Indo-Roman Trade - Rise and Demise - Masters Thesis

INDO-ROMAN TRADE:
RISE AND DEMISE

by
Parisa Atighimoghadam
September 1
st
, 2012

A thesis submitted to the
Faculty of the Graduate School of
The University at Buffalo, State University of New York
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of

Master of Arts

Department of Art History
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ii

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my advisors, Professor Vance Watrous and Professor Stephen Dyson, for
their help and guidance throughout this project and the rest of my graduate work at UB. In addition, I
would like to thank the Visual Studies Departments Administrator, Peggy Moffitt, who led me through
the minefield of academic paperwork and bureaucracy with incredible grace and agility. Moreover, I must
thank my wonderfully patient husband, Morteza Asgarzadeh, for his love and support through this
journey. Finally I would like to thank my father and mother for their constant support and encouragement
through my education life.

iii

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ii
Abstract iv
Introduction- Indo-Roman Trade: Rise and Demise 1-5
Section I- Indo-Roman trade network: Significant ports 6-14
Section II- Chronology of Decline 15-22
Section III- Reasons for Decline 23-29
Conclusions 30-32
Images 33-36
Bibliography 37-39

iv

Abstract
This thesis offers an examination of the history of Indo-Roman trade from its rise in about second
century B.C.E., to its demise in the seventh century C.E. The main focus of this research is on the
chronology and reasons for the decline in the Indo-Roman trade. Through a consideration of the political
and economic history of the Roman world, the rise of Sassanians and later Arab Muslims, as well as the
diplomacy of Sogdians and Christian merchants with Indians and Chinese, it is argued that the decline in
Roman trade in the third century C.E. was merely a disruption in a long history of constant relations
between East and the West. In addition, the main decline in the history of Indo-Roman trade happened in
the late Sassanian period and early Islamic era when the diplomacy between Arabia and the Persians and
later Muslim rulers, made them the supreme rulers of trade.
1

Introduction- Indo-Roman Trade: Rise and Demise
The history of Indian Ocean trade networks dates back to the third millennium B.C.E.
when the lack of important resources, such as timber and metals in Mesopotamia, spurred trade
with the nations in the Persian Gulf, Central Asia, and Indus Valley. A genial climate and fertile
soil, coupled with industry made the Indian people mostly independent of the foreigners. For
secondary needs such as glass, tin, lead, amber and some medicines, however, they were
dependent on trade with the West.
1
Moreover, the connections with the Harappan culture in the
Indus Valley, or Maluhha, the name found used in Sumerian hymns throughout the Persian Gulf,
helped the smaller societies such as Oman, or Magan, to develop a complex trade system.
Approximately around 2000 B.C.E. a dramatic change occurred in the Near East and the
Indian Ocean trade system. The center of urbanization in India moved from Indus Valley to the
southeast, and to the Ganges plain; Cyprus replaced Oman as the main supplier of copper (hence
the word Kuprios: metal from Cyprus), and Assyrian and the Hittites emerged in the northwest of
Mesopotamia. Whatever the reason for all these changes, many scholars agree that the rapidity of
the changes, which occurred over a period of 100 years, is no coincidence. Information about the
Indian Ocean prior to the age of Periplus is not precise because of the scarcity of the written
sources. The Egyptian records of the Old Kingdom, however, mention the land of Punt as a
supplier of gold, myrrh, ivory and exotic animals. Though this land cannot be located precisely
in the modern map of the world, it should be somewhere in the Indian subcontinent. The Iron
Age is most important for the caravan trade between the Near East and the Mediterranean. There
are imitated coins from the Athenian owls discovered in the South Arabian Kingdoms as late
as the first century C.E. A. Avnazinis research provides a thorough understanding of the

1
Mookerji, 1912: 82, 83
2

relations between East and West in that period. In the second half of the first millennium B.C.E.,
Hellenistic and Parthian rulers established trade networks in the northern part of the Indian
subcontinent.
2

Later, the Roman conquests of Syria and Egypt in the first century B.C.E. opened two
major routes for the emerging Roman Empire to trade with India. About a hundred years later,
Pliny the Elder describes India as The sole mother of precious stones.
3
The imported textiles in
the Roman world could be mainly divided into cotton and silk. The cotton textiles were imported
from Arabia, Persia and India, or were locally grown and woven in Egypt. The weaving patterns
in Egypt and India are different, thus it is possible to identify the origins of the textile
discoveries. In a late Roman trash deposit from a residential corner at Berenike, one garment of
resist-dyed cotton was discovered which shows similarities with two scraps found along the
Silk Road in Western China, and also with paintings from Ajanta Caves in India, all from the
fifth century. These similarities along with other findings in Berenike, China and Ajanta Caves
point to the existence of a mass production clothing factory in India which fed the domestic
market as well as the export of goods to the Roman world, Central Asia and China. No silk
textile has been discovered in Berenike but silk and silk imitating Chinese style textiles have
been found in Palmyra. Indian silk has been discovered in Dora Europas.
4
Interestingly, the
Chinese believed the Romans had their own silk production.
5

Pearls were one of the most demanded items in the Roman world. A beautiful gold-wire
earring with five small pearls has been discovered at Berenike, which is stylistically similar to

2
Seland, 2007: 4, 5
3
Mookerji, 1912: 131
4
Sidebotham, 2011: 243, 244
5
Leslie and Gardiner, 1996: 225-228
3

the Fayum portraits of second and early third century C.E. These pearls came mostly from the
Persian Gulf as Pliny suggests, or from the Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka, as
Periplus indicates. Sri Lankan pearls were especially highly prized because of their large size,
according to a third century B.C.E ambassador and writer Megasthenes.
6

As a result of Indo-Roman maritime trade, the Eastern African desert and Red Sea Coast
experienced its greatest population levels between the Roman annexations of Egypt in 30 B.C.E
and the later fifth and sixth centuries C.E. There were two major routes for Indo-Roman trade
(figure I). One route started in Alexandria, went down the Nile to Koptos, crossed the eastern
Egyptian desert by camels, and arrived at Berenike and Myos Hormos (figure II). The other route
was through Syria and started from Antioch, went down to Palmyra, from there to the mouth of
Euphrates and Tigris and into the Persian Gulf.
7
Though they didnt create the routes, Roman
merchants and sailors used the indigenous networks to make a great profit by importing various
goods (e.g. silk, spices, pearls, drugs, ivory and precious stones) from the east. The government
had its own profit share by getting a twenty five percent tax from all imported goods.
8

