hindu.com thehindu thscrip print.pl file=2008020450090500

2

Click here to load reader

Upload: kallidai-ram

Post on 02-Apr-2018

215 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Hindu.com Thehindu Thscrip Print.pl File=2008020450090500

7/27/2019 Hindu.com Thehindu Thscrip Print.pl File=2008020450090500

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hinducom-thehindu-thscrip-printpl-file2008020450090500 1/2

Date:04/02/2008 URL:

http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2008/02/04/stories/2008020450090500.htm

Back  Metro Plus  Bangalore  Chennai  Coimbatore  Delhi  Hyderabad  Kochi 

Still on the Roman trail

 

From R . Krishnamurthy’s collection of late Roman coins

It’s one of those weeks when my readers have had a ball. Getting in touch with me in person, via

the postman, or on the telephone. And delighting in pointing out that things other readers of mine or 

I have been getting wrong.

First off the mark was leading numismatist R. Krishnamurthy who writes that to the best of his

knowledge “no Roman coin has been unearthed at Arikamedu (Miscellany January 21) till now.” He

goes on to write, “Prof. Dr. Peter Berghaus of Munster University, Germany, published an article

some ten years ago about the discovery of Imperial Roman silver coins in Arikamedu. But he told

me that he had bought these coins from a Bombay dealer who had informed him that the coins were

from Arikamedu. It is not uncommon for coin dealers to claim that they have collected coins from

such important places. So we are not sure about their provenance.”

Together with his letter reader Krishnamurthy sent me a copy of his book, Late Roman Copper 

Page 2: Hindu.com Thehindu Thscrip Print.pl File=2008020450090500

7/27/2019 Hindu.com Thehindu Thscrip Print.pl File=2008020450090500

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hinducom-thehindu-thscrip-printpl-file2008020450090500 2/2

Coins from South India: Karur, Madurai and Tirukkoilur . In this beautifully illustrated book he

says that after the death of the Roman Emperor Caracalla in 217 C.E., the Roman Empire almost

collapsed, as did its international trade. Roman trade with South India remained desultory till the

middle of the 4th Century C.E. But in the second half of that century, it picked up again, as revealed

 by the large numbers of later copper coins found in Karur, Madurai, Tirukkoilur and Sri Lanka.

Early Roman coins had been found in Coimbatore, Dindigul, Madurai, Nilgiris, Pudukkottai, Salem,

Cuddalore and Karur Districts, according to reader Krishnamurthy. But, he says, after 220 C.E.,

Roman gold coins “hardly ever came to India.” Roman bronze coins, however, dating to the second

half of the 3rd Century have been found in Tamil Nadu, as have copper coins from the second half 

of the 4th Century C.E.

Reader Krishnamurthy’s interest in ancient coins was sparked in 1982 when an antique dealer in

Kodaikanal showed him an ancient Pandyan copper coin, rectangular in shape. He began collecting

ancient coins thereafter and, in the process, came across several small Roman copper coins in

Madurai. On a visit to Karur in 1987, he was astounded to hear that local scrap merchants, who

were offering him hundreds of such coins, had melted down thousands of them earlier and obtained

several kilos of ingots. His own collection of these Roman coins now numbers over 4000. Andthese he has been painstakingly cleaning and identifying.

Reader Krishnamurthy’s has not been the only response to this item.

Reader D.B. James writes that his father, while working in the Revenue Department, had found

Roman gold coins in Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh. These are now in the Government Museum,

Madras. It was felt that the Romans had come to Nandyal in search of indigo dyes.

Chennimalai in Periyar District, points out reader T.K. Visweswaran, was also famous for its

venkakkal , which is used in the manufacture of glassware and once was used to make beads and“artificial diamonds”. Mining of the stone to the extent that it has been done warrants “Chennimalai

 being renamed Chennipallam!” he writes.

And a recent Kerala Archaeological Department announcement of Roman finds in Pattanam

appeared in the Press just a few days after my item on the Roman Trail. Dr. Suresh’s book had not

only mentioned Pattanam (coastal city’ or ‘port’), “a small straggling village 1.5 km northwest of 

Paravur in the Ernakulam District”, but also pointed out that several Roman finds had been made

there in recent years. I had omitted mention of this village, which Suresh thinks could well have been

Muziris. In fact, Paravur has a couple of ancient Jewish synagogues.

S. MUTHIAH

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu