii.
I LLU S R A I O NSxii
9 A Roman mosaic showing how hunters captured tiger cubs (Hunt Mosaic, Antioch): ‘India produces the tiger which has tremendous swifness. Te hunter lies in wait to seize the tiger cubs, and then
escapes on the astest horse because, as soon as the emale nds her lair empty, she springs into pursuit’ – Pliny the Elder in his Natural History .
10 A classical bust depicting a subject o the Roman Empire who adopted Buddhist belies (Museo Nazionale Romano).
Abbreviations
AE L’année épigraphique. BE Bagnall, R. S. and Helms, C. and Verhoogt, A. M. F. W. (2000–),
Documents rom Berenike. Bruxelles: Fondation Égyptologique
Reine Élisabeth. CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. CIS Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum. EI Epigraphia Indica (produced by a variety publishers). IG Inscriptiones Graecae (Berlin 1873–). IGRR Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas Pertinentes. ILS Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae. Inv. Cantineau, J. and Starcky, J. and Gawlikowski, M. (eds) (1930–),
Inventaire des inscriptions de Palmyre. Beirut, Paris, Damascus.
O. Mich. Greek Ostraca in the University o Michigan Collection. O. Petr Ostraca in Proessor W. M. Flinders Petrie’s Collection at
University College, London. OGIS Dittenberger, W. (1903–1905), Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones
Selectae. P. Lond. Kenyon, F. G. and Bell, H. I. (1893–), Greek papyri in the British
Museum. London, British Museum Department o Manuscripts. P. Mich. Greek Papyri in the University o Michigan Collection. P. ebt Grenell, B. P. and Hunt, A. S. (eds) (1902–), Te ebtunis Papyri.
London. P. Vindob. Vindobensis Papyri, Austrian National Library, Vienna. RES Clermont-Ganneau, C. S. (eds) (1900–), Répertoire d’épigraphie
semitique. Paris, Imprimerie nationale. SB Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Ägypten. SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum.

Te Indian Ocean (rst century AD).
Te Middle East (rst century AD).



Introduction: Rome and the Distant East
In the closing years o the Republican era, the Romans completed their conquest o the remaining Mediterranean kingdoms. Yet ew in that Empire appreciated the scale o the ancient world they inhabited. Far beyond their rontiers, across the
immense inhospitable territories o Inner Asia, lay the vast expanse o Han China. Previously unknown to the Romans, China had or almost two centuries governed a population and domain that equalled Rome at the height o its power. Although the Romans remained only dimly aware o China, the Han maintained ambitions in the distant West and as time progressed they drew together reports o Rome. Tey regarded this distant equal with increasing ascination and made ambitious plans or contact.
Driven by new commercial ashions, trade goods moved in increasingly large quantities between China and Rome. However, the hostile kingdoms that lay
between the two great empires jealously guarded the commercial prots o this traffi c and blocked almost all direct communications between the Roman and Chinese civilizations. o the east o the Roman Empire, lay the Parthian Realm, the ormidable rival to Rome that stretched across Persia rom Mesopotamia and Iran to the outer edge o India. Te presence o the Parthians denied Roman subjects access to the vital overland caravan routes that connected across Iran and led onwards to India and China. Nevertheless, by the close o the Republican era, the Roman Empire had gained possession o Mediterranean territories bordering the Red Sea, and as market opportunities improved, greater numbers o Roman subjects began
to use this region to reach the Indian Ocean and explore the distant East. Source accounts rom the classical texts reveal how, in ancient times, these
distant trade routes connected the eastern territories o the Roman Empire to the araway lands o Arabia, India and China. Ancient evidence indicates that afer the conquest o Egypt, a variety o exotic goods rom the distant East became increasingly available to Roman society. Te ancient testimonies also describe the operation o trade ventures undertaken by Roman subjects who, compelled by prot, travelled ar beyond the Empire’s eastern rontiers and conronted great dangers to acquire valuable spices, prized silks and costly aromatics.
Te sources reveal how Roman merchants sailed rom the Egyptian Red Sea ports on distant ocean crossings to explore the commercial opportunities offered in the ar-off territories that encircled the Indian Ocean. By the early rst century AD Roman merchants routinely sailed as ar as amil India and through these trade connections imported into the Empire a vast range o exotic materials including spices, abrics and gemstones.
On these distant trade voyages Roman merchant ships would visit Arican
R O ME A ND HE D I S A N E A S
markets in Ethiopia and Somalia to acquire valuable local products including exotic slaves and precious aromatics. Roman merchants also became requent visitors to Eastern bazaars in the territories o southern Arabia where they would receive
precious stocks o rankincense and myrrh harvested in the surrounding regions. As this aspect o trade developed, merchants rom the Arabian kingdoms began to send great camel caravan trains northward through the vast desert expanse o Arabia to reach prosperous markets in Palestine and supply Roman society with urther stocks o this costly incense.
Te ancient accounts also provide evidence or the operation o distant overland trade routes that crossed Asia to supply Roman markets with a urther range o exotic Eastern products. Mesopotamia was an ethnically diverse region and Parthia did not have absolute authority over their small communities and kingdoms.
Merchants rom the Roman Empire could thereore cross reely rom Syria into Mesopotamia to visit the great Greek and Persian cities that existed in the ertile territories near the igris and Euphrates river systems. Tere they ound Eastern goods that had reached Mesopotamia through maritime trade routes extending across the Persian Gul to northwest India. Mesopotamia also offered urther commercial possibilities or Roman merchants. It was at the edge o major caravan routes that stretched across the Iranian territories o the Parthian Realm to reach distant sites in Inner Asia and, ultimately, China.
Although China remained remote, classical authorities had rom the earliest
stage o their history appreciated the scale and signiicance o ancient India. Modern interest in Rome has tended to emphasize the importance o Western Europe, but India has always been signicant in classical knowledge o the ancient world. In the fh century BC the Greek historian Herodotus records tribute lists rom a Persian Empire that extended rom Egypt and Asia Minor, across Iran to the outer edge o India. Although the Persians controlled only the Indus region, this eastern terminal o their realm provided their king, Darius, with almost a third o his total tribute revenues.1
By the Roman era, the growth o international trade permitted greater con-
nections between these distant civilizations and India was arguably even more signicant to the classical world. ‘Tey say that India orms one-third o the whole earth and that its populations are innumerable – and this is certainly possible.’2 Tese are the words o the Roman writer and commander Gaius Plinius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Elder. Pliny served as an adviser to the Emperor Vespasian and in the rst century AD composed one o the most extensive surviving studies o the ancient world. Elsewhere in his encyclopaedic work, Pliny considers the development o Roman trade voyages across the Indian Ocean and justies his inclusion o this new material with the comment, ‘Tis is an important matter
since India drains more than fy million sesterces a year rom our empire’.3 o place this export gure in context, a sum o 50 million sesterces was larger than the annual tribute that Caesar imposed on Gaul ollowing his conquest o this productive territory.4
Tese ancient statements regarding the distant East become signicant when modern scholars propagate the grand imperial claims o Roman ‘world rule’. Te real ancient world was ar larger than either the Roman Mediterranean or the ringe
I NR O D U CI O N
territories o northwest Europe. Any well-inormed Roman appreciated that Rome only governed a small portion o the earth, and that beyond the eastern rontiers, there existed sophisticated kingdoms that could rival their Empire. Evidence o
these distant powers was on display in the markets o their popular urban centres which oered the products o Arabia, Persia, India and the Far East, to keen Roman customers. Tese eastern kingdoms ofen sent representatives to the Roman Emperor and their rulers would have, with justication, regarded themselves as equal to their Roman counterparts.
