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The Development of Trade between the Roman Empire and the East Under Augustus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

J. Thorley
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Extract

During the period of the Roman Republic incense from Arabia, ivory from East Africa, pepper from India, and perhaps an occasional consignment of silk from China had reached Roman markets, having passed through the hands of many eastern merchants. The trade had remained small, for such wealth as Rome possessed was in the hands of a small number of landowners or financiers, and the unsettled conditions in the eastern Mediterranean were not conducive to a free flow of trade.

Type
Research Article
Information
Greece & Rome , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , October 1969 , pp. 209 - 223
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1969

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References

page 210 note 1 See Warmington, E. H., The Commerce between the Roman Empire and India (Cambridge, 1928), 6 ff.Google Scholar, henceforth referred to as ‘Warmington’.

page 210 note 2 Strabo, xvi. 4. 24Google Scholar; xvii. 1. 45.

page 210 note 3 See Warmington, , 14, and notes, pp. 333–4.Google Scholar

page 211 note 1 Strabo, xvi. 4. 22 ff.Google Scholar; ii. 5. 12; Pliny, , NH vi. 160Google Scholar; Dio, liii. 29.Google Scholar

page 211 note 2 See Warmington, , 16Google Scholar; Schoff's edition of the Periplus Maris Erythraei, note on ch. 19; De Laet, , Portorium (Bruges, 1949), 306 ff.Google Scholar

page 211 note 3 Res Gestae 26. 5.Google Scholar

page 211 note 4 See Warmington, , 16 f.Google Scholar, and notes, p. 335.

page 212 note 1 Strabo, ii. 5. 12.Google Scholar

page 212 note 2 Warmington, , 42 ff.Google Scholar; Gary, M. and Warmington, E. H., The Ancient Explorers (London, 1929), 95 f.Google Scholar; Hudson, G. F., Europe and China (London, 1931), 75Google Scholar. Cf. Charlesworth, M. P., CQ, N.S. x (1928), 92ffGoogle Scholar., who quotes Pliny, vi. 100–101.Google Scholar

page 212 note 3 See Warmington, , 15–16Google Scholar, and notes 30 and 31, p. 334; also Prop. ii. 9. 29.Google Scholar

page 213 note 1 For trade with Arabia see Strabo, xvi. 4. 2–4Google Scholar. The destruction of Aden, (Periplus 26)Google Scholar may have been the work of the Roman fleet under Gaius (see Charlesworth, loc. cit.), but the emendation ΕΛΙΣΑΡ for ΚΑΙΣΑΡ of the Periplus is very plausible, and would make the destruction the work of Eleazar, or Eleazus, the Arab king of the Frankincense Country between A.d. 29 and 65. (See Schoff's edition of the Periplus, Introduction; also Periplus 27.)Google ScholarGary, M. (History of Rome [London, 1935], 496)Google Scholar, says that the destruction of Aden was effected as a punishment for the breaking by the Arabs of the ‘amicitia’ which he believes was made by Aelius Gallus in 25 B.c. See also Warmington, 15–16, and note 32, p. 334, for full references. Warmington still prefers ΚΑΙΣΑΡ.

page 213 note 2 Res Gestae 31Google Scholar; for discussion of these embassies see Priaulx, Appendix to edition of Apollonius of Tyana (1873) (quoted by Majumdar, R. C., Classical Accounts of India, Appendix ii, 474–83)Google Scholar. In contradiction of Augustus' own statement, Priaulx maintains that there was only one embassy. See also Warmington, , 35 ffGoogle Scholar. Literary evidence: Strabo, xv. i. 73Google Scholar; Florus, , Epitome 4. 12Google Scholar; Dio, liv. 9.Google Scholar

page 214 note 1 Cf. Hou-han-shu, 88: ‘Their kings [i.e. of Ta-ts'in, the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire] always desired to send embassies to China, but the An-shi [Parthians] wished to carry on trade with them in Chinese silks, and it is for this reason that they were cut off from communication.’ Cf. also the story of Kanying in the same chapter. Text and translation are given in Hirth, F., China and the Roman Orient (Leipzig, Munich, Shanghai, Hongkong, 1885)Google Scholar. See also Hudson, G. F., Europe and China (London, 1931), 83 ff.Google Scholar

page 214 note 2 See Müller, C., Geographici Graeci Minores, i. lxxx ff., pp. 244 ff.Google Scholar; Schoff, W., The Parthian Stations of Isidore of Charax; RE ix. p. 2064.Google Scholar

page 214 note 3 See Gary, M. in CQ, N.S. vi (1956), 130 ffCrossRefGoogle Scholar. The relevant passage is Ptolemy, i. 11. 1–6.Google Scholar

page 215 note 1 Strabo, xi. 7. 3–4Google Scholar. See also Warmington, , 26 ff.Google Scholar, and Charlesworth, M. P., Trade Routes and Commerce of the Roman Empire (Cambridge, 1924), 104 ffGoogle Scholar. Also Pliny, vi. 52.Google Scholar

page 215 note 2 Celsus, 5. 23.Google Scholar

page 215 note 3 Inscriptiones Groecoe ad Res Romanas Pertinentes (Rome, 1964), iii. 133Google Scholar; Arrian, , PeriplusGoogle Scholar—text and French translation in Baschmakoff, A., La Synthèse des periples pontiques (Paris, 1948).Google Scholar

page 216 note 1 See Warmington, , 30–1Google Scholar, and notes, p. 338.

