maybe it was you who did the post on the roman trade with India. they crossed the desert from suez to greet the boats from india and bring back spices to rome.
The surviving ancient text, Periplus of Hanno, describes a voyage down the western coast of Africa by Carthaginians (who were Phoenician in origin, language, and ethnicity); it describes Mount Cameroun in eruption, and the gorilla; a couple of gorilla skins were tacked up on the wall of the Carthaginian temple where a Greek traveler encountered the text and preserved a Greek translation. Anyway, when the gorilla was rediscovered by non-Africans in the 19th century, the Periplus account of the beast was remembered, and that's how it got its name. :')Those About To DieThere 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."
Chapter XII
by Daniel P. Mannix
Tamil Brahmi script in Egypt
Hindu.com | 21 Nov 2007 | Hindu.com
Posted on 12/03/2007 7:47:12 AM PST by BGHater
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1933979/posts
pretty much unrelated to Roman trade:
Of lasting genes and lost cities of Tamil Nadu
Hindusantimes | Chennai, January 5 | Papri Sri Raman (Indo-Asian News Service)
Posted on 01/11/2003 1:43:22 PM PST by vannrox
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/821053/posts