Roman aurei from Pudukota, South India / [G.F. Hill]

8/20/2019 Roman aurei from Pudukota, South India / [G.F. Hill]

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2/19


3/19

XVI.

ROMANAUREI

FROM

PUDUKOTA,

SOUTH

INDIA.

The

hoardof

whichdetails re

given

below

was

discovered

early

n

1898,

n

the

territory

f

his

Highness

the

Rajah

of

Pudukota.

To the

energy

f

Mr.

Crossley,

is

High-

ness's

private

secretary,

we

owe

it

that

the hoard

was

secured

verynearly

f not

altogether

ntact,

lthough

he

native who discovered t made strenuous

attempts

o

defeat the ends of

numismatics

nd

the law.

By

the

kind

permission

of

his

Highness,

who

has

generously

presented

o

the BritishMuseum

such varieties

as were

required

for he

National

Collection,

am

enabled

to

give

a

complete description

f

the coins.

They

are

unfor-

tunately

without

exception

in

bad

condition,

having

evidently

been in circulation

long

time

before

they

were buried. In addition, more than 90 per cent, of

them

have been

deliberately

efaced

with

fileor

chisel.

In the

list

which

follows

give

the

references

o

Cohen's

work,

he

number

f

coins

of

each

type,

nd the number

of

defaced

pecimens.



4/19

ROMAN

UREI

FROM

UDUKOTA,

OUTH

NDIA.

305

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6/19

ROMAN UREIFROM

UDUKOTA,

OUTH NDIA.

307

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co

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cq

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rg

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rg

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oo

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7/19

308

NUMISMATIC

HRONICLE.

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o

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CO


8/19

ROMAN

UREIFROM

UDUKOTA,

OUTH

NDIA.

309

r

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50r


9/19

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NUMISMATIC

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10/19

ROMAN

UREI

FROM

UDUKOTA,

OUTH

NDIA.

311

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11/19

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NUMISMATIC

HRONICLE.

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12/19

HOMAN

UREIFROM

UDUKOTA,

OUTH NDIA.

313


13/19

314

NUMISMATIC

HRONICLE.

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14/19

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UREI

FROM

UDUKOTA,

OUTH NDIA.

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15/19

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16/19

ROMAN

UREI

FROM

UDUKOTA,

OUTH

NDIA. 317

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17/19

818

NUMISMATIC

HRONICLE.

The

available information

elating

to

previous

inds f

Roman

coins

in

South

ndia has been collected

by

Mr,

Edgar

Thurston.1 The

earliest known

notice of

such

finds

ates from

787.

Roman

gold

and

silvercoins

have

been

found

n

the various districts

tretching

cross

the

peninsula

from

Calicut

to the

Coromandel

Coast

and the

Madura district,especially in the Coimbatoredistrict.

There

is no

record

of finds from

Pudukota itself.

On

the

eastern side

of

the

peninsula,

mall Roman

copper

coins

of the end

of the

fourth

entury

re also

numerous,

but

are

usually

much

worn.

I

will not

add

to

the

various

speculations

already

quoted by

Mr.

Thurston as

to the Roman

trade

with

India. It is

hardly

necessary

o

say

that the

presence

of Romancoinsdoes notnecessarilymplythat of Roman

traders but

in

any

case,

if

we

judge

by

the

coins,

intercourse f some sort must

have

flourished

ery

con-

siderably

from

the time

of

Augustus

down to

that of

the

Antonines,

nd even

down to the

middle

of

the

third

century

after

which

there

was

a

lull,

until the

revival

towards

the

close

of

the

next

century.2

The trade was

not confined o

Southern

ndia

;

but

it

would

seem

that

in

the northof the

peninsula

the Roman

gold

was

re-

coined hence thelarge gold currency f theKusanas3),

whereas n the

south both

gold

and

silver,

nd

even,

as

we have

seen,

copper

erved

s

currency.

As

regards

he

silver

coins,

t is

noteworthy

hat

one

of

the

commonest

1

Madras Government

useum

Coins

Catalogue

No.

2.

Second

dition.

Madras.

894.

2

See

the

quotation

rom

osmas,

who travelled

n

the

reign

of

Justinian.

Mommsen-Blacas,

ii.

p.

129.

3

Rapson,

ndian Coins

§

123

(in

Bühler's Grundriss

ii,

3 b).



18/19

ROMAN DRET ROM

UDUKOTA,

OUTH NDIA.

319

coins

from

ndia

(Cohen,

No.

43,

corresponding

o the

gold

type

No.

4,

n

the

bove

list)

is almost

lways

plated.4

This

fact

leads

Mommsen o

suggest

that

this

type

was

especially

struck for the trade with South

India,

where

perhaps

he nativeswere

ess

able

than the

Europeans

to

tell bad from

ood

denarii.5

Another

type

which

occurs

in large numbers s that representedby No. 16 in the

present

ind. The numbers rom

wo

finds f silver

coins

made at

Yellalur,

Coimbatore

istrict,

n

1842

and

1891

respectively,

re

as follows

-

1842. 1891.

Type

4

(

C

L.

Caesares

&c.)

. .184

188

Type

16

(

Pontij

Maxim.)

» .878

828

Other

ypes

.....

10

31

Apart

from this

fact,

there is a

considerable corre-

spondence betweenthe various finds n regard to the

types

represented

but

the

great preponderance

f these

two

types

seems

to

point

to

large shipments

of

money

having

been

made to

India,

in or

shortly

fter the

years

in

which

they

were

ssued.

The

most

curious

feature of

this find

is the

treatment

to

which

nearly

all

the

coins have

been

subjected.

Various

explanations

uggest

themselves.

One,

that the

incisions

were made

in order o

test

the

genuineness

f the

coins, s easilydisproved for,without xception,t is the

head

that

s defaced.

Had the

object

been

merely

o test

the

metal,

stab

n

any

other

part

of the

coin

would

have

served

the

purpose,

and out

of the

heads on 461

coins

some

at

least

would have

escaped.

The

object

must

4

Mommsen-Blacas,

ii,

p.

337.

5

Cohen

notes

hat here

xist

greatmany

mitationsf

this

type,

made

by

barbarians,

nd

struck

t

a

date

ong

ubsequent

to thereign fAugustus.



19/19

320

NUMISMATICHRONICLE.

have

been

to

destroy

the

authority

y

which the

coin

was

guaranteed.

The defacement

was

not effected

n

Rome for t

would

not

have been done

in such

a

hap-

hazard

way

as is

indicated

by

Nos.

19,

26,

56,

57

;

and

further,

imilarly

defaced

coins would

probably

hay©

been found n

other

hoards,

f

the coins

meant

for

ndia

were thus defaced beforebeing exported. But of such

defaced

oins

there

s

no record.

It

follows,

hen,

hat

the

incisions were made in

India,

in

order

o

put

the

coins

out

of

circulation.

Apparently

his

was

not

done because

the

coins

were meant

o

be dedicated

t

some

shrine,6

or,

among

the hoardsso

frequently

ound

n

topes,

he

coins

are not

treated

n

this

way.

It

only

remains,

herefore,

to

suppose

that

these coins were

defaced

by

the

political

authority,

s

being

too

much

worn

for

further

irculation,

and were

awaiting

the

melting

pot,

whenthe secret of

theirconcealmentwas lost.

G.

F. Hill.

6

This has been

uggested

o

explain

he ncisions

n Gaulish

coins.

Documents

Roman aurei from Pudukota, South India / [G.F. Hill]