Person

Cosmas Indicopleustes

6th century · 6th century

Cosmas Indicopleustes, 'the India-voyager', was a sixth-century merchant from Alexandria who travelled the Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade routes and later became a monk. His Christian Topography, written around 550, argued that the world was flat and shaped like the Tabernacle, but it preserves valuable descriptions of Aksum, Sri Lanka and the trade of the Indian Ocean, including the wide acceptance of the Byzantine gold coin.

Cosmas Indicopleustes
Image: Cosmas Indicopleustes, 6th century · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

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Byzantine EmpireSocioeconomy

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Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Cosmas Indicopleustes. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/cosmas-indicopleustes
MLA
“Cosmas Indicopleustes.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/cosmas-indicopleustes. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Cosmas Indicopleustes.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/cosmas-indicopleustes.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Cosmas Indicopleustes’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/cosmas-indicopleustes (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