Indo-Roman relations

Before the conquests of Alexander, there are no surviving accounts by contemporaries or near-contemporaries of contact between Europe and the South Asia, so modern understanding depends on more abundant literary, numismatic, and archaeological evidence, mainly relating to the trade between them.

According to Strabo (II.5.12), not long after Augustus took control of Egypt, while Gallus was Prefect of Egypt (26–24 BC), up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from Myos Hormos to modern-day India: "At any rate, when Gallus was prefect of Egypt, I accompanied him and ascended the Nile as far as Syene and the frontiers of Ethiopia, and I learned that as many as one hundred and twenty vessels were sailing from Myos Hormos to India, whereas formerly, under the Ptolemies, only a very few ventured to undertake the voyage and to carry on traffic in Indian merchandise.

He received embassies from Indian kings in 26 and 20 BC and, although little specific is known about them, as Carey puts it: "These missions were certainly intended for something more than an exchange of empty compliments.

"[1] By the time of Augustus, if not before, a sea-captain named Hippalus had "discovered" (or, rather, brought news to the West of) the relatively safe and punctual contact over the open sea to India by leaving from Aden on the summer monsoon and returning on the anti-trade winds of winter.

54.9 wrote: Many embassies came to him (Augustus), and the Indians having previously proclaimed a treaty of alliance, concluded it now with the presentation, among other gifts, of tigers, animals which the Romans, and, if I mistake not, the Greeks as well, saw for the first time.

It was reported in Rome that at Muziris (near Cranganore) was built a temple in honour of Augustus and 4) an embassy from the Paṇḍya country (Pandya Kingdom) brought with it precious stones, pearls and an elephant.

In fact the text seems to imply that western vessels normally did not travel beyond the tip of the Indian peninsula, probably leaving onward trade to local boats as the passage between India and the northern tip of Palaisimundu or Taprobanê (Sri Lanka) was very shallow for trans-oceanic vessels, while the route around the island was long[9] and may have forced skippers to pass another season in the region before the winds were right for the return to Egypt.

– the trade: a 25 per cent tax on all goods from India was levied by the Romans at the Red Sea port of Leuce Come.

"[11] After the Roman Emperor Trajan defeated the Dacians and annexed the Nabataean Arabs centered in Petra c. AD 105, he returned to Rome where: "...ever so many embassies came to him from various barbarians, including the Sindi [people of the Indus Valley].

[13] "Roman troops had beaten the might of Parthia from the field and had reached the Persian Gulf; and their victorious Imperator, Trajan, had dreamed of repeating Alexander's march to the northwestern subcontinent, only to acquiesce in giving up the project on account of his age.

"[14] The Peutinger Table, a medieval copy of a 4th or early 5th century map of the world, shows a "Temple to Augustus" at Muziris, one of the main ports for trade to the Roman Empire on the southwest coast of India.

Arikamedu was a Tamil fishing village which was formerly a major Chola port dedicated to bead making and trading with Roman traders.

Various Roman artifacts, such as a large number of amphorae bearing the mark of Roman potter schools VIBII, CAMURI and ITTA, have been found at the site, supporting the view on a huge ancient trade between Rome and the ancient Tamil country, which today include Tamil Nadu, Kerala and regions of Sri Lanka.

Large hoards of coins and innumerable shards of amphorae found in the town of Pattanam have elicited recent archeological interest in finding a probable location of this port city.

[20] Numerous hoards of Roman gold coins from the time of Augustus and emperors of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD have been from southern India.

Attention may be drawn to the large number of Roman aurei and denarii of Augustus to Nero spanning approximately 120 years, found all along the route from about Mangalore through the Muziris area and around the southern tip of India to the south eastern Indian ports.