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Merchant’s Road Toward the Utopia in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 November 2018
Abstract
Heliodorus’ Aethiopica narrates the adventurous journey of a couple through Egypt to the kingdom of Meroe in Ethiopia where they get married. To increase the plausibility of this story Heliodorus uses his knowledge of Rome’s trade activities in the East and he even introduces some characters involved in trade ventures in those regions (e.g. Nausicles) at crucial moments of its development. On the other hand, Heliodorus’ references to luxurious products of Eastern and African origin, as well as to exotic animals or tribes, are recurring elements (or leitmotifs) that are consciously interspersed throughout the novel. Those references not only serve to unify a carefully planned plot and guide the reader to an intended conclusion, but also to map the idealised Ethiopia and its neighboring subjected regions (inhabited by some fantastic tribes), where the protagonists will eventually live.
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References
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15 A. M. Scarcella, ‘The Social and Economic Structures of the Ancient Novels’, in The Novel in the Ancient World (n.1) 221-76.
16 Labelled as such by Barthes in his essay, ‘The ‘Reality Effect’: see Barthes, R., The Rustle of Language (New York, NY 1986) 141-148 Google Scholar.
17 Whitmarsh, T., Narrative and Identity in the Ancient Greek Novel: Returning Romance (Cambridge 2011) 119-120 CrossRefGoogle Scholar (‘the template for a Conrad-esque sense of journey and destination’).
18 See Whitmarsh, T., ‘The Writes of Passage: Cultural Initiation in Heliodorus’, in R. Miles (ed.), Constructing Identities in Late Antiquity (London 1999) 16-40 Google Scholar.
19 On this so-called ‘rhetoric of excess’, see the recent discussion in M. Cobb, ‘The Reception and Consumption of Eastern Goods in Roman Society’, G&R 60 (2013) 136-52.
20 The informants Septimius Flaccus and Maternus in Ethiopia: Ptol. Geog. 1.8, 10-11. See Berggren, L. J. and A. Jones, Ptolemy’s Geography: An Annotated Translation of the Theoretical Chapters (Princeton, NJ 2000) 67-72 Google Scholar, 145-7.
21 L. Casson, The Periplus Maris Erythraei (Princeton, NJ 1989).
22 See Strab. 15.1.2 and Ptol. Geog. 1. 11.7-8.
23 As claimed by Pliny (HN 12.42).
24 Tac. Ann. 6.28; Plin. HN 10.2.5 (= Hdt. 2.73). We also have records of the capture of a ‘hippocentaur’ on a high mountain in Arabia which was embalmed in Egypt and put on display in the imperial palace at Rome: Plin. HN 7.3.35.
25 Heliod. Aeth. 2.30.2: φύλλα τινά σε καὶ ῥίζας … τῶν Ἰνδικῶν καὶ Αἰθιοπικῶν καὶ Αἰγυπτίων.
26 Heliod. Aeth. 2.30.2: ὄψει μὲν… ὅπως δὲ μὴ μικρόλογος ἔσῃ περὶ τὴν ἀγοράν.
27 Heliod. Aeth. 2.30.2: μὴ βαρύτιμον εἶναι περὶ τὴν διάπρασιν.
28 Heliod. Aeth. 2.30.4: ἕτερον δῶρον … πολὺ τούτων ἐριτιμότερον.
29 Coptus as a common emporium (πόλιν κοινὴν) shared by Egyptians and Arabs: Strab. 17.1.44-45; Plin. HN 5.60; Ael. Arist. 36.115. For the central role of Coptus in the Egyptian transport network, even in the 4th century CE (see Amm. Marc. 22.16.2), see Ballet, P. (ed.), Coptos l’Egypte Antique aux Portes du Desert (Paris-Lyon 2000)Google Scholar; Boussac, M.-F. et al. (eds.), Autour de Coptos: Actes du Colloque Organisé au Musée des Beaux Arts de Lyon (Lyon 2002)Google Scholar.
30 Philostr. VA 6.2: χρυσῷ τε ἀσήμῳ … καὶ λίνῳ καὶ ἐλέφαντι καὶ ῥίζαις καὶ μύρῳ καὶ ἀρώμασιν. For Hiera-Sykaminos, see Török, L., The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization (Leiden 1997) 409-531 CrossRefGoogle Scholar and especially Török, L., Between Two Worlds: The Frontier Region Between Ancient Nubia and Egypt, 3700 bc-ad 500 (Leiden 2009) 7-22, 377-513 Google Scholar.
