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Chapter VI Conclusion A review of the archaeological evidence of Indo-Roman sea trade has been undertaken and the broader implications of this trade for Indian Ocean lands have been explored in this study. The focus upon reconstruction from archaeological records has allowed the integration of new field data into investigations of trans-oceanic contact and trade between peninsular India and the Mediterranean world across Indian Ocean lands in the early centuries of the Christian Era. The employment and analysis of archaeological data serves on the one hand to corroborate textual-epigraphical records on the trade and on the other, to amplify the literary records. While the northern Indian Ocean-Red Sea region has been adopted as the study-area, this thesis confines itself to elucidating the archaeology of Indo-Roman long distance maritime commerce in Indian Ocean lands. The central thesis emerging from the study is that the regularisation of long distance Egypt-India trade in the B.C./A.D. transition resulted in seminal changes in sea borne commerce in the Indian Ocean or the Erythraean Sea. The initiation of regular Roman sea trade with Indian Ocean lands is reflected in the 'sudden' deposition of a range of Mediterranean artefacts across the northern Indian Ocean at the beginning of the Christian Era. In contrast, finds of 'pre-Roman' or Ptolemaic period trade-indicators are meagre east of the Bab el-Mandeb This distributional phenomena' reflects the Roman initiative to establish and sustain direct lines of shipping with trade zones across the northern Indian Ocean. The opening of the Egypt-India sea route on a regular basis by the Romans in the B.C./A.D. changeover resulted in the establishment of one of the longest maritime 'highways' of the ancient world. The Egypt-India sea route became an alternative to and perhaps superseded the older sea route to India through the Persian Gulf. In this study, a major aspect of archaeological reconstruction of Roman commerce in the Erythraean Sea involves documenting artefactual indicators of long distance maritime exchanges. Besides the presence of original Mediterranean artefacts, we find stratigraphic association of ceramics and other objects 'inspired' by Mediterranean techniques. The classification of this 'syncretic' material, principally represented by a wide range of Arabian and Indian objects comprising pseudoMediterranean ceramics, imitation Roman coins and imitation Roman lamps, reveals strong impact of Mediterranean technology on indigenous material cultures On

330 another plane, the occurrence of Early Historic Indian ceramics in association with Roman artefacts in stratified contexts in coastal Egypt, the Gulf of Aden littoral, the Persian Gulf region and Southeast Asia signifies the 'extra-territorial' nature of IndoMediterranean exchange at different areas of the Indian Ocean littoral (Chapter II for details of occurrence of Mediterranean artefacts in Indian Ocean lands, Chapter IV for Indian artefactual deposition in Indian Ocean lands). The conceptualisation of the Erythraean Sea trade system as an integration of regional exchange networks makes it necesary to delimit, with some degree of precision, the main littoral-areas which constituted the major regional components of the extended exchange system. Central to the attempt at delimiting regional networks is the need to define a basis for demarcation For instance, in his detailing of the exchange systems of the Bronze Age cultures of South-western Asia, Kohl (1978:463-491) proposes a model of economic interdependence (highland-lowland interdependence specifically) to account for the impetus for trade. However, as Kohl (1978:463-491) himself admits, the motivation for trade may well be based upon consciously created demand as well as necessity. In our area of interest, long distance commodity exchange seems to have been motivated both by factors of 'taste' and necessity. The acquisition of precious/semi-precious stones and fine cloth by Roman traders from India and consequent inflow of Mediterranean wine, Roman bronzes and glassware into the subcontinent obviously represented the functioning of a market in luxuries. On the other hand, we also have references in the Periplus to the despatch of food and other essentials from India to West Asia and to the Mediterranean region (Chapter III for details of Indo-Roman trade commodities). Keeping in view the complexity of factors motivating commercial exchanges, this study proposes broad geographical boundaries for the main trade zones of the Red SeaIndian Ocean area. The specified trade zones are presented in Fig. 21. The point to emphasize is that direct commodity exchange between the Indian Ocean lands and the Mediterranean needs to be regarded as a new development within a long established arena of sea trade. It was, of course, a development with far-reaching impact upon Indian Ocean networks. Viewing the operation of long distance Indo-Roman trade exclusive of the 'contexts' of the regional networks/trade zones, the Egypt-India interaction becomes predictable and straight. Such a perspective reduces itself to a mere narrative of ships setting forth from ports on the Egyptian Red Sea coast, berthing at intermediate points in Somalia/south Arabia and then sailing to terminal ports on the Indian coast. This simplistic viewpoint would tend to disregard the importance of the intermediate trade-ports, such as Kane,

