ABSTRACT
Western horizons had extended beyond Persia into India only during the meteoric conquests of Alexander: distant China remained a mysterious land far beyond Rome’s everyday world. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, written by a Graeco-Egyptian merchant somewhere about a.d. 70, tells how trade between India and Rome, via Egypt, had operated in a number of stages. Among the numerous cities of northern India included in the new realm Pataliputra, the capital, was laid out on a plan reminiscent of ancient Harappa, while Taxila was a flourishing military and university town whose fame drew students from far and wide. The most important Indus sites are at Mohenjo-daro in Sind and Harappa in Punjab, which appear to have flourished from a little before 2500 B.C. for a thousand years. In Mohenjo-daro the public buildings included a state granary, while in Harappa the remains of subsidiary granaries have been unearthed.
