A History of Agriculture in India v1.c34.4

v1.c34.4

The source of information about the economy and social life of the Tamil States is *Sangam* literature which was compiled in the period *c.* A.D. 300-600. The *Sangam* was an assembly of Tamil poets held under the patronage of a Pandya king at Madurai. Another source is *Periplus of the Erythraean Sea* (A.D. 81-96), which informs about the trade between the Roman Empire and South India. The Greeks of Egypt under the Ptolemies of the last three centuries B.C. traded regularly with India, and when Egypt became a Roman province this commerce was further developed by the Romans.