Ports and Political Power in the Periplus: Complex Societies and Maritime Trade on the Indian Ocean in the First Century AD (BAR International)

This study aims at exploring the significance of maritime commerce to societies on the Indian Ocean rim, by examining how rulers adjusted their policy in order to control and profit from trade. The point of departure is the anonymous Greek first century AD Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. This is a guide to navigation and trade on the Indian Ocean, covering the coasts of the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, East Africa and India. The unknown author, who to a large extent relied on personal experience, included not only sailing directions, but also a wealth of information on local products, markets and political conditions.

Eivind Heldaas Seland is associate professor of ancient history and pre-modern global history at the University of Bergen. His research focuses on the relationship between ideology, trade, and political power in the Near East and Indian Ocean in the pre- Islamic period. He is the author of Ships of the Desert, Ships of the Sea: Palmyra in the world trade of the first three centuries CE (Harrassowitz 2016) and co-editor of Sinews of Empire: Networks in the Roman Near East and beyond (Oxbow 2017).