Barygaza was a major hub for Indian Ocean commerce and the Periplus records that the port received incoming ships from Arabia, east Africa and the Persian Gulf.57 The port is referred to more times in the Periplus that any other trade centre, appearing twenty-eight times in nineteen of the sixty-six chapters.58 The author of the Periplus knew about Barygaza from personal experience and he devotes a large part of his report to its maritime dangers. He also saw evidence of Greek campaigns in the region that had been staged by an Indo-Greek King named Menander I (r.155-130BC). Roman traders wrongly attributed these remains to Alexander the Great and the Periplus reports ‘in the area there are still preserved to this very day signs ofAlexander’s expedition, ancient shrines and the foundations of encampments and huge wells’.59
Barygaza served an inland city called Minnagara which was the capital (metropolis) of the Saka Kingdom in Gujurat. Minnagara in Gujurat shared its name with the Indus city of Minnagar in Indo-Parthia. This was because Indian civilisation called the Sakas the ‘Min’ and their capitals were therefore known as ‘Minnagara’ meaning ‘City of the Min’.60 When Minnagar on the Indus was captured by the Parthians, the new capital of Minnagara was created in Gujurat.61 The Periplus describes how the new metropolis of Minnagara was a hub for regional exports and ‘sent great quantities of cloth to Barygaza’.62
As for more valuable merchandise, the Arthasastra study on statesmanship explains how Indian governments could control the collection and sale of precious stones in their subject territory. Mines were taken under royal authority and prohibitions placed on private dealers bringing stocks of crystals into designated trade cities. These measures ensured that foreign merchants had to buy their precious stones mainly from government agents and the profit from this sale went into the royal treasury.63
This was probably the situation in the Saka Kingdom which had a second royal court at the city of Ujjain in central India. Valuable goods were collected at Ujjain including gemstones obtained at inland sites. The Sakas collected these items as royal tribute and sent them to Barygaza to be sold by state-agents to the visiting maritime traders. The Periplus explains that ‘in the east is a city called Ozene (Ujjain) which was the former royal residence. From this place came things that contributed to the region’s prosperity and supplied trade with us.’64 Goods sent the 200 miles from Ujjain to Barygaza included onyx, agate, Indian cotton garments and a large amount of cloth. However, by AD 50 the Satavahana Kingdom of central India had declared war on the Sakas. During the fighting Saka forces were expelled from Ujjain and the Satavahanas took possession of the city. When the Sakas lost Ujjain, the state-run business ceased and Roman traders had to rely on merchant-managed trade networks to acquire inland goods, including gems.
Romans visiting Barygaza sought bright agate with stratified colours and dark onyx with light streaks. Roman jewellers cut these stones into disks, or carved portraits and classical images into the flat surface where the contrasting colours met. If the jeweller was making a cameo, he would cut into these horizontal bands to create a strong colour contrast between the raised relief and the background detail. Wealthy Romans emulated Julius Caesar by collecting and displaying precious stones. Caesar dedicated six cabinets of engraved gems to the Temple of Venus Genetrix in the Roman Forum to be viewed and admired by the Roman
At Barygaza Roman ships took on board large stocks of cotton and spices. The spices included costus, bdellium, lyceum and Himalayan nard coming from northern India. Some of these products arrived via a land route ‘through the adjacent part of Scythia’ (the Indus Region leading to Central Asia).66 Local products included valuable long pepper that the Romans reserved for medical remedies.67 Further cargo space was filled with Chinese silk yarn and silk-cloth, ivory and precious stones, including onyx, agate and quartz.68 Some Roman ships also took on board rice, ghee and female slaves, either at Barygaza or one of the other Indian ports.69
The ivory that the Romans received from Barygaza would have included whole tusks and locally worked artefacts. Ovid writes about ‘India offering carved ivory to charm us’ which could be a reference to foreign art objects.70 An ivory statuette carved by an Indian craftsman was found in the remains of a moderately sized Roman townhouse in Pompeii buried by volcanic ash in the Vesuvius eruption of AD 79. The statuette depicts a semi-naked Indian female standing with her arms raised and two tiny acolytes by her side. A hole drilled down through the centre of the object suggests that it was once part of a larger piece, perhaps the handle of a mirror, or the leg of a small decorative table or stool. The figure is often interpreted as the Hindu goddess Lakshmi who is the embodiment of beauty and prosperity.71 Perhaps the figure was brought back as a souvenir from India, or maybe some citizen of Pompeii purchased this object as an attractive piece of exotic art.
The Periplus concludes the list of business at Barygaza by mentioning that the city offered ‘items brought here from other ports of trade’.72 This would have included commodities from southern India, Arabia, East Africa and Persia. The Periplus reports that Indian vessels visiting Barygaza sent copper and tropical hardwoods to shipyards in the Persian Gulf.73
World History
