HVK Archives: Ancient Rome and India : Sage of shared civilisation
Ancient Rome and India : Sage of shared civilisation - The Afternoon
Posted By Ashok V Chowgule (ashokvc@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in)
11 March 1997
Title : Ancient Rome and India : Sage of shared civilisation
Author :
Publication : The Afternoon
Date : March 11, 1997
Romans using Indian spices to garnish their dishes, ivory statues from the
subcontinent adoring drawing rooms in Pompeii and Roman coins found in South
India 2,000 years ago tell a fascinating story of cultural and commercial
ties between the two ancient civilisations.
Indian spices like cinnamon, cardamom, pepper and ginger were sought after
items in ancient Rime not just to prepare baked lambs and seafood sauce but
also for curing diseases like gall-bladder ailments, gouts, arthritis and
headaches. They were also used as antidotes.
These and other interesting facets of two-way tread and cultural relations
between ancient Rime and Indian were highlighted in an exhibition of
archaeological objects, literary evidence, photographs and artifacts jointly
organised by the Consulate General of Italy and the Indian Museum here as
Italy's homage to India on the eve of the 50the anniversary of India's
independence.
Literary works of the Roman empire also point to these ties. On display was
the laminated pages of the 'Purples of the Erythraean sea' whose anonymous
author belonging to the Roman age left the most complete and precise
description of the sea-trade between the Mediterranean world and India.
The exhibition also displays a Papyrus found in Egypt and datable to the
middle of the second century AD - a commercial contract for the shipping of
goods from Muziris in the Malabar coast to Rome through the Nile.
Geographical evidence also highlight the connection between the two-countries
and the 'Tabula Pentingeriane' displayed in the exhibition, is believed to be
connected with the great representation of the world during the age of
Augustus.
Also on display are two maps that show Rome and India and in the later, near
the seaport of Muziris is a temples dedicated to Augustus.
With Augustus, Pax Romana or an universal empire was established and there
are evidence of a thick network of alliance with Indians through
ambassadors.
The pictorial representation shows that the gifts brought by the Ambassadors
include precious stones and pearls, elephants and even tigers - never seen
before in Rome and also a boy without shoulders who could do everything with
his feet even shooting arrows.
Trade between the Roman world and India followed both the land and sea route.
Pictures of the routes were displayed and the land route was called the
'Great Central Asian Caravan road and the sea route is described elaborately
by the author of the Purples of the Erythraean sea.
Pictures of Roman and Indian ships as engraved on cons of the Andhra dynasty
of the second century AD was also displayed.
The exhibition also displays a picture of the kitchen of the Villa Dei
Misteri of Pompeii and a vase with a fishmonger cutting tuna the
Indian way.
The other most sought after products were good quality wood, precious and
semiprecious stones, fur and cotton which were also presented
here.
Foreign connections were also evident from Indian literary sources which
speak about the colonies of Yavanas (Meaning westerners) along the coast and
archaeological excavations have also revealed that Roman products imported in
Indian were mainly cloth, copper, coral, lead, glass, bronzes and
pottery.
Archaeological diggings have also revealed that Arikamedu, near Pondicherry
in South India and Karaikadu were important Indo-Roman trading stations.
Pottery with Roman letters, commonly-used bronzes and cameos recovered from
the sites and evidence of workshop for dyeing clothes and semi-precious
stones were displayed here.
On display were also a large number of Roman coins, especially the sesterces
and the gold coins recovered from time to time from South Central India,
bearing ample testimony to commercial traffic with the Romans.
There was mutual exchange of aesthetic tastes and a new art form was evolved
in Rome termed as 'provincial Roman art' which had Buddhist influences though
it was essentially 'classical'. In India, too, the Gandhara art evolved
during the Kushana period, depicts the Buddha with a dignity typical of the
Roman Emperor, draped in monk's garb like a Roman toga.
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