could get a shipful of goods at one or both of these ports without further
effort or risk, and south of Barygaza pirates were often a nuisance. According
to Pliny, ships bound for the Malabar coast of southwestern India headed
there once they cleared the Bab el-Mandeb on a fast 40-day ride powered by
the southwest monsoon. The trip from Alexandria to southern India could be
done in under 100 days’ straight travel time, although sailing on the
southwest monsoon when it was blowing hardest was a lot more dangerous
than cruising the placid waters of East Africa.
The far south of India was the land of the Tamils. There, large-scale
external contact helped to stimulate the state-building process and encour-
aged urbanization as redistributive systems were replaced and gift-giving
gave way to commercial trade. According to tradition, one famous chief
reportedly defeated a Yavanafleet, which may echo what was actually an
early pirating expedition against Roman merchant vessels. Local authorities
must soon have realized that they could accumulate more sustainable wealth
by peaceful exchange than by piracy. Western traders gathered in Malabar
ports such as Musiris, Neleynda, and Bakare, where they may have played a
middleman role, unlike at Barygaza, where this was handled by local mer-
chants. However, Roman trade with southern India did not rival in quantity,
value, or variety the trade with northern India. The main product was black
pepper, available in huge amounts. Other local products included gems and
precious stones, ivory, pearls, and cotton textiles. Nard and malabathrum
came from the Himalayan region via the Ganges delta, the Bay of Bengal, and
the Coromandel Coast of southeastern India, and Chinese silk arrived by the
same route. Yavana ships carried a limited selection of their usual products,
including wine, glass, copper, tin, and lots of coined silver and gold money.
South of India lay the beautiful, teardrop-shaped island of Ceylon (Sri
Lanka; referred to in classical sources as Taprobane). Greeks knew of its
existence from at least the third centuryBCE, but their information was very
inaccurate. It was thought to be much larger than it really was–some
believed it was the southern hemisphere’s equivalent to the Eurasian land-
mass of the northern hemisphere–and much farther away. Eratosthenes puts
it at a seven-day journey from India, and Onesicritus, at 20 days. Strabo has
it stretching from south of India toward the East African coast and at a size
“not less than Britain.”During the reign of the emperor Claudius (41– 54
CE), a Roman ship on its way around Arabia was blown off course and
eventually landed on Ceylon. After questioning the ship’s captain, the local
king sent envoys to Rome, who provided a good deal of geographical infor-
mation about Ceylon and lands to the east, much of which turned out to be
inaccurate, even about Ceylon. Nevertheless, contact was established, and
direct trade followed. Ceylon produced pearls along with rubies and other
gems, cotton garments, and tortoise shell, but its greatest asset proved to be
its central location, and by the late fourth centuryCEit had become the most
important maritime commercial center in the Indian Ocean.
Following thePeriplus 107