331 Moscha and Omana which were premier commercial hubs in their own regions. It would also leave no scope for pursuing questions questions relating to the role of Mediterranean traders in inter-regional trade, such as the instance of Roman involvement in India-West Asia food trade or the possible re-export of Mediterranean material from western India to the Persian Gulf (see Chapter IV). Therefore to give balance and context to the study of Indo-Mediterranean exchanges, the exposition of direct Egypt-India trade is explored against the backdrop regional exchange networks of the Erythraean Sea. In this regard, this study presents new evidence of trans-oceanic contact through comparative study of transported pottery and other Indian artefacts recovered about the Gulf of Aden, Persian Gulf and Southeast Asia. Glover advocates the emergence of a 'world system' to explain the functional linkages between trading zones from the western Mediterranean to India and Southeast Asia/China. Of course such a perspective should not preclude other explanations for shifts and changes in the material cultures of the trading zones It is expected, in fact necessary, that the explanations for contact and change based on long distance trade be 'balanced' by studies seeking a different interpretation of the material evidence. It is recognised that the regional exchange networks were internally 'resilient', that they had strong domestic markets which provided much impetus for the development of regional economies. From this point of view, the effect of long distance trade on the regional economies of the northern Indian Ocean can be conceived as being essentially catalytic rather than transformative. The idea of a world trading system functioning across the Mediterranean-Red Sea-Indian Ocean area can be appreciated, to use the words of Kohl (1978:488), 'not as an external force exercising its inexorable power over local communities or states but as a factor essentially linked to the historical development of (their) social relations directing production...' The importance of some of the trade zones was, apart from their being production-areas of export-commodities, due to their favourable 'geo-commercial' situations. The Egyptian Red Sea coast served as a conduit for the flow of tradegoods between the Mediterranean littoral and the Indian Ocean areas. Similarly, the hinterland region of the Lower Indus/Gujarat ports extended deep inland to northern India, Afghanistan and Central Asia. In fact, the western Indian ports such as Barbarikon and Barygaza made possible the opening of the maritime alternative to the old, traditional overland Silk Routes traversing the difficult land terrain between Central Asia and the eastern Mediterranean. The ports of the Malabar in South India also played an important role in Erythraean Sea trade. The Periplus refers to the great

332 harbour of Muziris handling goods brought from the far Gangetic region, most probably through the Bengal ports. Specifically, in the context of peninsular India, the spatial and stratigraphic evidence of Roman long distance contact indicates that Indo-Roman interaction affected economic processes in Early Historic India. In Chapter V the archaeological analysis of the Indo-Roman trade dynamics has been attempted on evidence from peninsular India. In particular, stratigraphic analysis in the context of Early Historic western India shows significant rise at the point of appearance of Mediterranean artefacts in the production of export-commodities (semi-precious stone/glass beads. ivory/shell objects, iron) at industrial sites. We also find all round improvement in habitational structures (switch from mud to fired-brick) at these sites. The coincidences between Roman trade indicators (industrial production and structural activity) are too close and recurrent to be ignored while seeking an explanation for change attributed to long distance Mediterranean trade contact with Early Historic western India. ' The imperitive for documenting artefactual indicators of contact creates the working basis for analysing change in the context of long distance trade. Primarily, the stratigraphic linkage between the far-flung sites in Indian Ocean lands can be effected by 'interfacing' strata corresponding to the same chronology The chronological continuum for specific sites can be established on the basis of the dates provided by the 'exotic' material in corroboration with chronology emerging from well-recorded indigenous material. For instance, as we discussed in Chapter V, the chronology for the settlement of Nevasa has been drawn by taking into account the chronology provided by stratified Mediterranean amphorae, imitations of Roman coins and Satavahana coins. Similarly, in the context of the trade-port of Qana on the southern Yemen coast, it is primarily the stratified Mediterranean amphorae which provide the chronology to the three periods at the site. Now, on the basis of the stratified chronology of the two spatially far removed sites, we can correlate Pd. V at Nevasa with the Lower Period at Qana. The presence of Mediterranean amphorae of the Dressel 2-4 type in the 'consonant' strata of Nevasa and Qana interlink the wholly disparate indigenous material cultures of the two sites. The stratigraphic 'banding' of trading settlements of the Red Sea-Indian Ocean reveals interesting patterns of long distance Mediterranean trade. In this regard, an important development observed concerns the foundation or expansion of portsites and trading settlements of the Erythraean Sea at a particular chronological point. Specifically, it is observed that key trade-ports across the Red

