Persians and Romans at the Ends of the Earth December 4, 2014
Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient , trackback
The story is a simple one. A Roman and a Persian arrive by boat at the same time in a foreign port. Both are taken off to see the king (suggesting that the visitors were actually dignitaries) and the king decides to provoke them ‘Which of your kings is the greater and the more powerful?’ Of course, neither the Roman or Persian can let this go. The Persian replies that ‘Our king is the more powerful, and greater and richer, and he is the king of kings. And whatever he wills, he is able to put into effect.’ The Roman has a wittier answer: ‘What can I say? If you want to know the truth, you have got both kings here. Have a look at each of them; and you can see which is the more glorious and powerful.’ The King (and very probably the Persian) are shocked and do not at first understand, but the Roman is referring to the coins of the respective countries. So the best coin that the Roman and Persian can produce are brought out and placed in the hands of the king and the gold Roman nomisma beats the silver miliarision of the Persian. Indeed, the king is so impressed that he puts the Roman on an elephant and marches him up and down through the town while drums beat out and, of course, ‘the Persian went away in shame and disgrace’.
It is a nice story and based on a reliable witness (at second hand), appearing in Cosmas Indicopleustes’s Christian Topography: Cosmas wrote in the middle of the sixth century (note that the ‘Roman’ was an East Roman). And where was the king and his court? Well, he lived in a land named Taprobane. This name dates back, in Greek sources, to the third century BC when its meaning is unclear, though it is an island in the Indian or just possibly the Pacific. But by late imperial times there cannot be the slightest doubt. Whatever Taprobrane was in early times, its sense has hardened into ‘Sri Lanka’. Sri Lanka had, in fact, by the sixth century, become a major entrepôt between east and west, a place where Persians, Romans but also Chinese and African merchants met to deal in spices, gold and precious fabrics. Enjoy then, by all means, the story, but enjoy more the frisson of distance: a Roman and a Persian arguing before a Sinhalian, about a thousand years before the Portuguese got to Ceylon.
Other far travelled Romans: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
