even though they carried far more than silk and there was in fact a network of east-west routes, not a single road.) Musk,
rhubarb, and licorice were among the spices traded along this route. Spices also traveled by land between the north and south
of India, between India and China, and between southeast Asia and inland China. Nutmeg, mace, and cloves were available in
India and China in Roman times but did not regularly reach Europe until the dying days of Roman rule.
The extent of this trade, and the amount spent importing exotic foreign goods, provoked some opposition in Rome. For one thing
it was extravagant, which was not in keeping with the supposedly traditional Roman values of modesty and frugality. It also
meant that large amounts of silver and gold were flowing east. Compensating for this outflow required that the Romans find
new sources of treasure, either through conquest or by opening up new mines. And all of this was for products that were, strictly
speaking, unnecessary and were sold at heavily marked-up prices.
As Pliny the Elder put it: “In no year does India absorb less than 55 million sesterces of our wealth, sending back merchandise
to be sold to us at one hundred times its prime cost.” In total, he reported, Rome’s annual trade deficit with the east amounted
to one hundred million sesterces, or about ten tons of gold, once Chinese silk and other fine goods were taken into account
along with the spices. “Such is the sum that our luxuries and our women cost us,” he lamented. Pliny professed to be baffled
by the popularity of pepper. “It is remarkable that its use has come into such favor, for with some foods it is their sweetness
that is appealing, others have an inviting appearance, but neither the berry nor the fruit of pepper has anything to recommend
it,” he wrote. “The sole pleasing quality is its pungency—and for the sake of this we go to India!”
Similarly, Pliny’s contemporary Tacitus worried about Roman dependence on “spendthrift table luxuries.” When he wrote these
words around the end of the first century A.D., however, the Roman spice trade was already past its peak. As the Roman Empire
declined and its wealth and sphere of influence shrank in the centuries that followed, the direct spice trade with India withered
in turn, and Arab, Indian, and Persian traders reasserted themselves as the main suppliers to the Mediterranean. But the spices
continued to flow. A Roman cookbook from the fifth century A.D., “The Excerpts of Vinidarius,” lists more than fifty herbs,
spices, and plant extracts under the heading “Summary of spices which should be in the house in order that nothing is lacking
in seasoning,” including pepper, ginger, costus, spikenard, cinnamon leaf, and cloves. And when Alaric, king of the Goths,
besieged Rome in 408 A.D., he demanded a ransom of 5,000 pounds of gold, 30,000 pieces of silver, 4,000 robes of silk, 3,000
pieces of cloth, and 3,000 pounds of pepper. Evidently the supply of Chinese silk and Indian pepper continued even as the
Roman Empire crumbled and fragmented.
But during the period when direct trade with the east had thrived, it briefly brought the people of Eu rope into the vibrant
Indian Ocean trade system. In the first century A.D., this trading network spanned the Old World, linking the mightiest empires
in Eurasia at the time: the Roman Empire in Europe, the Parthian Empire in Mesopotamia, the Kushan Empire in northern India,
and the Han dynasty in China. (Rome and China even established diplomatic contacts with each other.) Spices were just one
of the things that traveled around this global network by land and sea. But since they had a high ratio of value to weight,
could only be found in certain parts of the world in many cases, were easily stored, and were highly sought after, spices
were exceptional in being traded from one end of the network to the other, as shown for
rhubarb, and licorice were among the spices traded along this route. Spices also traveled by land between the north and south
of India, between India and China, and between southeast Asia and inland China. Nutmeg, mace, and cloves were available in
India and China in Roman times but did not regularly reach Europe until the dying days of Roman rule.
The extent of this trade, and the amount spent importing exotic foreign goods, provoked some opposition in Rome. For one thing
it was extravagant, which was not in keeping with the supposedly traditional Roman values of modesty and frugality. It also
meant that large amounts of silver and gold were flowing east. Compensating for this outflow required that the Romans find
new sources of treasure, either through conquest or by opening up new mines. And all of this was for products that were, strictly
speaking, unnecessary and were sold at heavily marked-up prices.
As Pliny the Elder put it: “In no year does India absorb less than 55 million sesterces of our wealth, sending back merchandise
to be sold to us at one hundred times its prime cost.” In total, he reported, Rome’s annual trade deficit with the east amounted
to one hundred million sesterces, or about ten tons of gold, once Chinese silk and other fine goods were taken into account
along with the spices. “Such is the sum that our luxuries and our women cost us,” he lamented. Pliny professed to be baffled
by the popularity of pepper. “It is remarkable that its use has come into such favor, for with some foods it is their sweetness
that is appealing, others have an inviting appearance, but neither the berry nor the fruit of pepper has anything to recommend
it,” he wrote. “The sole pleasing quality is its pungency—and for the sake of this we go to India!”
Similarly, Pliny’s contemporary Tacitus worried about Roman dependence on “spendthrift table luxuries.” When he wrote these
words around the end of the first century A.D., however, the Roman spice trade was already past its peak. As the Roman Empire
declined and its wealth and sphere of influence shrank in the centuries that followed, the direct spice trade with India withered
in turn, and Arab, Indian, and Persian traders reasserted themselves as the main suppliers to the Mediterranean. But the spices
continued to flow. A Roman cookbook from the fifth century A.D., “The Excerpts of Vinidarius,” lists more than fifty herbs,
spices, and plant extracts under the heading “Summary of spices which should be in the house in order that nothing is lacking
in seasoning,” including pepper, ginger, costus, spikenard, cinnamon leaf, and cloves. And when Alaric, king of the Goths,
besieged Rome in 408 A.D., he demanded a ransom of 5,000 pounds of gold, 30,000 pieces of silver, 4,000 robes of silk, 3,000
pieces of cloth, and 3,000 pounds of pepper. Evidently the supply of Chinese silk and Indian pepper continued even as the
Roman Empire crumbled and fragmented.
But during the period when direct trade with the east had thrived, it briefly brought the people of Eu rope into the vibrant
Indian Ocean trade system. In the first century A.D., this trading network spanned the Old World, linking the mightiest empires
in Eurasia at the time: the Roman Empire in Europe, the Parthian Empire in Mesopotamia, the Kushan Empire in northern India,
and the Han dynasty in China. (Rome and China even established diplomatic contacts with each other.) Spices were just one
of the things that traveled around this global network by land and sea. But since they had a high ratio of value to weight,
could only be found in certain parts of the world in many cases, were easily stored, and were highly sought after, spices
were exceptional in being traded from one end of the network to the other, as shown for
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