The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean Rome's Dealings with the Ancient Kingdoms of India, Africa and Arabia

298 Pages·2014·10.7 MB·English

by  Raoul McLaughlin

The Roman Empire
and the
Indian Ocean
For my parents
William John McLaughlin
and Elizabeth Terry McLaughlin
The Roman Empire
and the
Indian Ocean
The Ancient World Economy
and the Kingdoms of Africa,
Arabia and India
Raoul McLaughlin
FirstpublishedinGreatBritainin2014by
PEN & SWORD MILITARY
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Contents
List of Plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Ancient Figures and Modern Estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Ancient Greek and Roman Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Introduction: The Ancient Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
1. Revenue and the Roman Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. Roman Prosperity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3. Incense: A Unique Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4. The Intermediaries: Petra and the Nabataeans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5. Beyond Egypt: The Nile Route and the African Kingdomof Meroe . . 59
6. The Red Sea Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
7. The Scale and Significance of Indian Ocean Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
8. International Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
9. East Africa and the Aksumite Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
10. Southern Arabia and the Saba-Himyarites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
11. Arabia Felix and the Hadramawt Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
12. The Indo-Parthians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
13. The Saka and Satavahana Kingdoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
14. The Tamil Kingdoms of SouthernIndia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
15. The Anuradhapura Kingdomof SriLanka and the Far East . . . . . . . 196
16. The Antun Embassyto China and the Antonine Pandemic . . . . . . . . 207
Conclusion: Assessingthe Roman Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Appendix A: The Roman Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Appendix B: Reconstructing Roman Revenues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Appendix C: The Expense of the Roman Legions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
List of Plates
Roman merchant shipdepicted on the Sidon Relief.
Roman ship graffiti from a wall at Pompeii: The Europa (first century AD).
Roman relief showing armoured marines on a bireme warship.
SilverEgyptian tetradrachm issued bythe EmperorNero (AD54–68).
Roman grave reliefshowing the Peticii business-family who exported wineto
India.
Peutinger Map showing aRoman temple in SouthernIndia.
Reliefdepicting Prince Arikankharer of Meroe (AD25).
Gold Coins of the Aksumite King Ousanas (AD300).
SilverSaba-Hymarite coin displaying emblemsfromGreek drachmasand
Roman denarii (Athenian owl and laureled head of Caesar).
Indian ship depicted in apainting from atemple-cave inAjunta(western
India).
SilverCoinof the Indo-Parthian King Gondophares (AD20).
SilverCoinshowing the Saka King Nahapana (AD50).
SilverRoman denarius found inIndia.
A denarius of the Emperor Tiberius.
An Indian sculpture showing the death of the Buddha with a robed monk in
attendance (Gandhara, Indus Region, second century AD).
Indian Ivory Statuettefound at Pompeii (first centuryAD).
ReliefSculpture from the Stupa at Sanchi depicting an Indian City
(first century AD).
Portrait Bust of a Buddhist Roman(second century AD).
Acknowledgements
IwaseducatedatLaganCollegeinBelfast,thefirstcross-communityintegrated
school to be established in Northern Ireland. The college was founded to offer
youngpeopleofallculturalbackgroundsaneducationfreefromthedivisionsof
race,religionorsocialclass.Iowealottomyschool,itsstaffandprincipalatthat
time, Dr Brian Lambkin.
IattendedQueen’sUniversityBelfastforanundergraduatedegreeinArchae-
ology and Ancient History and the early stages of my doctoral research was
financedbythe NorthernIrelandDepartment of Educationand Learning.Iam
grateful to Doctor John Curran and Professor David Whitehead for giving me
the opportunity to teach tutorial classes in Republican Roman and Classical
Greek history at Queen’s.
After finishing my doctorate in 2006, I completed and published my mono-
graph,RomeandtheDistantEast:TradeRoutestotheAncientLandsofIndia,Arabia
andChina(2010).Turningmydoctoralresearchintoabookandthecompletion
offurthervolumeshasmeantfinancialhardship.Thisbookisthereforededicated
to my immediate family, my parents William and Elizabeth McLaughlin, my
brother Leon and my sister Thayna, all of whom gave me their support and
encouragement.
Raoul McLaughlin
Belfast
September 2013
Abbreviations
C.I.L. = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.
C.I.S. = Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum.
F.H.N. = Fontes Historiae Nubiorum.
I.L.S. = Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae.
O.G.I.S. = Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae.
Periplus = The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.
P. Vindob. G. 40822 (Papyri Vindobonensis Graecus) = The ‘Muziris Papyrus’.
R.E.S. = Re´pertoire d’e´pigraphie Semitique.
Ancient Figures and Modern Estimates
Romancurrency
O 4 brass sesterces = 1 silver denarius.
O 25 silver denarii = 1 gold aureus.
O 1 day’s labour: 1 silver denarius.
O 1 month’s earnings: 1 gold aureus.
O 1 Roman pound (libra) = 12 ounces or 329 grams.
O Greek silver talent: 24,000 sesterces.
O Greek silver drachma: 1 denarius or 4 sesterces.
O Greek silver talent: 6,000 drachma (denarii).
O Egyptian silver talent: 6,000 sesterces.
O Egyptian silver drachma: 1 sesterce.
O Tetradrachm: 1 denarius (4 sesterces).
Mediterraneanshipments
O Citizens in Rome eligible for the government grain dole: 200,000 men.1
O Size of grain dole: 88,000 tons.2
O Contribution of Egypt: 29,000 tons.3
CostofaLegion=11millionsesterces
O 5,000 Legionaries paid 900 sesterces annually = 4.5 million.4
O 5,000 Auxiliaries paid 750 sesterces annually = 3.75 million.5
O 54 Centurions (each paid 13,500); 4 Centurions First Cohort, Primi Ordines
(paid 27,000); Senior Centurion– PrimusPilus(54,000); 5Tribunes(45,000);
Legion Legate (61,000) = 1 million sesterces.6
O Discharge bonuses (praemia) paid after 25 years service: c.120 legionaries per
yeargranted12,000sesterces=1.4millionplus1.1millionsestercesbonusfor
auxiliaries.7
O Plus additional cost of junior and auxiliary officers, cavalry pay (900 sesterces
per horseman), purchase of cavalry horses (deposit cost: 500 sesterces) and
pack animals.8 Animal feed perhaps received through local taxes.9
O Cost of food and clothing was deducted from troop pay.10 But some soldiers
were able to accumulate significant funds in their military accounts.11
RomanMilitary(300,000professionalsoldiers)
O Augustan era (27BC–AD14): 28 Legions reduced to 25 after the Varus
disaster (AD9).12