Post No. 13,902
Date uploaded in London – 18 November 2024
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Tamil Pepper and Tamil Pearls ruled the Roman World (Post No.13,902)
Black Pepper corns and pearls from Tamil Nadu ruled the Roman world 2000 years ago according to Greek and Roman historians. Sangam Tamil poets also describe the enormous gold we have received from the Yavanas. The word Yavana stood for Greeks during Alexander’s invasion. In Tamil context, it stood for the Romans of Italy. From 16th century it stood for Arabs. But Sangam Tamil literature has at least six references to Yavanas, all pointing to Italian trade.
Ancient Tamil Nadu (modern Kerala was part of ancient Tamil Nadu; Chera became Kera(la)) exported pepper and pearls to the West. Shakespeare plays have lot of references to Indians and Pearls. The commentators hid the fact that it is India that is Bharat. Because Shakespeare was against Indians and made insulting remarks in Othello and other plays. Even Bible has reference to pearls. Though pearls are available in Persian Gulf also, all the pearls of ancient world came from India only according to historians.
Here are some interesting facts about Pearls:
Augustus conquered Egypt in 30 BCE and he tried to develop direct sea trade between India and the Roman Empire Strabo says that he saw that 120 ships sailing from Hormus to India in 25 BCE. Augustus himself says that Indian Embassies came frequently (Ref. McCrindle) to see him. Warmington thinks that Chera, Choza and Pandya sent separate embassies . This lead to the volume of India’s trade with Rome in the time of Augustus expanding to huge proportions. About this trade Warmington remarks, “when we examine the trade between India and Rome even in the beginning, it was like the trade between India and England.
We have enough proof for this in present Tamil Nadu and Kerala where thousands of Roman gold and copper coins were discovered.
One of the important items exported from India is ivory. The Greeks used it in their statues.
Pearls were first introduced into Rome during the Jugurthine war and made popular by the large quantities brought back to Italy by Pompey; they became common , when Augustus brought back the treasures of the Ptolemies.
(Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Latin: [ˈŋnae̯ʊs pɔmˈpɛjjʊs ˈmaŋnʊs]; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey (/ˈpɒmpi/ POM-pee) or Pompey the Great, was a general and statesman of the Roman Republic. He played a significant role in the transformation of Rome from republic to empire).
Metalla was a Roman mining center located in the Iglesiente region of Sardinia entrusted to a procurator metallorum where were destined Christians and slaves condemned to forced labor. Mentioned in ancient sources, it hosted a thermal building with mosaic floors and a public clock.
In the time of Cicero, when pearls were scarce, one valued at 8000 pounds in modern money was taken from the ear of Metella and deliberately swallowed by the son of Aesopus that he might have the satisfaction of swallowing a huge sum of money at a draught (Warmington book).
It is a well-known fact Cleopatra dissolved pearls in her wine before drinking it.
Tamil word PARAL became PEARL in English (If you go to etymology of pearl, they give absurd explanation and more over their etymology goes back only up to 14th century)
Pepper Export
Indians brought large quantities of spices and incense to Rome. Black pepper was found all over Berennike , ancient sea port of Egypt, in large jars weighing more than ten kilos. A fortune made from the pepper trade may be behind a beautiful fourth century mosaic filling the apse of luxuriously appointed Roman Villa in Piazza Armenia in Sicily. Here an Indian looking goddess is depicted, apparently copied from an Indian original, flanked by an elephant and tiger. She holds a cornucopia like elephant tusk and is surrounded by black pepper vines and a tree that probably represents aromatic agarwood.
In the Italian mainland another relic, a grave stone carved with an image of camel carrying amphorae of wine is found.
In Northumberland in England ,a Roman soldier named Gambax has ordered pepper worth of two Denari according to a written tablet.
By the end of the first century CE, Indian pepper became almost as readily available as it is today. Eighty percent of the 478 recipes included in the Roman cook book of Apicius included pepper and it regularly appears even in the pudding section. The first century Spanish poet Martial grumbles that the amount of pepper his cook included in his recipe for wild boar was likely to bankrupt him .
Origin of the word Pepper
The word pepper comes from the Sanskrit word pippali, which means “long pepper”. From there, it evolved into the Greek word πέπερι and the Latin word piper. The Latin word was then borrowed into other languages, including Germanic languages, Old French, Old Occitan, Catalan, Spanish, and Italian.
The term pepper was first used in the 14th century to describe the fruit of the Piper nigrum plant, also known as black pepper.
Some people wrongly said that it is a Tamil word. But it is not found in Sangam literature or in 1935 Ananda Vikatan Tamil Dictionary. There it meant another medicinal plant (Thippili).
—–subham—
Tags- Trade with Rome, Indian Exports, Pepper, Pearls, Cleopatra, Augustus
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