In this ancient business, banks seem to have helped with the payment of taxes only, while
some businessmen individually or in groups, and also some of the temples provided the loans for
the risky commercial maritime ventures in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. The rates of these
loans, ranging from 12 to 30 percent or more, increased with the high-risk trips. In Muziris
Papyrus, located in modern day Vienna, a price of 6,930,000-drachma was mentioned for a
single cargo.
9
A sum of 7 million drachmas was a typical load for such cargoes, and this would

6
Sidebotham, 2011: 237
7
Romanis and Tchernia, 1997: 166
8
Seland, 2007: 4, 5, 206, 208
9
4

have been sufficient to construct an aqueduct for the city of Alexandria Troas in Asia Minor
during the reign of Hadrian.
10
This gives a good idea of the size of the Indo-Roman commerce
during its apex.
Very important sources for the study of Indo-Roman trade are the texts from Cornelius
Celus (mid-First century B.C.E. to mid-first century C.E.), Pliny the Elder (mid-first century
C.E.), Strabo (first Century C.E.), Claudios Ptolemy (first century C.E.), and the writer of
Periplus of the Eritrean Sea (mid first century C.E.).
Cornelius Celsus wrote a relevant book, a section of which has survived, called De
Menicina. In this section, Celsus uses a list of ingredients for prescriptions that are all imported
items from India, South Arabia, and the Horn of Africa. The regularity that he uses these items in
his list shows the abundance of these items and the substantial Roman commerce that took place
in Berenike and Myos Hormos. If one compares his notes with those from Dioscordes in
Matreria Medica, written half a century later (first century C.E), it is obvious that a much greater
knowledge of imported botanical species was obtained as a result of continued commerce with
the east during that time. A few decades later Pliny the Elder, in his book Natural History (about
50 and 77 C.E), clearly had more information about commerce and imported items than both
Strabo and Celus. This fascination with eastern and exotic goods continued to the middle of the
second century C.E when Claudius Ptolemy published his Geography. His book is different from
his precedents in his use of geographical concepts such as longitude and latitude and degrees and
seconds. His book contains the names and locations of ports from beyond Britain in the
northwest to Southeast Asia.
11

10
Casson, 1990: 205 note 29
11
Sidebotham, 2011: 14,15
5

South Indian literature especially Tamil Sangam poems are also very helpful sources of
information about Indian trade with the Westerners. These poems talk about foreigners who
came to Muziris to collect black pepper. They call these westerners Yavanas, which describes
not only the Romans, but also the Persians.
12
The term Yavana entered the Indian languages
from the west, being a Semitic and perhaps originally Hebrew term that was used for the Ionian
Greeks and later for Alexanders Hellenistic and Indo-Greek successors. In India it was mostly
used for the local Greek-speaking residents- but according to linguists, it had a broader meaning
of stranger or foreigner in Tamil areas in the south, where it was used from the days of
Alexander to 7
th
century C.E.
13

Indo-Roman trade, which is the subject of this research, reached its peak around the first
century B.C.E. to the second century C.E. Almost all of the evidence in India from the coins,
shipwrecks, amphorae and ceramic shreds, glass, beads, etc. indicate that The Roman commerce
faced a decline in the third century C.E., coinciding with the economic and political problems of
the entire Roman Empire. There are different ideas about the reasons for this decline and its
exact dates, which will be discussed in the following chapters.

12
13
Seland, 2007: 72
6

Section I- Indo-Roman trade network: Significant ports
During the late Julio-Claudian period, the Augustan idea of an orbis terrarium subiectus
imperio populi Romani, was subject to Roman imperialism and was combined with the concept
of the world as a sphere for the Roman merchants resulting from the commercial routes.
14
The
Roman merchants, who sailed from Egypt to India, used a double dating system: one according
to the Egyptian revolving year, and the other according to the Roman Julian year, and it is
revealing to see that Pliny, as a non-Egyptian writer, showed an interest and respect for the local
Egyptian culture, and used both of the calendars in his notes.
15

The roads of the Eastern African desert that were developed and repaired by the Romans,
were just a fraction of the vast Roman highway network which extended for about 80,000 km of
major and 32,000 km of secondary roads.
16
The Romans, however, mostly used the existing
roads, refurbished and extended the older Ptolemic routes, and renovated the stations and ports to
develop their trade system. Sidebotham divides the major Roman trade networks into five
categories, based on the traded commodities: Amber, Salt/Slave, Trans-Arabian Incense, Silk,
and Maritime Spice.
17
The two important Roman ports in Africa for trade, Berenike and Myos
Hormos,
18
were located by the shores of the Red Sea.
Berenike and Myos Hormos: Berenike was located south of Ras (Cape) Benas. It was
founded in the first half of the third century B.C.E. and was abandoned around 550 C.E. Its
location was carefully chosen at a port protected from the strong alongshore current.
19
Pliny

14
15
Romanis and Tchernia, 1997: 171, 172
16
Hopkins, 1988: 759-760
17
Sidebotham, 2011: 206, 208
18
19
Sidebotham, 2011: 9
7

describes the route from Juliopolis, sailing up the Nile for twelve days to Koptos, taking another
twelve days by camels and through the caravan route.
20
The most significant import to Berenike was black pepper from southern India. Long
pepper was also shipped to Mediterranean from Barygaza on the northwest coast of India, and
was cultivated in northern India. It is mentioned, however, that the price for long pepper was
four times as black pepper, hence the preference for black pepper in the Mediterranean.
21

Numerous ancient authors reported on Berenike and its relation with other areas in the
ancient world. Strabo, in his Geography, which was written at the time of intense Roman
commerce (late first century B.C.E and early first century C.E), talks about Berenike and Myos
Hormos as two of the most important Egyptian Red Sea ports.
22
Some of the archaeological finds
at Berenike, such as formal inscriptions, ostraka, statues, graffiti, and papyri provide information
about the people involved in the commerce. There are even archives of the names of individuals
associated with the Berenike customs house, and a corpus of lists of the Roman military
members who were involved in the water supply of the city. Probably the most famous of these
archives, is the Nikanor Ostraka Archive, which belongs to a family of camel owners from
Koptos who were involved in the transportation of goods between the Nile valley, Berenike, and
Myos Hormos between late first century B.C.E to the 60
th
decade C.E.
23
Several generations of
the Nikanor family transported commodities, and indicated that Myos Hormos was in

