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“Romano-Sasanian” Imitations from India: Notes on Their Life Histories and the Indo-Sasanian Trade

2022; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 38; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/02666030.2022.2111103

2153-2699

Emilia Smagur,

Historical and Religious Studies of Rome

AbstractThis paper discusses three extraordinary imitations from India the obverses of which are based on Roman issues while the reverses imitate Sasanian coins. These specimens are exceptional and puzzling for two reasons: the unique combination of obverse and reverse designs and the absence of genuine issues which could have been used as their reverse prototypes among finds from the territories they were made and used in. Employing the object biography paradigm for investigating the imitations provides a dynamic perspective on objects actively involved in social relationships. The role of those imitations in understanding the use of Sasanian coins in the Indian Ocean trade will be discussed as well.Keywords: Indian Ocean tradeRoman coinsSasanian coinsimitationsobject biography AcknowledgementsI am most grateful to Joe Cribb for useful discussion and comments. I also would like to thank the reviewers for their comments helping me improving this paper.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. The dates of the influx of specific coin pools to India and their composition are the subjects of discussion, see, for example, Peter Berghaus, ‘Roman coins from India and their imitations’ in Coinage, Trade and Economy: January 8th-11th, 1991, 3rd International Colloquium, ed. Amal Kumar Jha (Bombay: Indian Institute of Research in Numismatic Studies, 1991): 108-121; David MacDowall, ‘The context and function of the Roman coins found in India’ in Roman Coins Outside the Empire. Ways and Phases, Contexts and Functions. Proceedings of the ESF / SCG Exploratory Workshop, Radziwiłł Palace, Nieborów (Poland), 3– 6 September 2005, eds. Aleksander Bursche, Renata Ciołek and Reinhard Wolters, Collection Moneta 82 (Wetteren: Moneta, 2008): 331-340; Kathrin Johrden, Reinhard Wolters ‘Die römischen Fundmünzen in Indien’ in Roman Coins Outside the Empire, eds. Aleksander Bursche, Renata Ciołek and Reinhard Wolters: 341-354; Emilia Smagur, Andrzej Romanowski, ‘Review: B. SUBRAHMANYAM, G.V. RAMA KRISHNA RAO and P. BRAHMA CHARY, P. CHENNA REDDY (ed.), Roman Gold Coins. A Treasure Trove from Penuganchiprolu’, Numismatic Chronicle 180 (2020): 487.2. See, for example, Sethuraman Suresh, Symbols of Trade: Roman and Pseudo-Roman Objects found in India (New Delhi: Manohar, 2004): 77-81; Rebecca Darley, Indo-Byzantine exchange, 4th to 7th centuries: a global history (University of Birmingham, 2013), PhD Thesis: 258-267; Emilia Smagur, ‘From Coin to Bulla: A Cultural Response to the Influx of Roman Denarii into India’, Numismatic Digest 42 (2018): 63-78.3. Emilia Smagur, ‘Regulated Roman Coins and Their Imitations from India: Did Roman Coins Circulate as Money in the Subcontinent’, Notae Numismaticae – Zapiski Numizmatyczne 15 (2020): 179-204.4. CNG, Inc.; Electronic Auction 366, lots 51 and 52; 13.01.2016.5. Oswal Auctions, Auction no. 36, lot 357; 09.09.2012.6. CNG, Inc.; Electronic Auction 443, lot 210; 01.05.2019.7. See, for example, CNG, Inc.; Electronic Auction 366, lot 47; 13.01.2016; see also Tomasz Więcek, Złote naśladownictwa monet rzymskich z kręgu gockiego (University of Warsaw, 2019), PhD Thesis: 237-238, 318-319, 325-326.8. The imprecise chronology of the Early Historic and Medieval periods in India is one of the main problems faced by researchers. For the purpose of this paper the Early Historic period is dated between c. 500 BCE and c. 500 CE, see