A SELEUCID COIN FROM KARUR

Jee Francis Therattil

This coin was collected by my father Mr. T.G. Francis, about two decades ago from a

numismatist in Dharmapuri who in turn collected it from Karūr. This was before the sporadic

surfacing of Sangam age coins from the Amarāvahti river bed at Karūr.

This uncleaned round coin is made up of 6.0 g. bronze and is in a partially worn out

condition. Patina which is typical of what can be expected if the coin was submersed in muddy water

for a long time can be seen. The peculiarity of the shape is that it is having a flat surface in one face

and a tapering in the curved surface area which gives it a peculiar appearance which is comparable

with that of the ‘cupped reverse’ type of coins. The remnant on the edge provides us the clear

indication that the blank is made using mould-cast technique.

Metal: Bronze.

Weight: 6.0 g.

Diameter: 18 mm.

Obverse Reverse

The bust with radiating diadem [Greek headdress in the form of a band denoting victory; a

symbol of kingship] to right, inside dotted circle, on the obverse and the closed-wing standing eagle

facing left and the broken script behind it ΑΝΤΙ•Χ on the reverse can be seen.

Radiating diadem is typical of traditional Seleucid style, whereas the closed-wing standing

eagle is typical of Ptolemaic Egypt, and this is what makes this coin peculiar and thus interesting.

This confused me a lot in identifying this coin properly. The little bit of script which barely escaped

from being worn out provided me the required breakthrough. The Greek script ΑΝΤΙ•Χ is part of

ΑΝΤΙ•Χ•Υ [ANTIOXOY] which represents Antiochus.

There is nobody by this name among Ptolemies; but 13 among the Seleucids! This anyway

helps us to confirm that this is an issue of a Seleucid. The Seleucid Empire1 comprised of

Mesopotamia, Armenia, Cappadocia, Persis, Parthia, Bactria, Arabia, Tapouria, Sogdia, Arachosia,

Hyrcania, and other adjacent peoples that had been subdued by Alexander, as far as the river Indus.

On a close observation, traces of epithet ΕΠ ΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ [EPIFANOUS meaning God’s

Manifest] can be seen at the left side of the standing eagle on the reverse. This confirms that this coin

is an issue of an Antiochus having an epithet Epiphanes. We know about two rulers having the same

name and the same epithet. One is Antiochus IV [175 – 164 BC.] and the other Antiochus VIII [125 –

96 BC.]. Will the closed-wing standing2 eagle in the reverse of the coin provide us some clue on who

has issued this coin?

When the guardians of King Ptolemy VI Philometor [180-164 BC, 163-145 BC] of Egypt

demanded the return of Coele - Syria in 170 BC, Antiochus IV launched a preemptive strike against

Egypt, conquering all but Alexandria and capturing Ptolemy. To avoid alarming Rome, Antiochus

allowed Ptolemy to continue ruling as a Puppet-king. But the political developments in Egypt made

Antiochus march to Alexandria once again in 168 BC, but Antiochus was forced to leave Egypt even

before reaching Alexandria, due to an intervention of Rome.

Antiochus VIII married the Ptolemaic princess Tryphaena [Cleopatra VI of Egypt] and on

grounds of this and on some studies on the mint marks, scholars are inclined to attribute this type of

coins to Antiochus VIII.

Several coins belonging to Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Macedonia, Crete, Rhodes and Thrace

dating back to 3rd century BC had been reported from Karūr3. As those coins are in a highly worn-out

condition, it may most probably be a part of later imports for the sake of copper as metal. We know

that copper was one among our imports4.

Dio wrote that following the death of Caligula, the Senate demonetized his coinage, and

ordered that they be melted. The philosopher Epictetus wrote: “Whose image does this Sestertius

carry? Trajan’s? Give it to me. Nero’s? Throw it away, it is unacceptable, it is rotten.” These

statements justify that even in those times, coins became obsolete after some period and then it will

be just as good as a piece of metal even if the condition of the coin is fine.

Even though no coins could be recovered from excavations or as stray surface finds, we know

from literary references, that the Greek merchants were directly present at Muziris. Muziris, as

observed by the unknown author of the Periplus Maris Erythraei, was then abundant with ships sent

by the Greeks with cargoes from Arabia, and by the Greeks5. The Greeks had to use the ports in the

Red Sea coast of Egypt to start sailing to the east.