page 216 note 2 See Pliny, xi. 75Google Scholar. Propertius refers to Arabian silk (ii. 3. 15), but without comment about its quality.

page 216 note 3 Chinese and silk before the Empire period: Ezekiel 16:10 and 13, (true Chinese silk?); Isaiah 49: 12, (Chinese?). Caesar is said to have possessed silk curtains (Dio, xliii. 24)Google Scholar. Coae vestes were made of some insect product similar to silk, but were not the silk of Bombyx mori. See Hudson, , op. cit., 59–60Google Scholar (footnote) and 92; also Pliny, xi. 76–8.Google Scholar

Augustan references: Hor. Odes i. 12. 56Google Scholar; iii. 29. 27; iv. 15. 23; Epodes 8. 15–16Google Scholar; Ovid. Am. i. 14. 5–6Google Scholar; Virg., Geor. ii. 121Google Scholar; Prop. i. 14. 22Google Scholar; ii. 3. 15; iv. 8. 23; Strabo, xv. 1. 20Google Scholar. Tac. Annals ii. 33Google Scholar refers to men wearing silk before A.d. 16. See also Warmington, , 174 ff.Google Scholar

page 217 note 1 See Hudson, , op. cit., 91–2Google Scholar; Pliny, vi. 54Google Scholar; Hirth, , op. cit., 254 ff.Google Scholar; Lucan, x. 141–3.Google Scholar

page 217 note 2 Lampridius, (Scriptores Historiae Augustae), Elagabalus 20.Google Scholar

page 217 note 3 Myrrh: Ovid, , Met. iii. 555Google Scholar; iv. 393; v. 53; x. 310; xv. 399; Medicamina Faciei 88Google Scholar; Virg. Aen. xii. 100Google Scholar; Hor. Odes iii. 14. 22Google Scholar. Frankincense: λιβανωτός appears not in frequently in Greek writers from the fifth century B.c. onwards. Latin authors: Plaut. Poenulus 2. 3Google Scholar; Virg. Aen. i. 417Google Scholar; xi. 481; Ecl. viii. 66Google Scholar; Tibull. i. 3. 34Google Scholar; i. 7. 53; Prop, iii. 10. 19Google Scholar; iv. 6. 5; Hor. Odes i. 30. 3Google Scholar; i. 36. 1; iv. 1. 22; Ovid, , Met. vii. 589Google Scholar; Fasti iii. 731.Google Scholar

page 218 note 1 The trade was already old: Exodus 30: 23–4 (. and ); Psalms 45: 8 (verse 9 in the Hebrew text, ); Ezekiel 27: 19 (); Hdt. iii. 110; Plaut. Curculio i. 2. 8. Augustan references: Virg. Georg. ii. 466 (cassia); Ovid, Fasti iii. 731 (cinnamon); Met. x. 308 (cinnamon); xv. 398–9 (cassia, cinnamon); Prop. ii. 29. 17 (Arabum de gramine odores—presumably this refers to cassia, etc.), iii. 13. 8—a definite statement that the Arabs sent cinnamon; Strabo ii. 1. 17; xv. 1. 22; xvi. 4. 14, 19, and 25; Periplus 14. See also Warmington, 185 ff.; but cassia, cinnamon, and betel are not parts of the same plant as stated by Warmington.

page 218 note 2 Pre-Augustan references to ebony: Aristotle, , Meteorologica iv. 7. 16Google Scholar; Pseudo-Aristotle, , De Plantis ii. 96Google Scholar; Theophrastus, , Historia Plantarum iv. 4. 6Google Scholar; v. 4. 7; Hdt. iii. 97Google Scholar. The ebony mentioned in Ezekiel 27: 15 came from Dedan, which was probably in Ethiopia. Augustan references: Virg. Georg. ii. 116–17Google Scholar; Ovid. Met. xi. 610Google Scholar. See also Periplus 36Google Scholar; Warmington, , 212 ff.Google Scholar

