Amazing Pottery

Kerala on the South West Coast of India had trade relations with Rome and Greece, how far back in history?

According to Gibbon, "Decline and fall of the Roman Empire", Alaric the Goth asked for 3000 pounds of Kerala pepper as ransom to free the Fathers of Rome. Earlier Pliny complains about the large quantity of Roman coins flowing out of Rome to India in exchange for Pepper and Pearls of Kerala. Gold and Silver coins of Augustus Caesar, Tiberius, Hadrian, Nero are discovered in large quantities in Kerala even today, esp. near places like Parur and Palayur. Roman amphore and pottery have been found in Kerala and Pondicherry.There are some references perhaps in the Bible about Solomon having contacts with Kerala. Are there more concrete evidences for Roman and Greek contacts with Kerala?

Public Comments

1. It is very clear that Kerala had been a very important place of attraction for the tourists from time immemorial. Literacy works of those times extoll the beauty of the land. Kerala had trade relations with Egypt, Babylon, Phoenicia, Greece and Rome even before the Aryan incursion, which was between 2000 and 1600 B. C. However, popular legend says that the land stretching from Goa to Gokarnam was reclaimed by the mythical hero, Sage Parasurama and that was how Kerala came into being. But references from Hebrew texts give the evidence that Kerala had trade contacts with Phoenicia and Egypt, long before the Aryan incursion. Kerala's recorded history goes back to the third century B.C., and throughout the time since this special place in India has been a crossroad of trade and religious movements. Jesus Christ's disciple St. Thomas established his church at Muziris around 52 A.D., there was trade with Rome and Byzantium and Greece, and a Jewish colony was established in Cochin (Kochi) where it remains to this day centered around the beautifully preserved and still active Pardesi synagogue.