333 Sea-northern Indian Ocean, such as Quseir on the Egyptian Red Sea coast, Qana on the Gulf of Aden, Khor Rori on the Arabian Sea, Ed-Dur on the Persian Gulf and Arikamedu on the Coromandel coast, were all founded in the B.C./A.D. transition. It is not a coincidence that Roman artefacts begin to occur with profusion and regularity from the earliest period of occupation at these sites. On Early Historic sites such as Nevasa and Nagara in western India, whose foundations go back to mid- first millenium B.C., we notice an expansion of settlement size and heightening of structural and industrial activity at the point of appearance of Mediterranean trade indicators in the B.C./A.D. changeover (Chapters IV & V and for detailed discussion). The regular transaction of commodities and the emergence of reciprocal trading networks along the Egypt-India route in early first millenium A.D. opened up the far-flung civilizations of Mediterranean, West Asia, India and Southeast Asia to a fuller comprehension of each others 'world view.' This interaction not only resulted in crossflow of ideas and borrowings but also initiated 'internal' innovations in thought and attitude within the interacting culture-zones. With regard to ancient commercial and cultural exchanges across the northern Indian Ocean a major area for historical reconstruction is vested in ethnographic data on tribes and communities likely to have been involved in the long distance maritime trade. The evidence for such involvement may be direct (survival of old terminologies and events in language, custom and folklore) or contextual The direct evidence of involvement of a tribe/community in ancient Indo-Mediterranean sea trade can be found in extant terms like dinaramala (necklace of denari) still used among the pack-animal caravaners of western India and in folklore of south Indian foraging tribes telling of ancient encounters with Mediterranean(?) traders (see Appendix-III for listing of 'maritime' communities in India). In the available records, a major theme of dialogue emerging in our space/time context concerns the transmission of astrological concepts along the Egypt-India sea route. Specifically, the evidence for this exchange is contained in the Yavanajataka of Sphujidhvaja, a treatise of horoscopy (horashanda), one of the three branches of ancient Indian astrology (jyotishastra). Sphujidhvaja's work, composed in 269/70 A.D., is a versified version in Sanskrit of the prose translation of a Greek horoscopic treatise done by one Yavaneshvara in 149/150 A.D.. Both Yavaneshvara and Sphujidhvaja seemed to have been ethnic Hellenes resident in western India (Pingree 1978 Vol.1:3-4). Pingree (1978 Vol. I: preface) is further of the opinion that 'the greater part of the Yavanajataka was directly transmitted (with some necessary

334 adjustments) from Roman Egypt to western India. Much of the basis of Pingree's assertions lie in the iconography of Sphujdhvaja's zodiacal signs which have their origins in the Egyptian astronomical dieties For instance, the Roman Egyptian origin of the treatise is evident in the representation of the astral twins Gemini in the iconography of the Egyptian dieties Shu and Tefnut. The equivalent of Virgo is manifested in the Yavanajataka in the form of Isis Pegalia, the goddess of the great lighthouse of Alexandria revered by mariners of the Mediterranean (Pingree 1978 Vol.II:196). The transmission of an entire body of Roman Egyptian astrological tenets to western India, evidently along the Egypt-India sea route, raises interesting questions. Was this flow of knowledge motivated by purely scholastic considerations or was the did the desemmination take place because of more general reasons? as the Of course, the compilation of Sanskritic astrological works such Yavanajataka and Romaka Siddhanta based upon Greco-Roman precepts leaves no doubt about the active dialogue going on between the Greaco-Roman and Indian astrologers in the early centuries A.D. The Indian astrologer Garga, living in the first century A.D., testifies to such a dialogue when he says (as quoted by the 5 th century astrologer Varahimihira) that though the 'Greeks (Yavanas) are barbarians, but (the) science (of astronomy) is firmly established among them; they are on this account honoured equally as sages' (in Markel 1991:188). However, scholarly interaction apart, the transmission of Graeco-Roman astrological concepts through the route of maritime trade must have been also of direct 'benefit' to expatriate Yavanas, especially sailors and merchants involved in the high risk and uncertain commercial missions on the Egypt-India route. In this regard we must remember that the Yavanajataka was in particular a work of horoscopy. the branch of ancient astrology applied specifically to forecast future happenings and caution against impending calamities. The origin of the Yavanajataka in the Egyptian astrological tradition and the subsequent translation of the Alexandrian treatise by Greeks based at Ujjaini, capital of the Saka dynasties and a major centre of trade with the west suggests that the horoscopic formulations contained in the Yavanajataka were applied to alleviate the apprehensions and fears of mariners and merchants from the Mediterranean visiting western India (for Greek astronomers in Ujjain see Markel 1991:177). In particular, the threat of inauspicious planetary conjunctions must have been a matter for concern, not only for those embarking upon long sea or land journeys but even in respect of sale and purchase of goods.