31 Heliod. Aeth. 4.16.6: … πλεῖν δὲ ἐπὶ Καρχηδόνα τὴν Λιβύων, ὁλκάδα μυριοφόρον Ἰνδικῶν τε καὶ Αἰθιοπικῶν καὶ τῶν ἐκ Φοινίκης ἀγωγίμων φέροντες. Phoenicians and Phoenician items in Heliodorus: Heliod. Aeth. 4.16.3-10, 17.1, 5.17.1, 18.2-3, 19.1-3, 27.9, 29.2, 7.19.5, 10.41.3. For the image of the Phoenicians in the novel, see also F. Briquel-Chatonnet, ‘L’image des Phéniciens dans les romans grecs’, in Le monde du roman grec (n.3) 189-97.
32 Heliod. Aeth. 5.18.2: Φοινίκιον τὸ φιλοτέχνημα.
33 Heliod. Aeth. 5.19.1-2: ὡς τοῦ πλείονος φόρτου τῶν ἀγωγίμων δεσπόζοι, χρυσοῦ τε ὄντων καὶ λίθων πολυταλάντων καὶ σηρικῆς ἐσθῆτος.
34 Hall, L. J., Roman Berytus: Beirut in Late Antiquity (London 2004) 21-44 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 218-36. On Tyre, see Jidejian, N., Tyre through the Ages (Beirut 1969)Google Scholar; Joukowsky, M. S. (ed.), The Heritage of Tyre: Essays in the History, Archaeology, and Preservation of Tyre (Dubuque, IA 1992)Google Scholar.
35 Heliod. Aeth. 10.41.8: ἀνὴρ Φοῖνιξ Ἐμισηνός. See E. Bowie, ‘Phoenician Games in Heliodorus’ Aithiopika’, in Studies in Heliodorus (n.1) 1-18, esp. 9-10.
36 See Möller, A., Naukratis: Archaic Trade in Egypt (Oxford 2001)Google Scholar.
37 Heliod. Aeth. 2.24: ὅτι αὐτὴν καὶ βασιλεῖ τῶν Αἰθιόπων ἀπάξειν ἔμελλεν ὡς αὐτὸς ἔφασκε γαμετῇ τῇ ἐκείνου συμπαιστρίαν καὶ συνόμιλον τὰ Ἑλλήνων ἐσομένην. For Nausicles see Heliod. Aeth. 2.8.5, 2.12.2, 2.23.8-24.3, 5.1.5-7, 5.2.4, 5.8.2-13.2, 5.15.1-16.5, 5.33.3-5, 6.1.1-11.2.
38 Plin. HN 6.34. PME 13 also mentions slaves in the markets of Opone being sent to Egypt.
39 The Coptos Tariff (OGIS 674.16-17) records the hefty fees that were levied on prostitutes bound for the Red Sea ports. Females slaves, concubines, and slave musicians were sold in Indian and African ports in Roman times: PME 24, 31, 49.
40 Several centuries earlier, the Greek explorer Eudoxus of Cyzicus, on his third trip to India, also took along a supply of young slave musicians: Strab. 2.99.
41 Heliod. Aeth. 5.14.1: τοιαύτη μὲν καὶ πᾶσα ἐξ Ἰνδῶν τε καὶ Αἰθιόπων ἀμέθυσος.
42 V. E. Ciocani, ‘Virginity and Representation in the Greek Novel and Early Greek Poetry’ (PhD thesis, Toronto 2013) 228-37.
43 On this amethyst and the scene engraved on it as a reference to Longus, see Bowie, E., ‘Names and a Gem: Aspects of Allusion in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica ’, in D. Innes (ed.), Ethics and Rhetoric: Classical Essays for Donald Russell on his Seventy-Fifth Birthday (Oxford 1995) 269-280 Google Scholar; E. M. Rush, ‘Writing Gems: Ekphrastic Description and Precious Stones in Hellenistic Epigrams and Later Greek Prose’ (PhD thesis, UCLA 2012) 88-96.
