Roman coin hoards
Topic: Economy of Early India: Agriculture, Trade, Guilds, Coinage · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Roman coin hoards are collections of Roman gold and silver coins buried in India in the early centuries CE. Most were found in south India. Many coins are of the emperors Augustus and Tiberius. Rome never ruled this region. So the coins show that trade crossed political borders, without any conquest. Roman merchants used the coins to pay for pepper, textiles, gems and other goods. Some Indians may have valued the coins for their metal, more than as money.
Example
Large hoards have been found in the Coimbatore region of Tamil Nadu, near the Palghat gap. This is the pass that links the Kaveri country with the Malabar ports such as Muziris.
Don't confuse with
- A common exam trap says "Roman coin hoards show Roman rule in south India". This is false. They show trade, not conquest.
- Kushana gold coins: these were issued by Indian rulers in the north. They followed a weight standard close to the Roman aureus, but they are not Roman coins.
Related concepts
- Trade routes
- Uttarapatha
- Dakshinapatha
- Indian Ocean trade
- Hippalus
- Indo-Roman trade
- Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
- Pliny's Natural History
- Ptolemy's Geography
- Muziris