Derek Kennet, ‘Reconsidering the decline of urbanism in late Early Historic and Early Medieval South Asia’, in Les préludes de l’Islam: Ruptures et continuités des civilisations du Proche-Orient, de l’Afrique orientale, de l’Arabie et de l’Inde à la veille de l’Islam, eds. Christian Julien Robin, Jérémie Schiettecatte (Paris: De Boccard, 2013): 331.9. See, for example Darley, Indo-Byzantine exchange: 262; Smagur, ‘From Coin to Bulla’: 68; Więcek, Złote naśladownictwa: 325-326.10. Igor Kopytoff, ‘The cultural biography of things: commodisation as process’, in The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, ed. Arjun Appadurai (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986): 64-91.11. Chris Godsen, Yvonne Marshall, ‘The cultural biography of objects’, World Archaeology 31(2), (1999): 169, 176.12. Michael Shanks, ‘The life of an artifact in an interpretive archaeology’, Fennoscandica archaeologica 15 (1998): pp. 15-42.13. Godsen, Marshall, ‘The cultural biography of objects’: 169-178.14. Cornelius Holtrof, ‘Notes on the life history of a pot sherd’, Journal of Material Culture 7(1) (2002): 49-71.15. Jody Joy, ‘Biography of a medal: people and the things they value’, in Matériel culture: the archaeology of twentieth century conflict, eds. John Schofield, William Gray Johnson and Colleen M. Beck (London: Routledge, 2002): 132-142; Jody Joy, ‘Reinvigorating object biography: reproducing the drama of object lives’, World Archaeology 41(4) (2009): 540-556.16. Stefan Krmnicek, ‘Das Konzept der Objektbiographie in der antiken Numismatik’, in Coins in Context I, New perspectives for the interpretation of coin finds, eds. Hans-Markus von Kaenel and Fleur Kemmers, Studien zu Fundmunzen der Antike (SFMA) 23 (Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 2009): 47–59.17. Gordana Ciric, ‘A secondary use of Roman coins? Possibilities and limitations of object biography’, in. Mobility, Meaning & Transformation of Things: shifting contexts of material culture through time and space, eds. Hans Peter Hahn and Hadas Weis (Oxford and Oakville: Oxbow Books, 2013): 107-119.18. Brigitte Borell, ‘A Roman gold coin found in Peninsular Thailand’, in The Golden Land Suvarnabhumi: The new finding for SUVARNABHUMI TERRA INCOGNITA eds. Bunchar Pongpanich and Somchet Thinapong (Bangkok: GISTDA and BIA, 2019): 58-66.19. Joy, ‘Reinvigorating object biography’: 544.20. David Jongeward and Joe Cribb with Peter Donovan, Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite Coins: A Catalogue of Coins from the American Numismatic Society (New York: The American Numismatic Society, 2015): 34-35, nos. 103-112.21. Gold occurs in India in two forms, in alluvial deposits and in reefs and veins.22. Ashok Kumar Grover, Manoj K. Pandit, ‘Ancient Gold Mining Activities in India – an Overview’, Iranian Journal of Earth Sciences 7 (2015): 1-13.23. R. K. Dube, ‘India’s Contribution to the Mining, Extraction and Refining of Gold: Some Observations Related to the Pre-Christian Era’ in Metallurgy in India: A Retrospective, eds. P. Ramachandra Rao and N. G. Goswami (New Delhi: India International Publisher, 2001): 173.24. The first emperor that employed the radiate crown on his coins was Tiberius but only for posthumous issues with deified Augustus. The earliest aureus depicting a ruler in the radiate crown (deified Augustus) was issued by Caligula, see Dario Calomino, ‘Emperor or God? The Posthumous Commemoration of Augustus in Rome and the Provinces’, The Numismatic Chronicle 175 (2015): 57-82; Volker Heuchert, ‘The Chronological Development of Roman Provincial Coin Iconography’ in Coinage and Identity in the Roman Provinces, eds. Christopher Howgego, Volker Heuchert and Andrew Burnett (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005): 