An archaeological team from Tirupur unearthed a 2,100-year-old Roman silver coin and 1,700-year-old copper coins in Vellalore in Coimbatore, which was once part of an ancient trade route, a few days ago. The silver coin, weighing a little over 1g, has the sun god Jupiter driving a four-horse chariot on one side.
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Silver Denarius dating to c.86 BC with a laureate head of Apollo on the obverse
and Jupiter in quadriga on the reverse [Credit: Rosenblum Coins] |
"The other side depicts Apollo, the god of music and poetry, wearing a wreath," said S Ravikumar, epigraphist, Virarajendran Archaeological and Historical Research Centre, Tirupur. He said the research team would hand over the coins to the archaeology department soon. He added that four copper coins were issued by the Salvs Republic from 383AD to 408AD. Each copper coin weighs 0.92g. Another copper coin was issued by King Theodosius II between 402AD and 457AD. It's weighing 1.020 gram.
Ravikumar said that Palakkad pass was an important stop on ancient trade routes. "We have found artefacts left by Roman traders who arrived at the ancient port of Muziris (now Pattanam) and entered the Palakkad pass. They travelled to the eastern part of TN," said Ravikumar. Vellalore had trading contacts with the Romans from the 2nd century BC to the 6th century AD. The Tamil Nadu merchant guild knew not only Tamil but also Greek, Arabic, Roman, Hebrew, Aramaic and Chinese, said Ravikumar.
Source: The Times of India [March 07, 2015]