44 Heliod. Aeth. 1.3.2: χρυσοῦ δὲ καὶ ἀργύρου καὶ λίθων πολυτίμων καὶ σηρικῆς ἐσθῆτος.
45 The βούκολοι, who feature at the beginning of the Aethiopica, actually revolted against Rome in 172 ce: Heliod. Aeth. 1.5-6, 2.2.1; Ach. Tat. 3.9 and 4.7-18 = Dio Cass. 72.4.1-2; SHA Marc. 21.2; Avid. Cass. 6.7. See G. Bowersock, Fiction and History (Berkeley, CA 1997) 51-3. For the βούκολοι, see also Alston, R., ‘The Revolt of the Boukoloi: Geography, History and Myth’, in K. Hopwood (ed.), Organized Crime in Antiquity (London 1999) 129-153 Google Scholar; Rutherford, I., ‘The Genealogy of the “Boukoloi”: How Greek Literature Appropriated an Egyptian Narrative-Motif’, JHS 120 (2000) 106-121 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Dowden, K., ‘“But There Is a Difference in the End...”: Brigands and Teleology in the Ancient Novel’, in M. Paschalis and S. Panayiotakis (eds.), The Construction of the Real and the Ideal in the Ancient Novel (Groningen 2013) 41-59 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
46 Heliod. Aeth. 1.22.3: Ὁλκὰς οὖν ἐπληροῦτο χρυσοῦ τε καὶ ἀργύρου καὶ ἐσθήτων.
47 Heliod. Aeth. 2.17.2: χρυσοῦ μὲν καὶ ἀργύρου καὶ ἐσθῆτος ἀφθονία.
48 Heliod. Aeth. 5.31.2: δάφνης τε φέρουσαν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς στέφανον καὶ χρυσοϋφεῖ στολῇ καταυγάζουσαν.
49 Heliod. Aeth. 7.3.2: … ὑπὸ ἁλουργοῖς καὶ χρυσοϋφέσι παραπετάσμασιν.
50 Heliod. Aeth. 7.2.1: ἡδονῆς παρανόμου καὶ ἀκρατοῦς ἐλάττων. Her husband, the satrap Oroöndates, can also be proud (Heliod. Aeth. 8.2.1, 8.3.1) and inwardly evil (Heliod. Aeth. 9.10.2).
51 Heliod. Aeth. 7.27.1: … στρεπτοῖς τε χρυσοῖς καὶ περιαυχενίοις λιθοκολλήτοις. See also Heliod. Aeth. 7.8.6, 18.1, 19.1, 19.4. The eunuch of Artaxerxes tries to impress Callirhoe with the king’s wealth in Charito 6.5. See. M.-F. Baslez, ‘De l’histoire au roman: la Perse du Chariton’, in Le monde du roman grec (n.3) 199-212. The Persian king Cambyses brings the same presents to the Ethiopians through the agency of the tribe of the Ichthyophagi (‘fish-eaters’): Hdt. 3.20.
52 On the significance of this episode, as counterbalancing Cnemon’s story in Athens, see Morgan, J. R., ‘The Story of Knemon in Heliodoros’ Aithiopika ’, JHS 109 (1989) 99-113 CrossRefGoogle Scholar and especially Papadimitripoulos, L., ‘Love and Reinstatement of the Self in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica ’, G&R 60 (2013) 101-113 Google Scholar.
53 Heliod. Aeth. 9.24.1: ἡμῶν δὲ οὐ χρυσὸς οὐ λίθοι τὰ λάφυρα, πρᾶγμα κατ’ Αἰθιοπίαν εὔωνον καὶ σωρηδὸν ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις ἀποκείμενον.
54 As described in Heliod. Aeth. 10.5.2.
55 For a general introduction to the genre, see N. Holzberg, ‘Utopias and Fantastic Travel: Euhemerus and Iambulus’, in The Novel in the Ancient World (n.1) 621-8. Specifically on utopian novels as models for Heliodorus’ Meroe, see Alvarès, J., ‘Utopian Themes in Three Novels’, AN 2 (2002) 1-29 Google Scholar, esp. 16-21; Futre Pinheiro, M., ‘Utopia and Utopias: A Study on a Literary Genre in Antiquity’, in G. L. Schmeling et al. (eds.), Authors, Authority, and Interpreters in the Ancient Novel (Groningen 2006) 147-171 Google Scholar, esp. 159-64. See also generally Ferguson, J., Utopias of the Classical World (London 1975)Google Scholar and Romm, J., The Edges of the Earth in Ancient Thought (Princeton, NJ 1994)Google Scholar.
56 See Török, L., Herodotus in Nubia (Leiden 2014)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
57 Cf. the case of the gymnosophists depicted after the philosophers who inhabited India and Ethiopia. See Robiano, P., ‘Les gymnosophistes éthiopiens chez Philostrate et Héliodore’, REA 94 (1992) 413-428 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Morgan, J. R., ‘The Emesan Connection’, in K. Demoen and D. Praet (eds.), Theios Sophistes: Essays on Flavius Philostratus’ Vita Apollonii (Leiden 2009) 263-282 Google Scholar.
58 See Morgan, J. R., ‘History, Romance, and Realism in the Aithiopika of Heliodorus’, ClAnt 1 (1982) 221-265 Google Scholar. On Heliodorus as a source to illuminate Ethiopian history and society, see also Marengo, S. M., ‘L’Etiopia nel romanzo di Eliodoro’, in P. Janni and E. Lanzilotta (eds.), ΓΕΩΓΡΑΦΙΑ: Atti del secondo convengno maceratese du Geographia e cartografia antica. Macerata, 16-17 aprile 1985 (Rome 1988) 105-120 Google Scholar; R. Lonis, ‘Les Éthiopiens sous le regard d’Héliodore’, in Le monde du roman grec (n.3) 233-41; Hägg, T., ‘The Black Land of the Sun: Meroe in Heliodorus’ Romantic Fiction’, in L. B. Mortersen and E. Tormod (eds.), Parthenope: Selected Studies in Ancient Greek Fiction (Copenhagen 2004) 345-375 Google Scholar; Morgan, J. R., ‘Le blanc et le noir: perspectives païennes et chrétiennes sur l’Éthiopie d’Héliodore’, in B. Pouderon (ed.), Lieux, décors et paysages de l’ancien roman des origines à Byzance: actes du 2 e colloque de Tours, 24-26 octobre 2002 (Lyon 2005) 309-318 Google Scholar; J. Ndione, Les Éthiopiques d’Héliodore: document historiques ou fiction romanesque (PhD thesis, Nancy 2008).
59 We can recall the example of the first great Ethiopian king, Ergamenes, a contemporary of Ptolemy Philadelphus, who received a Greek education (Diod. 3.6.3). Zoskales, ruler of Axum during the 1st century ce, was also well versed in Greek and even had some command of Latin (PME 5-6). On the Hellenisation of Meroe, see Desanges, J., ‘L’Hellenisme dans le royaume de Méroë’, Graeco-Arabica 2 (1983) 275-296 Google Scholar; Burstein, S. M., ‘The Hellenistic Fringe: The Case of Meroë’, in P. Green (ed.), Hellenistic History and Culture (Berkeley 1993) 38-54 Google Scholar; Wildung, D., ‘Meroe and Hellenism’, in D. Wildung (ed.), Sudan: Ancient Kingdom of the Nile (Paris 1997), 370-380 Google Scholar; Burstein, S. M., ‘When Greek Was an African Language: The Role of Greek Culture in Ancient and Medieval Nubia’, Journal of World History 19 (2008) 41-61 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. 41-9. For the material culture, see L. Török, Hellenizing Art in Ancient Nubia 300 bc-ad 250 and Its Egyptian Models: A Study of ‘Acculturation’ (Leiden 2011).
60 See Desanges, J., Recherches sur l’activité des mediterranéens aux confins de l’Afrique (Rome 1978)Google Scholar and Haaland, R., ‘The Meroitic Empire: Trade and Cultural Influences in an Indian Ocean Context’, African Archaeological Review 31 (2014) 649-673 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
61 See further Hansen, W., ‘Strategies of Authentication in Ancient Popular Literature’, in S. Panayiotakis, M. Zimmerman, and W. Keulen (eds.), The Ancient Novel and Beyond (Leiden 2003) 301-314 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
