How Far East Did the Romans Go? (India, Vietnam, China?) DOCUMENTARY

How far east did the Romans go? There are many tantalizing clues. These include an ancient map showing a temple of Augustus in India, an imperial prophecy proclaiming future dominion over Sri Lanka, Roman coin hordes as far away as Vietnam, and Chinese sources claiming to have received ship-borne embassies from Daqin in the southern seas. Clearly, there is much more to the story of Romans in the Far East than is understood by the general public. Today, we'll seek to shed light on this topic by following the stepping stones of Roman expansion across the far side of the world. From the maritime route of the Eritrean Sea, to the coastal ports of southern India, the shipwrecked shores of Sri Lanka, and beyond. This is the story of Romans in the Far East. So for a while now, I've had my eyes on this glorious tome. It's called The Book, The Ultimate Guide for Rebuilding Civilization, and I was absolutely delighted when they reached out to sponsor today's video. So what is The Book? 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So honestly, I can't recommend the book enough. It makes for great reading material for yourself or a loved one, and can easily double as decoration on your bookshelf or coffee table. If you order the book for yourself, you'll also be privy to a secret envelope with the extra pages of censored materials inside. So in a world taken over by cheap disposable items and AI slop, these are the types of products that we need more of in our lives. So please support the channel and the creative team behind the book by clicking the description or by scanning the QR code on screen. And be sure to use the promo code Invicta for an extra 10% off. Enjoy. Prior to the rise of Rome, east-west relations had been a long time in the making. This earliest consciousness had begun in the 6th to 4th centuries BC, when the Achaemenids had served as the terrestrial bridge between worlds. From them, the Greeks learned of what lay at the ends of the earth. It was this mystery which eventually enticed Alexander the Great to direct his conquests across the Indus in the 320s BC. In his footsteps followed the successor kingdoms, which attempted to stitch together east and west in their bid for supremacy. During this period, many diplomatic and commercial embassies were exchanged between Indian and Greek rulers, ushering in a new period of inquiry between the two worlds. Eventually, as Rome wrestled its way to controlling the Mediterranean basin, it would be the inheritor of these relations. Chief among them would be the acquisition of Egypt in 30 BC, which under the Ptolemies had already begun to pioneer an alternate route to India through the Red Sea and beyond. Thus it was through this route that the Indians became aware of Rome and set out a first wave of embassies to meet with Emperor Augustus. Their exchange is recorded by Cassius Diu, who paints a fascinating picture of first contact. Shortly thereafter, it would be Rome which began to turn its eye to the far east. As Rome now sought to reach out, it will be relevant to first get ourselves caught up with the goings on in India. Here we can rewind the clock to begin around the 3rd century BC with the Mariyan Empire. This was the first true superpower of the subcontinent. Rising from the disruptive wake of Alexander the Great's incursions, Chandragupta Mariya had toppled the Nanda Empire to found a new dynasty that would extend its tendrils far beyond the heartland region of Magadha. The Mariyan Empire's reach put it in contact with the Hellenic's successor kingdoms. In particular, they would clash with the Seleucids militarily before settling their scores with diplomatic and marriage arrangements. Much of what the Greeks knew of India came from this period of exchange when ambassadors such as Megasthenes were sent to spend time in the of Pataliputra. In this time, the early Mariyan rulers presided over a period of economic prosperity driven by extensive infrastructure projects, generous public works, currency standardization, law reforms, and administrative centralization. Many of these initiatives were championed by the third emperor, Ashoka, who ruled from 268 to 232 BC. His reign is remembered as the imperial zenith of the Mariyans with bold diplomatic and military maneuvers that subdued most of the Indian subcontinent. Yet even when discerning historians point out that the empire's vast territory is better conceptualized as a network of distant power centers connected by long routes through wild autonomous regions, it nonetheless stood as an impressive juggernaut of its age. However, the following Mariyan rulers proved far less capable than their predecessors. The empire soon fell into decline and irrelevance. What followed would be a period of 500 years of murky history, sometimes referred to as the dark age of India. It was in this period that many local rulers quarreled for supremacy while successive waves of invaders poured over the northern borders. Yet as is often the case with historical narratives, the term dark ages is overly simplistic and we should understand that in this time there were still many cultural, artistic, scientific, and commercial areas of advancement. This was especially true in southern India which had never been conquered by the Mariyans. Here the Dravidian-speaking peoples were undergoing a dramatic shift from upland pastoralism and subsistence farming to lowland white rice cultivation which yielded massive agricultural surpluses. This in turn ushered in a rapid era of urbanization