Indo-Roman Trade: From Pots to Pepper
Roberta Timber
London: Duckworth, 2008
The discovery of the archaeological site of Arikamedu which was excavated by Sir Mortimer Wheeler in the two season between 1944 and 1946 resulted in a complete change in the existing paradigms of reconstructing the early history of South India in particular and India in general. Wheeler rightly identified the site as having the potential of providing strati graphically calibrated dates which would serve as the sheet anchors of South history. The preeminence accorded to Arikamedu is now gradually being dwarfed by the cultural and archaeological significance of Pattanam on the Kerala coast. Why dies Roame loom so large on the horizon of South Indian historiography?
The earliest evidence available for a study of the economic activities in South India are from Classical texts. The Periplus, a Greek navigational tezt written soon after the discovery of the alternating monsoons documents in great detail the existence of emporia from the Red sea region to India and it lists all the ports which played vital role in the transmission of goods from India to the Mediterranean world. Arikamedu perhaps appears as Poduke in this record. It is rather strange that the Romans are credited with the exploitation of the trade nexus with South India while all the indigenous sources speak of the Yavanas as the main participants in the trade. The translation of Yavana as Roman is obviously wrong as the term denoted Ionian, and therefore it carried Greek identity. In fact the depiction of the owl of Minerva in one of the Ajanta caves reinforces the point made here that the Ionian Greeks were important intermediaries in this trade. Wheeler and his cohorts were interested in seeing India through the eyes of imperial Rome and hence he even termed the site of Arikamedu as a Roman trading port. The book under review examines the archaeological evidence pertaining to India's participation in the Indian Ocean trade and Roberta Tomber rightly emphasises the role of other ethnic groups from Arabia, Ethiopia and Africa in this trade.
The archaeological evidence found in India in the form of ceramic wares and coins needs to be studied very carefully. The earlier historians and scholars took the presence of Mediterranean ceramics like sigillata as direct evidence of Roman participation in the Indian Ocean trade. In fact Wheeler even took Amphorae which were found in Arikamedu as Roman pottery. However over the years some things have become clear. India was manufacturing amphorae both for local consumption and for international trade and this point is well established by the discovery by the State Department of Archaeology of Tamil Nadu of large quantities of local coarse amphorae in such sites as Vasavasamudram, Kanchipuram, Alagankulam and more recently at Pattnam. The coins found in India from the Roman Empire present a range of problems. While it is clear that most active period of the trade between India and the Roman world through the Red Sea region took place during the Imperial Age of Rome i. e. the first three centuries AD when Rome :comprehended the fairest and the most civilized [parts of the world, as Gibbon eloquently put it. The numismatic record shows a different pocture: the most popular coins found in India are the Republican coinage. This needs to be addressed. One obvious answer is to postulate intermediaries in the trade who preferred Republican coins because of their higher bullion content: the role of the Nabateans with their capital near present day Jordan needs to be imphasized.
Roberta Tmber has made an excellent study of the comparative chronology of the ports along the Eastern Desert which were active during the hey day of what she terms Indo-Roman trade. The site of Bernike which has been excavated has not yielded much evidence of Indian participation on the trade except coarse South India ceramics and one shard with brahmi graffiti. It has become fashionable for reasons of identity politics to read too much into brahmi graffiti. Richard Solomon has published this particular graffiti. The Island of Suqutra on the other hand has yielded a large number of brahmi inscriptions which are in Gupta characters and are in Prakrit language. It may be time to see the participation of other maritime groups in this trade as suggested by H P Ray.
The book under review is an excellent introduction to the study of the history of the Indian Ocean during the very important early historical period. I congratulate the author for this book which makes the scholarship from the Arabian and Classical perspectives available to historians working in India.
Roberta Timber
London: Duckworth, 2008
The discovery of the archaeological site of Arikamedu which was excavated by Sir Mortimer Wheeler in the two season between 1944 and 1946 resulted in a complete change in the existing paradigms of reconstructing the early history of South India in particular and India in general. Wheeler rightly identified the site as having the potential of providing strati graphically calibrated dates which would serve as the sheet anchors of South history. The preeminence accorded to Arikamedu is now gradually being dwarfed by the cultural and archaeological significance of Pattanam on the Kerala coast. Why dies Roame loom so large on the horizon of South Indian historiography?
The earliest evidence available for a study of the economic activities in South India are from Classical texts. The Periplus, a Greek navigational tezt written soon after the discovery of the alternating monsoons documents in great detail the existence of emporia from the Red sea region to India and it lists all the ports which played vital role in the transmission of goods from India to the Mediterranean world. Arikamedu perhaps appears as Poduke in this record. It is rather strange that the Romans are credited with the exploitation of the trade nexus with South India while all the indigenous sources speak of the Yavanas as the main participants in the trade. The translation of Yavana as Roman is obviously wrong as the term denoted Ionian, and therefore it carried Greek identity. In fact the depiction of the owl of Minerva in one of the Ajanta caves reinforces the point made here that the Ionian Greeks were important intermediaries in this trade. Wheeler and his cohorts were interested in seeing India through the eyes of imperial Rome and hence he even termed the site of Arikamedu as a Roman trading port. The book under review examines the archaeological evidence pertaining to India's participation in the Indian Ocean trade and Roberta Tomber rightly emphasises the role of other ethnic groups from Arabia, Ethiopia and Africa in this trade.
The archaeological evidence found in India in the form of ceramic wares and coins needs to be studied very carefully. The earlier historians and scholars took the presence of Mediterranean ceramics like sigillata as direct evidence of Roman participation in the Indian Ocean trade. In fact Wheeler even took Amphorae which were found in Arikamedu as Roman pottery. However over the years some things have become clear. India was manufacturing amphorae both for local consumption and for international trade and this point is well established by the discovery by the State Department of Archaeology of Tamil Nadu of large quantities of local coarse amphorae in such sites as Vasavasamudram, Kanchipuram, Alagankulam and more recently at Pattnam. The coins found in India from the Roman Empire present a range of problems. While it is clear that most active period of the trade between India and the Roman world through the Red Sea region took place during the Imperial Age of Rome i. e. the first three centuries AD when Rome :comprehended the fairest and the most civilized [parts of the world, as Gibbon eloquently put it. The numismatic record shows a different pocture: the most popular coins found in India are the Republican coinage. This needs to be addressed. One obvious answer is to postulate intermediaries in the trade who preferred Republican coins because of their higher bullion content: the role of the Nabateans with their capital near present day Jordan needs to be imphasized.
Roberta Tmber has made an excellent study of the comparative chronology of the ports along the Eastern Desert which were active during the hey day of what she terms Indo-Roman trade. The site of Bernike which has been excavated has not yielded much evidence of Indian participation on the trade except coarse South India ceramics and one shard with brahmi graffiti. It has become fashionable for reasons of identity politics to read too much into brahmi graffiti. Richard Solomon has published this particular graffiti. The Island of Suqutra on the other hand has yielded a large number of brahmi inscriptions which are in Gupta characters and are in Prakrit language. It may be time to see the participation of other maritime groups in this trade as suggested by H P Ray.
The book under review is an excellent introduction to the study of the history of the Indian Ocean during the very important early historical period. I congratulate the author for this book which makes the scholarship from the Arabian and Classical perspectives available to historians working in India.
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