20
21
22
23
8

competition with Berenike as a trade port.
24
This is confirmed by excavation documents of
Roman activity in this city between the first and third centuries C.E.
25
(figure IV)
Another very important port in Western Asia was Palmyra, which played a special role in
the late third century as a port between Persia and Rome. This port, however, finally leads to its
own destruction.
26
The city was the major caravan port in the eastern Roman Empire, which is
documented as far as South Shields on Hadrians Wall (around the second century C.E), and
Rome. There is a bilingual Latin-Palmyrene dedication to the gods of Palmyra and a Palmyrene
sanctuary outside the Porta Portese of 236 C.E. There are also Palmyrene tombs recorded on
Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf and two grave stelae tombs from late second/early third century
C.E in Merv, Turkmenistan. The Palmyrene were soldiers and merchants at Nile cities and they
also may have had a settlement at the mouth of Indus River. The population of Palmyra was a
vibrant hybrid of Semitic, Hellenic, and Roman cultures. They were interested in a variety of
imported goods, such as Chinese silk, which has been uncovered at the early Roman tombs near
the city.
27

Finally the last very important trading port for the Indo-Roman network was Khor-Roy,
which is located in southern Arabia and is known from the inscriptions as Sumhuram. Khor-Roy
is also known to be the outpost of the Kingdom of Hadramawt associated with the incense trade
in the Periplus. This site was explored by archaeologists in 50s and 60s, but the excavations that
took place in 1996 by the Italian Mission in Oman headed by Alessandria Avanzini and

24
25
Whitcomb and Johnson (1979); Whitcomb and Johnson (1981); Whitcomb and Johnson (1981-1982); Whitcomb
and Johnson (1982a); Whitcomb and Johnson (1982b); Vogelsang-Eastwood (1989); Whitcomb (1996); Whitcomb
(1999); Meyer (1992); Hiebert (1991); Peacock et al. (1999; 2000; 2001b; 2002; 2003); Peacock and Blue (2006c);
Alston (2002): 341.
26
Canepa, 2009: 82
27
Sidebotham, 2011: 211, 212
9

Alexander V. Sedov determined a new chronology for the city as being founded in the third
century B.C.E. and abandoned in the fifth century C.E. The architecture of the city including
temples, palaces, residential areas and strong walls of defense, showed that Sumhuram was
certainly an important trading post. The wealth of this city arrived from the export of
Frankincense in the early centuries C.E. to the Roman Empire.
28

The Romans never controlled the Persian Gulf, except for two years towards the end of
the reign of Trajan (115-117 C.E), and only for a segment of the northern portion.
29
There seems
to be little direct contact with the Persian Gulf and the east coast of India. These two regions
figure little in Periplus. One of the rare examples of expeditions sent to the Persian Gulf is that
of a traveler of the Augustan era, named Isidore or Dionysus from Charax, near Basra at the head
of the Persian Gulf. He surveyed the Caravan routes down the Euphrates to Central Asia.
According to Pliny the Elder (NH 6.31.141), he wrote a report called Parthian Stations, a portion
of which survives today.
30

In the Indian subcontinent itself, the most important ports that had direct contact with the
Romans were the ones located on the western, southern, and southwestern coasts.
31

Geographically. India is comprised of two major sections: Deccan and Tamilakam. The most
important trading ports in these two regions, starting from the north are Taxila, Begram,
Barbarikon, Barygaza, Tamluk, Muziris/ Pattanam and Poduke/ Arkamedu.
Taxila and Begram: In Central Asia and near to the mouth of Indus River, which leads to the
Arabian Sea, there are two very important sites and trading ports. One of these is Taxila, located

28
Seland, 2007: 23-27
29
30
31
10

in modern day Pakistan, which lies on the route from Bactria to Indus, and served as the capital
of Gandhara, which produced a unique Hellenistic-Roman style during the Kushan period
(second century B.C.E. to the third century C.E.). In Taxila one can find, Persian, Indian and
Hellenistic elements merged with each other. The other is Begram, located in modern day
Afghanistan, at the crossroads of Mesopotamia and India, serving as the corridor from
Afghanistan to China. Most of the discoveries in Begram belong to the second century C.E.,
some with Egyptian and Mediterranean sources.
Barbarikon and Barygaza: The most frequently discussed ports by Periplus, in the
Western part of the Indian subcontinent, are Barbarikon and Barygaza, both located on the
western side of the subcontinent and close to the mouth of the Indus. A variety of imported
amphorae from Mediterranean and also the so-called Torpedo jars, which are found in large
numbers in the Persian Gulf, are among the discoveries from Barygaza. This shows the interest
for trade with Mediterranean, as well as the Parthian/Sassanian influence on the region.
32
One of
the items found in Barygaza from Roman Empire is a wine amphorae. Most of the wine sold in
Barygaza was from Italy and Laodicia in Syria. Accordingly, the amphora fragments found in
west and central India seem to be a result of a barter trade between western and eastern
Mediterranean goods.
33

Tamluk: Tamluk is located on the northeast Deccan Plateau and the west side of the Bengal bay.
In Tamluk, an intaglio, bearing the face of Augustus, was among the earliest discoveries.. This
however was lost in time, and no significant number of coins was ever found in the region.

