Ancient World Review

How Roman Trade With India Made The Empire Rich

This was a thriving trade. According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD), "the principal imports [from India] to Rome were perfumes, spices (especially pepper), gems, ivory, pearls, Indian textiles, and Chinese silk. The Romans exported linen, coral, glass, base metals, 'Arretine' tableware, wine in amphorae, etc., and also sent large quantities of gold and silver (and later copper) coins, of which large hoards have been found in south Indian and the eastern Deccan as well as some clay bullae ('amulets') of Roman coins."

The Romans seem to have been importing mostly luxury items from India. Payments in coin would have caused a significant outflow of money from the Roman economy. The effect on the monetary system must have played a role in the periodic attempts by Roman emperors such as Augustus to discourage excessive luxury spending by the aristocracy. This would have been difficult to do, however, because such spending was a sign of status among the Romans.

The Roman trade with India began to decline after around 200 AD when "communications with India passed into the hands of intermediaries (Arabians, Axumites [1], Sasanid Persians), and India again became a land of fable to the Mediterranean world." (OCD)

[1] "The Kingdom of Aksum, also known as the Kingdom of Axum or the Aksumite Empire, was an ancient kingdom centered in what is now Eritrea and the Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia." (Wikipedia) The strategically important Aksum was heavily involved in the ivory trade and controlled both banks of the Red Sea near its outlet into the Indian Ocean. All the sea traffic between Rome and India would have had to pass through the kingdom's zone of influence.

The Sun Temple At Konarak

"On the shores of the Bay of Bengal, bathed in the rays of the rising sun, the [13th cent. Hindu] temple at Konarak [aka Konark] is a monumental representation of the sun god Surya's chariot; its 24 wheels are decorated with symbolic designs and it is led by a team of six horses. Built in the 13th century, it is one of India's most famous Brahman sanctuaries." Source: UNESCO World Heritage List.

According to Myoksha, a provider of pilgrimage tours and temple guides in India, "Konark Temple was referred to as 'Black Pagoda' by European travelers sailing the shores of the Arabian sea. It was so called maybe because of its dark colour due to continuous plastering and subsequent blackening of the surface over many centuries as mentioned by S.P Gupta in his book 'Temples in India'. It may also be that some European scholars believed that the exceptionally frank eroticism [next video] of many of the Konark sculptures has given it the name 'Black Pagoda'."

"The Sun Temple at Konarak was built in about 1250 AD by the East Ganga king Narasimhadeva, It is thought he built the temple to commemorate military successes against Muslim invaders." Source: Sacred Destinations.

"According to local legend, the temple has a great aura of power that comes from two very powerful magnets said to have been built into the tower - magnets that allowed the king's throne to hover in mid-air."

This magnetic aura could also be the reason for the name "Black Pagoda:"

"European mariners sailing off the coast used the temple's tower for navigation, but dubbed it the Black Pagoda for the frequent shipwrecks that occurred along the coast. They attributed the disasters to the legendary magnets' effect on the tidal pattern." (Sacred Destinations)

This is a magnificent temple, but King Narasimhadeva should be especially remembered for the fact that he "defeated the Muslim forces of Bengal who were constantly posing a threat to the Eastern Ganga dynasty's rule over Odisha [ancient Utkala], and because he was "one the few rulers in India who took the offensive against the Islamic expansion over India..." (Wikipedia)

Narasimhadeva should receive the same respect that we give to Charles Martel in the West.

The Discovery Of Port Muzirus In India

There was a big market in Rome for luxury goods from India and the East, but overland trade and travel to India was obstructed by the Arabs until Augustus came to power.  According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD 3rd ed. revised), "the Arab obstruction was removed by the great appetite of Rome for eastern luxuries in the prosperous days of Augustus, and by the discovery of open-sea routes from Aden to India. In the 1st cent. BC, or soon after, observation of the monsoon encouraged mid-ocean routes leading to various points on the western coast [of India] where settlements were subsequently established."

