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625

Since 1786, when a hoard of Roman aurei was unearthedat Nellore (Andhra Pradesh), the finds and hoards of Roman gold and silver coins have fascinated historiansand archaeologists. Elliot (1844), for the first time,published a documentation of the hoards from India,known upto that date. Thurstan (1888 and 1894) in his

Catalogue of the Madras Government Museum published a morecamprehensive list of the Roman hoards from India. Wheeler (1954) was the first archaeologist to publish amap showing the distribution of Roman finds in India1.

The trade of Rome or the Roman Empire with Indiahas drawn the attention of many scholars in India aswell as in the west during the last few decades. They,generally, believe that the Indo-Roman trade was veryprosperous; it lasted for several centuries. Accordingto some scholars, it had its beginning in or about thesecond century B.C.; while a few others place it in the

middle of the first century B.C.2

Ancient coins from the Mediterranean area may havereached India earlier than the Roman coins if we takeinto account the emerging evidences. One of theoldest coins found in India is a silver coin of the cityof Cyzicus (Mysia, Asia Minor, 3rd c. B.C.)3. The coinis in the collection of Asiatic Society, Bombay4. Off and on Greek coins are found in Western andSouthern India, but they are negligible and hence noattention was paid to them5.

But this state of affairs changed in the year 2000 whena well documented book on coins from Thrace,Thessaly, Crete and Rhodes, coins of Seleucid kings of Syria and coins from Phoenicia belonging to a periodfrom third century B.C., found from the Amaravathiriver bed near Karur in South India was published6.

Apart from this, two-thirds of the amphorae fragmentsfound at Arikamedu excavations came from wine-jars.Initially the wine came from Roman Greece, especiallyfrom the island of Kos, Knidos and Rhodes. While the

Koan amphoras are dated to as early as the second cen-tury B.C., the pieces from Knidos and Rhodes probablybelong to the first century B.C.7 From the above eviden-ces, we can reasonably presume, that early Greek andRoman contacts with India could have taken place sometime during second or first century B.C.

Roman Republican coins are generally found associa-ted with the coins belonging to the Roman Imperialperiod in several coin hoards reported from TamilNadu and Kerala states in India. Stray finds of Republican denarii were also reported. A denarius of the Roman Republican period of Caesar (46 B.C.,Sydenham type no: 1623) found at Tirupur in TamilNadu, India has been reported8. Another coin of Republican period (79 B.C.) was found in SouthPennar river near Kaveripatnam in Dharmapuri dis-trict, again in Tamil Nadu. This coin was identified by

Dr. Andrew Burnett of British Museum9

.

To this category of finds we may now add the sixRepublican denarii reported here. They were foundfrom the Amaravathi river bed near Karur (11º latitu-de, 78º longitude) in South India. The details of thesesix coins are provided below in the hope that they mayenhance our knowledge of Roman contacts with SouthIndia, particularly Tamil Nadu.

Some Roman Republican denarii from Karur in South India

R AMASUBBAIYER KRISHNAMURTHY

1. Peter Berghaus, Roman Coins from India and their Imitations, in:Coinage, Trade and Economy, Indian Institute of Research in

Numismatic Studies, Anjaneri, Nasik, India, 1991, p. 108.2. P.L. Gupta, Coins in Rome’s Indian Trade, Ibid., p. 122.3. Peter Berghaus, op. cit.4. Peter Berghaus, ibid., p. 112.5. P.L.Gupta, op. cit., p. 123.6. R.Krishnamurthy, Non-Roman Ancient Foreign Coins from Karur in India,

Garnet Publishers, Chennai, India, 2000, p. 7-37.7. Elizabeth Lyding Will, Mediterranean Shipping Amphora from

1941-50 Excavations, in: Vimala Begley et. al. (eds.), The Ancient

Port of Arikamedu, Volume 1, de l’Ecole Française d’Extrème-Orient,p. 318.

8. News item in Dinamani (Tamil Daily) dated 22nd April 1990.9. Nishathuddeen Ahmed, A Roman Serrated Denarius from Tamil

Nadu, Studies in South Indian Coins, Vol. IV, 1994, p. 43.



626


Coin no. 1

Denarius: 16 mm; 2.700 gm; (Sydenham coin typeno. 738a).

Obverse: Head of Apollo facing right, laureate. Reverse: Man on horse, galloping, facing right,

hurling a spear.No legend is seen on the obverse or reverse. Moneyer: P. Crepusius Period: C . 82-81 B.C.

Coin no. 2

Denarius: 17 mm; 2.220 gm; (Sydenham coin typeno. 928).

Obverse: Head of Bonus Eventus, facing right withbroad diadem, and on right the characters,ON, E, being part of the legend BONEVENT.

Reverse: Well head (puteal), with letters TEAL(being part of the legend PVTEAL) andCRIBON being part of the legendSCRIBON in exergue.

Moneyer: (Lucius Scribonius) Libo. Period: 55 B.C.



627

SOME ROMAN REPUBLICAN DENARII FROM K ARUR IN SOUTH INDIA

Coin no. 3


Obverse: Head of Cybele facing right, turreted;hair in knot and falling down the neck.Legend not visible.

Reverse: Human figure, with hands extended, kne-eling right, beside a camel; on rightIVDAEVS; in exergue, BACCHIVS.

Moneyer: A. Plautius Period: 54 B.C.

Coin no. 4


Obverse: Jugate heads of Dioscuri facing right;each wearing laureate pileus. On left andbelow RVFVS.III VIR.

Reverse: Venus Verticordia standing left holdingscales and sceptre; behind her, cupid; onright CORDIVS.

Moneyer: Manius Cordius Rufus Period: C. 46 B.C.

Coin no. 5

Denarius:18 mm; 3.720 gm; (Similar to Sydenhamcoin type no.1151)

Obverse: Eagle with wings spread, facing right andstanding on three horizontal lines. Above, instead of the usual legend PETILLIVSthere is a Jumbled legend. Below, insteadof the legend CAPITOLINVS, there isanother jumbled legend.

Reverse: Hexa style temple; hanging garlands betwe-en three of the columns; pediment decora-ted with figures, on left, S and on right, F.

Moneyer: Petillius Capitolinus for the original coin. Period: C . 37 B.C., for the original coin.

This coin is an ancient imitation. The obverse and the

reverse are not similar to the original coin10

.

The thunderbolt depicted on the original coin is notseen in this coin. The legends are also not correctly spel-led. It is not possible to determine the date of this coin.

The photograph of the obverse and reverse, as theyappear in a original coin of this type, are reproducedat the right.

10. Catalogue Mail Bid Sale 47, Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. , London,1998, Coin no. 1311.



628


Coin no. 6

Denarius: 18 mm; 3.720 gm; (Similar to Sydenhamcoin type no. 918)

Obverse: Head of Libertas facing right, wearing aprominent ear-ring and necklace of pen-

dants; hair in knot; jewels in hair and aboveforehead; on left, instead of the usuallegend LIBERT (Sydenham-918), we see ajumbled legend and on right instead of CASSIVS, we see another jumbled legend.

Reverse: Deemed temple of Vesta, surmounted byornamental decorations; within temple, acurule chair; on left voting urn; on rightvoting tablet inscribed AC.

Moneyer: Q. Cassius, for the original coin. Period: C. 57 B.C. for the original coin.

This is also an ancient imitation coin. It is not possible

to determine the date of this coin.The obverse and reverse as they appear in a originalcoin of this type are illustrated at the right11.

11. Catalogue Auction 42, Classical Numismatic Group, Inc., New York, 1997,Coin no. 743.

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