32
Tomber, 2008: 126
33
11

Nevertheless, according to the textual documents, such as Periplus, Gangetic cotton was
exported from Tamluk to Egypt, and from there entered the Roman Empire.
34

Poduke/Arikamedu: The vessels found in Arikamedu, come from different places in Italy to the
Eastern Mediterranean, and the dates range from 10 B.C.E. to 50 C.E. The amphorae sherds also
belong to the second century B.C.E. (the Greek Koan amphorae), to the later second century
C.E., with the peak of occupation between 50 B.C.E. to 50 C.E.
35

Muziris/ Pattanam: Muziris is the most important port in Periplus especially for the export of
black pepper, and is located on the Kerala coast. A Sangam poem reports, the flourishing
town of Muchiri where the large beautiful ships built by Yavanas came with gold, disturbing the
white foams of the fair Periyar returned with pepper.
36
. This port was operative from the first
century B.C.E. to the third century C.E. The excavation discoveries include Torpedo jars from
the Persian Gulf, storage jars from Yemen, Roman amphorae and four hoards of coins, extending
to the second century C.E. By the late roman period trade at Muziris had declined and was
eventually replaced by other ports on the Malabar coast.
37

Amongst the archaeological discoveries in Western and southwestern India there are
certain nonperishable items which indicate Mediterranean contact. These items are the Roman
denarii and aurei, fragments of transport amphoras for wine and olive oil, fine dinnerware,
copper-alloy statuettes, glass and terracotta oil lamps.
38
Raw glass, finished glass, and glass
stones are mentioned in Periplus (6,7,17,39,49,56) as exported items to India and Arabia. Some
of this glass was manufactured in Upper Egypt at Diospolis (Thebes). Chinese texts and

34
Tomber, 2008: 128, 129
35
Tomber, 2008: 136, 137
36
Tomber, 2008: 141
37
Tomber, 2008: 142, 143
38
12

archaeological discoveries also account for glass exports as far as China from Roman, Sassanian
and Islamic origins.
39

There are about thirty sites in India in which fragments of amphorae have been
discovered. These sites are mostly situated on the Tamilnadu coast, where Arikamedu
excavations have taken place. There is little known about the consumption of wine in India, and
it is suggested that at least some of this wine was meant for the consumption of the few Greek
and Romans settled there.
40
Indians and Arabians both highly prized the Mediterranean wines
and red coral as imports from the Roman World. Both Periplus and the Tamil Sangam poems,
roughly dated to the first century C.E, indicate this.
41

The national archaeological museum of Chieti houses a bas relief fragment that depicts a
dromedary bearing two wine amphorae, with one man wearing a tunic, six wearing togas, and a
woman (Figure V). It is suggested that this is a picture of a family business, and it can illustrate
the type of transport between Koptos and Myos Hormos, which took twelve days according to
Pliny.
42
The wine imported by India, mainly should have served the Indians themselves. In the
History of Alexander the Great (8.9.30), written from secondary sources during the first century
AD, Quintus Curtius describes an Indian king, Women prepare his food, they also serve his
wine, the use of which is lavish with all the Indian people.
43
The wine, however, could be partly
for the consumption of the few Romans who stayed for trade. The merchants needed to settle
down for some time at some of these ports, until the monsoon for return arrived. For example,
some of the powerful Italian families may have had agents in Egypt for their trade. This is

39
Sidebotham, 2011: 234, 235
40
41
Sidebotham, 2011: 250, 251
42
43
Tomber, 2008: 150
13

confirmed by the discovery of a bilingual inscription on the wall of the Wadi Menih Cave,
between Koptos and Berenike. Another piece of evidence comes from P.A. Gianfrotta, who
related the name Peticius Marsus, inlaid on a Diano Marina Wreck in Liguria, to that of M.
Attius Peticius Marsus, inlaid in silver at the foot of a replica statue of Hercules (figure III),
found in the sanctuary of Hercules near Sulmo. He suggests that both of these belong to the same
person, who was a merchant from the first century C.E and a ship owner who wanted to donate
the statue of Hercules, the protector of the merchants, to protect his business.
44

It is mentioned in the Peutinger Table that a temple of Augustus existed in Muziris,
which was probably dedicated to the contemporary emperor. Based on this temple, many of the
scholars have suggested that a population of foreigners or Yavans, as the Indian called them,
must have resided in this port at the time. There is also a Tamil Sangam poem that mentions a
Yavana settlement at Pahur. But this temple might also have been erected as a diplomatic
maneuver by the indigenous people or possibly be dedicated to an Indian deity whose name was
misunderstood by the Romans.
45
But the most well-known emporium in India, which was also
active in long-distance trade with the Roman world and Southeast Asia was Poduke, or modern
day Arikamedu. Periplus(60) and Claudius Ptolemy (Geography7.1) called it Poduca
Emporium/Poduke, and there are indication of its involvement in trade from the second, or
more likely, the first century B.C.E through the Augustan era and into the fifth century C.E. In
Poduke, archaeologists have uncovered hundreds of Mediterranean-made amphorae sherds from
Spain, Gaul, and northern Adriatic and the Aegean regions, and even southern Arabia.
46

44
45
46
14

Eventually, Roman merchants got involved with southeastern Asia as well. Pliny records
the discovery of Taprobane (Sri Lanka) by a freedman of a certain Annius Plocamus. (N.H. VI,
84-5). In this record, the freedman was sent to collect the taxes of the Red Sea, where he makes it
to the harbor of Hippuri in Taprobane and was greeted hospitably by the king of that land. He
stayed for six months and learned about their language. The most interesting section of this story
is the extreme interest that the king shows in the Roman denarii, because of their equal weight in
spite of the difference of the images on the coins. This persuaded him to send four envoys in
order to extend his friendship with the Roman Empire.
47

It seems that the money in circulation in the ancient and medieval Indian subcontinent
and modern day Sri Lanka, must have developed in different stages, by different provinces and
surrounding a variety of material. This caused serious problems when trade was intensified. For
example, the tax collectors and treasury officers would cut three percent from the value of the
coins which have been circulating for more than a year, and in this uncertain situation the
peasant would not know if the coin he is receiving for his crop, would be of any use to him when
he wants to pay his rent. So the Roman denarii basically satisfied the need in Indian society for
justice and stability, where the Indian monetary system was incapable of doing so.
48

