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 contact, and enlisted architecture to symbolize their commercial union." Such an alliance was to the advantage of the Hindu traders. The Homerites stopped their vessels at Ocelis on the Arabian shore (Periplus, §25), taking their cargoes thence to Egypt by caravan; here was a new power that allowed them to trade to Avalites and Adulis, and even to march overland and take their wares to Egypt themselves. Ujjeni and Bharukacha, Axum and Alexandria were in close connection during the first and second Christian centuries, and

Periplus 065 Bodh-Gaya Temple.png Temple of Bodh-Gaya, India, dating from early in the 6th century.

the observer of the early relations between Buddhism and Christianity may find along this frequented route greater evidence of mutual influence than along the relatively obstructed overland routes through Parthia to Antioch and Ephesus. By the third century, with the decline of Rome, the growth of Antioch and Byzantium, and the fall of the Arsacid dynasty, the tendancy would be the other way.