and state formation that had previously swept through the north some centuries earlier. Chief among the new powers of this Tamil land would be the Cholas, Cheras, and Pandyas. But the rise of the south proved different in nature to that of the north. Hemmed in by the confines of their peninsula, their expansion lay now at sea. To this end maritime activities blossomed with fleets of explorers, merchants, and mariners reaching out in all directions to establish lucrative trade routes, bustling ports, and important diplomatic contacts. This Daksinapata or southern route linking India to the rest of the world would be the gateway through which Rome would now enter the affairs of the far east. But exactly where and when the first Romans set foot in India is unclear. What is clear is that they were not the first westerners to do so. Throughout the 1st and 2nd centuries BC, Greek and Egyptian traders had increasingly been shuttling back and forth across the seas in their attempts to reach the distant lands, often dealing with intermediaries along the Arabian and African coast. Eventually, the western sailors learned to make use of the seasonal monsoons to make the full journey themselves. As Rome took charge of Egypt in the late 1st century BC, the most enterprising among them must have joined in on the burgeoning trade route. Unfortunately, such adventures go unrecorded in our history. The best glimpse we get at what this voyage may have looked like comes to us from an ancient Greek sea captain who wrote the Parable of the Erythraean Sea around the mid-1st century AD. In it, he provides an extensive catalogue of the routes and stops to be made in the journey from Egypt to India. It's an engrossing read to be sure, but for the sake of time, we'll now just cover select excerpts which cover the latter half of the outbound journey, starting from the far side of Arabia. Quote, Sailing along the coast, which trends northward towards the entrance of the Persian sea, one first finds, after two thousand stadia, many islands, known as khalzi, extending along the shore. The inhabitants are a treacherous lot, very little civilized. Sailing through the mouth of the gulf, after six days' course, there is another market town of Persia, called Omana. Beyond this region, the continent makes a wide curve from the east across the depths of the bays, and from there follows the coastal district of Scythia. From the marshy north flows down the river Synthus. It is the greatest of all the rivers of the Erythraean Sea, bringing down an enormous volume of water, so that even a long way out at sea, the water of the ocean is fresh from it. Here the Greek captain appears to be describing the mouth of the Indus river. To many at the time, this would have represented the ends of the earth which Alexander had visited in his great campaigns. Indeed, the Periplus actually reports, quote, In these places there remains, even to the present times, signs of the expedition of Alexander, such as ancient shrines, walls of forts, and great wells. The captain goes on to describe the journey around the coast of modern Bangalore, which was of tricky anchorage but dotted with many fishing towns. Beyond one arrives at, quote, a fertile country yielding cotton, wheat, rice, sesame oil, and clarified butter. Very many cattle are pastured there, and the men are of great stature and black in color. Here the author warns first-timers and inexperienced captains to beware of the mighty tides which turn land to sea and sea to land. These are worse at the new moon, quote, For there is so great force in the rush of the sea, especially during the flood tide at night, that if you are at the entrance at the moment when the waters are still, on the instant there is born to you at the mouth of the river a noise like the cries of an army heard from afar, and very soon the sea itself comes rushing in over the shoals with a great roar. But from these dangers one could apparently be saved by men in the local king's service who help pilot vessels along the coast, steering them around shoals and towing them to safe anchorages. Next in the journey, quote, The adjoining coast extends in a straight line from north to south, and so this region is called Dakinabiris, for Dakinos in the language of the natives means south. The inland country, back from the coast toward the east, comprises many desert regions and great mountains, and all kinds of wild beasts, leopards, tigers, elephants, enormous serpents, hyenas, and baboons of many sorts, and many populous nations as far as the Ganges. The periplus then lists a sequence of market towns which stretch out along the coast, quote, Supara, and the city of Kaliena, then Semila, Mandagora, Palapatma, Melisagora, Byzantium, Tagorum, and Aranaboas. Then the islands of Sesikrine, Aigidi, and Kainatai, where there are pirates, and after this the White Island. Then come Nara and Tindis, the first markets of Damirika, and then Muziris and Ilikinda, which are now of leading importance. The captain continues to describe the coasts of India, wrapping around the south and up to the Ganges and the region of Bangladesh. The periplus then ends as follows, quote, The regions beyond these places are either difficult to access because of their excessive winters and great cold, or else cannot be sought out because of some divine influence of the gods. Reading such a work, one walks away truly impressed by the far-traveling adventures of ancient sailors. But now we might wonder, what was it actually like to step ashore at one of these distant ports? Unfortunately, no first-hand Roman