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 animprintof Pen&SwordBooksLtd 47ChurchStreet Barnsley SouthYorkshire S702AS Copyright#RaoulMcLaughlin,2014 ISBN978-1-78346-381-7 TherightofRaoulMcLaughlintobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkhasbeen assertedbyhiminaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. ACIPcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedortransmittedin anyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanicalincludingphotocopying, recordingorbyanyinformationstorageandretrievalsystem,without permissionfromthePublisherinwriting. TypesetbyConcept,Huddersfield,WestYorkshire,HD45JL. PrintedandboundinEnglandbyCPIGroup(UK)Ltd,CroydonCR04YY. 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ForacompletelistofPen&Swordtitlespleasecontact PEN&SWORDBOOKSLIMITED 47ChurchStreet,Barnsley,SouthYorkshire,S702AS,England E-mail:[email protected] Website:www.pen-and-sword.co.uk 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