47
48
Romanis and Tchernia, 1997: 183-185
15

Section II- Chronology of Decline
One of the methods for studying the size and chronology of Indo-Roman trade is the
research on the distribution of the coins found in India. More than 6,000 silver and gold coins,
mainly in hoards, have been discovered in the Indian subcontinent. There are certain problems,
however, when one deals with the Roman coins found in India. Indians treated Roman coinage
as bullion, by their weight, and the reason for burying the coins in hoards, is to secure the wealth
of the merchant while he is away from his home during times of unrest. The merchant or his
family, however, may have never the chance to come back and regain their wealth because they
were either killed or deported.
49
Geographically, most of the coins were found in the western and
southwestern India. The mere discovery of Roman coins in a place, however, doesnt always
indicate the Roman presence in the region, as the Roman coins were easily accepted in the non-
Roman mercantile network and used by other merchants as well. The fact that the author of
Periplus didnt have first-hand knowledge about Persian Gulf, or the eastern Indian subcontinent,
is an indication for Roman absence in these places, yet there are Roman coins discovered there
which show limited or indirect trade. On the other hand, in places such as Barbarikon, which is
located at the mouth of Indus River, and is discussed in Periplus as an important trading port for
Lapis Lazuli and Chinese silk, Roman coins are nearly absent. This latter issue could be
explained by the fact that the Roman coins were melted down and didnt enter the open market
in these places.
50

Turner identified three main hoard types for the Roman coins in India. The first type is
the early Julio-Claudian coins of Augustus and Tiberius, which are denarii, found in fairly good

49
Seland, 2007: 62
50
Seland, 2007: 63, 64
16

condition. The second type is of the later Julio-Claudian, mostly Tiberius and Claudius, which
are aurei and found in fewer numbers. Finally the third type is post Julio-Claudian from second
century C.E., which is in excellent condition. The fourth hoard type, not discussed by Turner are
the gold solidi from the fourth and fifth centuries, and fewer from the sixth and early seventh
centuries C.E.
51

Chronologically, the silver denarii show predominance during the early Imperial period,
from the reign of Augustus and Tiberius, and very little from the post-Nero reforms in 64 C.E.
when the percentage of silver in the coins was reduced. But the gold coins, aurei, show a later
distribution; there is a decline in the number of gold coins from post-Nero reforms similar to the
silver coins. There is a gap of evidence in the third century, but evidence from the fourth century
on, the Roman gold coins, solidi, reappear both in India and Sri Lanka. The latest Roman gold
coins in India belong to 7
th
century C.E. and the reign of Heraclius.
52

Some of the earlier authors such as R. Sewell, P.L Gupta and P.J Turner, who drew
conclusions about chronology and geography of Indian-Roman trade, merely based on
numismatic distribution, stated that there was a major thrust of trade in the later part of the
Augustan era, followed by minor trade activities in the second century C.E. and a new rise of
Roman trade in the fourth and fifth centuries.
53

D.W. MacDowall, A. Burnett and J.C. Mayer provide a more complex image of the
Roman trade based on numismatic study, differing from that of their precedents. Their argument
is mostly based on the composition and condition of the coins found in India.
54
Scholars have

51
Tomber, 2008: 31, 33
52
Seland, 2007: 63, 64
53
Seland, 2007: 59, 60
54
Seland, 2007: 60, 61
17

been interested in studying the composition of Roman silver coins from at least 1834 when
Ernest von Bibra published essays regarding 15 early imperial denarii.
55
The Roman state
manipulated the silver bullion content of the denarius coinage under the pressure of meeting
public obligations, as a means for collecting taxes and preventing deficits. This was common in
slight amounts until the crisis of the late second century during which the state was forced to
reduce the silver content in the coins substantially.
56
Firstly, most of the surviving denarii or
aurei of the Julio-Claudian period in India show extensive signs of wear, which reveals their
circulation for some time before their arrival in India. Secondly, the silver purity of the denarii
discoveries in India is higher than those common in the Roman Empire. This shows that the
Indian merchants were extremely knowledgeable and talented in choosing the pure coins, which
they would have been able to identify by their distinctive reverse type. These two facts about the
condition of the coins show that they were carefully selected from the Roman currency for this
purpose of trade with India. The calling of worn coins in 107 C.E. by Trajan not only marks the
end of the circulation of pre-Neronian coins in the Empire, but also the start of their export to
Indian subcontinent. This argument changes the date of the import of Roman coins to India to
later than what Turner and others supposed.
57

In the excavations of Berenike between 1994-2001 and 2009-2010, most of the
identifiable coins were minted during the first three quarters of the first century C.E. If one
compares this with the numerous finds of coins in Tiberius in India and the reintroduction of

55
Bowman and Wilson, 2009: 269
56
Bowman and Wilson, 2009: 281, 282
57
Seland, 2007: 60, 61
18

tetradrachm in Egypt during his reign, one can suggest increased mercantile activity during this
period.
58

This is conversely followed by a dramatic decline in the quantity of texts, coins, pottery
and other items after the early second century C.E. There is also very little evidence for trade
activity and nothing that indicates physical appearance of ships or harbor facilities at Berenike in
the later second, third and the first half of the fourth century C.E.
59
There are different reasons
that can be suggested for this decline. Sidebotham suggests both political and economic unrest in
Egypt and generally in the whole empire (with Germanic tribes on the northern borders and
Parthians and Sassanians on the eastern frontier) for this decline, and finally a complete halt in
trade via Berenike. He says:
Political unrest and open rebellion along the Nile, including an attack on the Nile cities of Koptos
and Ptolemais by the nomadic Blemmyes; and increase in the banditry and Bedouin activities in the Eastern
Desert, which is evident from excavations along the Myos Hormos-Nole road; and a decline in the
international trade passing through Berenike may all have played a role in this decline in the fortunes of the
port.
Moreover, the problems in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, including the wars in southern
Arabia among the states of Saba, Himyar, and Hadramaut in the second century, and
Abyssinians attack against the Kingdom of Himyar during the early third century through 270
C.E that resulted in the annexation of Abbysinians, Saba and Hadramaut by Hymiar; and finally
the piracy in India exacerbated the constant piracy in the Red Sea. Piracy in India was considered
to be even more threatening, according to Periplus(53), and must have influenced the
accessibility of many of the ports in India and availability of certain imported products in the

58
59
19

Roman Empire.
60
In many cities along the Nile, this was also a time for rebellion against Roman
authorities and high taxes and duties, due to which many fled into the deserts. By the mid-forth
century, and into the fifth century, there are many archaeological indications that the commerce
in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean in general, and in Berenike in particular had revived.
Nevertheless, the city was finally abandoned in the mid-sixth century C.E.
61
The hypothesis for
the demise of Berenike is that the Axumite and Arab dominance over trade by the late fifth and
early sixth centuries, blocked Berenike from the competition completely.
62