62 Chinese silk: ταινία τις ἀπὸ σηρικοῦ νήματος… (Heliod. Aeth. 2.31.2).
63 Ethiopian letters: γράμμασιν Αἰθιοπικοῖς (Heliod. Aeth. 4.8.1).
64 For references to the silk waistband, see Heliod. Aeth. 2.31.2-4, 4.8.1-8, 4.11.3-4, 8.11.9, 10.13.1-14.7.
65 Secret virtues: ἀπορρήτῳ δυνάμει… καθιερωμένον (Heliod. Aeth. 4.8.7).
66 Holy letters: γράμμασι δὲ ἱεροῖς τισιν ἀνάγραπτος (Heliod. Aeth. 8.11.8).
67 The pantarba in action: Heliod. Aeth. 8.9.6-16 and 8.11.2-8.
68 Heliod. Aeth. 2.32.2: … ἐπέταττεν ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν σμαραγδείων μετάλλων ὡς Αἰθιοπίᾳ προσηκόντων. We know that Ethiopian representatives came to Egypt (Diod. Sic. 3.11.3; Aristid. Or. 36.35) and were also among the learned audiences of the lecture halls of Alexandria (Dio Chrys. 32.3). From the inscriptions of the Isis temple at Philae, we also know of another Ethiopian embassy. See B.G. Haycock, ‘The Foreign Relations of the Napatan-Meroitic Kingdom in the Sudan from the 8th Century b.c. to the 4th Century a.d’. (PhD thesis, Durham 1965) 112-34.
69 The conflict over the emerald mines: Heliod. Aeth. 2.32.2, 8.1.1-3, 9.6.5, 9.26.2-3, 10.11.1.
70 The Σμάραγδος ὄρος / Smaragdus mons (‘Emerald Mountain’) was at a distance of a 25-day journey from Coptos and not far from Berenike: Plin. HN 37.69; Ptol. Geog. 4.5.15; OGIS 717 (Inscription at Edfou-Apollonopolis Magna). See further A. V Maxfield and D. P. S. Peacock (eds.), Mons Claudianus 1987-1993, Survey and Excavations, vol. 2: Excavations, Part I (Cairo 2001); Peacock, D. P. S. and A. V. Maxfield (eds.), The Roman Imperial Quarries: Survey and Excavation at Mons Porphyrites 1994-1998 , vol. 2: The Excavations (London 2007)Google Scholar.
71 See specifically J. R. Morgan (n.58) 246 and n.105.
72 In spite of the Roman forts constructed in this region and the troops stationed there. See S. E. Sidebotham, A. M. Hense, and H. M. Nouwens, The Red Land: The Illustrated Archaeology of Egypt’s Eastern Desert (Cairo 2008)Google Scholar.
73 The emperors Aurelian (ad 270-275) and Probus (ad 276-282), after their campaigns in Egypt, exhibited the Blemmyes (or Beja) in their triumphal processions in Rome in 274 and 280 ce respectively: SHA Aurel. 33.4 and 41.10; Prob. 17.2-3 and 19.2. See Török, R. L., (1984) ‘A Contribution to Post-Meroitic Chronology: The Blemmyes in Lower Nubia’, RSO 58 (1984) 201-243 Google Scholar; T. Updegraff, ‘The Blemmyes I: The Rise of the Blemmyes and the Roman Withdrawal from Nubia under Diocletian’, ANRW 2.10.1 (Berlin 1988) 44-106; Browne, G. M., ‘Blemmyes and Beja’, CR 54 (2004) 226-228 Google Scholar.
74 For the Troglodytes, see Strab. 16.4.4-5 and Plin. HN 6.33.163-6.34.176. On the problems posed by them in Roman times, see H. Cuvigny, Ostraca de Krokodilô: La correspondance militaire et sa circulation (O. Krok. 1-151). Praesidia du désert de Bérénice II (Cairo 2005).
75 See Heliod. Aeth. 10.5.2 (elephant training grounds), 9.16.2, 17.1-2, 18.3-7, 22.2-3 (elephants in battle formation), 10.25.2 (an old elephant, gift of Hydaspes). The Trogodytic country and the border area with Ethiopia were first explored in search of elephants during the Ptolemaic period. See Casson, L., ‘Ptolemy II and the Hunting of African Elephants’, TAPhA 123 (1993), 247-260 Google Scholar; Burstein, S. M., ‘Elephants for Ptolemy II: Ptolemaic Policy in Nubia in the Third Century bc ’, in P. McKechnie and P. Guillaume (eds.), Ptolemy II Philadelphus and His World (Leiden 2008) 135-148 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Nadig, P., ‘Hunting for Elephants: How the Ptolemies Kept Up with the Seleucids’, Archaiognosia 16 (2010-2012) 71-84 Google Scholar; Cobb, M., ‘The Decline of Ptolemaic Elephant Hunting: Analysis of the Contributory Factors’, G&R 63 (2016) 192-204 Google Scholar.