Καπελοισ [kapelois] is the word for traders in ancient Greek. Parallels in Dravidian

etymology represent ship6. Imagine a person somewhere in the Damirican coast shouting “kappal...

kappal...” on seeing a ship in the vicinity, some 2000 years back. What might have he meant for

kappal in those times - the ship or the kapelois in it? The people who came by ship might have

introduced themselves as kapelois in the language they knew. Does the transformation of the thing

denoted by kappal seems too unjustifiable? When tapioca arrived in ship, much later, it came to be

known among the natives by the name kappa 7!

The Ptolemaic Empire reached its greatest extent during Ptolemy II Philadelphos’s [285-246

BC.] reign. Building activity was concentrated on Alexandria; the lighthouse, one of the Seven

Wonders of the World was finished during his reign, and he, rather than Ptolemy I Soter I [305-282

BC.], might have been the patron behind the establishment of the Μουσειον [Mouseion] and its

library. The king founded a chain of harbour towns along the Red Sea coast, supporting trade with

India and Arabia8.

The port at Berenike was founded by Ptolemy II, who named it after his mother. He tried to

bring trade through the canal of Sesostris connecting the Gulf of Suez with the Nile and founded the

port of Arsinoe [Suez] at its outlet to the sea. But this had to be abandoned owing to the difficult

navigation through the Heropoolite Gulf9, which caused merchants to prefer Leuke Kome or Aelana,

both linked with Petra and not with the Nile valley. Then he founded Berenike, which is linked with

Coptos on the Nile. In 247BC he founded Myos Hormos, 180 miles north of Berenike, with safer

harbour and a shorter journey to Coptos. But the Red Sea also had its difficulties as it was infested

with pirates until Ptolemy III Euergetes [246 - 221 BC.] stationed a fleet there to put down piracy10.

At the south-east corner of the Berenike site a deep trench [no. 5], excavated over three

seasons, conducted by University of Delaware - Leiden University showed that this part of the site

was used over a long period. It was here that clear indications of trade with India were found, such as

large quantities of peppercorns and Indian ceramics11. The trench no.10 yielded a storage vessel with

the largest amount of pepper found in an archaeological context anywhere in the ancient world. An

amphora shred found in a trench [BE95-4] bore on it a Tamil-Brahmi graffito korapuman among a

locus dated c.60-70AD12. Red Sea coast [Quseir al-Qadim] earlier provided two shreds having names

kanan and catan recorded on them using Tamil-Brahmi script, which is now datable to as of first

century AD13.

The archaeologists from UCLA and the University of Delaware uncovered from Berenike, 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. The team

dates these peppercorns to the first century AD14. These prove beyond doubt that these Egyptian

ports continued its trade relation with Tamilakam for centuries to come.

We have to infer in this context that the very name of the Muziri / Muchiri / Muyiri itself

was derived out of the traders who were the key factor there in those times – Misri [Egyptian] from

Misr [Semitic origin] meaning Egypt. Muziripattanam is nothing else than Misri Pattanam, which

literally means ‘place where the Misris trade’. This is comparable with Chēnakkada [Chinnakkada,

Kollam, Kerala] which got nomenclatured in the same way, but at a later period. The Egyptians even

nowadays prefer to be known as Misris only. This prompts us to infer that Egyptians might be the

very first successful community who were indulged in trade in that region, or in other words, the

exact place where Egyptian traders settled for their transactions and had their ‘emporium’, thrived as

trade centre for centuries to come retaining the name of the region.

References and notes:

1. Named after the founder Seleucus Nicator 312 - 280 BC., who had been one of Alexander the Great’s

principal officers.

2. On clear specimens we can see a thunderbolt on which the eagle is standing.

3. Page 19, vol.III, and page 29, vol. V, Studies in South Indian Coins.

4. 57, Periplus Maris Erythraei - The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a

Merchant of the First Century, translation of William H. Schoff, Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1912.

5. Ibid.

6. kappal - Malayalam and Tamil; kappali – Telugu.

7. Derived from kappal kizhangu ; kizhangu means tuber.

8. Digital Egypt for Universities, University College, London.

9. Strabo, 16, 4, 6.

10. Diodotus 2, 43, 4.

11. Berenike1994-1999, Archbase.

12. Berenike 1995, Preliminary Report, page 205.

13. Whitcomb and Johnson 1979: pl.27j; 1982: pl. 61.O; Salomon 1991: 738-736; Berenike 1995, Preliminary

Report, page 207.

14. Popular Science, April 1, 2004.

jeefrancis@gmail.com