Romans vs Khmers: They came, they saw, they traded... or did they?

Phnom Penh Post ^ | 4th of July 2015 | Bennett Murray

[SunkenCiv]

In 2nd century AD Egypt, the legendary Greco-Roman scientist Claudius Ptolemy put the extent of the known world onto paper. From his home in Alexandria, he gathered reports from sailors who had made perilous journeys to India and possibly beyond. Though details were sparse, a voyager named Alexander described a distant port called Kattigara on the Sinus Magna (Great Gulf) to the east of the Golden Chersonese peninsula - widely considered to be mainland Malaysia.

Halfway across the world around the same time, the bustling seaport Oc Eo was part of the flourishing Funan Kingdom, the earliest known pre-Angkorian civilisation and origin of the earliest Khmer-language inscriptions.

Located in modern Vietnam's An Giang province near the Cambodian border, Oc Eo was on Monday declared a "national relic" by the Vietnamese government. Vuong Binh Thanh, chairman of the People's Committee of An Giang, reportedly told onlookers that it was essential to preserve the 450-hectare site for the sake of tourism and academia alike.

Excavation at Oc Eo suggests it was major centre for international maritime trade. Unearthed jewellery, pottery statues, coins and gold pieces - including depictions of Hindu deities and Sanskrit inscriptions - indicate busy trade with the Indian subcontinent.

[SunkenCiv]

A 15th Century map of Southeast Asia from Ptolemy's writings. WIKICOMMONS

[SunkenCiv]

The Kingdom of Funan was recorded by the Chinese as well, but of course their quite clear accounts of the place were ignored and/or denigrated, possibly because they are pre-muzzie. The excavations at Angkor Borai have shown, conclusively, that an artificial and quite navigable canal had existed (and in some places still does), and the strata at the former site of the city reach back at least as far as the 1st c BC. Lots of evidence of seagoing trade. Not much on the web search about Angkor Borai, that I saw. Thanks Red Badger!

[SunkenCiv]

Those About To Die
Chapter XII [Part 1 of 4]
by Daniel P. Mannix

There were also man-sized apes called tityrus with round faces, reddish color and whiskers. Pictures of them appear on vases and they were apparently orangutans, imported from Indonesia. As far as I know, the Romans never exhibited gorillas although these biggest of all apes were known to the Phoenicians, who gave them their present name which means "hairy savage."

[crusher2013]

You post interesting stuff SukenCiv...

[Fred Nerks]

...There were also amusing touches, or what the Romans considered amusing. A jeweler who had sold some fake stones was sentenced to the arena. The wretched man was driven into the arena and a lion's cage rolled out before him.

While the jeweler fell on his knees and prayed for mercy, the door of the cage was pulled back—and out walked a chicken.

Tickled me pink, that did.

[Fred Nerks]

KHMER CHAT FORUM

Cattigara is thought to be the Roman name for the major port of the Magnus Sinus - the Ptolemic name for the Gulf of Thailand. The Roman Cattigara was Funan era Óc Eo (o'keo / glass canal), which is modern day Thoại Sơn District in Vietnam. There is a man made canal running from Angkor Borei south to Óc Eo that is believed to date from the Funan era.

[SunkenCiv]

That condemned jeweler was layin' something, but it wasn't eggs. :^)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks, I'm glad Red Badger found it. There's another article on the site about an ancient city of Asian dominatrixes, I didn't want to post that one, it would just encourage a lot of image linking.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks. Among the other items of cargo was a great amount of bead stock (carnelian and whatnot, from the subcontinent) that arrived with other cargos but shipped more or less as ballast. The ship would arrive with its main goods, but also shipping bead stock, sell everything (probably piecemeal) then load up with local stuff for the next leg (either back home or further past).