Roman trade with India was extensive. "In Augustus' day 120 ships sailed to India every year, and under his early successors the drain on Roman money to pay for Indian imports caused occasional anxiety..." (OCD) "...The principle imports to Rome were perfumes, spices (especially pepper), gems, ivory, pearls, Indian textiles, and Chinese silk."

The main trade was apparently with the Pandya kingdoms on the west coast of India. Evidence for this trade is still being uncovered today. For example, in 2015, The Hindu reported that "an excavation in Keezhadi, Sivaganga district, has thrown up a wealth of information on the flourishing Pandya trade with the west." The excavation can be viewed in this June 2016 video (no English version available).

The whole area of Roman contacts with India is difficult to research because of the language barrier. The next video's a good example. The slides are fantastic, but the speaker's hard to understand and the closed-captions are a joke.

Related: The Leek-Green Sea.

Indian Campaigns Of Alexander The Great

Notes: "For almost a decade, Alexander the Great and his army swept across Western Asia and into Egypt, defeating King Darius III and the Persians at the battles of River Granicus, Issus and Gaugamela. Next, despite the objections of the loyal army who had been with him since leaving Macedonia in 334 BCE, he turned his attention southward towards India. It was there, in 326 BCE, that he would achieve what many would consider as his last major victory, the Battle of Hydaspes (in modern Pakistan)." Source: Ancient History Encyclopedia. (In the next video, Alexander's forces are in blue. The red circles represent war elephants).

The invasion was brutal. According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD, 3rd ed. revised), "Alexander moved into India at the invitation of the local dynasts of the Kabul Valley and Punjab. He was nothing loath to reaffirm the traditional Achaemenid [Persian] claims to the Indus lands. Resistance was treated as rebellion, and his progress through Bajaur and Swat was marked by massacre and destruction ... Even the remote rock-fortress of Aornus (Pir-sar) was reduced by siege at the cost of prodigious hardship, to demonstrate that there was no escape from his dominion."

At the time of Alexander's invasion, very little was known about the Indian subcontinent. According to the OCD, the country "remained a land of fable and wonders; it was believed to lie in the farthest east, yet Indians were confused with Ethiopians." Alexander pushed his army too far when he decided to add India to his already gigantic empire and a mutiny forced him to abandon the effort. He lost a lot of men crossing the Gedrosian desert and finally made it back to Babylon, where he either died from disease or was poisoned.

Alexander's empire quickly fell apart after his death, but his invasion of India increased the West's knowledge of that mysterious country. According to the OCD, "The conquests of Alexander the Great brought more accurate knowledge of NW India as far as the river Hyphasis (Beas) and vague information about the Ganges valley and Sri Lanka; and the voyage of Nearchus [the navarch commanding Alexander's fleet during the return] reopened a sea connection with the Persian Gulf."

Recommended: In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great, narrated by Michael Wood.

Hemp Used In Art Preservative In Ancient India

"Artists may have often turned to drugs at times to help them find inspiration, but it seems cannabis has also played a role in preserving precious artworks within ancient caves in India." Source: Daily Mail.

"A mixture of hemp, clay and lime plaster is responsible for preserving paintings and intricately carved scenes in the sacred Ellora Caves, which were hewn from rock 1,500 years ago."

Note: The Ellora Caves are an "uninterrupted sequence of monuments dating from AD 600 to 1000," according to the UNESCO World Heritage Site. "... these 34 monasteries and temples, extending over more than 2 km, were dug side by side in the wall of a high basalt cliff, not far from Aurangabad, in Maharashtra."

Shiva, The Lord Of Bhang

"In Hinduism, bhang (1) is associated with Lord Shiva, a popular deity who is often regarded as the religion’s supreme god. Some passages in ancient Hindu scriptures describe a plant with spiritual properties that Shiva discovered and brought down from the heavens for humans to consume. Shiva is often depicted with a chillum, or smoking pipe." Source: The Atlantic (2014).

