Tabropane (Sri Lanka)

Sri Lanka had been known in the West since the time of Aristotle (384–322 BCE) and Alexander, but the first encounter with the Roman Empire, described by Pliny, relates to a freedman of Roman merchant Annius Plocamus, who was shipwrecked there during the reign of Claudius (41–54 CE).

The Periplus (§61) records trade in ‘pearls, transparent stones, muslins, and tortoise-shell’, but didn’t mention spices although they were grown and almost certainly traded, though perhaps not extensively in the early centuries CE.

In contrast to southern India, very few early Imperial coins were found in Sri Lanka. Bopearachichi speculated that Sri Lankan products were readily available in southern India, therefore there may have been no need for the Romans to establish direct trade there.⁹⁸ However, during the reign of Claudius the situation evolved as described above. The abundance of Roman coinage from the fourth century in Sri Lanka may reflect the activities of Axumite, Himyarite and Persian middlemen, and the move of the seat of Roman power to Byzantium (Constantinople) and a growing importance of foreign trade with Sri Lanka.⁹⁹ Ancient Sri Lanka had indigenous products of high export value: gems, pearls, elephants, ivory, tortoise shells, valuable woods, textiles and spices – cloves, cardamom, pepper and cinnamon.¹⁰⁰ D. P. M. Weerakoddy noted that finds of Roman coins have been mainly along the coast, especially on the western and southern shores.¹⁰¹ The wet zone of the southwest was largely covered with jungle, and produced cash crops such as ginger, turmeric, pepper and (later) cinnamon, but also ivory and precious stones which were important for the island’s foreign trade. He logically inferred that ports of the south-west coast must have acted as outlets for the area’s products.

Sri Lanka’s importance as an Indian Ocean trade hub makes a lot of sense given its geographical position between East and West, ready access to spices and other products from Southeast Asia and India, and its own indigenous high-value products. The trade between Rome/Byzantium and Sri Lanka flourished until the Muslim capture of Alexandria in 641 CE.

The main harbour during the Anuradhapura period (377 BCE to 1017 CE) was Mantai (or Mahathiththa in Sinhalese) on the northwest coast, which existed until the fourteenth century. The port was ideally located for long-distance maritime trade from West and East. The recovery of black pepper remains from around 500 CE suggests it was likely traded from here around that time.¹⁰⁴ Cosmas Indicopleustes, the sixth-century monk, described Tabropane as ‘much frequented by ships from all parts of India and from Persia and Ethiopia, and it likewise sends out many of its own’ and it was ‘a great seat of commerce’.