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Muziris
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- Muziris is also a genus of jumping spiders.
Muziris is the Greek-Roman name of a port-city of the ancient period, that was located on the Malabar Coast of present-day South India, and was famous across several civilizations as a major port for trade and commerce from before the beginning of the Common Era.
There had always been a lot of confusion about the location of the port, as also about other aspects of it, but in general, there had been a consensus that it was somewhere in the Southern and South-Western region of India, possibly around the ancient town of Kodungallur.
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Encyclopedia
- Muziris is also a genus of jumping spiders.
Muziris is the Greek-Roman name of a port-city of the ancient period, that was located on the Malabar Coast of present-day South India, and was famous across several civilizations as a major port for trade and commerce from before the beginning of the Common Era.
There had always been a lot of confusion about the location of the port, as also about other aspects of it, but in general, there had been a consensus that it was somewhere in the Southern and South-Western region of India, possibly around the ancient town of Kodungallur. It was only around early 2004 that some recent active research yielded results, after which it has been generally accepted that Muziris could well have been situated at Pattanam, near Paravur on the South of the Periyar river-mouth in present-day Kerala.
The recent archaeological work done in the area has revealed fragments of imported Roman amphora, mainly used for transporting wine and olive oil, Yemeni and West Asian pottery, besides Indian roulette ware (which is also common on the East Coast of India, and also found in Berenice in Egypt). This suggests that Muziris was a port of great international fame and that South India was involved in active trade with several civilizations of West Asia, the Near East and Europe with the port as a means to do so.
While there is a consensus on that both the port and the city ceased to exist around the middle of the 13th Century CE, possibly following a earthquake, there does not seem to be clear evidence as to when the port might have first come into being. Presently, researchers seem to be agreed on that the port was already a bustling center of trade by 500 BC, and there is some evidence that suggests that Muziris was a city, even if not certainly a port as well, from before 1500 BC. It is worth noting that Muziris is also referred to as Murachipattanam in Valmiki's Ramayana as well as Vyasa's Mahabharata, as Muchiri in the so-called Tamil Sangam's literature, and as Muzirikode in the Jewish Copper Plate of Bhaskara Ravi Varma (around 1000 AD). Among foreign references, Muziris also finds mention in the First Century Natural History of Pliny, the Second Century Geographia of Ptolemy, the Second Century Muziris Papyrus (p. Vindob G480822), and the Fourth Century Tabula Peutingeriana.
A few traditional scholars also identify Muziris with the town of Musiri, located upstream River Kaveri, near Karur, the ancient capital city of the Cheras, in present-day Tamil Nadu state. According to the the First Century Periplus of the Erythrean Sea by Pliny the Elder, the distance between Musiri and the sea is around 500 stadia.
External links
- Dr. Nagaswamy R., 1995, Roman Karur
- Raghava Aiyangar, R.,1932, Vanci Managar, Madras.
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