South Indians in Roman Egypt?

Hershel Shanks, the editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review, has recently published findings indicating that Jews living in the Roman Empire in 79 AD when the southwestern Italian city of Pompeii was destroyed by a massive eruption of the Mount Vesuvius volcano, believed that it was Divine retribution for the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Roman general Titus nine years earlier. Citing archeological evidence in a paper entitled "The Destruction of Pompeii -- God's revenge?" in the July/August edition of the magazine, Shanks told the Jerusalem Post that Book 4 of the Sibylline Oracles, an ancient mystical text, includes a passage which says in part; "When a firebrand, turned away from a cleft in the earth [Vesuvius] In the land of Italy, reaches to broad heaven It will burn many cities and destroy men. Much smoking ashes will fill the great sky And showers will fall from heaven like red earth. Know then the wrath of the heavenly God." He also points to ancient graffiti scrawled on the walls near Pompeii which includes references to "Sodom and Gomorra." The eruption of Vesuvius "attacked the core of Roman society," Shanks concluded. "There's very good reason to conclude there was a perceived connection and in the eyes of some, God was clearly at work."

Jews saw Pompeii as retribution for destruction of the Temple

YouTube: Evidence of Christianity in First Century Pompeii

In 1939, Italian archeologist Prof Maiuri, discovered an artifact in the ruins of ancient Pompeii, that had a very Indian origin. This ivory statuette which survived the disaster and lasted all these 2000 years was identified by Prof Maiuri as that of the Goddess Lakshmi and dated to around 1AD. It has since then been quoted as the ‘Goddess Lakshmi statue in Pompeii' in many books & articles... in terms of iconography and technique, the closest comparisons can be made with ivory figurines recovered from the central and northwestern parts of the sub-continent and datable to the 1st century A.D. Two of these examples were found at the sites of Bhokardan and Ter in central India and a third was excavated in Begram, Afghanistan along with a large cache of ivory, bone, glass, and metal objects. Although these four figurines are not perfect matches, their shared iconographic and compositional features suggest that they may have been produced in the same region (probably central India) before being distributed to other regions. This small, rare sculpture, found in a modest dwelling in Pompeii, represents nonetheless an important indication of a trade relations that existed already by the 1st century A.D. between the Roman Empire and India.

Goddess Lakshmi statue in Pompeii | The Mysterious India | 2015-03-19

Goddess Lakshmi statue in Pompeii | The Mysterious India | 2015-03-19

Roman gold coins excavated in Pudukottai India

Thanks for posting this. I’m fascinated, not just with the extent of near east trade/exploration during the Roman era, but of the possibility that quinqueremes were exploring North America and tradesmen were in the Far East intreating with the Hans 1st Century, long before Marco Polo.

Ha. I didn’t get sucked into a 10 year old article again!

My pleasure.

Romans in Brazil During the Second or Third Century? [12/10/2003]
Romans in Brazil During the Second or Third Century? [10/17/2004]
...maybe this works...
The Lowly Amphora (and ancient contact across the oceans) [06/01/2015]

As soon as one of ‘em hits 25, the topic itself becomes an antique, and eligible to be a GGG topic... or somethin’...

As far as is known, Roman trade and contact with China were indirect, with goods exported from China to intermediary portside markets in India where they were purchased by Roman traders. That does not exclude that some Romans almost certainly traveled to China.

Some scholars argue that the copper that made the Bronze Age in Europe possible came from deposits of native copper in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, which were mined by light skinned mariners according to native legend. If true, someone will eventually find proof of it, perhaps in the form of an ancient wooden ship preserved in the cold, anaerobic waters of the Great Lakes.