The Romans and India with William Dalrymple

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2024

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ancient India was the single greatest trading partner of the Roman Empire. For centuries, Indian sailors navigated the Indian Ocean and Red Sea to bring goods, ideas and religious beliefs to the Greco-Roman ports based on the Egyptian coast. But how did this lucrative trade begin? And what sorts of goods passed along it?

In today's episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by William Dalrymple to explore 'The Golden Road' - one of the great trade routes of ancient history - and discover how India became the beating heart of the ancient world.

Presented by Tristan Hughes. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. The producer is Joseph Knight, the senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the early second century AD, 1900 years ago.
0:15.0	The waters of the Arabian Sea are calm.
0:19.0	A large merchant ships sails west, heading for the Red Sea and the thriving port town of
0:25.3	Berenike in Roman Egypt.
0:28.4	The ship's captain looks at his cargo, fall to the brim with items that will be worth a fortune in Berenike's markets,
0:35.9	silks, spices and ivory. It's a journey he has done many times before, traversing thousands of miles by boat over the course of his
0:45.8	career with regular stopoffs along the Arabian and African coasts.
0:51.2	He is Indian, born and raised in the flourishing port of Missouri in southern India, and he is one of many taking advantage of this lucrative trade route between his home and this ever demanding market across the seas.
1:06.4	It's the ancients on history hit. I'm Tristan Hughes your host and today we are talking
1:12.4	all about India's remarkable ancient history
1:15.2	with a particular focus on its connections with the Roman Empire. Because India
1:21.1	was the single greatest trading partner of the Roman Empire.
1:27.0	For centuries, Indian sailors navigated the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, sailing up to Greco-Roman ports in Egypt and bringing their goods and ideas with them.
1:38.0	Ideas which included their religious beliefs like Buddhism.
1:42.0	Going the other way were huge fleets of merchant ships sailing to important ports along the
1:46.9	Indian coast like Missouri's, ready to buy precious items such as silk, spices, gems, ivory, wild beasts, precious metals, and much more.
1:58.0	It was one of those great trade routes of ancient history. To talk all about how India was right at the center of the ancient world
2:06.8	exporting its goods and ideas all the way to the Red Sea in one direction and the Pacific in the other, I interviewed the one and only William Dalrymple, co-host of the
2:17.8	podcast Empire and the writer of a brand new book all about ancient India.
2:23.0	William and I, we met up in person in London,
2:26.0	we sat down in the Spotify studio
2:28.0	and recorded this interview that I'm delighted to now share with you.
	...

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