accounts describe the experience, but for this we can turn to Indian records. One source is the rich history of Tamil poetry, which preserves records of daily life in the south of India. Through it we learn of the port of Kaviruparinam in the Chola Kingdom. The poem describes it as a busy city set upon the northern bank of a broad, deep stream. Here, heavily laden ships sailed in from the sea without slackening their sails. Along the way they were guided by brick and mortar towers with flashing lights. The ships were docked at raised platforms along a beach which teemed with fragrant trees and flowers. Here, fierce tax collectors stood guard at nearby warehouses, collecting duties and stamping goods with the symbol of the royal tiger. Just inland came the city of Kaviruparinam itself. Reportedly of great fame and prosperity, it boasted the protection of celestial beings and bore many proud flags. Within its walls, tall, colorful mansions reached to the skies. From their porches came the singing of women of delicate looks with bright brows and fine jewels. Many tended to their gardens while children with gold anklets rolled around them in toy chariots. Wealth was everywhere to behold in a city where thieving chickens were apparently the worst of their concerns. The poor too enjoyed the spoils of trade thanks to the establishment of public kitchens. So prolific were their cooks that thick starch drained from rice ran down the streets like As they did so, they passed many monasteries, ritual grounds, plazas, stables, gardens, and groves. In the fields around town could be found lakes in which bathers enjoyed pleasures in this world and the next. Meanwhile, strong warriors sparred in the training fields, feasting on roasted shrimp and boiled tortoises between bouts. Children swam in the nearby ocean, playing with crabs, and making sandals on the shores. It was said that no matter what the people of Kaviripatnam were engaged in, they enjoyed it with all their senses and with no abatement in their passions. Such were the incredible sights to behold. Given the strong impression the city had on its neighbors, it should be no surprise that foreigners were taken in by this strange and intoxicating place. And if the experience alone wasn't enough to excite them, then certainly the abundance of wealth would have. To this end, Tamil accounts actually speak of foreign traders having set down roots around Kaviripatnam. Amidst their quarters could be found crowds hailing from Greece, Persia, Bactria, Burma, Myanmar, and across the lands and seas. They traded precious cargo of many kinds. Specific mention is made of swift horses, black pepper, gold, precious stones, sandalwood, pearls, corals, and many rare things piled up in such quantities along the wide streets that they bent the land beneath them. Thus the first Romans to arrive would have found themselves joining in on the ongoing party of commercial activity which had already been established. But while Romans might have been a small minority at first, they quickly scaled up their presence in India. Based on both historical accounts and archaeological records, there seems to have been a wave of Roman goods and people which swept across many of India's southwestern coastal ports. The extent of this activity is well visualized by a map of Roman coin hoards found across the region. One favored location was apparently the city of Muziris in the Chera Kingdom. In his natural history, Pliny the Elder states that Muziris was the nearest of the Indian markets which could be reached from the Red Sea in 40 days if one rode the southwest monsoon. Writing in the late 1st century AD, his description here reflects an evolution in Roman navigation which now cut directly across the Indian Ocean, rather than laboriously circling its coast as described in the Perplus of the Erythraean Sea. But what was Muziris like? The emporium itself was located inland some 20 stadia upriver, with large ships having to dock in a lagoon before having their cargos ferried upstream by smaller vessels. Upon arrival, one encountered a bustling town which the Purva-Ninura poem describes as follows, With its streets, its houses, its covered fishing boats, where they sell fish, where they pile up rice, with the shifting and mingling crowd of a boisterous riverbank, where the sacks of pepper are heaped up, with its gold deliveries, carried by the ocean-going ships and brought to the riverbank by local boats. The city of the gold-colored kotvan, the city that bestows wealth to its visitors indiscriminately, and the merchants of the mountains, and the merchants of the sea, the city where liquor abounds, yes, this Muziris, where the rumbling ocean roars, is given to me like a marvel, a treasure. Here we can imagine that a foreign district had already been established, to which the Romans now added themselves. Apparently their presence grew so pronounced that a map dating to the late 2nd century AD shows the Temple of Augustus as being located near Muziris. But what exactly this represents is unclear. Was it a small shrine? A large temple? Or a colony? We unfortunately don't know. One leading idea is that given the seasonality of the monsoons, western traders would have been stranded in India for long stretches of time before they could return home. Thus it makes sense for them to have established a comfy base camp. Some authors even point to the records of grain, garum, and olive oil shipments to the region as being evidence of demand from such westerners abroad who wanted a break from the diet of the locals. But even if some wished to