A Note On Muziris

A Note on Muziris

A.Yesterday
1.Muziris, as the ancient Greeks called it, was an important port on the Malabar Coast in Southern India . It was frequented by the ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Romans.   Eudoxus of Cyzicus sailed into Muziris during his two voyages undertaken between 118 and 116 BC. Muziris,  is mentioned in the Periplous of the Erythraean Sea and in Ptolemy's Geography and is prominent on the Peutinger Table. Pliny referred to it several times in his Naturalis Historia. Pliny called this port primum emporium Indiae.
There is no doubt Muziris was a major port in its time and was an Emporium, as Pliny called it.

Image taken from De Tabula Peutingeriana de kaart, Museumstukken II (edited by A.M. Gerhartl-Witteveen and P. Stuart) 1993 Museum Kam, Nijmegan, the Netherlands
2. In what is called a third century map(perhaps a copy of an ealier map)Muziris is shown  prominently by drawing a circle round it. (Taprobane , indicated at the bottom of the map refers to Sri Lanka). Pliny in his Natural History(6.26) mentioned that if one followed the wind Hippalus , one would  reach Muziris in about forty days ( he was referring to the South West monsoon) . He also mentioned that the roadstead for shipping was at a considerable distance from the shore and that  the cargoes are to be conveyed in boats, for either loading or discharging. He was indicating that Muziris was not along the coast but situated inland , reachable by a creek or a river. This was confirmed by the later Roman sources according to which �Muziris is located on a river, distant from Tindis - by river and sea, 500 stadia; and by river from the shore, 20 stadia�. Incidentally , Pliny  did not recommended alighting at Muziris, as it was infested by pirates .

3. Since the days of Eudoxus , the Greeks and Egyptians established a flourishing trade with Southern India by taking advantage of what they called the Hippalus wind , meaning the South West monsoon winds. (Please see my post� Other Ancient Greeks in India� for further details).The commodities the Greeks/Egyptians and Romans imported from India were precious gems, aromatics , spices - specially the pepper , besides cotton.

4. As regards the Gemstones , Muzris acted as the collecting and clearing point . The garnets and quartz came from Arikamedu region ( on the East coast of south India), the pearls were from Gulf of Mannar, while lapis lazuli beads were from Kodumanal in the neighboring region. The other stones included diamonds , agate, beryl�s , citrines etc. Please check the following links that carry abundant details on the Gem trade:
http://www.thebeadsite.com/UNI-MAPS.html
http://www.thebeadsite.com/abm-rio.html

5. An indication of the importance of Muziris  as a place for finalizing business deals by Roman traders was brought to light by L . Casson , a scholar, in his paper� New light on marine loans� .He mentioned about a papyrus (called P. Vindob. G 40822 -for identification purposes ), discovered during the year 1985 in  Vienna , which sets out the details of a maritime loan agreement between a ship owner - possibly of the Hermapollon mentioned on the verso of the papyrus - and a merchant using the ship as security.  The document  suggests that the loan arrangement was agreed to while the parties were in Muziris (though possibly signed on arrival at the Red Sea), indicating a rather active Roman merchant colony on the Kerala coast (http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1990/084pdf/084195.pdf).

6.The heightened trade between Greece/Egypt and India came as a culmination of the  trade relations that existed between India and the West even centuries earlier to Christian era.

7. Historians say Muziris, might be of significance in another way too. They say Christianity may have been introduced to the sub-continent through Muziris.

8. The successful run of the Greek/Egyptian trade with India suffered a  temporary setback due to the rise of a new Parthian Empire that formed a sort of barrier between the Greeks and the Indians. However ,when Rome  started to absorb the remnants of the Empire of Alexander , Egypt came under the control of Romans. Egypt became a Roman province in 30 B.C. Thereafter, Augustus settled down and took charge of Egypt , as his personal property.

Interestingly , According to  Pliny , writing in about 51AD , the use of monsoon winds  to shorten the passage to /from India was made known to the Romans only in the days of Claudius .( Pliny, N. H., 8, 101, 86). This development , therefore , must have come around 51 AD.  There was , therefore , a long period of lull in the Egypt-India trade after 34BC.

9. The Roman trade with India , through Egypt, began in earnestness in the first century AD. Muziris  then became an  important Romans' trading centre. The Rome/Egypt/India trade lasted famously  until about sixth century.

10. Then suddenly and mysteriously,  Muziris went off the radar. It was not mentioned again for a very long time. Dr  Roberta Tomber of British Museum said.
"What is interesting is that in the 6th Century, a Greek writer, writing about the Indian Ocean, wrote that the Malabar coast was still a thriving centre for the export of pepper - but he doesn't mention Muziris�.

No one has  a clue how Muziris disappeared so completely.

B.Today

1.BBC News in its edition of 11 June 2006 , reported an archeological investigation by two archaeologists - KP Shajan and V Selvakumar - has placed the ancient port as having existed where the small town of Pattanam now stands, on India's south-west Malabar coast. The team believes Pattanam as the place where Muziris once stood. Until recently, the best guesses for the location of Muziris centered on the mouth of the Periyar River, at a place called Kodungallor - but now the evidence suggests that Pattanam is the real location of Muziris.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4970452.stm

Map:Dr.Shajan

 
2. Pattanam is a small town some 12 km south of the Periyar river mouth (present day Kodungallur) , in Kerala state. The artifacts recovered from the excavation site include amphora (holding vessels) of Roman make and Yemenese, Mesopotamian, and West Asian ones too, indicating that Pattanam had trade not only with Rome but also with places in the Persian Gulf. The other artifacts recovered include pottery shards, beads, Roman copper coins and ancient wine bottles.
http://www.hindu.com/lf/2004/03/28/stories/2004032800080200.htm

3.There is no doubt that Pattanam was a major port and was important to the Indo-Roman trade But more collaborative evidence is needed to support the view that Pattanam was indeed Muziris. http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/01/stories/2006030102540200.htm

4. The remote sensing data revealed that a river close to Pattanam had changed its course .The port may have been buried due to earthquakes or floods. This may perhaps explain the disappearance of the Muziris port. However, there are no definite answers yet.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4970452.stm

5. Interestingly, while the excavations at Muziris are on, another set of archeologists from UCLA and University of Delaware have excavated Berenike, a long-abandoned Egyptian port on the Red Sea near the border with Sudan. The team has uncovered the largest array of ancient Indian goods ever found along the Red Sea, including the largest single cache of black pepper from antiquity - 16 pounds - ever excavated in the former Roman Empire.

Dr. Willeke Wendrich, an archaeologist at the University of California at Los Angeles, said the research showed that the maritime trade route between India and Egypt in antiquity appeared to be even more productive and lasted longer than scholars had thought.
In addition, it was not an overwhelmingly Roman enterprise, as had been generally assumed. The researchers said artifacts at the site indicated that the ships might have been built in India and were probably crewed by Indians.

These again confirm the trade relations that existed between ancient Rome/Egypt and India

http://mailman.geo.uu.nl/pipermail/maphist/2002-July/000840.html