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Byzantine India

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This article attempts to uncover the many discrepancies found in the byzantine accounts of India, and attempts to clarify the actual locations of these historical references. With the number of regions in Africa, Arabia, and Asia, having been identified by the Byzantines as “India”, it’s no wonder there is some confusion about what regions these writers were actually talking about. The article begins by pointing out that although many regions are involved in the Byzantine accounts of India, there is little to no mention that they are actually speaking about more than one India. This is however, well known to the historians that have studied trade between Rome and the East. In his book, The Commerce Between the Roman Empire and India, Warmington …show more content…

While the perception of India being located in South Asia was preserved by some writers like Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 330-395) and Procopius of Caesarea (c. 500-post 565), others completely missed the mark. Cosmas Indicopleustes, an Alexandrian merchant, described India as a large region containing India proper, Ceylon, and parts of China. The term “Inner India” was used by Cosmas, to designate the silk rich country of Tzinitza, or China. The roman monk Rufinus (c. 345-410), spoke of how Bartholomew, an apostle of Jesus, had been assigned to “Nearer India” which was a region adjacent to Ethiopia. More examples are found in the texts of John Malalas (c. 491-578). He details a struggle between the Axumites and the Himyarites, or African Indians and Asian Indians. In reality, these two groups were likely near modern day Ethiopia and Egypt. Theophanes, Epiphanius, and Choricius, all documented how Indian goods were being brought into the Roman Empire in the mid-third and fourth centuries. The ports of Aila, Berenice, and Clysma are mentioned, but these are all located in northern Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Making it more likely, according to Vasiliev’s paper, that these ports were receiving goods from Ethiopia and other African regions, rather than

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