335 . More than anything else, it is the dedicatory inscriptions of mariners/merchants found in the Indian Ocean littoral that bring before us, in graphic terms, the constant threat to life and property faced on the high seas. The uncertainty of voyaging in the Indian Ocean must have created a deep need to seek protection of the almighty.' Cartouches dated to the 1 st century A.D. in the temple in the ruins of the great Egyptian port-city of Berenice speak of the munificience of the goddess (Isis ?) towards those in 'their ports' (Meredith 1957:66) From within the precincts of an early Christian chapel at Qana, the site of the major south Arabian trade-port on the way to India, was found a 4 th century A.D. inscription in Greek of a certain Kosmas imploring the almighty to protect his goods and grant him safe passage in a sea journey (Vinogradov in Sedov 1992:136). In India, three dedicatory clay seals belonging, in all probability to Mediterranean sailors, have been recovered from the Bengal coast (see under Lower Bengal in Chapter V). It is not inconceivable that among the many Yavanas who recorded donative inscriptions in the Buddhist rock-cut caves of western India, especially Karla, Junnar and Nasik, must be included Hellenes engaged in Indo-Mediterranean sea trade (for inscriptions of Yavanas see Thosar 1991:166-178). A propitiary symbolism associated with Mediterranean voyaging on the high seas appears in the form of Triton, a Roman sea diety. The Tritons were lord of the waves and their worship was done to ensure calm voyages Stylized Tritons appear on a 2 nd-3 rd century A.D. Roman mosaic depicting a ship setting out from Alexandria harbour (Cimino 1994:36-37). On a bronze medallion of Emperor Commodus, a reclining Triton watches over a group of onerariae or Roman sail boats (Cimino 1994: Pl. IX. I). A decorated glass beaker of 1 st c. A.D. Roman origin from Begram (Afghanistan) has sculpted on its outer surface the figure of Tritons (David MacDowall on the UGC programme on Indo-Roman trade, 1990). In India, figures resembling the Triton have been rendered in sculpture in the Early Historic period. An interesting specimen of a Triton-like figure is carved on a sculptural frieze dated to the 2 nd-1 st century B.C. and displayed in the Allahabad Museum The possibility of syncretic symbolic representations can be also explored in the case of a particular motif which appears as a small protrusion or 'knob' at the centre of dishes, bowls and at the back of copper/bronze mirrors found in India (Pl. XIV) These 'knobbed' vessels and mirrors have been found from 3 rd century B.C to 1 st-2 nd century A.D. contexts all over India and even in Southeast Asia where they are found associated with votive stupas and Indian beads.

336 et.al. The "knobbed" vessels (of silver, copper, stone and clay) first came to light in the Taxila excavations where Marshall (ASI Annual Report 1928:58, 1975 Vol.II 418,490,592) identified them as types modelled after the popular Greek dishes called phiale mesomphalos. Sankalia (1960:421) who recovered from the site of Nevasa, a copper 'knobbed' vessel similar to the ones found at Taxila, follows Marshall in calling the central protrusion an omphalos (Pl. XIV). However, Glover (1990:35) who has excavated similar vessels from the site of Ban Don Ta Phet in Thailand seeks to place the 'knobs' in the Indian tradition, contending that the base knob and concentric circles surrounding the protrusion 'should be seen as a commonly understood mandala, a schematic cosmological symbol representing perhaps Mt Meru and the surrounding oceans.' Though emphasizing an Indian symbolism for the protrusions, Glover puts on record that the knobbed-base vessels are also found in the Mediterranean comprising 'a well known component of the Samian Ware output from Gallo-Roman potteries of the 2 nd century A.D. (and) occasional bronze examples from the Late Bronze or Iron Age in Anatolia and Luristan' (Glover 1990:34). To recapitulate, the circulation of trade-goods across culture-specific areas facilitated inter-societal interaction at the level of ideas, symbolisms, art and lifestyle. With regard to the Indo-Roman relationship, one of the major transmissions were in the realm of astrological concepts which were carried to western India as part of the horoscopic tenets held dear by merchant-mariners undertaking high risk commercial missions along the Egypt-India route. Conversely, the permeation of Indian religious and secular precepts into the Mediterranean have been traced through critical study of textual evidence (Buddhist influences upon Manichaeism for instance, see especially Sedlar 1980). Besides comparison of cultural expressions in the Indian and Roman Worlds, transmissions in symbolisms and motifs across the early Indian Ocean need to be further explored by rigorous comparison of the plastic arts and architecture of high culture regions such as the domains of South Arabian kingdoms, the Axumites, the Nabataeans, the Jews, Palmyrenes, Chaldaeans and Parthians. Before we close, a final issue remains to be discussed: the decline of maritime trade between Roman Egypt and peninsular India. According to Warmington, the reasons for end of Indo-Roman trade lay in the political uncertainty which gripped the Roman Empire in the 3 rd-4 th centuries AD To quote Warmington (1928/1995:321):- "With the highest point of Rome's imperial splendour came the highest point in her imperial commerce, and when this passed Mediterranean