(1) "In India, Cannabis Indica has been used for literally thousands of years in the worship of the god Shiva. Cannabis is used in an orally administered form called bhang which can be either the wet resinous leaves formed into pills of a drink made of milk, cannabis, and various spices consumed by worshipers of Shiva on festival days or by smoking the flowering buds of cannabis -- a practice generally reserved for holy men who dedicate their lives to ascetic practice and the worship of Shiva." --"Shiva, Lord of Bhang," PubMed.

"Cannabis has a long history in India, veiled in legends and religion. The earliest mention of cannabis has been found in The Vedas, or sacred Hindu texts. These writings may have been compiled as early as 2000 to 1400 B.C. According to The Vedas, cannabis was one of five sacred plants and a guardian angel lived in its leaves." Source: Psychology Today (2011).

"During the Hindu festival of Holi, people consume bhang which contains cannabis flowers. According to one description, when the amrita (elixir of life) was produced from the churning of the ocean by the devas and the asuras as described in the Samudra manthan, Shiva created cannabis from his own body to purify the elixir (whence, for cannabis, the epithet angaja or 'body-born'). Another account suggests that the cannabis plant sprang up when a drop of the elixir dropped on the ground. Thus, cannabis is used by sages due to association with elixir and Shiva." (Wikipedia)

Climate Change Likely Caused Migration, Demise Of Ancient Indus Valley Civilization

"More than 4,000 years ago, the Harappa culture thrived in the Indus River Valley of what is now modern Pakistan and northwestern India, where they built sophisticated cities, invented sewage systems that predated ancient Rome's, and engaged in long-distance trade with settlements in Mesopotamia. Yet by 1800 BCE, this advanced culture had abandoned their cities, moving instead to smaller villages in the Himalayan foothills. A new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) found evidence that climate change likely drove the Harappans to resettle far away from the floodplains of the Indus." Source: Science Daily. (2018)

Note: The climate change in this case  (~2500 BC) involved "a shift in temperatures and weather patterns over the Indus valley [which] caused summer monsoon rains to gradually dry up, making agriculture difficult or impossible near Harappan cities."

4,000-Year-Old Coffin Burials, Furnaces & Other Artifacts Discovered In Sanauli, India

Video from April, 2019.

"The Archaeological Survey of India has discovered two decorated 'legged coffins' with two skeletons at an excavation site near Sanauli in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district. The skeletons were discovered along with other artifacts during the resumption of excavation at the site." Source: Archaeology News Network.

"Excavation had been carried out at the site earlier in 2018 and has been resumed again ... Sanauli is located on the left bank of River Yamuna, 68 km north-east of Delhi. Excavations at this site had brought to light the largest necropolis of the late Harappan period which date back to around the early part of second millennium BCE."

Report from June, 2018 (earlier excavations).

According to Ancient Origins (2018), "The discovery of two chariots [in 2018] was significant because it is the earliest such finding in the Indian subcontinent, dating back 3,800 years to 2000-1800 BC which makes it before the Aryan migration it argued to have taken place in around 1500 BC. The finds indicate that the Aryan invaders were not necessarily the first to bring chariots and horses to the region. This points to a different kind of civilization being in existence before the Aryans arrived, one which had its own warrior class. The Harappans were previously thought to be a peaceful people, with the Aryans having the advantage of horses and chariots aiding their easy victory. The truth of this is now in question."

Computers Unlock More Secrets Of The Mysterious Indus Valley Script (2009)

Video from 2011.

"Four-thousand years ago, an urban civilization lived and traded on what is now the border between Pakistan and India. During the past century, thousands of artifacts bearing hieroglyphics left by this prehistoric people have been discovered. Today, a team of Indian and American researchers are using mathematics and computer science to try to piece together information about the still-unknown script." Source: Science Daily (2009).

Video from 2015. I'm not sure how accurate some of this is.

Note: "The Indus script (also known as the Harappan script) is a corpus of symbols produced by the Indus Valley Civilisation during the Kot Diji and Mature Harappan periods between 3500 and 1900 BCE. Most inscriptions containing these symbols are extremely short, making it difficult to judge whether or not these symbols constituted a script used to record a language, or even symbolise a writing system. In spite of many attempts, ‘the script’ has not yet been deciphered, but efforts are ongoing. There is no known bilingual inscription to help decipher the script, and the script shows no significant changes over time. However, some of the syntax (if that is what it may be termed) varies depending upon location." (Wikipedia)

More information: The Indus Script entry at Ancient Scripts.

