Editing Roman commerce (section)

=== India ===
{{main|Roman trade with India}}
[[File:Gold coin of Claudius 50 51CE excavated in South India.jpg|thumb|left|[[Aureus|Gold coin]] of [[Claudius]] (50-51 CE) excavated in South India]]
There was an Indian in [[Augustus]]'s retinue [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Alexander*/10.html#69.9 (Plut. Alex. 69.9)], and he received embassies from India [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Augustus/Res_Gestae/5*.html#31 (Res Gestae, 31)]; one which met him in Spain in 25 BC, and one at Samos in 20 BC.

The trade over the [[Indian Ocean]] blossomed in the 1st and 2nd century AD. The sailors made use of the [[monsoon]] to cross the ocean from the ports of [[Berenice Panchrysos|Berenice]], Leulos Limen and [[Myos Hormos]] on the [[Red Sea]] coast of [[Egypt (Roman province)|Roman Egypt]] to the ports of [[Muziris]] and Nelkynda on the [[Malabar coast]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/unearthingmysteries.shtml |title=Radio 4 - Unearthing Mysteries |publisher=BBC |access-date=2012-11-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4970452.stm |title=South Asia &#124; Search for India's ancient city |publisher=BBC News |date=2006-06-11 |access-date=2012-11-07}}</ref> The main trading partners in southern India were the [[Tamil people|Tamil dynasties]] of the [[Pandyan Dynasty|Pandyas]], [[Chola dynasty|Cholas]] and [[Chera dynasty|Cheras]].  Meticulous descriptions of the ports and items of trade around the Indian Ocean can be found in the Greek ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]]''. In Latin texts, the term Indians (''Indi'') designated all Asians, Indian and beyond.

The main articles imported from India were spices such as pepper, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, sandal wood and gems such as pearls, rubies, diamonds, emeralds and ivory. In exchange the Romans traded silver and gold. Hoards of Roman coins have been found in southern India during the history of Roman-India trade. Roman objects have been found in India in the seaside port city of [[Arikamedu]], which was one of the trade centers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Haywood |first=John |page=46
|quote=Arikamedu was a trading port in the 1st century AD: many Roman artifacts have been excavated there.
|title=Historical atlas of the classical world, 500 BC–AD 600 |year=2000 |isbn=0-7607-1973-X |publisher=Barnes & Noble Books}}</ref>

[[Pomponius Mela]] argued for the existence of [[Northeast Passage]] through the northward strait out of the [[Caspian Sea]] (which in Antiquity was usually thought to be open to [[Oceanus]] in the north). 
<ref>[http://ourworld-top.cs.com/latintexts/m305.htm Book III, Chapter 5] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060728215936/http://ourworld-top.cs.com/latintexts/m305.htm |date=2006-07-28 }}, copied by [[Pliny the Elder]].</ref>