337 and Egyptian commerce was ruined in general decline, and the Indian trade fell back into the control of Abyssinians, Arabians and Persians. The rise of Constantinople caused a partial revival of indirect trade with the East, but the sackings of Rome herself and the fall of the Western Empire marked the end of the commerce between the Roman Empire and India' The historical explanation for decline of Indo-Roman trade proposed by Warmington needs to be viewed in the light of archaeological evidence for interchange between Roman Egypt and India in particular and between Rome's commerce with Indian Ocean lands in general. As discussed in Chapter II, the B.C./A.D. transition period comprised the lower plane of deposition of Mediterranean artefacts in, Indian Ocean lands. The main period of deposition of Roman artefacts in Indian Ocean lands was the first two centuries of the Christian Era. In India, the 1 st-2 nd century A.D. chronology of deposition is sharply reflected in pattern of Roman coin finds (see under Roman Coins in Chapter II). Thereafter, we observe a 'break' in the deposition. According to MacDowall (1996:81), 'there is virtually complete lacuna (in India) of any coins struck in the third century A.D.' The 'revival' of Rome's eastern trade is indicated in the finding of large Roman coin hoards, dated to 4 th-5 th century A.D., in Sri Lanka and lesser numbers of these coins in peninsular India. Sharma (1987) seeks to link the general decline of urban centres in India in 3 rd- 4 th centuries with loss of the Indian external trade with the Roman Empire. In specific terms, he associates the phenomenon of decline of Indo-Roman trade with evidence for 'abandonment' of numerous Early Historic sites in northern and peninsular India. The debate initiated by Sharma thus gives central place to Roman long distance commerce in processes of de-urbanisation in Early Historic India. While we have tried to establish linkages between Roman contact and rise in structural and industrial activity in Early Historic western India (Chapter V), the analysis could not be extended to understand the de-urbanisation of the region. The inter-connection between decline/abandonment of settlements and withdrawal of Roman trade is not clear in the material evidence for the western as well as other parts of India. For instance, while the post 'Roman-contact' phases at Brahmapuri/Kolhapur (post-Satavahana level; Sankalia and Dikshit 1952:25) and Nagara (upper level of Pd.III; Mehta 1968:9) show deterioration of structures, there is no clear indication of industrial activity being also in decline. The post 'Roman-contact' phases at Bhokardan (Pd. II; Deo and Gupte 1974:118-142) and Paunar (Pd. III; Deo and Dhavalikar 1968:78) actually yield more quantities of finished material (stone, glass and terracotta beads) from industrial

338 contexts relative to 'Roman-contact' phases at these sites. The causal connection between end of Roman trade and beginning of de-urbanisation in India in the 3 rd century A.D. remains, for the moment, a historical possibility in need of detailed investigation. At a broader level, the question of primacy of Egypto-Roman long distance commerce for cultural changes in India and Indian Ocean lands requires reassesment Recent archaeological prospections across the Indian Ocean littoral are beginning to throw up new patterns of trans-oceanic contact. Though the archaeological evidence of Roman sea borne contact with peninsular India remains at a higher 'quantum' than deposition of material from other trade zones (south Arabia, the Persian Gulf region and Southeast Asia), this picture could potentially change in the future. It is therefore imperative that generalisations and conclusions emerging out of studies of Indo-Roman trade (including this thesis) are to be regarded as essentially 'open-ended', ie, constantly subject to change or re-interpretation. It is also to be emphasised that this work does not attempt to 'subsume' the complexity of early exchanges in Indian Ocean under the rubric of Indo-Roman trade. Rather, the attempt here has been to study Indo-Roman exchange in the broad context of maritime networks in the northern Indian Ocean/Erythraean Sea and to explore the 'effects' of Egypt-India commerce on Indian Ocean trade zones. To this extent, the present study is part of the larger exercise of reconstructing the antiquity of early contacts in the Indian Ocean.