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Direct Sailing Between the Persian Gulf and China in Pre-Islamic Times

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

G. F. Hourani
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Extract

In the sixth, century a.d. Chinese and Persian merchants used to meet regularly in Ceylon for the exchange of their products: this is clear from Cosmas Indicopleustes, xi, 336, and Procopius, Persian Wars, i, 20, 9–13. In addition to this the existence of direct sea-commerce between the Sassanid Empire and China has often been asserted as an established fact, e.g. by J. T. Reinaud, Relations des voyages faits far les Arabes, etc. (Paris, 1845), p. xxxv; H. Yule, Marco Polo (London, 1903), p. 83; L. Caetani, Annali dell'Islam (Milan, 1905–1926), ii, 2, 12 A.H., sect. 133, note 1; iii, 16 A.H., sect. 328; E. H. Warmington, The commerce between the Roman Empire and India (Cambridge, 1928), pp. 138, 358, note 146; and others. But this assertion rests on slender evidence and requires discussion. I shall endeavour to set down all the passages which might be adduced and to assess the value of each one.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 79 , Issue 3-4 , January 1947 , pp. 157 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1947

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References

page 158 note 1 The identity of the Po-sse is discussed in Laufer, B., Sino-Iranica (Chicago, 1919)Google Scholar, and Hasan, H., A history of Persian navigation (London, 1928), pp. 97 ff.Google Scholar Apparently the term was used by the Chinese both for a Malayan people and for the Persians. But I follow H. Hasan in assuming that it refers to Persians in the passage quoted.

page 159 note 1 “… magna promiscuæ fortunæ convenit multitudo ad commercanda quse Indi mittunt et Seres aliaque plurima vehi terra marique consueta.”