Te Romans perhaps elt uneasy about what lay beyond their eastern rontiers. Rome depended on Egypt to eed its vast population, but Egypt was also the gate- way to the Indian Ocean and the outer limits o its enormous expanse remained unexplored. With almost no provocation Augustus had launched a Red Sea eet
o 130 warships against Arabia, to conquer the peninsula with an army to seize their wealth.5 Te city o Aden was sacked during these hostilities and although the conquest ailed, a precedent had been set.
As merchants urther explored the distant East, Roman authorities realized the ancient world did not end at the limits o India as their Greek predecessors, and their Republican ancestors, had imagined. By the rst century AD trade contacts had expanded to reach the Malay Peninsula and reports began to arrive o the even more distant territories beyond. Consequently, Roman authorities had good reason to eel awed by the scale o the inhabited world. Yet they also appreciated how these
new contacts enabled unprecedented communications between the most distant territories known to Roman society. As Seneca observed, ‘What afer all is the space that lies between the urthest shores o Spain and India? Only a ew days travel i a ship is blown by a avourable wind’.6
It was through their most distant maritime contacts with India that the Romans rst began to receive conused accounts o another signicant power in the Far East. Tis was China, the true source o the silk abrics that had already become popular ashion amongst prosperous Roman consumers. As Roman trade with the distant East steadily expanded, direct contacts between these two great imperial
civilizations seemed inevitable. Te Roman philosopher and statesman Seneca, tutor o the Emperor Nero,
was suffi ciently interested in the distant East to compose a book on the subject o India.7 Tis work has not survived into modern times, but statements in his prolic studies seem ominous, especially as the rst rumours regarding China were reaching Rome during Seneca’s lietime. Criticising mankind’s capacity to cause harm to oreign nations, Seneca warns that even Rome might one day nd itsel victim to a distant imperial power as yet unknown. He muses, ‘What i some ruler o a great nation, at present unknown to us, increased by good ortune and ambitious
to expand the boundaries o his realm, is at this very moment tting out a eet to send against us?’.8
In the ancient world, the struggle or supremacy was not always decided by invasion and war. In lands remote rom Rome, imperial agents were using economic strategies to bring oreign peoples into positions o subservience. In the Far East, the Han set in motion subtle long-term schemes to undermine their oreign enemies and damage any ability to resist, or make war, on China. Te Han encouraged
a market or Chinese oodstuffs and ashions amongst oreign peoples including the Xiongnu hordes o the Mongolian Steppe. Te eventual aim was to make these populations dependent on Chinese oods and manuactured goods so that these
items could be withheld, or offered in diminished amounts, to inict economic damage on these oreign communities. A Han offi cial outlined how this strategy should be implemented, advising, ‘Every large border market we establish must be tted with shops . . . and all shops must be large enough to serve between one to two hundred people . . . Te Xiongnu will then develop a craving or our products and this will be their atal weakness’.9 Te Xiongnu were beguiled through thousands o trade exchanges that collectively reduced their resources and weakened their economic independence. As another Han offi cial reported, ‘A piece o plain Chinese silk can be exchanged with the Xiongnu nomads or articles worth several pieces o
gold. By these means we can reduce the resources o our enemy’.10 With calculated oresight the Han slowly, but surely, gained an economic stranglehold over their most dangerous opponents.
In the Roman Empire the new ashion-driven demand or costly silk abrics caused growing concern. In a speech beore the Senate in AD 22, the Emperor iberius drew attention to the effect this unchecked consumerism was having on the Roman economy, ‘Our wealth is transported to alien and hostile countries because o the promiscuous dress worn by men and women – especially women’.11 But no effective measures were taken to restrict the trade and in the ollowing
decades escalating ashion demands encouraged the export o ever greater quantities o Roman wealth to the distant East. Tese issues concerned Seneca who was aware that the wealth o the Empire was being conveyed to some ar-off people who were not yet revealed to Roman merchants, nor had they announced their intent to the government in Rome. He concludes ominously, ‘these silks are imported at vast expense rom nations unknown to us even through trade’.12 Pliny also identies the ‘Silk People’ as one o the main participants in the eastern haemorrhage o Roman bullion and accuses them o orchestrating a trade where the eastern peoples, ‘take 100 million sesterces rom our empire every year – so much do our luxuries and
our women cost us’.13 Tis gure is equivalent to perhaps one-eighth o the total Roman expense budget. By this era it may already have been too late to restrict the trade, as the Roman Empire became increasingly reliant on the customs revenues received rom taxing the commerce created by the incoming Eastern goods.
Te Romans had good reason to receive rumours o China with apprehension. Seneca was a member o the imperial court during the reign o Claudius when a Sri Lankan king sent a party o ambassadors to establish the rst diplomatic contacts between the Sinhalese kingdom and the Roman state. Pliny was a young military offi cer serving in Germany at the time o these events, but he later wrote an account
o this episode, suggesting that the Roman elite were awed by this unexpected encounter. Previous classical authorities had known very little about the Sinhalese kingdom beore this dramatic diplomatic overture and there had been popular speculation that Sri Lanka might have been the tip o a vast unexplored continent – an alter orbis – that matched the scale o the Eurasian landmass.14
Te appreciation that Rome was only a small part o the ancient world has relev- ance or Roman ideology, especially the assertion made by the imperial elite that
I NR O D U CI O N
their empire had authority over the whole earth. In practice, this authority could not have been military and Seneca hints that the Roman claim to world recognition was achieved by the peaceul dealings o merchants, not through the military might
o legionaries. He protests, ‘we have been given the winds so that the wealth o each region might become common, and not to carry legions and cavalry, or bring harmul intent to other peoples’.15
his latter statement by Seneca oers a more accurate and perhaps more authentic appraisal o the Roman achievement in its ancient context. At the height o Roman power, subjects o the Empire were requent visitors to trading centres as ar west as Hibernia, while in the distant East great commercial eets routinely sailed rom Roman ports in Egypt to coastal markets in India and beyond.16 Te Romans never achieved a global conquest, but Roman rule was able to oster a
commerce that had a ar greater inuence over the ancient world and its resources, than imperial armies could ever have hoped to acquire by coercive orce. Perhaps Rome’s global achievement would be better assessed through the accomplishments o merchants and measured by the range and scale o their activities.
