Rome And The Indian Ocean Trade From Augustus To The Early Third Century Ce

In Rome and the Indian Ocean Trade from Augustus to the Early Third Century CE Matthew Adam Cobb explores the development of commercial exchanges between the Mediterranean world and civilisations in East Africa, Southern Arabia and the India from the Augustan period to the early third century CE.

The period from the death of Alexander the Great to the rise of the Islam (c. late fourth century BCE to seventh century CE) saw a significant growth in economic, diplomatic and cultural exchange between various civilisations in Africa, Europe and Asia. This was in large part thanks to the Indian Ocean trade. Peoples living in the Roman Empire, Parthia, India and South East Asia increasingly had access to exotic foreign products, while the lands from which they derived, and the peoples inhabiting these lands, also captured the imagination, finding expression in a number of literary and poetic works. The Indian Ocean Trade in Antiquity provides a range of chapters that explore the economic, political and cultural impact of this trade on these diverse societies, written by international experts working in the fields of Classics, Archaeology, South Asian studies, Near Eastern studies and Art History. The three major themes of the book are the development of this trade, how consumption and exchange impacted on societal developments, and how the Indian Ocean trade influenced the literary creations of Graeco-Roman and Indian authors. This volume will be of interest not only to academics and students of antiquity, but also to scholars working on later periods of Indian Ocean history who will find this work a valuable resource.

The battle of Actium waged in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt in 30 BC to the Roman Empire opened up avenues for increased commercial contact between the Roman Empire, South Asia in general and India in particular and the port of Muziris was the premier trading post of India. In this volume, eminent international scholars from the USA, Switzerland, United Kingdom, France, Italy as well as India provide detailed analysis of maritime trade in the Indian Ocean region in the early historic period.

Studies the complex system of trade exchanges and commerce that profoundly changed Roman society.

Preliminary Material /Steven E. Sidebotham -- Introduction /Steven E. Sidebotham -- Erythraean Sea Trade: Wares, Type, Cost and Volume /Steven E. Sidebotham -- Facilitating the Commerce: Roads, Ports and Canals for the Expanding Roman Trade /Steven E. Sidebotham -- Regulations, Traders and Taxes /Steven E. Sidebotham -- The Genesis and Evolution of Roman Policy in the Erythraean sea /Steven E. Sidebotham -- Conclusion /Steven E. Sidebotham -- The Terms 'Erythra Thalassa ' and 'Rubrum Mare ' /Steven E. Sidebotham -- The Date of the Periplus Maris Erythraei /Steven E. Sidebotham -- Bibliography /Steven E. Sidebotham -- Index /Steven E. Sidebotham.

Originally published in 1928, this detailed book examines the beginnings, progress and substance of the trade between India and the Roman Empire from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius. Warmington presents this history from a western point of view, and uses a wide range of ancient literary sources to explore what goods were traded between the two regions and the mechanisms of that trade. This thoroughly researched book will be of value to anyone with an interest in ancient trade and connections between the Roman Empire and its neighbours.

The spectacular ruins of such places as Palmyra and Petra bear witness to the wealth and power which could be derived from the silks, spices and incense of the east. Such goods were highly prized in the Roman Empire, and merchants were ready to face the perils of deserts, oceans, warfare and piracy to meet the demand for their wares. But exactly how did the trade in luxury goods operate, and to whose benefit? Gary K. Young's study offers unprecedented coverage of the major trading regions of Egypt, Arabia, Palmyra, and Syria, with detailed analysis of the routes used and of the roles of all the participants. He looks closely at the influence of the commerce in eastern goods both on the policy of the Roman imperial government, and upon local communities in the East itself. His findings contradict the standard view that the imperial government had a strong political interest in the eastern trade; rather its primary concern was the tax income the trade brought in. He also demonstrates the need for greater recognition of the efforts made by local authorities to exploit the trade to their own advantage. Incorporating the considerable archaeological research that has been undertaken in recent years, this comprehensive survey provides fresh insight into an important aspect of the eastern Roman Empire.

This volume presents eighteen papers by leading Roman historians and archaeologists discussing trade in the Roman Empire during the period c.100 BC to AD 350. It focuses especially on the role of the Roman state in shaping the institutional framework for trade within and outside the empire, in taxing that trade, and in intervening in the markets to ensure the supply of particular commodities, especially for the city of Rome and for the army. As part of a novel interdisciplinary approach to the subject, the chapters address its myriad facets on the basis of broadly different sources of evidence: historical, papyrological, and archaeological. They are grouped into three sections, covering institutional factors (taxation, legal structures, market regulation, financial institutions); evidence for long-distance trade within the empire in wood, stone, glass, and pottery; and trade beyond the frontiers, with the east (as far as China), India, Arabia, the Red Sea, and the Sahara. Rome's external trade with realms to the east emerges as being of particular significance, but it is in the eastern part of the empire itself where the state appears to have adapted the mechanisms of taxation in collaboration with the elite holders of wealth to support its need for revenue. On the other hand, the price of that collaboration, which was in effect a fiscal partnership, ultimately led in the longer term in slightly different forms in the east and the west to a fundamental change in the political character of the empire.

This book sets out to replace the outdated notion of ‘Indo-Roman trade’, integrating new findings from the last 30 years. Analysis conducted demonstrates that highly substantial levels of trade took place between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean in the 1st–6th c. altering consumption and production in India, South Arabia and the Roman Empire.

André Tchernia is one of the leading experts on amphorae as a source of economic history, a pioneer of maritime archaeology, and author of a wealth of articles on Roman trade, notably the wine trade. This book brings together the author's previously published essays, updated and revised, with recent notes and prefaced with an entirely new synthesis of his views on Roman commerce with a particular emphasis on the people involved in it. The book is divided into two main parts. The first is a general study of the structure of Roman trade: Landowners and traders, traders' fortunes, the matter of the market, the role of the state, and dispatching what is required. It tackles the recent debates on Roman trade and Roman economy, providing, original and convincing answers. The second part of the book is a selection of 14 of the author's published papers. They range from discussions of general topics such as the ideas of crisis and competition, the approvisioning of Ancient Rome, trade with the East, to more specialized studies, such as the interpretation of the 33 AD crisis. Overall, the book contains a wealth of insights into the workings of ancient trade and expertly combines discussion of the material evidence-especially of amphorae and wrecks-with the prosopographical approach derived from epigraphic, papyrological and historical data.