Posted on 03/19/2010 4:40:01 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Pattanam, a small village located 25 km north of Kochi, is the new pilgrimage spot on the international archaeological map. This quiet place, archaeologists now confirm, was once the flourishing port known to the Romans as Muziris and sung in praise by the Tamil Sangam poets as Muciri.
Every year since 2005, excavations have yielded artefacts, structures and even a canoe in one instance to confirm this conclusion. This year has also been productive for archaeologists.
A figure of a pouncing lion carved in great detail on a semi precious stone and a bright micro metal object with intricate designs are two of the special objects found during the ongoing excavations that began in February. Copper antimony rods, usually associated with cosmetic use, were also found.
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Dr. Cherian's team has found a multitude of pottery shards, including that of a Roman amphora, early Chera coins, turquoise glazed pottery and cameo blanks (cameos were popular jewellery in ancient Rome). These attest to the existence of an active habitation and trading activities.
Despite abundant references in Roman and Tamil texts, Muziris, the famous western trade post, remained elusive to archaeologists for long.
Places such as Thiruvanchikulam and Kodungallur were initially thought to be Muziris, but excavations at these places did not yield any evidence. The trail excavations at Pattanam began in 2005, and the evidence obtained since has finally helped archaeologists locate the ancient port.
(Excerpt) Read more at beta.thehindu.com ...
I'm reminded of the excavated ivory carving of an Indian deity found at Pompeii.India And The Roman EmpireFine muslins, jewels, especially beryls and pearls, drugs, spices and condiments from India were in great demand. The volume of trade was, therefore, increased to an unprecedented extent. The sea-borne trade between India and Rome received great impetus in the reign of Emperor Claudius by Hippalaus' discovery, in 45 A.D., of the existence of the monsoon winds, blowing regularly across the Indian Ocean. According to Pliny nearly L 5,50,000 flowed every year from Rome to India to pay for the balance of trade. This statement is borne out by the huge hoards of Roman coins unearthed in Indian soil in Tamilnadu.
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I have done a lot of reading on the Indus Valley Civilization. I kind of get the hint that winds thing was known well before the Romans.
I'm guessing the advent of the Roman trade had more to do with the absorption of Egypt into the Empire and for the first time in centuries bringing relative stability, allowing people in that part of the world to venture out.
According to Poseidonius, later reported in Strabo's Geography,[1] the monsoon wind system of the Indian Ocean was first sailed by Eudoxus of Cyzicus in 118 or 116 BC. Poseidonius said a shipwrecked sailor from India had been rescued in the Red Sea and taken to Ptolemy VIII in Alexandria. The unnamed Indian offered to guide Greek navigators to India. Ptolemy appointed Eudoxus of Cyzicus, who made two voyages from Egypt to India. The first, in 118 BC, was guided by the Indian sailor. After Eudoxus returned with a cargo of aromatics and precious stones a second voyage was undertaken in 116 BC. Eudoxus navigated the second voyage, sailing without a guide. Strabo, whose Geography is the main surviving source of the story, was skeptical about its truth. Modern scholarship tends to consider it relatively credible. During the 2nd century BC Greek and Indian ships met to trade at Arabian ports such as Aden (called Eudaemon by the Greeks). Attempts to sail beyond Aden were rare, discouraged, and involved a long and laborious coast-hugging journey. Navigators had long been aware of the monsoon winds. Indian ships used them to sail to Arabia, but no Greek ship had yet done so. For the Greeks to acquire the expertise of an Indian pilot meant the chance to bypass the Arabian ports and establish direct commercial links with India. Whether or not the story told by Poseidonius of a shipwrecked Indian pilot teaching Eudoxus about the monsoon winds is true, Greek ships were in fact soon using the monsoon winds to sail to India. By 50 BC there was a marked increase in the number of Greek and Roman ships sailing the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.[2]
The cheapest way to haul bulk goods is by sea, I think that these people are acting in restraint of trade.
Good post! Thanks ct! There’s a topic about that map, and I completely forgot about it. [blush]
Hershel Shanks, the editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review, has recently published findings indicating that Jews living in the Roman Empire in 79 AD when the southwestern Italian city of Pompeii was destroyed by a massive eruption of the Mount Vesuvius volcano, believed that it was Divine retribution for the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Roman general Titus nine years earlier. Citing archeological evidence in a paper entitled "The Destruction of Pompeii -- God's revenge?" in the July/August edition of the magazine, Shanks told the Jerusalem Post that Book 4 of the Sibylline Oracles, an ancient mystical text, includes a passage which says in part; "When a firebrand, turned away from a cleft in the earth [Vesuvius] In the land of Italy, reaches to broad heaven It will burn many cities and destroy men. Much smoking ashes will fill the great sky And showers will fall from heaven like red earth. Know then the wrath of the heavenly God." He also points to ancient graffiti scrawled on the walls near Pompeii which includes references to "Sodom and Gomorra." The eruption of Vesuvius "attacked the core of Roman society," Shanks concluded. "There's very good reason to conclude there was a perceived connection and in the eyes of some, God was clearly at work."
Jews saw Pompeii as retribution for destruction of the Temple
YouTube: Evidence of Christianity in First Century Pompeii
In 1939, Italian archeologist Prof Maiuri, discovered an artifact in the ruins of ancient Pompeii, that had a very Indian origin. This ivory statuette which survived the disaster and lasted all these 2000 years was identified by Prof Maiuri as that of the Goddess Lakshmi and dated to around 1AD. It has since then been quoted as the ‘Goddess Lakshmi statue in Pompeii' in many books & articles... in terms of iconography and technique, the closest comparisons can be made with ivory figurines recovered from the central and northwestern parts of the sub-continent and datable to the 1st century A.D. Two of these examples were found at the sites of Bhokardan and Ter in central India and a third was excavated in Begram, Afghanistan along with a large cache of ivory, bone, glass, and metal objects. Although these four figurines are not perfect matches, their shared iconographic and compositional features suggest that they may have been produced in the same region (probably central India) before being distributed to other regions. This small, rare sculpture, found in a modest dwelling in Pompeii, represents nonetheless an important indication of a trade relations that existed already by the 1st century A.D. between the Roman Empire and India.
Goddess Lakshmi statue in Pompeii | The Mysterious India | 2015-03-19
Goddess Lakshmi statue in Pompeii | The Mysterious India | 2015-03-19
Roman gold coins excavated in Pudukottai India
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