By studying Roman involvement in Eastern trade, this book places the Roman Empire more rmly within its genuine ancient context. Tis investigation challenges how Western scholars have traditionally presented Rome and its achievements. Notably, there is still a convention within established scholarship to consider the Roman Empire largely on the basis o its direct political and military sphere o
inuence, conning studies within narrow academic boundaries. Tese perceptions need to be conronted and this can be achieved by studying ancient evidence concerning how trade connected and nanced the ancient world. Finally, I believe that international commerce is the key to explaining the remarkable economic success o the imperial system that created and sustained the early Roman Empire.
PLAN OF HE BOOK
Te study presented in this book is a scaled-down enquiry into the operation o Rome’s Eastern commerce. Te book is based on my doctoral research completed in 2006 entitled ‘Roman rade with India and the Distant East’. I believe that one o the main issues limiting the study o Eastern commerce is the absence o accessible books on this subject.
Tis is the rst book to comprehensively consider Rome’s Eastern trade, but a study on this scale cannot deal adequately with the range o evidence that exists on this topic. I have thereore concentrated my study on the development o Eastern contacts up to their period o greatest signicance. Te sources used are taken rom
ancient texts that are diffi cult or the non-specialist to acquire and I have thereore provided translations whenever possible. I have also directed my discussion towards evidence that can be used to challenge existing views o the Roman economy and traditional attitudes to the ancient world.
Chapter One introduces the main evidence or Roman involvement in Eastern commerce. Tis includes a review o the main classical texts, an introduction to the archaeological evidence, and a discussion o the ancient works surviving rom the
Indian and Chinese civilizations. Chapter wo looks at the maritime trade routes that led rom Roman Egypt across the eastern oceans to India and the distant East. Chapter Tree considers the gul trade routes and desert caravan trails, that brought
incense rom southern Arabia north into Roman territories. Chapter Four examines the evidence or the overland trade routes that crossed Persia to connect with the so-called silk routes o Inner Asia.
Te last two chapters o this study consider the political and economic context o the Roman Empire. Chapter Five examines the evidence or diplomatic contacts between Roman government and the distant powers that ruled India and China. Te nal chapter considers the signicance o Eastern commerce to the Roman economy. Te rst part o this chapter looks at the ashion-driven consumption o Eastern merchandise in Roman society and considers how trade ventures to the
distant East were unded. Te nal section investigates the revenues that Rome received rom Eastern commerce and looks at how these unds nanced the Empire. Tis discussion introduces an alternative model or the Roman economy, explaining how the Empire unctioned during its period o greatest prosperity.
For the purposes o this book, the term ‘Roman’ describes the territories o Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Arabia that were within the Empire or under the rule o its client kingdoms. In these discussions the term ‘distant East’ or ‘remote East’ reers to territories beyond the Roman rontiers. Tis includes the Parthian Realm, southern Arabia, East Arica, India, Inner Asia, the Far East and China.
In reerencing ancient works I have given the title that is most likely to be known to non-specialists. In the ootnotes, I have listed texts in the order they can be read to make sense o the issue. In most cases, I have limited reerences to the most recent arguments concerning the subject and listed works where urther academic details can be ound. I believe that Eastern commerce is a worthy subject area or uture historical inquiry. Tough I personally do not have the opportunity to continue this research, I can create the context that uture scholars can use to urther explore this ascinating subject.
Ancient Evidence or Eastern Contacts
Te evidence or Eastern commerce is extraordinary, especially as the Greek and Roman sources are supplemented by various written accounts produced by other ancient civilizations. For example, the earliest amil literature describes contact
with a oreign people called the Yavanas who many believe were subjects o the Roman Empire.17 Historical records have also survived rom ancient China and they record the activities o a oreign people rom a great power in the distant West called Da Qin.18 Leading Sinologists identiy Da Qin as the Roman Empire.19
Added to this written testimony is an increasing range o ancient evidence recovered by archaeological nds. Tese include inscriptions rom ancient monuments, texts scratched on pottery ragments known as ostraca, and papyri documents rom Roman times that have been preserved in the arid environment o Egypt. Ancient sites associated with Eastern trade both within and beyond the Roman rontiers,
have also been subject to recent investigation and have provided urther important material evidence or the conduct and signicance o Eastern commerce.
HE PERIPLUS OF HE ERYHRAEAN SEA
Classical accounts provide the most extensive and credible evidence or the operation o Rome’s Eastern trade, and among these texts a short pamphlet reerred to as the Periplus o the Erythraean Sea holds a uniquely important position.
Te Periplus is a merchant handbook consisting o 66 concise paragraphs written in a straightorward style o Greek that was popular in the Roman era.20 In this important document the unnamed author offers practical inormation about trade voyages rom Roman Egypt to ports o call in east Arica, southern Arabia, and the western coasts o India. Tis systematic catalogue o trade contact makes the Periplus the most detailed and comprehensive surviving account o Roman involvement in Eastern commerce.21
One o the unique eatures o the Periplus is that it was written by someone who had direct experience o the distant East and clues in the text suggest that the author
was a Greek-speaking businessman rom Egypt who had visited India on past trade missions.22 Te author was probably a trusted authority who wrote the report to inorm contemporaries about the condition o Eastern commerce, probably or the benet o speculators who wanted to invest in the trade, or perhaps or less experi- enced merchants who were considering undertaking the voyage themselves.23 Te Periplus is also remarkable because it is one o the ew surviving classical sources to have been written by a merchant. Most historical accounts rom the Roman
era were written by members o the learned social elite who tended to idealise the aristocratic business o landholding and regard merchants as social ineriors. Tis makes the pragmatic testimony o the Periplus even more compelling as a source
or ancient practices. Te author o the Periplus collected details rom different trade voyages and
assembled this inormation into long itineraries that catalogued commercial opportunities along the eastern coasts. Above all else, the interest o the author is directed towards items that could be exchanged at the various ports o call and so lists commodities exported through trade and the Roman goods that could be exchanged in return. On occasion the author also provides details about the quantities o certain goods traded and offers inormation on the true origins o products, when the merchant dealers exporting the goods were only intermediaries
in a wider commerce. Te Periplus also contains elements o a maritime manual and a navigational aid
with the author offering signicant inormation on sailing routes, marine hazards, landmarks, sae anchorages and useul supplies.24 Tis additional detail combines to create a vivid account o the commerce, revealing the concerns o merchants and the many dangers they routinely encountered on these ambitious trade voyages.
