it is believed that the remnants from the indo-greeks , the atsinganos (untouchables) left the indian subcontinent as traders about indo-roman trade via the silk road through byzantine empire to egypt at the time of the migration period , where they live for centuries. the copts named them ⲣⲱⲙⲁ ("man or human", also "these people there") in coptic. around the 12th or the 13th centuries, the roma reached the balkans, in the wake of the crusades. from there, they dispersed in western europe.