Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean

Ancient evidence suggests that international commerce supplied the Roman government with up to a third of the revenues that sustained their empire. Large fleets of Roman freighters set sail from Egypt on voyages to kingdoms on the east coasts of Africa and southern Arabia. Many of these ships continued their voyages across the ocean to trade with the distant, resource-rich kingdoms of ancient India. Merchant vessels from the Roman Empire left with wine and bullion to return with cargoes of valuable trade goods, including exotic African products, Arabian incense and eastern spices. This book investigates contacts between the Roman Empire and the African kingdoms, including the Nilotic regime of Meroe and the Aksumite Realm in Ethiopia. It explores Roman dealings with merchants from the ancient rock-carved city of Petra and the Arab kingdoms of south Arabia, including the Saba-Himyarites and the Hadramawt regime. It also considers the Roman naval base on the Farasan Islands, guarding the entrance to the Red Sea, 600 miles outside the Empire. Further chapters examine Roman commerce with Indian kingdoms including those of the Indus region, the Deccan Plateau and the southern Tamil lands. These contacts brought Roman merchant ships into the Bay of Bengal and along trade routes that led to Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and ultimately the Han empire of ancient China.