Te Periplus describes characters and events that would date the work to around AD 50. First, the author mentions that an Arabian monarch named Malichus was ruling the Nabatean kingdom and inscriptions rom this region reveal that Malichus
was in power between AD 40 and AD 70.25 Second, the author describes northern India beore AD 65 when invaders rom Central Asia, called the Kushan, were still conned to Bactria, and Gandhara was ruled by minor Indo-Parthian kings.26 Te third piece o evidence is more complex, as the Periplus describes an era when the Gujarat region o India was under the control o a king who the author names as ‘Manbanos’, but the Indian texts call ‘Nahapana’.27 When the Periplus was written, Nahapana had just captured territory in the Satavahana Realm to the south o his kingdom, including the important Buddhist monastery at Nasik.28 Inscriptions rom Nasik suggest that Nahapana controlled the region or less than 11 years
and scholars have assigned a date o AD 66 or the latest Saka inscription at the site.29 Tis suggests that the Saka occupation described in the Periplus, could not have begun much earlier than AD 54. Interestingly, the author o the Periplus was unaware o events late in the reign o the Claudius when a Roman reedman discovered a new sailing route to Sri Lanka and brought back important new inormation concerning the island.30 Tis suggests that the Periplus was written shortly beore AD 54 when Claudius was succeeded by Nero.
Te Periplus o the Erythraean Sea is the only merchant Periplus that has survived rom antiquity, but at any one time there were probably dozens o these accounts
circulating amongst the Greek and Roman businessmen o Alexandria. It is likely that these reports would have been regularly updated and amended as new inormation became available and urther trading opportunities were realized. Tese guides would have been written by trusted authorities and passed on to select contacts in the business community. Eastern trade was bewildering in its complexity and Roman businessmen needed some orm o reerence to plan possible market destinations and respond to likely oreign demands. Some trade decisions would
A NCI E N E V I D E NCE F O R E A S E R N CO NA CS
have to be made during the voyage as Roman merchants picked up Eastern cargoes at oreign ports to exchange at more distant markets. An up-to-date trade Periplus would be invaluable as Roman traders needed to know which Arabian goods were
in demand at Indian ports and what other oreign shipping was visiting particular markets. Tese elaborate trade systems required the type o detailed guide that can be ound in the pages o the Periplus.
Te Periplus offers the economic historian an unparalleled insight into distance trade. No other surviving Roman text offers this kind o detail on commerce and the possible strategies behind various trade dealings. I the Periplus had not survived, then the study o Eastern commerce would be limited to a ew vague and disparate reerences in the remaining sources. Te Periplus not only offers a context or all other source accounts, but it also explains archaeological nds that would otherwise
remain obscure. Te work is unique and has justiably occupied a central position in almost all modern inquiries into Eastern trade, including my own studies.31
HE GEOGRAPHY BY SRABO
About AD 23, a Greek named Strabo completed a geographical study o the known world. Strabo was someone who sought acceptance in Roman society and certain passages o his work demonstrate an underlying approval o the imperial system.32
He was primarily a historian, and although his version o the history o the world has not survived, the style o his geography reects his interest in the past.33 Tis work contains important inormation about trade in the eastern Roman Empire and the lands beyond its rontiers.
Strabo was born sometime between 64 BC and 50 BC, in the Pontic city o Amaseia on the southern coast o the Black Sea.34 His amily were Hellenic aris- tocrats and as part o his education Strabo visited a number o Greek intellectual centres in the eastern Mediterranean.35 Strabo also resided in Rome beore spend- ing several years in Alexandria in the 20s BC, where he developed a riendship with
Aelius Gallus. Gallus was one o the rst Roman governors o Egypt and Strabo joined his entourage o ‘riends and soldiers’ to tour around the new province.36 Strabo returned to Rome shortly afer 20 BC and continued to live in the imperial capital, probably until his death in AD 23.37 It was during this latter period o his lie that he composed his geography.38
Te Geography written by Strabo is a substantial, all-encompassing study that collects together ethnographic and political inormation about the ancient territories known to Greek scholars.39 Strabo compiled his work rom well-known accounts written by traditional Greek and Roman authorities, but he also occasionally added
contemporary details concerning recent developments. Te historical inormation that Strabo collects on Persia and Arabia is o signic-
ant value or understanding conditions in these regions. However, his consideration o India relies heavily on respected Greek sources rom the time o Alexander the Great and his immediate successors.40 As a consequence, Strabo provides almost no inormation regarding events in India during his own era. Tis is signicant, because when Strabo wrote his geography, there would have been thousands o
Roman subjects travelling to India every year. Tese people had accurate contemporary knowledge o the distant East and Strabo would have encountered them as he walked through the busy streets o Alexandria. However, like other members
o the Roman elite, he would have regarded merchants and sailors as his social ineriors. Tis prejudice excluded contemporary accounts rom the type o ormal study avoured by the literary classes. Indeed Strabo advises his readers:

It was perhaps true that the traders who sold their goods at the merchant bazaars
in Alexandria beguiled wealthy buyers with exaggerated stories about their exotic voyages and the incredible creatures they had seen.42 Tis ‘sales patter’ helped to hype the prices o Eastern goods, but it also meant that authorities like Strabo had diffi culty accepting any merchant testimony as entirely credible.43
In the Augustan era, members o the Roman government probably had a ar more extensive understanding o contemporary India than Strabo, or the surviving sources, would suggest. Strabo mentions that ambassadors rom various Indian kingdoms were sending embassies to the Emperor Augustus, but, although Strabo had riends amongst the Roman elite, he was clearly not privy to the exchanges
o inormation that occurred between the Emperor and these prestigious oreign visitors.44
Despite its ailings, Strabo’s Geography remains an immensely valuable source o inormation on Eastern trade in the early Roman era. His survey-like overview o contacts and conditions across the eastern rontiers is indispensable, especially as these outlying territories ofen receive little mention in the other surviving texts. His approval o Roman imperialism also compels him to comment on how the Empire had beneted these eastern regions by accommodating commerce, or improving security. All these details provide valuable evidence about how the ormation o
the Augustan Empire undamentally altered the classical world. Strabo’s Geography thereore holds an important position in any comprehensive study o Eastern trade.
HE PEUINGER MAP
A urther remarkable document, ofen reerred to as the Peutinger able, reveals Roman perceptions o the world in a map-like display that includes a nal seg- ment representing India. Te Peutinger able is believed to be a medieval copy o
a decorative Roman map, dating to around AD 300. It is relevant or the study o Eastern commerce because it displays important locations in the distant East and outlines signicant overland contact routes.
Te map is drawn and coloured on parchment and represents the ancient world as a long linear diagram that is less than a third o a metre tall, but stretches to a length o almost seven metres.45 In the design o the map there has been almost no attempt to represent the true shape o coastlines or countries but important
settlements are marked on the document along with various geographical eatures. Sites represented in the work are connected by coloured lines which are probably travel routes based on overland itineraries used by traders, armies or administra-
tors. A urther ascinating eature o the map is the appearance o an Augustan temple in southern India.46
Te Peutinger Map has too many errors and inconsistencies to have been a unctional document used or serious overland travel. For example, the Italian town o Pompeii appears on the map, despite its destruction by the eruption o Vesuvius in AD 79. Conversely, the city o Constantinople eatures prominently, although the city was not ounded until the early ourth century AD. Tis work was probably designed or public exhibition, possibly as some orm o state propaganda.47 Te map would visually emphasize the scale and achievements o the Roman Empire,
representing the reach o its classical civilization. Tis would explain why the map depicts a Roman temple in India, a detail which the mapmakers must have ound in some earlier classical record. It is thereore likely that the map was compiled by Roman intellectuals using various earlier sources and itineraries to create a large schematic display.