page 219 note 1 Spikenard: Song of Solomon 1: 12Google Scholar; 4: 13 and 14 (). The nard referred to under the term nardinum (nard-flavoured wine) in Plaut. Mil. Glor. iii. 2. 11Google Scholar seems likely to have been nardus Gallicus, a European plant, probably valerian, which is of the same family as nard. (See Warmington, , 371Google Scholar, note 25.) Augustan references: Hor. Odes ii. 11. 16 (Assyrian)Google Scholar; iv. 12. 17; Epodes 13. 8–9Google Scholar (Achaemenian); 5. 59; Tibull. ii. 2. 7Google Scholar; iii. 4. 27; iii. 6. 63 (Syrian); Prop. iv. 7. 32Google Scholar; Strabo, xvi. 4. 25Google Scholar; Grattius, , Cynegetica 314Google Scholar (nardifer Ganges); Ovid, , Met. xv. 398Google Scholar. Also Warmington, , 194 ff.Google Scholar

Costus: Ovid, Met. x. 308Google Scholar; Hor. Odes iii. 1. 44Google Scholar (Achaemenian); Prop. iv. 6. 5Google Scholar. Also Warmington, , 197 f.Google Scholar

Amomum or cardamomum: Theophrastus, , Historia Plantarum ix. 7. 2–3Google Scholar; De Odoribus 32. 25Google Scholar; Virg. Ecl. 3. 89, 4. 25Google Scholar; Ovid, , Epp. ex Ponto i. 9. 51–2Google Scholar; Her. 21. 166Google Scholar; Trist. iii. 3. 69Google Scholar; Tibullus, i. 3. 7Google Scholar; i. 5. 36; iii. 2. 24. Also Warmington, , 184 f.Google Scholar

Malabathrum: Hor. Odes ii. 7. 7–8 (Syrian).Google Scholar

Virg. Georg. ii. 465Google Scholar, Assyria veneno, no doubt refers to one of these aromatics.

page 219 note 2 Pre-Augustan: Theophrastus, Historia Plantarum ix. 20. 1Google Scholar; Hippocrates, , Morbi Mulierum i. 81Google Scholar; ii. 205.

Augustan: Hor. Ep. ii. i. 270Google Scholar; Sat. ii. 4. 73–4Google Scholar; Ovid, , Ars Am. ii. 417Google Scholar. For the importance of pepper later in the Empire, see Errukkaddur Thayam Kannanar-Akam 148, and Oaranar-Puram 343 (accessible in Mookerji, R. K., A History of Indian Shipping)Google Scholar. See also Warmington, , 181 ff.Google Scholar

page 220 note 1 References to the Republican period: Cic. Verr. ii. 4. 1Google Scholar; ii. 5. 56; Lucan, x. 155Google Scholar; Suet. Aug. 30Google Scholar; Julius 50Google Scholar; Plut. Ant. 83.Google Scholar

Augustan: Hor. Epodes viii. 13–14Google Scholar; Sat. i. 2. 80Google Scholar; ii. 3. 241; Ovid, , Ars Am. iii. 129Google Scholar; Am. ii. 11. 13Google Scholar; Met. 10. 116, 260, 265Google Scholar; Prop. i. 8. 39Google Scholar; iii. 13. 6 (both refer to concha, on which see below under mother-of-pearl); Tibull. ii. 2. 15–16Google Scholar; iv. 2. 19–20; Virg. Culex 67–8Google Scholar (perhaps a gloss); Strabo, xv. 1. 67Google Scholar. See also Pliny, ix. 106–24Google Scholar; xxxvii. 12 and 14; Warmington, , 167 ff.Google Scholar

page 220 note 2 Pliny, ix. 39Google Scholar; xxxiii. 144; Varro, , De Lingua Latina 9. 47Google Scholar; Cic. De Nat. Dear. ii. 47. 144.Google Scholar

Augustan: Strabo, ii. i. 14Google Scholar; Ovid, , Met. 2. 737Google Scholar; Virg. Georg. ii. 463Google Scholar. See also Warmington, , 166 f.Google Scholar

page 220 note 3 Prop. i. 8. 39Google Scholar (Indis conchis); iii. 13. 6; Tibull. ii. 4. 30Google Scholar; Ovid, , Met. 10. 260Google Scholar; Am. ii. 11. 13Google Scholar. See also Warmington, , 171.Google Scholar

page 221 note 1 Ivory was already being imported into Egypt in pre-dynastic times: see Lloyd, S., The Art of the Ancient Near East (London, 1961), 26, illustration 7 (left)Google Scholar; also Wilson, J. A., The Culture of Ancient Egypt (London, 1951), 26Google Scholar. Literary references before Augustus: Homer, , Od. xix. 563Google Scholar; xxiii. 200; Arist. Birds 218Google Scholar; Knights 1169Google Scholar; Plutus 815Google Scholar; Plato, , Hipp. Maior 290 CGoogle Scholar; Pausanias, v. 12. 3Google Scholar; Ezekiel, 27. 6 and 15 ()Google Scholar; Song of Solomon 5: 14Google Scholar; Varro, , De Lingua Latina 9. 47Google Scholar; Catullus, 64. 48Google Scholar; Suet. Julius 84.Google Scholar

