Golden Chersonese

The Golden Chersonese or Golden Khersonese, meaning the Golden Peninsula (Ancient Greek: Χρυσῆ Χερσόνησος, Chrysḗ Chersónēsos; Latin: Chersonesus Aurea), was the name used for the Malay Peninsula by Greek and Roman geographers in classical antiquity, most famously in Claudius Ptolemy's 2nd-century Geography.

The earliest references to a fabulous land of gold that could be interpreted as places in South East Asia may be found in Indian literature. In Ramayana, there are mentions of Suvarnabhumi (Land of Gold) and Suvarnadvipa (the Golden Island or Peninsula, where dvipa might refer to either a peninsula or an island). Greek knowledge of lands further to their east only improved after the conquests of Alexander the Great, but specific references to South East Asia did not appear until after the rise of the Roman Empire. Greek and Roman geographers Eratosthenes, Dionysius Periegetes, and Pomponius Mela had wrote about a Golden Isle (Khrysē, Chryse Insula), taken by some in modern times as meaning Sumatra while excluding the Malay Peninsula.Pliny in Natural History, however, referred to Chryse as both a promontory and an island.

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