Barbarikon
Barbarikon (or Barbaricum) was situated near the position of modern Karachi at the mouth of the Indus River. The actual location of the ancient city is uncertain due to the shifting nature of the delta of the lower Indus (the Periplus reported that only the central of the seven mouths of the Indus was navigable); it may have been Banbhore, east of Karachi, which dates to the first century BCE.
It was one of the most important ports for Indo-Roman trade, and for trade with Arabia and Persia, though trade was effected at the upriver district capital of Minnagar. The Indo-Scythians controlled the region until the late first century CE and later in some areas. The description from the Periplus (§38–39):Beyond this region, the continent making a wide curve from the east across the depths of the bays, there follows the coast district of Scythia, which lies above toward the north; the whole marshy; from which flows down the river Sinthus [=Indus River], the greatest of all the rivers that flow into the Erythraean Sea, bringing down an enormous volume of water; so that a long way out at sea, before reaching this country, the water of the ocean is fresh from it. Now as a sign of approach to this country to those coming from the sea, there are serpents coming forth from the depths to meet you; and a sign of the places just mentioned and in Persia, are those called graea [crocodiles]. This river has seven mouths, very shallow and marshy, so that they are not navigable, except the one in the middle; at which by the shore, is the market-town, Barbaricum. Before it there lies a small island, and inland behind it is the metropolis of Scythia, Minnagara; it is subject to Parthian princes who are constantly driving each other out.
The ships lie at anchor at Barbaricum, but all their cargoes are carried up to the metropolis by the river, to the King. There are imported into this market a great deal of thin clothing, and a little spurious; figured linens, topaz, coral [red coral was highly prized by the Indians], storax [a resin used as a perfume and flavouring], frankincense, vessels of glass, silver and gold plate, and a little wine.
On the other hand there are exported costus [probably from Kashmir], bdellium, lycium, nard [from the Barbarikon hinterlands], turquoise [from Iran], lapis lazuli [from Afghanistan], Seric skins, cotton cloth, silk yarn [from China], and indigo.The serpents described in the Periplus were quite real: sea-snakes are common today in warm, tropical waters and twenty-six species are known from the Indian coast, mostly venomous.
Barbarikon/Minnagara received goods from the Himalayas and Bactria by caravans following the Silk Roads, and so goods from India, central Asia, Scythia and China were available for trade.73 Spices, aromatics and plant-based drugs were important components of the trade. Most of the spices were from a local/Himalayan origin, but costus was from Kashmir. When the Han Chinese investigated the Indo-Roman trade they noted that pepper, ginger and black salt were amongst the goods available in the Indus region. Barbarikon mainly traded with the Persian Gulf ports, though as we know from the Periplus trade also likely took place with the Red Sea ports.74 Silk from China may well have travelled down the Indus valley from the main Silk Roads in Central Asia, enabling onward transport from Barbarikon by sea.
Ghosh observed that as Barygaza waxed, the fortunes of Barbarikon waned, which also was partly a function of the increasing importance of the Malabar coast and emergence of direct Red Sea routes.