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Oceanic Sea Routes to India—the Western World´s Great Dream rom Antiquity to Columbus
Abstract In the first part of this paper we explain the historical and cultural circumstances which in the fourth century BCE had already led to the emergence of the idea that the marvellous coasts of India might be reached by sailing westward from the Iberian Peninsula into the Atlantic Ocean. The second part is devoted to the question; why the realization of this concept, originally developed by Greek intellectuals, actually failed in Antiquity, in spite of favourable political as well as economic conditions during the early Roman principate (first and second century CE). Although the idea endured throughout the Middle Ages, it was revived and finally implemented under a changing political constellation at the dawn of the modern era.