Te Peutinger Map is an eccentric puzzle o ancient inormation and any inter- pretation o the document still remains diffi cult. Te schematic plan o the work can be conusing or the modern viewer and marked locations in outlying territories are sometimes diffi cult to identiy with known ancient sites. General courses recorded
on the map can be traced with some condence, but their signicance is ofen obscure. For instance, it is not clear who was using the ancient routes marked in the sections o the work portraying the distant East and what the original inormation on these connections may have been. Despite these concerns the Peutinger Map is a unique source and this important document will have great signicance in uture studies o Eastern commerce.
ISIDORE AND HE PARHIAN SAIONS Te Parthian Stations, written by an author called Isidore, is a brie text o unique interest to academics studying Eastern trade. Te work gives a short itinerary o sites leading eastward through the Parthian Realm in what many scholars have interpreted as an important overland trade route.48 Little is known about Isidore, but he seems to have belonged to a Greek community that lived in the Mesopotamian city o Charax, near the head o the Persian Gul.49 Te text that orms the so-called Parthian Stations, is the only surviving extract rom a handbook written in Greek that apparently described conditions in the Parthian territories.
Te surviving itinerary consists o nineteen short paragraphs, many o which are no more than sentences stating distances and providing an occasional pertinent act about certain locations.
In the Parthian Stations, Isidore outlines a route rom Zeugma, at the edge o Roman Syria, down the Euphrates River and across the Iranian Plateau to the very limits o Parthian administration.50 Interestingly, there is no reerence in the work to commerce and no indication that the main route outlined through Parthia would
lead onwards to either India, or through the lands o inner Asia to reach China. Isidore lists urban centres that probably housed caravan stations, but these sites may also have been included because they unctioned as military bases, or because
they were important points on offi cial communication routes used by Parthian administrators.
Scholars have suggested that Isidore may have been mapping a military campaign route through Parthian territory, perhaps or the benet o Roman commanders.51 Tis is easible because early in his itinerary he includes the phrase, ‘rom this point the orces cross over to the Roman side’. Isidore also shows an interest in the political and military character o sites along the outlined route, occasionally mentioning whether or not a particular location was ortied, or i the local population could be considered ‘Greek’ and thereore by implication, pro-Roman.52
A chance comment by Pliny the Elder could indicate that Isidore was an agent or the Roman government. Pliny writes:

It could be that Dionysius wrote under the name Isidore, but it is also possible that
Roman authorities used a number o Greek inormants to gather intelligence about possible invasion routes through Parthia. Te work by Isidore could thereore be the remains o a strategic document produced or the imperial government.54
he Parthian Stations may date to the Augustan era, but Isidore probably used earlier sources to compile his study. A reerence in the work to the city o Alexandropolis being on the eastern rontier o the Parthian Realm is likely to be anachronistic. One theory is that Isidore’s report is somehow derived rom an offi cial Parthian document, perhaps a survey conducted by Mithridates II in around 100 BC.55 Although its date and purpose is obscure, the Parthian Stations
remains an important text or understanding travel routes through ancient Persia, and consequently deserves signicant notice in the study o Eastern commerce.
PLINY AND HE NAURAL HISORY
Pliny the Elder’s encyclopaedic Natural History , offers important details concerning the use o Eastern products in Mediterranean society, as well as the distant trade ventures undertaken by Roman subjects to acquire these exotic commodities. Te Natural History is a remarkably complex document and although it provides a uniquely ascinating insight into the mindset o the Roman governing elite, the inormation it contains is ofen diffi cult to interpret and assess.
Pliny was born in northern Italy in around AD 23, but at a young age he was sent to be educated in Rome where he had the opportunity to witness popular events involving members o the imperial court.56 On reaching adulthood he served with the Roman army in Germany and was involved in a number o military campaigns.
He was then appointed to the offi ce o procurator in Hispania arraconensis, where he served in the period between AD 72 and AD 74.57 arraconensis was the largest division o Roman Spain and in the mid rst century AD the territory was a major
producer o the Empire’s new gold reserves. Pliny probably developed his academic interest in mining and bullion production during this period.58
Pliny may have held the position o Procurator in other provinces beore returning to Rome, where he served as an advisor to the Emperor Vespasian. In Rome, he would have attended meetings where Vespasian consulted his cabinet about state administration and the operational business o the Empire.59 Pliny developed an academic interest in naval matters and late in his career he was given the preecture o the Roman eet at Misenum in the Bay o Naples. He held this post until his dramatic death in AD 79 when he was asphyxiated by volcanic gases
while trying to rescue civilians eeing the eruption o Vesuvius.60 In addition to his offi cial duties Pliny pleaded cases in Roman law courts and
was a prolic writer on various subjects. He published a tactical work on cavalry manoeuvres drawn rom his experiences in Germany, a biography o his patron Pomponius Secundus, and a 20 volume history o Rome’s German wars.61 However, Pliny’s only surviving work is the Natural History which he compiled during the period when he was serving as a procurator and an advisor to the Emperor.62
he Natural History is an enormous and unwieldy collection o eclectic knowledge. In 37 dense volumes it deals with numerous aspects o the natural
world and man’s relationship to nature, divided into sections considering topics like geography, plants, animals, medicines and metals.63 In discussing these subjects Pliny assembled classical accounts rom a wide range o respected Greek and Roman authorities. Consequently, many sections o his study read as a compendium o traditional accounts rather than an enquiry into contemporary conditions.
Te material that orms the Natural History is only loosely assembled into topics and reading the book the modern scholar encounters, ‘detail juxtaposed with detail, parataxis, particularity, multiplicity, and sel contradiction’.64 Pliny’s discussions are also ull o embellishments, anecdotes and colourul descriptions.
He offers numerous accounts o wonders, curiosities, monstrosities and other mirabilia, ofen with little critical or authoritative comment.65 When Pliny does offer his personal viewpoint it is ofen in the orm o a moralising judgement or an amusing comment.66 When Pliny was writing the Natural History , Roman government was receiving important contemporary detail about the distant East rom imperial agents, overseas merchants and distant ambassadors.67 Yet Pliny generally withholds this inormation because it does not suit his chosen genre which emphasized the need to make sense o traditional classical accounts.
Tough modern scholars nd the Natural History challenging, there is much to
recommend the work. Pliny spent a lietime in the service o the Roman Empire, upholding its authority in the provinces and managing its power near the centre o imperial government.68 He clearly intended that his study should be o value to the Roman ruling class and the work is dedicated to Vespasian’s son itus, who was a renowned military commander and heir to the Empire.69 Pliny’s attitudes to established ‘knowledge’ thereore make the Natural History an exceptionally important document or understanding the interests o Roman society and the
cultural attitudes o its governing elite.70 Te Natural History and its controversies will consequently perorm a signicant role in all uture studies o Eastern trade.
