The rock edicts of the 3rd century BCE Indian emperor Ashoka mention the word Tamraparni (as "Tambapanni") in connection with his foreign missions.
[3] According to one theory, "Taprobane", an ancient Greek name for Sri Lanka, is derived from the word "Tamraparni".
[2] The name may be a reference to the "copper colored" shores of Sri Lanka, and may have entered Greek via the Pali "Tambapanni".
[5] Megasthenes, a Greek ambassador to Ashoka's grandfather Chandragupta, describes Taprobane as being separated from the mainland by a river, and as being "more productive of gold and large pearls than India."
[3] In the world map drawn by the ancient Greek (Claudius Ptolemaeus "Geographia", 150 CE), a huge island located south of the Indian subcontinent is referred to by the Greek as "Taprobane", which modern historians identify as the island of Sri Lanka.