45.25. Wolfgang Hahn (published under the pseudonym of Hanuman and Lakshmi Nawartmal), ‘Spätantikes Handelsgold in Südindien’, Money Trend 30 (1998): 52-57.26. See Prudence Oliver Harper, ‘Thrones and Enthronements Scenes in Sasanian Art’, Iran 17 (1979): 49-64.27. Michael Alram, ‘I.1. Numismatic and History – An Outline’ in Michael Alram, Rika Gyselen Sylloge Numorum Sasanidarum: Paris, Berlin, Wien”, 1. Ardashir I. – Shapur I. (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2003): 24-25, 28; altar type 3b, see, for example, SNS I pl. 9, no. 136; pl. 11 no. A29; pl. 14 nos. 203, 205, 208-214; pl. 15 nos. 216, 218, 220-224.28. For Shapur II see Nikolaus Schindel, Sylloge Numorum Sasanidarum: Paris, Berlin, Wien”, 3/1. Shapur II. – Kawad I/2. Regierung (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2004): 215, reverse type 2a; for Ardashir II see p. 250, reverse type 2; for Shapur III see p. 268, reverse type 2; for Wahram IV see p. 288, reverse type 1; for Yazdgerd I see p. 321, reverse type 2.29. Schindel, Sylloge: 24.30. Schindel, Sylloge: 507-509; N. Schindel, Sylloge Numorum Sasanidarum: Paris, Berlin, Wien”, 3/2. Shapur II. – Kawad I/2. Regierung (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2004): 452-453, nos. C1, C2.31. See, for example, Michael Alram, ‘The Cultural Impact of Sasanian Persia along the Silk Road – Aspects of Continuity’, e-Sasanika 14 (2015): 15.32. Robert Bracey, ‘Three coins of the Hunnic kings of Sind in the Barber Institute’, Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society 226 (2016): 22-24.33. A. K. Nikitin, ‘Coins of the Last Indo-Parthian King of Sakastan (A Farewell to Ardamitra)’, South Asian Studies 10 (1994): 67-69.34. See Jongeward and Cribb, Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite Coins, Peroz I nos. 2187-2205; Hermizd I copper issues, nos. 224-2294, 2298-2336; Peroz II nos. 2350-2358; Shapur II nos. 2371-2385, 2398-2408.35. Rare examples of bracteates were made with the use of repousse technique.36. On the obverse of this specimen the double strike can be noticed.37. Andrzej Romanowski: personal communication.38. See, for example, Shailendra Bhandare, ‘Numismatics and History: The Maurya-Gupta Interlude in the Gangetic Plain’, in Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE, ed. Patrick Olivelle (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006): 67-112; Sanjay Garg, ‘Dies and Minting Scenes from India’ in Conii e scene di coniazione, eds. Lucia Travaini, Alessia Bolis (Rome: Quasar, 2007): 354.39. See, for example Joe Cribb, The Indian Coinage Tradition: Origins, Continuity and Change (Nashik: Indian Institute of Research in Numismatic Studies, 2005): 9; Garg, ‘Dies and Minting Scenes’: 354.40. See, for example, Shailendra Bhandare, Historical Analysis of the Satavahana Era: A Study of Coins (University of Mumbai, 1998), PhD Thesis: 45.41. See e.g. find from Uparvahi (8.35 g.)42. See e.g. Nosagere (5.164 g.).43. 3.847 g. The weights of gold plated imitations from Nagarjunakonda and Nosagere are unknown.44. 7.04 g. and 6.70 g.45. Darley, Indo-Byzantine exchange: 248.46. See, for example, Berghaus, ‘Roman coins from India’: 110; Peter Berghaus, ‘Two Imitations out of the Valluvally Hoard of Roman Aurei (Kerala) 1983’, Studies in South Indian Coins 4 (1994): 35.47. Smagur, ‘Regulated Roman Coins’: 184.48. Smagur, ‘Regulated Roman Coins’, no. 40.49. Smagur, ‘From Coin to Bulla’: 63-78.50. See Pia Brancaccio, ‘Perceptions of Westerners in Satavahana Times: The Archaeological Evidence’ in South Asian Archaeology 2001. Proceedings of the Sixteenth International Conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, held in College de France, Paris, 2-6 July 2001, eds. Catherine