The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea - Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a Merchant of the First Century

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The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea is one of those human documents, like the journals of Marco Polo and Columbus and Vespucci, which express not only individual enterprise, but the awakening of a whole race toward new fields of geographical discovery and commercial achievement. It is the first record of organized trading with the nations of the East, in vessels built and commanded by subjects of the Western World. It marks the turning of a tide of commerce which had set in one direction, without interruption, from the dawn of history. With the spread of culture in both directions, Egypt and the nations of Ancient India came into being, and a commercial system was developed for the interchange of products within those limits, having its center of exchanges near the head of the Persian Gulf. Periplus is an essential book to understand how the international trade came into being.

The Philadelphia Museums came into existence some fifteen years ago with the avowed purpose of aiding the manufacturer in taking a larger share in the world's commerce.

They have lost no opportunity in presenting to the inquirer the trade conditions of all parts of the world.

More than four years ago the Museums undertook the work of making a graphic history of commerce from the earliest dawn of trade and barter down to the preent time. The author of this translation was entrusted with the study and preparation of the exhibit, which in its early stages of development was shown at the Jamestown exposition. It was in the preparation of this exhibit that attention was directed to the Periplus, and its interest in the early history of commerce appreciated. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea is the first record of organized trading with the nations of the East, in vessels built and commanded by subjects of the Western world. The notes add great interest, giving as they do an exhaustive survey of the international trade between the great empires of Rome, Parthia, India and China, together with a collection of facts touching the early trade of a number of other countries of much interest.

The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea is one of those human documents, like the journals of Marco Polo and Columbus and Vespucci, which express not only individual enterprise, but the awakening of a whole race toward new fields of geographical discovery and commercial achievement. It is the first record of organized trading with the nations of the East, in vessels built and commanded by subjects of the Western World. It marks the turning of a tide of commerce which had set in one direction, without interruption, from the dawn of history. For thousands of years before the emergence of the Greeks from savagery, or before the exploits of the Phoenicians in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, human culture and commerce had centered in the countries bordering on the Persian Gulf; in Elam and Babylonia, and in the "whole land of Havilah, where there is gold: and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone." With the spread of culture in both directions, Egypt and the nations of Ancient India came into being, and a commercial system was developed for the interchange of products within those limits, having its center of exchanges near the head of the Persian Gulf. The peoples of that region, the various Arab tribes and more especially those ancestors of the Phoenicians, the mysterious Red Men, were the active carriers or intermediaries. The growth of civilization in India created an active merchant marine, trading to the Euphrates and Africa, and eastward we know not whither. The Arab merchants, apparently, tolerated the presence of Indian traders in Africa, but reserved for themselves the commerce within the Red Sea; that lucrative commerce which supplied precious stones and spices and incense to the ever-increasing service of the gods of Egypt. This was their prerogative, jealously guarded, and upon this they lived and prospered according to the prosperity of the Pharaohs. The muslins and spices of India they fetched themselves or received from the Indian traders in their ports on either side of the Gulf of Aden; carrying them in turn over the highlands to the upper Nile, or through the Red Sea and across the desert to Thebes or Memphis. In the rare intervals when the eyes of Egypt were turned eastward, and voyages of commerce and conquest were despatched to the Eastern Ocean, the officers of the Pharaohs found the treasures of all its shores gathered in the nearest ports, and sought no further to trace them to their sources.

**Contents and Sample Pages**