Place · Hellenistic capital & port · Egypt
Alexandria
The Ptolemaic capital, its Library and Museum the largest scholarly institution of the ancient Mediterranean, and the western terminus of the Red Sea trade that brought Indian pepper, gems and textiles into the Roman world.
- Function
- Trade & production
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 31.200, 29.919
Worth knowing
Ptolemy II sent an ambassador named Dionysius to the Mauryan court, and Ashoka's thirteenth edict names Ptolemy among the Hellenistic kings to whom he says he sent dhamma missions. The two claims are independent and they meet in the middle.
Connections (2)
- Historical routePātaliputra
Megasthenes came to Pataliputra from Seleucus, and Ptolemy II of Egypt sent an ambassador named Dionysius to the same court; Ashoka's thirteenth edict names Ptolemy among the Hellenistic kings to whom he says he sent missions of dhamma. Two independent bodies of evidence, Greek and Indian, describe the same diplomatic channel between the Mauryan capital and Alexandria from opposite ends. What travelled it was embassies, animals and claims about virtue, and very probably pepper.
- Trade routeRome
Cargo from India was landed on the Red Sea, carried by camel to the Nile, shipped to Alexandria and taxed there at the tetarte, a quarter of its assessed value, before going on to Rome. The Muziris papyrus in Vienna is a loan contract for exactly this route, and shows an Alexandrian financier underwriting a single Indian voyage.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Alexandria”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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