Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c12.9

c12.9

Meanwhile, the sea-borne trade with the far East was also progressing. The Parthian war of 162–165 A.D. and the terrible outbreak of plague at Babylon, had caused something like a panic in the silk traffic, and, a mercantile mission, pretending to come from the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, but really no doubt sent by the rich merchants of Antioch or Alexandria, reached the court of the Chinese monarch Huan-ti in October, 166 A.D. They represented to the king that their master had always desired to send embassies to China, but the Parthians had wished to carry on the trade in Chinese silks, and for this reason they had been cut off from direct communication. They therefore represented themselves as having been sent by Antun king of Ta-tsin (Antonius King of Syria), who offered ivory, rhinoceros horns, and tortoise-shell from the frontier of Annam. They brought no jewels, says the Chinese annalist, a fact which makes him suspect their story. However, from that date, he continues, direct intercourse between China and the West by sea began. No doubt the merchandise went from Annam to Nelkynda and was there shipped to Alexandria and Antioch¹.