Ancient Afghanistan and the Indian Ocean: Maritime Links of the Kushan Empire ca 50-200 CE

Abstract

In the first two centuries CE, commodities from Afghanistan and traded by way of Afghanistan held a prominent place in the maritime trade of the western Indian Ocean. This paper explores the maritime links between Afghanistan, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf as they appear in the firstcentury merchants guide Periplus Maris Erythraei and second-century epigraphic and archaeological material from Syrian Palmyra, and asks why the maritime routes became attractive alternatives in this period despite the considerable detours constituted by them.