Periplus Maris Erythraei9; Adulis 99;
Arabian coast 100; Bay of Bengal 108;
copper 96; East African coast 103; gold
97; Indian coast 105; Indian vessels 86;
malabathrum 122; money 97; monsoon
discovery 87; Muza 104; Seres 111;
Somali coast 102; Southeast Asia 110;
Thina 109
Persia and Persians 125, 135; China 131,
133; gold 97; Indian Ocean 90;
Phoenicians 67; silk 138
Persian Gulf 6, 19; China 117, 140; copper
source 25; corridor to Indian Ocean 84,
87; Red Sea competition 44, 104;
Sumerians 32– 34
Petra 101– 2
Petronius 76
Philippines 112– 13
Philistines 58
Phoenicians 46, 61, 63; Assyrian Empire
64, 66; circumnavigated Africa 50;
decline 66, 71; Egypt 50, 66, 71;
Neo-Babylonian Empire 67; Persian
Empire 67; at Pithekoussai 68; in
western Mediterranean 64–65;see also
Canaanites
Pithekoussai Island 68
piracy and pirates 1, 78, 86, 141; Arab 85,
100; Bronze Age collapse 58; Cham 116;
Delos slave market 79; Indian 107;
Mycenaean 57; Red Sea 87; Sumatra
119; Vietnamese 117
Pliny the Elder 10–11, 19, 95; amber 23;
balance of payments problem 97;
cinnamon 93; cloves 119; frankincense
101; Hanno and Himilco 66; India
85 – 86; Indian Ocean 107; indigo 94;
lapis lazuli 39; nard 93; monsoons 88;
Nile-Suez Canal 50–51; olive oil 11;
pearls 94; pepper 92; Persian Gulf 32;
Phoenicians 63–65; Red Sea shipping
90; Seres 111, 136; wine 80
Poduca (Arikamedu) 108, 113, 116
Poland 16, 20, 22
Polanyi, Karl 4, 6– 7
pomegranates 54
Pompey 79– 80
porcelain 138, 140
porcellanite 16
Portugal: Himilco’s expedition 66; in
Indian Ocean 141– 42
Poseidonius 87
pottery 3, 7–8; Chinese 117; Egyptian 40;
Greek 71; Minoan 56; Mycenaean
57 – 58; Poduca 108, 113; Roman Empire
77, 79; Troy 59, 61
precious stonesseegems
predatory activities 1, 60, 100, 116, 125,
141;see alsopiracy and pirates
prestige items or goods 17–18, 21, 24, 38,
106; chains of 69
price 3–4, 26, 31
profit and profit-making 2–5, 18–29, 69,
137;Arthashastraon 96; Canaanite 48;
China 124; Classical Greece 72;
Confucius on 123; Homeric Greece 67;
Indians in Southeast Asia 113; obsidian
19; Roman Empire 77; Sumer 28
Promontory of Spices 102–4;see also
Guardafui, Cape
Proto-Silk Road 134– 35
PtolemiesseeEgypt and Egyptians
Ptolemy (geographer)seeClaudius Ptolemy
Punic Wars 74
Punt 44–46, 50
Purushapura 106
Pytheas 69Qatar 20
Queen Mother of the West 121
Qin dynasty 123, 135
Qin Shihuangdi 123, 128Ramses II 50, 85
Ramses III 46, 58
realgar 96, 106
reciprocity 1–2, 14–15, 18, 67, 111, 137
Red River 112
Red Sea 6, 9, 20, 140, 142; corridor to
Indian Ocean 84, 87; Egypt 44, 46, 85;
navigating 99; ports on 99, 102; Roman
Empire 75–76, 89, 118; Solomon-Hiram
expeditions 49
relay trade 25, 122, 126, 134, 138
resins 56, 106, 113, 117; bdellium 93;
benzoin 115; frankincense and myrrh
90 – 91; storax 96; terebinth 54– 55
Rhapta 103– 4
Rhine River 76, 80
rhinoceros horn 93, 100, 103, 110–11,
116 – 17
Rhodes 73–74, 78
Rhone River 69, 76
rice 90, 103–4, 114, 119, 140Index 157