76 Heliodorus may also rely here on Herodotus: Heliod. Aeth. 10.26.2 = Hdt. 3.102-105 (ant-gold from India and Ethiopia); Heliod. Aeth. 10.26.2 = Hdt. 3.116.1, 4.13.1, 4.27.1 (Griffin). On the legend of the gold-digging ants, see P. Li Causi and R. Pomelli, ‘L’India, l’oro, le formiche: storia di una rappresentazione culturale da Erodoto a Dione di Prusa’, Hormos 3-4 (2001-2002) 177-246.
77 The Axumites were also paraded in the triumphs of Aurelian and Probus. See G. Bowersock, ‘The Aethiopica of Heliodorus and the Historia Augusta’, in G. Bonamente and F. Paschoud (eds.), Historiae Augustae Colloquia n.s. 2: Colloquium Genevense 1991 (Bari 1994) 42-52.
78 Heliod. Aeth. 10.27.1: φόρου μὲν οὐκ ὄντες ὑποτελεῖς, φίλιοι δὲ ἄλλως καὶ ὑπόσπονδοι. For the rise of the kingdom of Aksum, see Bowersock, G., The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam (Oxford 2013)Google Scholar. For the commercial relations and military conflicts between Axum and Meroe, see Hatke, G., Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa (New York, NY 2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
79 Pliny (HN 8.27.69) reports that the giraffe was first seen in Rome on the occasion of the games offered by Caesar in 46 bce. Giraffes also featured in Aurelian’s triumph of 273 ce: SHA Aurel. 33.4. See P. L. Gatier, ‘Des girafes pour l’empereur’, Topoi 6 (1996) 903-41.
80 Heliod. Aeth. 9.16.2, 9.19.2, 9.19.3 (οἱ τῆς κινναμωμοφόρου).
81 Heliod. Aeth. 10.26.1: οἱ Ἀράβων τῶν εὐδαιμόνων (Arabia Felix).
82 Heliod. Aeth. 10.26.1: … φύλλου τε τοῦ θυώδους καὶ κασίας καὶ κινναμώμου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οἷς ἡ Ἀραβία γῆ μυρίζεται.
83 See G. Bowersock, Roman Arabia (Cambridge, MA 19942); A. De Maigret, Arabia Felix: An Exploration of the Archaeological History of Yemen (London 2002). On the spice trade, see J. I. Miller, The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire 29 b.c. to a.d. 641 (Oxford 1969); F. De Romanis, Cassia, Cardamomo, Ossidiana (Rome 1996).
84 Heliod. Aeth. 10.25.8: οἱ Σηρῶν… πρεσβευταί. Silk was usually dyed in bright colours: Plin. HN 21.11. For the word φοινικοβάφης (‘dyed in purple’), see also Heliod. Aeth. 3.3.5 and Philostr. Ep. 3.36.
85 Verg. G. 2.121; Plin. HN 6.54; Sen. Her. O. 667.
86 Heliod. Aeth. 10.25.8: τῶν παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς ἀραχνίων νήματα … = Paus. 6.26.6-7 and Philostr. Imag. 2.28. For the use of oral sources in the discussion on the origin of silk, see J. P. Sánchez Hernández, ‘Pausanias and Rome’s Eastern Trade’, Mnemosyne 69 (2016) 955-77.
87 For ‘Ethiopian’ or dark-skinned Chinese, see Ov. Am. 1.14.6; Luc. 10.291-2; Paus. 6.26.9. Other ancient travellers described the Chinese merchants as having blue eyes and red hair (Plin. HN 6.23), but these accounts probably referred to Tocharian merchants coming to India via Xinjiang: cf. B. Sergents, ‘Les Seres sont les soi-disant “Tokhariens”, c’est à dire les authentiques Arsi’Kuchi’, DHA 24 (1998) 7-40. On the idealisation of the Chinese and their vague geographic location, see Poinsotte, J. M., ‘Les Romains et la Chine : Réalités et Mythes’, MEFRA 91 (1979) 431-479 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
88 Pausanias (6.26.9), e.g., records that some claimed that the Chinese lived on an island called Seria (ἡ Σηρία νῆσος), located next to the islands of Abasa (Ἄβασα) and Sacaea (Σακαία) in a recess of the Red Sea. A Red Sea town by the name of Sacaea is also mentioned by Pliny the Elder (HN 6.52) and in the Periplus Maris Erythraei (PME 4.1.20-1).