[1][2][3][4][5] The Romans had already heard about the island of Sri Lanka, which the Greeks had described under the name of Taprobane.
However, according to Pliny, as described in his Natural History, it was during the reign of the Emperor Claudius (AD 41–54) that the two civilizations first met.
[1] A freedman of Annius Plocamus having farmed the customs of the Red Sea on behalf of his state's treasury, while sailing along the coast of Arabia, was driven by northern monsoon winds, passed Carmania and on the fifteenth day into Hippuros, a port of Ceylon.
[3] According to Pliny, the decision to send an embassy was made by the king's perception of Roman honesty when the captured denarii turned out to be of the same weight.
[6] Two graffiti on the ancient Coptas-Berenice road belonging to Lysas, a freedman of Annius Plocamus have been found and dated from July, 6 - 54 CE, in both Greek and Latin.