The Kali Yuga

The Hindus believe that we're living in the Kali Yuga, an apocalyptic Dark Age ruled by the demon Kali, the source of all evil and destruction. The Kali Yuga, also known as the "Age of Vice," is a period of warfare, chaos, social decline and spiritual decadence brought about by Man's separation from the gods. Kali himself is frequently pictured as a deranged figure dancing on corpses and wearing human heads as jewelry. I don't believe in demons, but this bloodthirsty lunatic with ten arms is the perfect symbol of human history.

Most writers use the term Kali Yuga to mean "end times" or the "last days," but technically this isn't accurate. The Hindus see Time as a cycle of four ages or Yugas known as the Yuga Cycle. The other three periods are called the Satya Yuga, the Treta Yuga and the Dvapara Yuga, and they all go spinning around like a cosmic ferris wheel. So the Kali Yuga isn't the end of the world. It's just the end of one cycle and the beginning of the next.

The Yuga Cycle describes a fall from grace--a loss of enlightenment. The first age, the Satya Yuga, is a golden age of supreme goodness when the gods rule and the average human lifespan is thousands of years long, but, like the Garden of Eden, it's all downhill from there. The other Yugas follow in order, the gods withdraw, the situation deteriorates and bottoms out with the Kali Yuga, then the whole thing starts all over again. Time is a circle--an infinite, recurring progression of Yugas in which the gods advance and retreat like the tides or the phases of the moon.

Now, this is good stuff and very ancient, but is it an accurate description of Reality? That probably sounds like a strange question to ask. The Yuga Cycle is a symbolic, mythical cosmology based on the Hindu concepts of samsara, karmic cycles, rebirth, reincarnation and cyclic change. Taking it literally misses the point, but is it possible that Time is actually circular? Does the Yuga Cycle or at least its concept of Time have some basis in fact? Personally, I think the idea of circular Time is more interesting than the linear Christian view of history as moving in a straight line from Creation to Apocalypse, but I don't see any evidence that the universe actually runs in cycles like this.

Time is a one-way thing. The future changes into the present which changes into the past in an infinite stream of Becoming. There are cycles in nature, but they're more like recurring patterns with thousands of variations and they never repeat themselves in exactly the same way. The fossil evidence shows a gradual evolution from the simple to the complex punctuated by catastrophes, mass extinctions and sudden bursts of new life forms like the Cambrian Explosion. If there are cycles in nature, they are cycles of chaos in the mathematical sense. The gods of this world are fractals and strange attractors.

Human history repeats itself, but only in the sense that high cultures are subject to universal laws of growth and decay as described by Oswald Spengler. Personally, I think there's a good argument that civilization in general has deteriorated over the last two thousand years, but I'm more inclined to blame it on the Second Law of Thermodynamics than the Yuga Cycle. Entropy and chaos are the natural state of things and organized systems tend to deteriorate over time. It takes energy and intelligence to keep a civilization going and both are in short supply.

The Yuga Cycle is appealing because it explains the decay and turmoil we see around us and because it suggests that things will change for the better as the cycle turns once again. Unfortunately, these cycles are so long that they don't really have any meaning for the human race in general, never mind individuals. The Kali Yuga is supposed to have started around 3000 BC and they say it will last for 432,000 years, almost half a million years. Considering the fact that only 5000 years or so have passed since the Kali Yuga started, we've got a long way to go.

Note: Many cultures have legends about a mythical Golden Age and a subsequent fall from grace. For instance, "Both Hesiod and Ovid offered accounts of the successive ages of humanity, which tend to progress from an original, long-gone age in which humans enjoyed a nearly divine existence to the current age of the writer, in which humans are beset by innumerable pains and evils. In the two accounts that survive from ancient Greece and Rome, this degradation of the human condition over time is indicated symbolically with metals of successively decreasing value." (Wikipedia)