Heyday of Indo-Roman trade: Muziris and Arikamedu
Once Rome had annexed Egypt, ships from its Red Sea ports sailed to India with the monsoon winds — up to 120 a year, according to Strabo. Roman coin, wine, pottery and glass reached the ports of India, and pepper, spices, gems, ivory and fine cloth went back to Rome.
- Date
- c. 30 BC – c. 250year known, approximate · duration: ≈ 279 years
- Place
- Muziris (probably Pattanam)approximate locationtoday: Pattanam near Kodungallur, Kerala, India · South Asia
- Participants
- Roman Empire
- Threads
- South Asia (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Indo-Roman trade relations; Roman trade with India; Индо-римская торговля; Muziris; Poduke; Подуке
The sea trade between Roman Egypt and India grew quickly after Augustus annexed Egypt in 30 BC. Strabo reports that in Augustus’s time as many as 120 ships a year sailed from Myos Hormos to India, far more than under the Ptolemies. The main markets were the ports of the Tamil kingdoms. Muziris, in the Chera country on the Malabar Coast, was one of the chief pepper ports: a Tamil Sangam poem tells of the ships of the Yavanas (Greeks) arriving with gold and leaving with pepper, and the Roman road map known as the Tabula Peutingeriana marks a temple of Augustus near the town. On the east coast Arikamedu near Pondicherry — the Poduke of the Periplus and of Ptolemy — has yielded amphorae, Arretine ware, Roman lamps and glass.
Roman coins are found all over southern India, and Pliny the Elder complained (Natural History 12.84) that India, China and Arabia took 100 million sesterces a year from the empire. The trade flourished in the 1st–2nd centuries and declined from the middle of the 3rd, during the crisis of the Roman Empire. Its chronology is still being refined: Mortimer Wheeler, who excavated Arikamedu in 1945, linked the site’s Roman contacts to the age of Augustus, but Vimala Begley’s excavations of 1989–1992 showed that trade there went on from the 2nd century BC to the 7th or 8th century AD.
Connections
Related events
- Apostle Thomas in India (tradition)52 (?) · South Asiatradition has Thomas land by Muziris, one of the pepper ports of the Roman trade
- Adulis and Aksum in the Periplus40s … 70s · Africaaccording to the Periplus, Indian iron and cotton cloth were brought to Adulis
- Periplus of the Erythraean Sea40s … 70s · Middle East and Egyptthe Periplus describes the ports of India, among them Muziris
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700 · Southeast Asia and OceaniaIndian and Roman goods reached Óc Eo along the sea routes of the Indian Ocean
Same participants
- Trajan’s Dacian Wars101–106 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Roman Empire
- Trajan’s Parthian campaign114–117 · Middle East and Egyptvia Roman Empire
Adjacent events in the thread
- Kushans conquer Gandhara and Taxilabetween 50 and 70 · South Asia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Hadrian’s Wall122 – c. 128
- Inauguration of the Colosseum80
- Eruption of Vesuviusbetween 24 August and 1 November 79
- Pliny the Elder’s Natural History77
- Martyrdom of Peter and Paul in Romebetween 64 and 68
+ 10 events
Eastern Europe
- Plautius Silvanus lifts the Scythian siege of Chersonesusbetween 61 and 66
- The Alans appear on the Don and in the North Caucasusbetween 50 and 72
- Roman–Bosporan War45–49
- The Goths settle in Oiumc. 180 – c. 230
- Rome recognises Aspurgus as king of the Bosporus14
+ 3 events
Balkans and Anatolia
- Trajan’s Dacian Wars101–106
- Domitian’s Dacian Warbetween 85 and 86 – 89
- Dioscorides’ De materia medicabetween 50 and 70
- Missionary journeys of Paulc. 46 – between 57 and 58
- Thrace becomes a Roman province46
+ 2 events
Middle East and Egypt
- Trajan’s Parthian campaign114–117
- Hero of Alexandria’s aeolipilebetween 50 and 100
- Ptolemy’s Almagestc. 150
- Siege of JerusalemApril 70 – 8 September 70
- First Jewish–Roman War66 – between 73 and 74
+ 5 events
Africa
- Nero’s expedition to the sources of the Nilebetween 61 and 62
- Adulis and Aksum in the Periplus40s … 70s
- Roman annexation of Mauretania40 – between 42 and 44
- Temple of Apedemak at Naqabetween 1 BC and AD 70
- Revolt of Tacfarinas17–24
+ 1 event
Central and Northern Asia
- Gan Ying’s mission to Da Qin (Rome)97
- Ban Chao repels a Kushan army90
- Battle of Ikh Bayan and the Yanran inscription89
- Ban Chao’s campaigns in the Tarim Basin73–102
- The burials of Tillya Tepe (the Bactrian Gold)between 16 and 100
+ 2 events
East Asia
- The Book of Han is writtenc. 54 – 111
- Buddhism reaches China: the court of Liu Ying at Pengcheng65
- Envoys of Na receive a gold seal from Emperor Guangwu57
- Liu Xiu restores the Han: the Eastern Han25
- Battle of Kunyangbetween June and July 23
+ 3 events
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Founding of Funan: Kaundinya and Queen Liuyebetween 1 and 100
- Trưng sisters’ rebellionMarch 40 – 43
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
- Sa Huỳnh culturec. 1000 BC – c. 200
North America
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
Latin America
- Emergence of the Moche culturec. 100
- Rise of Teotihuacanc. 1 – c. 250
- Monte Albán II: the Zapotec state expandsc. 100 BC – c. 200
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Indo-Roman trade relations
- Wikipedia (English): Muziris
- Wikipedia (English): Arikamedu
- Wikipedia (Russian): Индо-римская торговля
- Begley V., De Puma R. D. (eds.) Rome and India: The Ancient Sea Trade. — Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991.
- Wikidata: Q513839