Archaeological finds, including coins and pottery, in Axum show that this city served as a
major trading port from the late third and early fourth century. The first Axumite minted coins
are from this period. Although Axumite coins were not found anywhere outside its Kingdom,
there are imitations of these coins minted in India and the eastern Roman Empire, which
indicates its political and commercial importance. There is also speculation that the king of
Axum originally came from Himyar, which if being correct, can together signify a very strong
dominance over trade and even control the Bab al-Mandeb, the narrow strait joining the Red Sea
to the Indian Ocean.
63

In addition to the economic and political unrest, several other sources indicate that a
virulent plague, smallpox or measles, struck Egypt and the eastern Roman Empire, likely starting
in the spring of 166 C. E. This may have caused a decline in population of many parts of Egypt
and trade activity in Berenike as well.
64
The steady silting of the harbor and pro-gradation of the

60
61
Sidebotham, 2011: 260, 261
62
63
64
20

coastline is another factor suggested by Sidebotham, in the decline of not only Berenike but also
Myos Hormos, throughout their history.
65

The zenith of Indo-Roman trade in the Indian Ocean has been suggested to be between 38
B.C.E to 37 C.E, as indicated by the large number of Augustan and Tiberian denarii discovered
in India. As mentioned above, many of the scholars, however, have related this to the superiority
and purity of these coins compared to the ones from later periods. Indian merchants preferred
these coins because of their purity, and many of these coins must have arrived in India later than
the first century. Archaeological discoveries in Berenike, Myos Hormos and Koptos supports this
suggestion and shows that the climax of trade activity in this region occurred during the
Claudian, Neronian, and Flavian eras (41-96 C.E) and into the second century C.E.
66
So the coins
could have arrived in India in bullion during later periods. It should be noted, to the contrary, that
none of the Roman denarii or aurei, which were in demand in India have been found in any of
the ports such as Myos Hormos, Berenike or Marsa Nakari. This suggests that the coins were
most probably destined for India and Arabia and were loaded carefully on the ships, so that they
werent lost on the way in Egypt.
67
This is also confirmed by a Nikanor ostrakon dated 62 C.E.
that refers to a shipment of bullion to Myos Hormos, most certainly to export goods to the Indian
Ocean, and also by an early second century papyrus which deals with the price of silver bullion
at Koptos, destined again for eastern commerce.
68
Most of the first century Roman coins in India
were found in hoards. This indicates political difficulties and military turmoil and war between

65
66
67
68
21

major south Indian states, where the traders had to bury the coins to save them,; these wars are
mentioned in Tamil poems.
69

In addition to the aforementioned issues in the Indo-Roman numismatic study, many of
the Roman silver coins found in India have been deliberately defaced, and here are two
suggested explanations for this. One suggestion is that the defacement was a test for the weight
and fineness of the coins. This is due to the fact that many of the early Indian coins were also
punch-marked. In India, the coins could have served a variety of roles, for temple offerings,
exchange purposes (as coinage or bullion), jewelry, symbolic purposes or gift giving.
70

An additional good source of information is the number of shipwrecks. A. J. Parker
provides a graph of the shipwrecks that shows an impressive peak in the last two centuries
B.C.E. and the first two centuries C.E., with a decline in third century. Alan Bowman and
Andrew Wilson, however, mention that the shipwrecks should be studied with extreme caution,
as the wrecks are spotted under water usually by the mound formed on the seabed by their cargo.
This is why only those shipwrecks have survived, which were either amphora cargos, or loads of
architectural marble, while ships carrying perishable items never survive. Therefore, one can
argue that the move from amphora to wooden barrels, as the preferred container of trading
liquids, was the main reason for the decline in the number of surviving shipwrecks between
second and 7th centuries C.E.
71

But comparing different sources of evidence with each other, it appears that the peak of
Indo-Roman trade in general must have been from the first to the mid second century C.E., while
this might be slightly different from one port to the other. A good example of the local issues,

69
70
71
Bowman and Wilson, 2009: 219-221
22

which may lead to the rise or demise of certain sites is the rise of Axumite and demise of
Berenike in the 6
th
century C.E.
The demise of the Indo-Roman trade, however, happened in two phases. The first was a
mere interruption for about 100 years in the third century C.E. But the next one was basically the
end of Roman trade work in the Indian Ocean, which happened during the Christian era, in the
sixth and seventh centuries. The reasons for both of these problems are discussed in the next
chapter.

23

Section III- Reasons for Decline
Pliny indicates that India received about 50 million sesterces (12.5 million denarii) every
year, in exchange for goods, which are later sold for one hundred times their original cost in the
Roman world. He also states that India, China and Arabia took 100 million sesterces (25 million
denarii) each year in this trade. It is suggested that this social criticism is related to a later decline
in trade. In addition to the above, Emperor Tiberius (14-37 C.E) is said to have proposed
stringent anti-luxury legislations to reduce the amount of money being spent on buying jewelry
for the Roman women. Other scholars such as Sidebotham indicate that these passages should be
seen as moralizing comments for the contemporary society.
72
It is true that the most precious of
the exports from India to Rome, silk, was exchanged by its weight in gold.
73
After silk, other
highly valued items were cotton, pepper, cinnamon, other spices, gum, fur, wool, lapis lazuli
(that which came from modern day Afghanistan) etc. The Roman eastern commerce, however,
was not only about luxury, but rather ordinary commodities for the general population.
74

Evidence of decline in the Roman economy is not only evidenced in the fineness of the
coins and number of shipwrecks in Mediterranean Sea, but also a decrease in the population of
the Empire.
75
There are different opinions about the reasons for this demise. Ward-
Perkins(2005) explains it with the invasion of the Germanic tribes, Schiavone(2002) by the
abundance of free slave labor, while Hopkins(1980) points to the state imposed tax system, and
finally Cameron(2003), suggests the definition of a predatory system and exhaustion of the
resources.