HE GEOGRAPHY BY CLAUDIUS POLEMY
About AD 139, an Alexandrian Greek named Claudius Ptolemy completed a geographical study o the world. He concentrated on how mathematical inormation, including distances and coordinates, could be used to create accurate maps.71 Tis work is the only study o world cartography that has survived rom classical antiquity and it reveals how greatly commerce had increased Roman knowledge o the distant East.
Claudius Ptolemy was living in a city were Indian merchant princes were regularly seen at public gatherings, but he preerred to deal with academic texts, rather than investigate the realities o the ancient world through direct inquiry. Ptolemy received his data rom scientic treaties rather than personal experience and most o his inormation is taken rom a study compiled by a near-contemporary named Marinos o yre. Marinos managed to acquire detailed merchant reports similar to the Periplus o the Erythraean Sea, but describing the next generation o trade contacts. Tis included a work written by an entrepreneur named Alexandros, who described even more advanced Roman trade voyages into the distant East.72 Using
this inormation, Ptolemy was able to list dozens o new commercial settlements that had risen to prominence in Roman trade dealings with India and the lands beyond. Ptolemy occasionally reveals his sources when he mentions articles o trade in his catalogues o Eastern coordinates.
Ptolemy was not concerned with descriptive reports o peoples and regional histories. Consequently, his Geography is mostly a vast compendium o data ormed into long lists o site names and coordinates. Yet the work also contains a series o essays dealing with aspects o scientic cartography and in these studies Ptolemy outlines how his gures or latitudes and longitudes could be used to create geo-
graphical ‘impressions’ o various world regions. Tere are clear problems with Ptolemy’s data and the approach he used to create
maps o the distant East. Ptolemy designates Eastern trade centres as ‘emporiums’, ‘villages’, ‘cities’ or even ‘metropolises’, but he never adequately explains this ter- minology. Signicantly, Ptolemy also restructured some o his data to make it t awed theories regarding the shape o the Asian landmass. For instance, Alexandros and the author o the Periplus knew that India ormed a triangular shape and that its coast ran rom north to south, yet Ptolemy remained convinced by the traditions o Greek geography and decided to ignore this peninsula shape. He thereore
restructured his coordinates to atten the southern Asian coast. Despite these ailings, the maps that can be constructed rom Ptolemy’s data are
still impressive. His work suggests that by this era, Roman merchants were reaching Malaysia and classical authorities were aware that the distant East occupied ar more than two-thirds o the known earth. Ptolemy’s account also reveals that the Romans had knowledge o Chinese territories in the most distant regions o the orient.
REMAINS FROM ROMAN EGYP
In ancient times, the two most important Roman ports or Eastern trade were the
Egyptian towns o Berenice and Myos Hormos which lay on the upper coast o theRed Sea. Te ruined remains o these towns are still visible on the desert landscape and the sites have recently been excavated by archaeologists who have unearthed impressive new evidence that reveals the conduct o their Eastern trade business.
A collection o ancient texts scratched on pottery ragments have been discovered at Berenice. hese ostraca have been identiied as public records that were removed rom a nearby customs building sometime beore AD 70 and dumped in the dry sandy soil o an ancient rubbish pit.73 Te records are pottery tokens that served as offi cial permits, probably issued at the Nile city o Coptos
afer export duties had been paid on cargo sent across the Egyptian desert to theRed Sea ports. Te passes served as tax receipts shown to authorities at Berenice to conrm that the goods being loaded onboard ship had been charged the proper dues at Coptos.74 Tese remarkable records provide vital detail about ancient loading operations at the port and are incredibly important to uture discussion o Eastern commerce.

Te surviving texts concentrate on wine cargoes and other assorted goods, but do not document some o the main Roman exports recorded in the Periplus. Tis was probably because certain custom offi cials were charged with monitoring particular cargoes. Te surviving ostraca thereore represent only one department at the port and there were probably several other customs offi cers at Berenice in charge o other
goods such as bullion and coin, abrics, base metals and glassware.76 Cargoes wouldhave been broken down into smaller consignments or transport to and rom trade vessels. Consequently, the Berenice ostraca cannot be used to reveal the possible size o Roman ships or their cargo capacities.77
A collection o ostraca called the Nicanor Archive, provides urther valuable inormation about the caravan transport operations that supplied the Red Sea ports during the Roman era. Te Nicanor Archive was ound at Coptos and consists o transport receipts rom a small amily-run company that was active rom AD 6 to AD 62.78 Tis company held important contracts to deliver monthly ood supplies
to Roman garrisons stationed in the desert. Te head o this business was a Greco- Egyptian called Nicanor who owned a small caravan that probably numbered at least thirty-six camels.79
It seems that Roman businessmen hired Nicanor to transport their cargoes across the desert, and when these goods arrived saely, their agents at the ports would issue an ostraca receipt to acknowledge delivery. Nicanor, or the member o his extended amily who was making the delivery, would then return to Coptos with the receipt. Tis receipt could then be used to veriy that the delivery had been
made exactly as agreed. Tere are 88 ostracon in the Nicanor Archive stating the member o Nicanor’s amily who transported the goods, the quantity and type o reight conveyed, the delivery destination, the name o the individual who received
the consignment, and the date when these dealings were concluded.80 Te Nicanor Archive thereore provides valuable inormation about the identities and activities o Roman businessmen who were operating at the Red Sea ports.
A large stone inscription, reerred to as the Coptos ariff , also provides crucial inormation about the travellers who were crossing Egypt’s Eastern Desert in the Roman era. Te text, which dates to around AD 90, once stood in some prominent public location at Coptos and it records tolls to be paid by travellers leaving the city or the Red Sea ports. People were taxed according to their occupations and the inscription also records tolls to be paid on pack animals and other unusual
transports such as uneral possessions.81 As this desert crossing was the main route to the Red Sea ports, this text indicates the many occupations involved in Roman trade voyages to the distant East.
Other remarkable evidence or this traffi c comes rom the desert itsel, where travellers occasionally rested along the caravan routes at small rock shelters that offered temporary reuge rom the glaring sun or sand-gritted winds. At many o these stopping points travellers carved their names into the rockace, thus leaving a permanent record o their journeys across the desert and providing historians with ascinating inormation about the people who journeyed to Red Sea ports,
then travelled onwards to destinations such as India.82 Egyptian papyri documents recovered in the modern era are a urther import-
ant source o inormation on Eastern trade, especially when they record business arrangements. One o the most intriguing documents available to this study is a ragmentary loan contract called P. Vindob. G 40822, also known as the Muziris Papyrus because it records details about a cargo consignment brought back rom Muziris onboard a Roman merchant ship called the Hermapollon.83 Te text lists arrangements or the transer o this Indian cargo across the Eastern Desert and north along the Nile to warehouses in Alexandria. Te text is signicant because
it provides important details about the values o Eastern cargoes involved in this extensive commerce.
New archaeological discoveries in Egypt are continually adding evidence to the study o Eastern trade. In the uture, this inormation will offer greater insights into the organization and scale o Rome’s overseas trade business. Te time will come when all detailed studies o the Roman Empire and its ancient economy will be required to take this important evidence into account.
