ABSTRACT
This paper presents the journey of an imaginary Indian merchant named Kanan, who was away for over a year and was eager to return home. The voyage back home was a long one and began when he travelled from the Mediterranean port of Alexandria, up the Nile River to Koptos and across the Eastern Desert to the Red Sea emporium of Berenike. From there Kanan sailed south landing at Ptolemais Epitheron and Adulis on the African Red Sea coast before arriving at the South Arabian Indian Ocean port of Qana’. He changed ships at Qana’ for his onward journey to Pattanam/Muziris on the Kerala/Malabar coast of India. The final leg of his long trip took him by ship around Toprobane/Sri Lanka to Podukê (Arikamedu) about 1 km up the Ariyankuppam River just off the Bay of Bengal on the Coromandel Coast (Figure 4.1).
