Muziris is also a genus of jumping spiders.

Ancient port on coast of Kerala, Southern India. Muziris was a major centre of Indian Ocean trade in the ancient period. It is mentioned in the first century Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, the first century Natural History of Pliny, the second century Geographia of Ptolemy, the second century Muziris Papyrus (p. Vindob G480822), the forth century Tabula Peutingeriana and in poems of the Tamil Sangam literature of the first centuries CE.

The Periplus (sec. 56) situates Muziris 20 stadia (ca 3,6 km) from the mouth of the Periyar river in the Tamil Chera kingdom. It is descibed as an important meeting point for Tamil, North Indian and Roman traders. Main exports were spices and precious stones, pepper seems to have been of prime importance. There have been numerous finds of Roman Coins i

the region.

The excact location of Muziris was long unknown, but Indian archaeologists now believe that it should be identified with the village of Pattanam between Kodungallor and North Paravur in Ernakulam district.

References

Casson, Lionel. 1989. The Periplus Maris Erythraei. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Gurukkal, Rajan, and C.R. Whittaker. 2001. In Search of Muziris. Journal of Roman Archaeology 2001:334-351.

Shajan, K.P., Roberta Tomber, V. Selvakumar, and P.J. Cherian. 2004. Locating the Ancient Port of Muziris, fresh findings from Pattinam. Journal of Roman Archaeology 17:351-359.

Turner, P.J. 1989. Roman Coins from India. Vol. 22, Special Publications. London: Royal Numismatic Society.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia