Crossing Continents: Between India and the Aegean from Prehistory to Alexander the Great

The first contacts between Greece, the Aegean and India are generally thought to have occurred at the beginning of the sixth century BC. There is now, however, growing evidence of much earlier but indirect connections, reaching back into prehistory. These were initially between India and its Indus Civilisation (Meluhha) and the Near East and then finally with the societies of the Early and Middle Bronze Age Aegean,with their slowly emerging palace-based economies and complex social structures. Starting in the middle of the third millennium BC but diminishing after approximately 1800 BC, these connections point to a form of indirect or what might be called 'trickle-down' contact between the Aegean and India. From the start, until 2500 BC, the objects and commodities that formed this contact were transported overland, through Northern Iran, but after that time, the Harappans took control and we see a structured trade using the sea out through the Persian Gulf. This study views the Aegean as part of a greater trade network and here the author has attempted to both evaluate and re-evaluate what evidence and speculation there are for such contacts, particularly for the commodities such as tin and lapis lazuli as well as more recently discovered objects. It is emphasised that this does not testify to direct cultural and trade links and geographical knowledge between the Harappans and the prehistoric Aegean in the third and second millennia BC; it was just the natural extension of trade between the Near East and India. No goods or commodities arrived directly from India; they accumulated added value as they first built up a distinguished pedigree of ownership in the Near East and Syro-Palestine. In the Early to Late BronzeAges, India was an important resource for valuable and indispensable commodities destined for the elites and developing technologies of much of the Old World. Finally, the author has examined the period after the end of the Bronze Age to the time of Alexander the Great and particularly the period after the sixth century, when Greeks were now beginning to know a little about India. Within 200 years India was known to scholar and non-scholar alike, such as those who witnessed the Persian invasions of Greece or who later became Macedonian and Greek foot soldiers. AUTHOR: Robert Arnott was formerly Professor of the History and Archaeology of Medicine, Director of the Centre for the History of Medicine and Public Orator of the University of Birmingham. After retirement, he moved to the University of Oxford, where he is now a Fellow of Green Templeton College. He has a recognised international profile as indicated by his publications, conferences and visiting professorships.

Table of Contents:
Summary The Author List of Table and Figures Abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction   1. Prehistory: The Background The Harappan Civilisation Discovery The Decline of the Harappans Trade and Long Distance Exchange, Seafaring and Caravans Out of Meluḫḫa Farther Westwards The Harappans and Egypt Iconography Weights and Measures 2. Prehistory: The Evidence of Objects Pottery Kernoi Spiral Double Headed Pins Carnelian Beads Agate Seals and Beads Flat Disc Shaped Beads Other Beads Bronzes Pottery 3. Prehistory: The Evidence of Commodities The Role of Shortughai Organic Commodities Spices and Foodstuffs Wood Ivory Textiles Inorganic Commodities Lapis Lazuli: An Indian commodity Jade Gold: An Indian Commodity? Tin: Another Indian commodity 4. Prehistory: A Conclusion Earlier Work Summary of the Evidence 5. From the Iron Age to Alexander the Great The Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age Transition From the Sixth Century BC Greeks in Ancient Sanskrit Literature Early Geographers and Historians Religion and Philosophy Greeks, Macedonians and their Legacy in India Appendix 1. Indica of Ctesias of Cnidus   Bibliography

About the Author :
Professor Robert Arnott is an archaeologist, palaeoepidemiologist and medical historian, He is a Fellow of Green Templeton College, University of Oxford and former Professor of the History and Archaeology of Medicine in the University of Birmingham.

Review :
"[A] bold undertaking for extending and connecting the historical timelines of interactions between two far-distant regions in antiquity: the Aegean and South Asia."-- "Classical World"