Augustan: Virg, Georg. i. 57Google Scholar; Aen. xii. 67–8Google Scholar; Catalepton, 8. 23Google Scholar; Hor. Odes i. 31. 6Google Scholar; ii. 18. i; Sat. ii. 6. 103Google Scholar; Ovid, , Met. 8. 288Google Scholar; Epist. ex Ponto iv. 5. 18Google Scholar; Am. ii. 5. 40Google Scholar; Prop. ii. 24. 13Google Scholar; Strabo, ii. i. 14Google Scholar. See also Warmington, , 162 ff.Google Scholar; Gary, and Warmington, , The Ancient Explorers (London, 1929), 88 f.Google Scholar

page 221 note 2 Museum collections show the wide variety of precious and semi-precious stones used in the ancient world.

Pre-Augustan references: Exodus 28: 17; 39: 10–13; Song of Solomon 5: 14Google Scholar; Ezekiel, 28: 13Google Scholar; Hdt. ii. 44Google Scholar; iii. 41; Plato, , Phaedo 110DGoogle Scholar; Theophrastus, , De Lapidibus, passimGoogle Scholar; Lucretius, ii. 805Google Scholar; Plut. Ant. 58.Google Scholar

Augustan: Suet. Aug. 30 and 71Google Scholar; Propertius, ii. 16. 43–4Google Scholar; ii. 10. 14; ii. 22. 10; iii. 5. 4; iii. 10. 22; iv. 3. 52; iv. 5. 26; iv. 7. 9; Virg., Georg. ii. 506Google Scholar; Ovid, , Met. 2. 109Google Scholar; 2. 24; Tibull. i. 1. 51Google Scholar; ii. 4. 27; Strabo, xv. 1. 67 and 69Google Scholar; etc. See also Warmington, , 235 ff.Google Scholar Chrysolithos (topaz?) was found in Egypt and the Red Sea (Warmington, , 253)Google Scholar. It was taken to India by Roman merchants (see Periplus 39, 49, 56).Google Scholar

page 221 note 3 Ovid. Am. 2. 6Google Scholar, passim; Lampridius (Scriptores Historiae Augustae), Elagabalus 20–1. See also Warmington, , 152 ff.Google Scholar

page 222 note 1 Strabo, xi. 2. 3Google Scholar; cf. Periplus 39Google Scholar, Pliny, xxxiv. 145Google Scholar; xxxvii. 204. In the Periplus and Pliny the skins are associated with the Seres, which meant generally Turkic or Mongolian rather than specifically Chinese. See also Warmington, 157 ff.

page 222 note 2 Strabo, xv. 1. 13 and 18Google Scholar; Hor. Sat. ii. 3. 155.Google Scholar

page 222 note 3 Cf. Fordyce on Catullus, 64. 227Google Scholar. See Warmington, , 210 ff.Google Scholar

page 222 note 4 Suet. Aug. 43Google Scholar; Hor.Ep. ii. 1. 196Google Scholar; see also references to Indian embassies, p. 213 n. 2.

page 222 note 5 It is possible that the biferi rosaria Paesti (Virg. Georg. iv. 119Google Scholar; cf. Ovid, , Met. 15. 708Google Scholar; Martial, iv. 42. 10Google Scholar; vi. 80. 6) may have consisted of gifts of rosa Indica from an eastern embassy, or perhaps been added to a consignment of silk, as Warmington suggests (p. 220). But the evidence is slender, and one might have expected some reference to an eastern origin if such were the case.

page 222 note 6 In A.d. 22, however, Tiberius stated in a letter to the senate that currency was being exported to pay for precious stones (Tac. Ann. iii. 53Google Scholar; cf. Dio, lvii. 15)Google Scholar. The most convenient analysis of the Roman coins found in India is Wheeler, R. E. M., Rome beyond the Imperial Frontiers (London, 1954), 164 ff.Google Scholar; also Warmington, , 272 ff.Google Scholar

page 223 note 1 See Periplus 39, 49, 56Google Scholar. Archaeological material: Casal, J. M., Fouilles de Virampatnam-Arikamedu (Paris, 1949)Google Scholar; Wheeler, R. E. M. in Ancient India (1946), 17 ff.Google Scholar; Rome beyond the Imperial Frontiers, 173 ff.Google Scholar Strabo specifically states that Roman subjects went as far as the Ganges (Strabo, xv. i. 3–4).Google Scholar