Cosmas Indicopleustes

Κοσμᾶς Ἰνδικοπλεύστης (Known as "Cosmas the Monk")

Merchant Voyager, Geographer, Monk, Author of Christian Topography

Born c. 500 CE

Alexandria, Egypt

Passed Away c. 560 CE Sinai, Egypt

Lifespan ~60 years old

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Notice / Correction

"I saw with mine own eyes the distant islands where cinnamon perfumes the sea."

Archival Overview

6th-century Alexandrian Greek merchant voyager whose sea journeys across the Red Sea, the Horn of Africa (Aksum), India, and Sri Lanka produced the Christian Topography.

Biographical Record

Cosmas was an enterprising Alexandrian merchant who engaged in maritime trade linking Roman Egypt with the Kingdom of Aksum in Ethiopia and the pepper ports of the Malabar coast in India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

Retiring to a monastery in Sinai, he composed the Christian Topography in 550 CE, providing invaluable first-hand accounts of Indian ocean navigation, Sri Lankan maritime trade hubs, Aksumite inscriptions at Adulis, and the fauna and flora of the Indian subcontinent.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial

Monastery of the Burning Bush Necropolis
Sinai, Egypt

                         GPS: 28.5558, 33.9761                    

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