Phrases, Words, Spices From The Roman Economy

The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean: The Ancient World Economy & The Kingdoms of Africa, Arabia & India, Raoul McLaughlin, c. 2014, 2018.

unique products make trade profitable

Duty tax vs VAT

• quarter-rate frontier tax; tetarte (p. 15); duty tax
• internal customs tax: a standard one-fortieth portorium (p. 12); sort of like a VAT

Spices

• amomum: spice, black and green cardamom, p. 15, India,
• spikenard: perfume, p. 15, India
• cinnamon, p. 15; not strong enough to be grown in Syria

The three major customs centers for Rome:

• Egypt: Coptos
• Palestine: Gaza
• Arabia: Leuke Kome

Arabia Felix: Yemen, p. 20

Egypt: was the port for India

Puteoli: the port of Rome (vs Alexandria, the port of Egypt)
The Bay of Puteoli

Piraeus: port of Athens

Aha! "The governor of Egypt held equstrian rank and no senators were allowed to visit the province.

Molossia, note 2.27.6a at bottom of page 96, Arrian: The Aiakids were the ruling familyin Molossia, a region west of Macedonia that was closely allied to the Macedonian royal house after the marriage of Philip to Olympia, Alexander's mother, a Molossian princess. The Aiakids/Molossians claimed descent from the mythic hero Neoptolemos, son of Achilles, and that claim enabled Alexander to believe (or claim) that he had the blood of Achilles in his veins.

Macedonian ethnicity, note 2.5.9c, at bottom of page 65, Arrian: According to a legend well-known to the Greeks long before Alexander, the family that made up the royal Macedonian dynasty was descended from Herakles and had migrated to Macedonia from the Peloponnese. Recent scholarship has questioned whether this legend has any historical basis, see Appendix B, Greek and Macedonian Ethnicity, paragraph 3.