Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c10.4.2

c10.4.2

The spot chosen had a fine natural harbour, and was two hundred and fifty-eight miles from the trading station of Koptos (Koft), on the bend of the river³. Merchandise was to be conveyed overland to Koft, and floated down-stream to Alexandria. The port which was built at the chosen site was named Berenike⁴, after the king's mother. A desert-road, furnished with eight *Hydreumata* or watering-places, connected Koft and Berenike. The first, says Pliny⁵, was twenty-two miles from Koptos; the next, a day's journey (about twenty miles) ; the third, ninety-five miles from the base; the fourth, on a hill, at an uncertain distance; the fifth (the Apollo Hydreuma) one hundred and eighty-four miles; the sixth, on a mountain; the seventh, the New Hydreuma, was two hundred and thirty miles from the base; the last, seven miles further on, had a caravanserai, for two thousand persons and a guard. A single day’s journey from here brought the merchant to the sea. The journey took eleven or twelve days, even under the most favourable conditions. In 274 B.C., a further improvement was made. Philadelphus built another port at Myos Hormos¹, (Mussel Harbour) one hundred and eighty miles north of Berenike, and five days nearer Koptos. Myos Hormos, situated in the bay of Ras abn Somer, near the Jifātin Islands, is a much safer harbour than Berenike, which had awkward shoals and was exposed to the wind².