Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c12.1

c12.1

Trade between India and Rome continued to thrive steadily during the second and third centuries A.D. There was a temporary lull in the demand for luxuries after the extraordinary outburst of extravagance which culminated in the reign of Nero, but this did not have a very serious effect upon commerce. Roman Emperors took an increasing interest in Eastern questions, and, as we may see from the writers of the time, the bounds of geographical knowledge were slowly but surely extended. Trajan¹ during his Parthian expedition, travelled to the mouth of the Euphrates and watched the ships spreading their sails for India. He is said to have dreamed of making an expedition to the country himself. He pushed the Roman frontier to within six hundred miles of Indian territory. He entertained an Indian embassy regally, giving its members senators' seats at the theatre². In the reign of Marcus Aurelius, Avidius Cassius fought another successful campaign against Parthia and took the winter capital of Ktesiphon.