Athens, Aden, Arikamedu: Essays on the Interrelations between India, Arabia and the Eastern Mediterranean

This book is a collection of essays by several contributors of international repute on the general topic of the interrelationship between India, Arabia and the Eastern Mediterranean. Four papers refer to what can be called “Graeco-India”, i.e. the relations between the Greek world itself and India, and the vision the Greeks had of India or borrowed from her, from the early classical period to the late Roman times, mainly seen from the literary sources. A major contribution on the Yavanas in India which provides another version of the Greek presence in India, has also been included. Another essay helps us understand better the history and culture of the Indo-Greek kingdoms through numismatic data. Two papers deal with the archaeological as well as literary evidence on the trade between Rome and India, a subject recently revived both in India and European/American research. Maritime traditions which facilitate understanding of international trade have been studied from an Indian and ethnographical point of view. Finally, two contributions emphasize that the Arabian peninsula is the natural bridge between India and the Eastern Mediterranean – a fact so obvious that it is often ignored in archaeological and historical studies of the Indian Ocean in the pre-Islamic period. The book presents new and original insights on the themes covered.