Gateway from the Eastern Mediterranean to India: The Red Sea in Antiquity

Interdisciplinary studies illuminate the Red Sea's role in ancient India-Mediterranean exchange and maritime networks.

Inter disciplinary studies about the connections between India and the Mediterranean world in antiquity have been growing in the last few decades. These have followed a range of approaches. This book focuses on one segment of the maritime world geographically defined as the Red Sea and its surrounding areas. This regional perspective is necessary to understand the dynamics of exchange.

A large number of texts in Greek and Latin, papyri, ostraca, stone inscriptions, archaeological excavations and surveys especially at sites such as Berenike and Myos Hormos provide a wealth of data on historical development in the Red Sea region.

Contributors to this volume are drawn from a variety of disciplines such as philology, Egyptology, African studies, archaeology and ancient history and base their papers on recent discoveries as well as re- interpretation of textual sources.

Many of these papers first appeared in issues of the French journal Topoi but on account of their importance to maritime history of the Indian Ocean it was decided to publish them for a wider audience.