spend their time between journeys cooped up in the relative comfort of the foreign quarters, there would have been many who took to the wider world. Presumably, Roman merchants would have wished to strike up relations with the locals, discussing with counterparts, local officials, and perhaps even kings. But merchants were not the only sorts of people drawn to India. Alongside them came other hangers-on, such as diplomats, philosophers, and religious figures. Most famously, Christian tradition maintains that the Apostle Thomas led several missions across India in the late 1st century AD where he founded churches and made converts. In this time, he was apparently threatened by attack and eventually killed in 72 AD. Such dangers were not uncommon. Western sources made frequent mention of piracy across the area and of destabilizations from war. Muziris, for instance, was apparently besieged at one point and taken by a Pandya prince, leading foreign traders to seek safer harbors elsewhere. Yet despite these disruptions, the Romans would continue coming to India thanks to the boom in commerce which flourished across the 1st and 2nd centuries. To get a sense of this, we can describe the types of goods being traded, their monetary value, and the wider impacts on the economy. Once more, the Periplus gives a Muziris alone, commodities for export included spices, semi-precious stones, pearls, diamonds, sapphires, ivory, Chinese silk, spikenard, and tortoiseshells. In exchange, the Romans imported wine, peridots, figured linens, multicolored textiles, antimony, copper, tin, lead, coral, raw glass, relgar, orpiment, and huge quantities of gold coins. Given all this, one might wonder, how much might a single trade voyage make? We actually have some hard facts on the matter in the form of the surviving Muziris Papyrus. In it, we find a detailed loan contract for financing the voyage of a ship known as the Hermapollon and an assessment of its cargo. Typical merchant vessels might carry anywhere from 100 to 200 tons of goods. In this case, the Hermapollon was on the smaller end of the scale, but nonetheless carried a great wealth of pepper, ivory, aromatic nard, malabathon, textiles, and other unidentified goods. The Papyrus then lists the expected sell price for these goods. Historians running the numbers have estimated the total value of the cargo at roughly 7 million drachmas. This would apparently have been enough to purchase 2,500 acres of the finest farmland in Egypt or to pay the annual salary of 9,000 soldiers. Given that Strabo claims over 100 ships that sail for India every year in the 1st century BC, we can truly appreciate just how much money was being generated. With very rough napkin math, 100 times the contents of the Hermapollon would be able to pay the annual salary of nearly 1 million soldiers, double the size of the Roman army at its peak. And that's even before this gold rush of Indian trade accelerated in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. As a result, we must imagine the many individuals who would have gotten rich over this enterprise. Unsurprisingly, the Roman government got in on the action too with a 25% import duty being imposed at the borders. This tax ended up being one of the major reasons why Egypt became such a money printing machine for the empire. But there were also downsides to all this trade. Moralists of the time were quick to bemoan the foreign influence and the turning of the populace towards imported luxuries. Others, such as Pliny, meanwhile couched the trade imbalance as a more dire economic threat, stating quote, "...the subject is well worthy of our notice, seeing that in no year does India drain our empire of less than 550 millions of sesterces, giving back her own wares in exchange, which are sold among us at fully 100 times their cost price." In reaction to this, apparently some Romans began to seriously consider how to make Indians more interested in the purchase of western goods. The heavy hand of the emperor even got involved with Vespasian of the late 1st century AD enacting a ban on trade with India. But with so much money on the line, smuggling routes quickly proliferated or bribes to officials simply became part of the cost of doing business. For now, the trade boom continued unimpeded. The more Romans came to India, the more they pushed further east, presumably working their way up the supply chain to get a better cut of the profits. It is this drive which led them around the Cape of India towards its other side. Along the way, they would run into the island of Taprobane or modern Sri Lanka. At the time, this land was seen as the end of the earth. For instance, Ovid, in his exile to the Black Sea town of Thomas, bemoans being sent so far away. What was next, he said, to have his writings relegated to distant Taprobane or the stars which lay beyond? Through other authors, we see how Sri Lanka was often believed to be part of an entirely different world which existed beyond the natural order. Here, shadows disappeared at noon and fell to the south during the day, while at night, the sky revealed a new expanse of the heavens. Though the counterlanders who lived there may have been strange in many ways, they still shared the vices of the known world, namely a love of gold and silver which suffused their island. Thus, it would not be long before Roman traders sought to have dealings with them. Apparently, however, the first Roman arrival was an accident. In his Natural History, Pliny reports that around 40 AD, in the reign of Claudius, a merchant freedman by the name of Aeneas