72
73
Mookerji, 1912: 82, 83
74
Sidebotham, 2011: 250, 251
75
Paollili, 2008: 274
24

It appears that all of these reasons together, resulted in the decline of Indo-Roman trade
during the third century C.E. Although the Sassanians took advantage of this decline, as
mentioned in the previous chapter, this was merely a short interruption, rather than a total
demise. Based on the study of the coins, and the rather late arrival of the pre-Nero reform coins
in India, the interruption could have been about 70-80 years.
The more serious problem occurred in the Byzantine period, starting from fifth century
C.E, and continuing to the sixth century. This later phase of demise was mostly due to the
political and economic interactions of the Romans and Persians, and later the Arabs in the trade
routes.
Michaeol Morony suggests that the demise of Roman trade in the mid-sixth century into
the seventh century started with the domination of Indian Ocean commerce by the Persians in the
late Sassanian era and continued to the Islamic period. The Sassanians helped to destroy the
Roman economy in Anatolia and Syria, and it was the rise of this economy in expense of the
other. The Sassanian campaigns of Khusraw II and the early Islamic conquests were just the
expressions of an expanding economy that overlapped the downfall of the late antique economy.
The expanding economy of the Islamic period basically overthrows the stable and retracting
economy of the Late Antiquity world.
76
Although there is a lot of research on the Roman and
Arab commerce in India, very little is known about the Sassanian trade in the Indian Ocean. The
traders of Sassanian Persia were an important mercantile community in the Indian Ocean and the
commercial expansion of the Sassanians coincides with the decline of Roman trade in the third
century. This decline was profitably made use of by the emerging Sassanians in the ports of
Gujarat, Konkan, south Canara, Malabar, Coromandel and Sri Lanka. It was mainly the

76
Monory, 189
25

pioneering research of D. Whitehouse and A. Williamson that started the debate on Sassanian
trade activity with India.
77

Sassanian trade with India emerged with King Ardashir (224-241 C.E) who established
several ports in the Persian Gulf including Re Ardashir (Rishahr on the Bushire Peninsula),
Asarabadh Ardashir (formerly Charax), Bahman Ardashir (Forat of Maisan), Wahasht Ardashir,
Kujaran Ardashir (on the Iranian coast, and Batn Ardashir on the Arabian coast). People from the
Persian Gulf started to move to different places in Asia including Malabar as a result of the
introduction of trade with India.
78
The traders who came to Malabar from West Asia were
required to stay in the city for a considerable amount of time, waiting for favorable wind. The
North-East Monsoon obstructed navigation between October and February, while in the Arabian
Sea helped with the voyages from May to September. There is some evidence of these Persian
merchants who had to stay in the west coast India for monsoon season, such as the stone crosses
with Pahlavi (archaic Persian) inscriptions which have remained from the earliest Persian
Christian settlements.
79
As can be seen in the example of the Christians, the political relations
between Rome and Persia had a significant impact on the religious policy of the Sassanians
toward the Christians. When the Christians were persecuted in Rome up until 313 C.E (halted by
the edict of Milan), they were free to practice their religion in Persia. But with the freedom of
Christians in Rome, Sassanians started to look at Christianity as a religion of their enemies and
this initiated the persecution of the Christians in the Kingdom under the rule of Shapur II (310-
379 C.E).
80
This forced many of the Christians in the Sassanian territory to move to the east. The
kings of Malabar were very much eager to attract foreign traders and granted privileges to

77
Malekandathil, 2010: 1
78
79
80
26

promote trade. The most important maritime bases of operation for the Sassanians in the Persian
Gulf were Siraf, Rew Ardashir and Kharg Island. The two textual documents about Sassanian
maritime activity are the Palladius and Nestorian annals. The Christian merchants from Fars or
Seleucia-Ctesiphon were considered to be the main traders of Persian commodities to the ports in
the Indian Ocean.
81
The role of Christian merchants is undeniable. Another group of Christians,
who were major traders in central Asia and Persia at a much later period, were the Armenians
who were deported to Iran during the Safavid-Ottoman wars of 1603-1605. These group of
merchants were eventually granted the exclusive right to export Iranian silk and many of them
eventually resided in India.
82

Therefore, the revival of Roman commerce actually started with the unification of the
Roman Empire by Constantine in the fourth century. The Byzantine emperors Justin (518-527
C.E) and Justinian (527-565 C.E) who wanted to break the Sassanian hold on Indian Ocean
trade, supported a group of Abyssinian Christians to go to the trading ports of south India and
Ceylon in order to bring silk and spices. Emperor Justine wanted to eventually control Bab al-
Mandeb by keeping a pro-Byzantine Abyssinian ruler in Yemen, but the Sassanian king Khusru
(531-578) foiled his plan by routing the pro-Byzantine Abyssinians from Yemen and appointing
his own governor there.
83
Consequently, in the 6
th
century C.E it seems that the exotic eastern
items would enter the Roman Empire only through the intermediaries. The port of Palmyra,
which was flourishing during the height of Roman trade, due to its contact through the Euphrates

81
Malekandathil, 2010: 2, 3
82
Aslan, Sebouh David, 2011: 1,46
83
27

and Tigris rivers with the Persian Gulf, was reduced to a military stronghold on the roads during
the Sassanian control over Indian Ocean commerce.
84

There were two different routes that Sassanians used to expand trade with the East; the
Caravan routes through Central Asia, known as the Silk Road, and the maritime route through
the Persian Gulf. The Silk Road, which was used intensely by the Parthians became limited
because of the Perso-Roman wars, namely those in 502-506 C.E., 527-561 C.E. and 602-629
C.E. Persians started to increase export tariffs upon the Romans on the Persian side and inflated
the cost of silk starting from the reign of Justinian. Romans also forbade the sale of copper and
iron to Persians, and although they tried to open new avenues through the Axumite Kingdom
(Eritrea) to Yemen and Hadhramaut, or buy silk form the Christians who resided in India instead
of the Persians, none of these tactics were successful and it all resulted in the monopoly of the
silk industry by the Persians enduring for a longer period of time. Additionally, Persians tried to
establish new ports, to avoid conflict with Romans, starting from the province of Fars to the
shores of the Persian Gulf. The most famous of these port in which archaeological excavations
have revealed Sassanian activity or are mentioned in textual documents of the early Islamic
period, are Bushihr, Kazerun, Siraf, Firuzabad, Sheraz. The maritime trade was a much faster
way to reach the eastern markets for both Persians and Romans and in this system Arabia,
became a very important location, in which both parties had ports.
85
Byzantium and Sassanians
competed with each other over other markets as well. A good example is the competition of
these two powers over the trade with northeastern Russia, in which Sassanians had a greater
success because of the middlemen they had among the Ugrian-speaking people of south Russia.

