Indo - Roman History | Drain of Roman Wealth to India | Indo-Roman Trade | Goddess Lakshmi in Italy
Channel: Peepul Tree World (Live History India)
Date: 2022-06-28

A statue of Lakshmi in the ruins of Pompeii -  How did it land there almost 2000 years ago? Catch the story of the time when the Romans complained of the terrible 'Drain of Wealth' because of the 'insatiable' demand for Indian luxuries in this episode of Stories that Make India...

0:00 - Introduction
0:40 - Pompeii Lakshmi
1:08 - Kolhapur Poseidon
1:55 - Ancient Indo-Roman Trade
2:43 - Roman Coins in South India
3:43 - Drain of Roman Wealth to India
4:21 - Backstory of Pompeii Lakshmi

There is some debate on whether the Pompei Lakshmi is actually a Lakshmi or a
representation of a Yakshi or tree spirit. But her discovery in the ruins of Pompei which was destroyed after the volcanic eruption of Mt Vesuvius in Italy in 79 CE, underlined an interesting connection. Trade links that connected the Roman Empire with the Indian subcontinent between 2nd t BCE and 3 rd CE. Another famous object that talks back to us from this very exciting period is this 13 cm statue of Poseidon the Roman god of the sea, found during excavations in Brahmapuri in Maharastra's Kolhapur in the 1940’s. Archaeologists found this bronze statue in a jar along with over 150 other
Roman trade linked objects This find that came to be known as the Brahmapuri Horde indicated that this area would have been in the path of traders and that perhaps the house belonged to a sea farer – or could it have been a Roman settlement? We will never know
In fact all through south and peninsular India you will find evidence of this Roman trade …
hordes of coins and artifacts found in sites like Kottayam, Coimbatore, karur , Kolhapur and Arikamedu.

In fact the earliest Graeco - Roman coins come from the 2nd century but trade really
picked up around the 1 st BCE when Greek sailor Hipalus figured that one could use the monsoon winds to sail across the Arabian sea to the ports of Western India.The turning point for Roman trade with the Indian subcontinent seems to have been around 31 BCE when Rome conquered Egypt. This conquest gave the Romans, direct control over the very
lucrative eastern trade. This story comes through when you study the huge number of Roman coins across south and peninsular India. For instance there is a sharp pick up in the number of Roman coins found, from the time of Augustus ( 27 BC - 14 CE) and Nero (54 CE - 68 CE)

In fact one of the largest hordes of Roman Coins was found in Kottayam in Kerala. It consisted of almost 8000 gold aurei held in a large brass jar. The later coins in this hoard came from the era of Roman Emperor Nero indicating how active trade was in this period. 
The ports on the west coast of India played a critical role in trade but as more and more Roman ships came they also plugged into ports along the east coast of India which had already emerged as centres of trade along the Bay of Bengal
The main objects the Romans bought from the subcontinent were fine Indian cotton, spices , especially pepper, pearls and ivory In fact around the time when the Pompei Lakshmi and the Poseidon had found their home there was an angry flare up in the Roman Senate about the drain of wealth to India. Author Pliny the Elder lamented about how such a lot of Roman wealth was flowing into India because of the insatiable roman appetite for Indian luxuries.
All of this, came to a head in the post Nero period when Civil war gripped Rome and its frontiers came under attack. Curbs were put and taxes imposed on goods from the Indian subcontinent and gradually trade too reduced. But you will find these travellers from a bygone era in Naples and Kolhapur even today

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