Plokamas had his vessel blown off course by a storm. After 15 days, the winds deposited him at the moors of Hippuri. Here, he was received by a king of the island who hosted him for six months. In this time, Plokamas supposedly learned the language and was able to share details of his homeland. This and the contents of his ship's cargo convinced the king to send four ambassadors to meet with Emperor Claudius. Thereafter, trade relations were strengthened and more was learned of the island. In the center was a great lake from which flowed two large rivers. The land around them was well tilled and bore much fruit. Taprobane was said to have had 500 towns with the capital of Pilesimundus being inhabited by 200,000 people. Individuals were of the typical appearance for that part of the world but dressed like natives of Arabia and lived to be over 100. During the holidays, the population dedicated themselves to hunting, especially tigers and elephants. Fishing for tortoises was also practiced, whose shells were so large that they could cover the roofs of houses. Across the island, no slavery existed and the people had a strong sense of justice. The king was elected by the commoners and chosen for his mild and clement disposition. Should the sovereign bear a child, he must abdicate to avoid the dangers of a hereditary monarchy. For his government, the leader was advised by a council of 30 members provided by the people. These individuals also acted as justices for crimes of capital punishment. But if a man were condemned, he could actually appeal to a jury of his peers. If they reversed the judgment, the council of 30 would fall into disgrace. Yet even in cases where the judgment was upheld, the man committed to capital punishment was still not slain, instead being ostracized for life. Truly, this was a strange and distant land, but not necessarily one beyond Rome's reach. Indeed, a prophecy apparently circulated in the 3rd century that one day an emperor would install a governor in Taprobane. But now we might ask, did the Romans and their ambition venture even further east? Answering this question becomes more difficult. One line of evidence we might pursue would be the proliferation of Roman coins and trade goods across Southeast Asia. These can be found scattered through the archaeological record of Burma, Sumatra, Java, and Vietnam. Yet their mere presence tells us little about who brought them there and why. Some historians in the past have interpreted these findings as representing the high-water mark in the wave of western trade expansion. However, more recent historians have done much to shed light on the existence of a trade network which already existed in the region. If anything, it was the maritime powers of India who in this period had championed the waves of the southern seas through their economic, cultural, and military influence. We see this in the spread of Indian traders, the missionary work of Indian Hindus and Buddhists, and the emergence of Indian petty states across the isles. Yet even with this correction in the historical framing of the situation, there are still some clues that a few small Roman fish could be spotted swimming amidst this great foreign sea. Han Chinese sources, for instance, speak of Daqin or Roman merchants being active in both Vietnam and Cambodia. Western interest in the region is further backed up by Ptolemy's 2nd century AD map which plots out the waters of Magnus Sinus, or the Gulf of Thailand, and which name drops the city of Katigara as being located along this easternmost shore. In 166 AD, Han sources even claim to have received the first embassy from the Roman Empire which arrived by boat at the southern border. Unfortunately, little is recorded of the group, leaving some to speculate that these may have just been merchants rather than official diplomats. But however we might speculate about the travels of individuals, there was an undeniably strong and vibrant global river of trade flowing between Rome and the Far East in these years. Over the centuries, its strength would ebb and flow. In the 3rd century, for example, Rome would be wracked by civil war, foreign invasion, and economic disintegration. Yet at the same time as this crisis, India would see its own reversal in fortunes with the rise of the powerful Gupta Empire. Later again, as the Eastern Romans recovered, the Guptas of the 6th century would be laid low by steppe invasion. And finally, in the 7th century, the rise of the Arabs would prove most transformative as it ushered in a new master of East-West trade. But beneath the shadow of history's grand, swinging pendulum, the everyday merchants could still be seen fleeting back and forth across the world regardless of who was in charge. Even long after the fall of Rome, coins from this dead empire would find their way into the storeroom of a medieval Japanese castle. Thus, as we can imagine, the lasting economic, cultural, and philosophical exchange which resulted from all of this activity over the centuries is truly fascinating. But deep diving into that side of the story shall have to be told another time. If you enjoy our work, consider supporting us on Patreon to participate in polls, catch script previews, and get HD downloads of all our art. We owe a huge debt to our current patrons for funding the channel and to our researchers, writers, and artists for making this episode possible. We certainly couldn't have done it without this team and this community. So be sure to like and subscribe for more content, and check out these other related episodes. See you in the next one!