84
Seland, 2007: 6
85
Daryaee, 2003: 4, 5
28

There are plenty of Sassanian silver plates discovered in places such as Perm and Kama, whereas
the number of Byzantine vessels is in a much smaller scale.
86

Another group of traders who emerged in the trade routes were Sogdians, who were
basically active in the overland trade, in which Byzantine and Sassanians interrupted each other
continuously. Sogdians took advantage of this situation and became the dominant intermediaries
of the Silk Road. While the seventh and eighth centuries mark the fullest extent of Sogdian
activity as tradesmen in Central Asia, records of their activity is found from the third and fourth
centuries in Mount Mugh and northwestern Dunhuang. It seems like the Sogdians were the most
successful intermediaries for Chinese trade with the west, in the middle of the conflicts between
The Roman Empire and Persia; Chinese officials even encouraged them to stay in places such as
Changan in order to supply the Chinese army with goods. This success in direct trade with
China, however, was eventually stopped after the rebellion of a certain Sogdian borne named
An-Lushan in the 8
th
century.
87
The sack of Guangzhou and murder of foreign merchants by the
Chinese officials in 878 C.E., led to the end of direct trade between the westerners and Chinese.
Beginning in the ninth century there was indirect trade between the Muslims and Chinese
through Southeast Asia and in the western Indian Ocean. A ninth century shipwreck excavated in
1998-1999 off the Indonesian island of Belitung between Sumatra and Boren is a good example
of the emerging archaeological evidence of trade between the Chinese and the Arab world.
88

Finally the Egyptians allied with the Arabs, and with the decline of Byzantium, the Persians and

86
Frye, 1972: 265
87
Hansen, 2003: 150, 151,158
88
Flecker, 2001: 335, 3350, 353
29

the Jewish Phoenicians, who were once very active in western Asia, Arabs retained the
monopoly of commerce for 900 years.
89

89
Mookerji, 1912: 95
30

Conclusions
Indo-Roman trade had its origins long before the establishment of the Roman Empire.
Romans, however, were very successful in this network, and Roman merchants earned lots of
profit due to the Roman demand for exotic items and the Indian demand for silver and gold. In
India the archaeological evidence related to Indo-Roman trade includes, coins, shipwrecks,
amphorae, pearls, beads, vessels, glass, etc. All of these items have been studied to determine the
size and chronology of the Indo-Roman trade. The Roman denarii, however, have received the
most attention. Nevertheless, study of the coins has its own problems. Indians received the coins
in bullion and only accepted the more pure coins. Therefore, the coins from before the reforms of
Nero were the most in demand in India. Romans, on the other hand, brought these coins to India
after they were already used. Because the Indian merchants preferred to bury the coins in order
to prevent loss, most of the coins in India are found in worn condition, and buried in hoards.
The study of the condition distribution and purity of the coins, however, shows that the
apex of Indo-Roman trade continued to the late second century C.E. when the diplomatic,
political and economic issues stopped them from trade for a short period of about one hundred
years. In order to trade with India, Romans also had to establish relations with other locations in
this network. Roman emperors showed keen interest in learning about the Near East and sub-
Saharan Africa too: not only for political reasons, but also economic. The efforts of the Romans
in order to circumvent the Parthians, and later the Sassanians as the middlemen in the trade,
between the east and the Mediterranean world, are obvious from several expeditions they sent to
these areas. Two of these expeditions were launched by Augustus when he learned of the wealth
of southern Arabia, one of the sources of frankincense and myrrh; one of which being a military
31

expedition under commander, Aelius Gallus who was a good friend of Strabo.
90
Arabia was so
highly important to the Romans, that Periplus devotes most of the 12 sections to Arabia. By the
third century C.E. Hadramawt and Himyar had unified south Arabia and sent embassies to
Ethiopia and Persia. Despite the disruption in their trade work, the Romans returned to trade
during Byzantine period, by sending embassies to Arabia during this time to promote
construction of churches for merchants in Himyar and to develop a trade work.
91
From early the
sixth century to the mid sixth century, Ethiopia had the dominant presence in Arabia, during
which Ethiopians served as middlemen for the Romans.
The second phase of demise for the Roman trade started in the late sixth century, when
they lost control of their diplomacy with south Arabia, and the Persians took over. Thereafter,
Persia had more control over south Arabia, and from 628 C.E. it was in the hands of Arab or
Persian Muslims who took over the trade routes all together. Finally the Muslims became the
dominant merchants in the Indian Ocean and overland network from the seventh century.
Nevertheless, the people who profited from all of this competition the most were the Sogdians,
who acted very successfully as middlemen in the over-land trade of the Silk Road, between
Western to Eastern Asia. It will be revealing for the future studies, to investigate in detail the
diplomatic interactions of Sogdians with Sassanians, Romans and Arabs.
Carten Niebuhr, who sailed across the Indian Ocean in the 18
th
century, was shocked by
the similarity between the ship he was sailing and the records of Periplus. He reports: Actors

90
91
Tomber, 2008: 100, 101
32

and appearances change, the Monsoon remains.
92
It is the nature of the history, where the actors
come and go, but the scene stays.

92
Seland, 2007: 7
33

Figure I- Map of major Indo-Roman trade routes (After Sidebotham, 2011: figure 11-1)

Figure II- Map of Roman ports in Egypt (After Sidebotham, 2011: figure 1-2)
34

Figure III- Replica statue of Hercules, found in the sanctuary of Hercules near Sulmo (After
Romanis and Tchernia, 1997: Plate 1)

35

Figure IV- Amphorae found at Myos Hormos, Egypt (AfterTomber, 2008: Cover Illustration)
36

Figure V- Bas-relief at LAquila depicting a family of merchants transporting wine amphorae.
(After Romanis and Tchernia, 1997: Plate 4)

37

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Indo-Roman Trade - Rise and Demise - Masters Thesis

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RISE AND DEMISE

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