CARAVAN INSCRIPIONS FROM PALMYRA Te vast ruins o ancient Palmyra, including the remains o great temples and large administrative buildings, are still visible in the Syrian Desert. In the rubble o the ancient stonework, hundreds o ragmentary classical columns mark where broad avenues once led through the centre o the city.84 In ancient times, Palmyrene dignitaries and merchants set up statues, or other sculptured offerings, to commemorate individuals who had perormed some noteworthy service to the city or
its inhabitants. Tese monuments were placed amongst the stone architecture o the city and were set in prominent locations along public thoroughares and market squares. Large numbers o these statues were destroyed or deaced in later centuries
in acts o iconoclasm, but the accompanying inscriptions have survived.85 Many o the Palmyrene inscriptions commemorate individuals who assisted
caravans rom the city on their commercial ventures east into Mesopotamia. Consequently, they offer important inormation about the organization o caravan ventures, the destinations o these trade missions, the titles o individuals who enabled or assisted the expeditions, and even incidents such as banditry that had aected the merchants.86 he commemorative inscriptions rom Palmyra are written in a orm o Aramaic unique to the city, but these dedications are ofen duplicated in Greek. Te inscriptions that document caravan ventures date rom
AD 19 to the 260s AD and there is a marked concentration o texts rom the second century.87 Te dedications indicate the requency o trade, but they might also reect the popularity o certain epigraphic ashions in the city.
Carved relies have been ound in the ruins o ancient Palmyra and they provide important visual evidence or the appearance o the city’s inhabitants. Tese sculp- tures show dignitaries and merchants, dromedary camels and even the sea-going ships that Palmyrenes operated in the Persian Gul. Many o these carvings are rom unerary monuments and the ruins o tower-like tomb structures which exist on the outskirts o the ancient city. A tax-law inscription has also been recovered
rom Palmyra and this important text, dating to AD 137, reveals how tariffs were imposed on goods entering the urban markets.88 Tis evidence urther reveals how distance commerce can be considered within the wider context o regional production and localized trade.
ROMAN COIN EVIDENCE FROM INDIA
As part o their trade dealings with the distant East, Roman merchants exported
vast amounts o gold and silver coinage to ancient India. In recent times sizable quantities o Roman coins have been ound in India and these hoards can be used to indicate the development o Eastern trade and gauge its possible impact on imperial nances.
Tere have been close to 80 reported Roman coin nds documented in India. Most o these discoveries were made in the southern regions o the subcontinent and documented cases have ranged rom single nds to large hoards containing hundreds o coins. Almost all o the Roman nds consist o high value gold or silver coins and it is rare to nd hoards where these precious metals are mixed together.89
Many o the documented Roman hoards were discovered during a period in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when India was part o the British Empire. During this era, interested antiquarians ofen worked with English administrators to try to recover recently unearthed Roman hoards. In most cases they could only seize a small raction o the coins, but in many instances they were able to gather important inormation about the nds, including helpul detail about the scale and condition o the discoveries. Scholars estimate that rom the Roman hoards
recov ered, around 5,400 denarii and 800 aurei still exist in various modern collec- tions.90 However, a ar larger number o coins have disappeared rom the records and are not available or study.
Te Roman coin hoard evidence rom India presents a uniquely complex numis- matic puzzle or modern researchers and it is thereore a challenging subject or non-specialists to comprehend. Despite these diffi culties, coin evidence is vitally important to any modern study that seeks to understand the progress and signicance o Rome’s Eastern trade.
BUDDHIS INSCRIPIONS FROM ANCIEN INDIA
Te Roman merchants who visited India ound large populous kingdoms, with long-established traditions o crafsmanship and urban culture.91 Inscriptions rom ancient India commemorate gifs to Buddhist monasteries by crafspeople and traders who were associated with various commercial guilds. Tese texts offer important inormation about the economy o ancient India and they also record the involvement o Roman subjects in Eastern trade networks.
Some o the most interesting ancient inscriptions rom India come rom the hilly terrain o the western Deccan. In this region Buddhist monasteries thrived in the mountain passes used by merchants on inland journeys to the great cities o central
India. Te Buddhist communities received the patronage o visiting merchants and took advantage o the local terrain to begin carving their rock ace surroundings into elaborate acades. Natural cave systems were also excavated to create complex religious acilities with decorative pillars and meditation cells.92 Tese rock-cut structures were modelled on the reestanding wooden buildings that existed at Buddhist monasteries across ancient India. Te Deccan sites thereore offer a unique glimpse into the distant past and the inscriptions they preserve provide a remarkable record o ancient practices.
Te inscriptions ound at the Deccan sites record devotional acts o patronage
and are written in a popular orm o Sanskrit known as Prakrit . A small number o these texts mention unds given to the monasteries by new converts to Buddhism who seem to have been merchants rom the Roman Empire.93 Tis evidence is ascinating and will certainly become signicant in uture enquiries into distant Roman trade.
HE ANCIEN AMIL LIERAURE
Ancient amil literature contains epic narrative poems dating rom the irstcenturies AD. Tese epics describe a time when Roman subjects were visiting the amil lands on distant trade ventures and they provide unique evidence about the activities o Romans in ancient India.94 Tis literature offers an important insight into the operation o early amil society and cannot be omitted rom any serious study o the ancient world.
Te amils viewed the Romans as exotic oreigners and reerred to them as Yavanas. Te name was ultimately derived rom the ancient term Ionian, which
originally denoted the Greeks o coastal Asia Minor, whom the Persians called the Yauna.95 By the time the name reached India it had become Yavana and was applied to anyone who was Greek, or had a classical identity that appeared outwardly
Hellenic. Consequently, when the amils rst encountered Roman merchants rom the Empire, who spoke mainly Greek, they labelled them Yavana.
Most o the amil reerences to Yavanas appear in a collection o narrative poetry known as Sangam literature which deals with heroic themes such as love and war.96 amil literature was originally bardic poetry so these idylls were passed down through the oral tradition until late antiquity when they were committed to writing. By the seventh century AD they were collected into the large anthologies that have survived into the modern era.97
Te amil verses were composed to gloriy patrons and so were never intended
to be a historical record. As a consequence, the description o amil society contained is ofen incidental to the wider narrative. Although the settings and events are recounted in a highly descriptive manner, some inormation is conveyed in stock phrases and stereotyped expressions. Te amil accounts contain no mention or discussion o Rome as a political state. Instead the Yavanas appear as background characters, mentioned in a ew descriptive passages. Yet the inormation provided by these accounts is remarkable and the Romans are described as crafsmen, mer- cenaries and visiting merchants arriving on extraordinary ships.
ARCHAEOLOGY BEYOND HE EMPIRE
Tere have been signicant new archaeological discoveries in the distant East that will transorm the current understanding o Roman commerce. Important ancient sites have recently been rediscovered in India and now await ull investigation. Tree Roman shipwrecks have also been identied on the seabed below the ancient sea lanes that crossed the Indian Ocean.
Te most important o these recent discoveries could be the large Roman ship-
wreck recently ound off the Red Sea coast o Quseir in Egypt. Tis trade vessel sank near the ruins o the ancient Roman harbour at Myos Hormos, probably during the Augustan era. Te discovery o Campanian wine amphorae on the seabed indicates that the reighter was carrying Italian cargo on an outbound expedition when it sank in unknown circumstances.98 Another Roman wreck has been ound urther down the Arican side o the Red Sea near the Shab Rumi Ree on the coast o Sudan. Little is known about this vessel, but it was carrying a cargo o Coan-style wine amphorae, suggesting another outbound expedition that somehow ended in tragedy.99 Both wrecks will reveal substantial inormation about the quantities and
types o durable cargoes selected or Roman export to the distant East. A urther Roman shipwreck has been investigated by divers off the coast o Bet
Dwarka in northwest India. Te wreck belongs to a large reighter and sizeable sections o the hull have been preserved deep in the seabed sediment, where the vessel sank some 5,000 kilometres rom Roman territory. Investigations have been limited, but the cargo seems to have included amphorae containers as well as circu- lar lead ingots intended or the Indian market.100 Tis wreck will provide signicant
inormation about the modications made to the Roman reighters that sailed this distant ocean. It could also offer valuable new details about the crew and equipment carried onboard Roman ships on these dangerous voyages.
Te amil trade port o Muziris held an important position in Roman trade with India and recently a team o archaeologists have identied a site that they believe could be the ancient city. Tis discovery was made by a geoarchaeologist named K. P. Shajan, using satellite imagery to trace the course o the ancient Periyar River. He then ollowed this orgotten route on oot, trekking through backwaters and undergrowth, until he ound the remains o a vast, long-abandoned settlement that matched literary accounts o ancient Muziris. A team o international researchers, including a classical archaeologist named Roberta omber, are currently investigating this ancient site. hey have already uncovered signiicant Roman inds,
including amphorae ragments rom Mediterranean wine shipments.101 Te early amil literature describes how Roman merchants built large residences
at the busy city port o Puhar, on the southeast coast o India. Yet these sources also describe how the ancient city was submerged beneath the sea in a powerul tidal ood.102 Modern divers operating off the Coromandel Coast have ound the sunken ruins o ancient Puhar on the seabed and these discoveries conrm that some cata- strophic event in the distant past had overwhelmed the city.103 Tis unique site will provide great challenges to uture marine archaeologists but the ndings may offer urther remarkable insights into ancient world trade connections.
HE SOGDIAN LEERS
During the rst ew centuries AD, a people rom Inner Asia called the Sogdians developed a trade presence in the arim kingdoms o Central Asia and established various merchant communities in ancient China. Sogdian merchants organized caravans to bring Chinese goods to their homeland city o Samarkand and arranged trade ventures to send products rom Inner Asia, east, to markets in China. In 1907,
the amous British explorer Aurel Stein discovered a small collection o Sogdian letters in the remains o a ruined watchtower that had once stood on the ancient Chinese rontier near Dunhuang.104
Te ve Sogdian letters were written in a complex orm o ancient Iranian script that remains diffi cult to translate. Some o the letters are personal correspondence and others are mainly concerned with business matters. Te letters are addressed either to community leaders in Samarkand or Sogdians residing in the arim kingdoms on the caravan routes to their homeland. Te Sogdian letters mention conditions in China afer a series o devastating invasions by horsemen raiders
rom the Asian Steppes. Te raiders were Xiongnu and these details would date the documents to about AD 313.105 Something happened to the Sogdian merchant entrusted with the responsibility o delivering the letters. He either hid them in the tower or perhaps a soldier on the Chinese rontier decided to conscate the documents, earing they contained inormation that might be strategically valuable to their Xiongnu enemies.
Te Sogdian Letters offer signicant insights into the activities and concerns
o ancient caravan merchants on the Silk Roads o Inner Asia. Tey indicate how Chinese goods would have reached Roman territories and this evidence needs to be included in any comprehensive study o Eastern commerce.
RECORDS FROM ANCIEN CHINA
In the late rst century AD, the Han Empire launched a major series o military campaigns to regain control over the arim kingdoms o Central Asia. Generals were sent west to complete the task and gather important inormation about countries in the distant West. Tese reports were sent back to the court o the Chinese Emperor to be entered into the offi cial records. estimonies rom visiting ambas-
sadors were also recorded. Tese sources inormed the Chinese government that a new power had emerged in the distant West that was equal in size and importance to the Han Empire. Han agents in Central Asia dubbed this place Da Qin, meaning ‘Great China’, and details rom their accounts indicate that this ‘other China’ must have been the Roman Empire.106
Court records rom ancient China have not survived in their original orm, but they are accurately preserved in later texts.107 In late antiquity Chinese scholars made extensive use o the Han records to compile detailed histories about their past. Te best evidence or Da Qin thereore comes rom a fh century work called the
Hou Hanshu, also known as Te Later Han Histories. Tis work contains a chapter called the ‘Western Regions’ which was compiled rom court records and the reports o leading generals who had campaigned in Central Asia. Tese correlated accounts were submitted to the Han Emporer about AD 125.
Records also exist rom the Chinese States which succeeded the Han Dynasty in AD 220. A particularly important work rom this era is the Weilue, or Brie Account o the Wei Dynasty , written by a contemporary Chinese scholar named Yu Huan. A chapter in the Weilue called ‘Peoples o the West’ has survived because it was aith- ully quoted in later Chinese accounts. Tis Weilue chapter is signicant because
it updated earlier inormation about the Roman Empire and discussed overland routes leading rom China to the distant West. Reerences to Mesopotamia in the work suggest that it was based on reports collected between AD 116 and AD 165.108
Te Chinese records provide uniquely important inormation about the ancient conditions and politics o Central Asia. Tey also reveal the types o Roman goods reaching the Far East through overland trade routes and distant voyages across the Indian Ocean. Some o the Chinese accounts mention the arrival o strange visitors in China who were possibly subjects o the Roman Empire.
Te ancient Chinese records are credible and compelling. It is ascinating to read
how another politically advanced ancient civilization viewed the Roman Empire. Given their signicance, Chinese accounts must be examined in any serious discussions o Roman trade and they will certainly have a signicant place in uture considerations o the ancient world economy.
CONCLUSIONS
Any historian investigating Eastern trade has to take account o a wide range o
diverse source evidence rom very different ancient civilizations. Tere are alsoarchaeological remains to consider, including coin evidence rom Indian hoards, and this detail provides urther interpretive challenges to this study. Tis makes any examination o Eastern commerce an extremely complex and demanding task.
With the classical sources, it is important to recognize how genre and social attitudes affected how ancient inormation was recorded and presented. Evidence o Roman trade detailed in the written accounts o other ancient cultures should also be considered with appropriate caution. Doubts and concerns regarding the surviving sources can be discussed and expressed in en