Imperial Rome, Indian Ocean Regions and Muziris: New Perspectives on Maritime Trade

Scholars from the Western countries and India here present researches on maritime trade in the Indian Ocean Region in the early historic period focusing on commercial activities of imperial Rome and Muziris—on the south-western coast of India, perhaps in modern Kerala. The articles referring to Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, the Red Sea and Mediterranean regions as well as South Asia trace networks of trade and exchange, place of Roman ports in ancient trade and their contacts with Africa, the Arabian region and South Asia. With case studies from Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka) and giving maritime trade-related information from excavations in Vizhinjam excavations in Kerala, they cover a number of items of trade between the civilisations in the past such as pottery of Saudi Arabia and Roman pottery, coins and ivory trimmings.