Jarrige, Vincent Lefever (Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 2005): 401-406; Smagur, ‘From Coin to Bulla’: 73-75.51. Brancaccio, ‘Perceptions of Westerners’: 73-75.52. See also Rosa Maria Cimino, ‘The Yavanas (Westerners)’ in Ancient Rome and India: Commercial and cultural contacts between the Roman world and India, ed. Rosa Maria Cimino (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1994): 65.53. Oppi Untracht, Traditional Jewelry of India (London: Thames & Hudson, 1997): 124.54. Nahapana and Gautamiputra Satakarni coins issued in the first century AD were sometimes double-pierced.55. Peter Berghaus, ‘Gestopfte Löcher auf römischen Goldmünzen aus indischen Funden’ in XII. Internationaler numismatischer Kongress Berlin 1997. Akten – Proceedings – Actes, Vol. I, eds. Bernd Kluge and Bernhard Weisser (Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 2000): 499–502.56. The New York Sale conducted by Baldwin’s; M & M Numismatics Ltd.; Dmitry Markov Coins and Medals; Auction 25, 05.01.2011, lot 332; Auction 30, 09.01.2013, lot 301.57. B. Subrahmanyam, G.V. Rama Krishna Rao, and P. Brahma Chary, Roman Gold Coins: A Treasure Trove from Penuganchiprolu, Andhra Pradesh Museums series 31 (Hyderabad, 2008): 10, no. 15118. This coin is wrongly identified in the publication as a coin of Nero.58. Subrahmanyam, Rama Krishan Rao and Brahma Chary, Roman Gold Coins: 6, nos. 15132, 15136. Those coins are identified by the authors as genuine issues, however, they are imitations.59. Berghaus, ‘Gestopfte Löcher auf römischen Goldmünzen’: 499, fig. 1.60. Richard Duncan-Jones, Money and Government in the Roman Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994): 215-218.61. Smagur, ‘Regulated Roman Coins’: 185.62. Dilip Rajgor, Oswal Auctions, Auction No. 36 Catalogue (2012), no. 347, p. 32.63. Michael Mitchiner, ‘Aspects of Indo-Roman trade’, Numismatic Digest 39 (2015): 92.64. Peter Berghaus, ‘Drei Aurei von Gootiparti (Andhra Pradesh, Indien)’ in Belehrung und Unterhaltung im Fache der Münzkunde, Numismatische Gesellschaft zu Berlin 1843-1993. Festschrif zum 150-jährigen Bestehen (Berlin: Fata Morgana, 1993): 77-78, fig. 3; Peter Berghaus, ‘Two imitations out of the Valuvally Hoard of Roman Aurei (Kerala) 1983’, Studies in South Indian Coins IV (1994): 40, pl. VIII no. 4.65. Smagur, Romanowski, ‘REVIEW: B. SUBRAHMANYAM, G.V. RAMA KRISHNA RAO and P. BRAHMA CHARY’: 489-490.66. This is the so-called ‘Tirukkoilur hoard’.67. Museum number OR.5200; AV, 19.89 g; 35 mm.68. 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Shailendra Bhandare, Sanjay Garg (Mumbai: Reesha Books International, 2011): 46-47, figs. 19-20.71. Alram, ‘Coinage, Prestige and Identity’, p. 46.72. B. B. Lal, ‘Sisupalgarh 1949: An Early Historical Fort in Eastern India’, Ancient India 5 (1949): 95, 97, pl. XVIII.A.73. See, for example, Lal, ‘Sisupalgarh’: 97; Manfred G. Raschke, ‘New Studies in Roman Commerce with the East’, Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt (1978): fn. 465; Suresh, Symbols of Trade: 78; Brigitte Borell, ‘The Power of Images - Coin Portraits of Roman Emperors on Jewellery Pendants in Early Southeast Asia’, Zeitschrift für Archäologie Aussereuropäischer Kulturen 6 (2014): 28.74. Joe Cribb: personal communication.75. 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Smith, Catalogue of the Coins in the Indian Museum Calcutta Including the Cabinet of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol I Part III: Persian Medieval, South Indian, and Miscellaneous Coins (Oxford: University of Oxford, 1906): pp. 220-229.80. National Portal and Digital Repository (museumsofindia.gov.in), accessed 02.03.2021.81. Kamal Maheshwari: private communication.82. Darley, Indo-Byzantine exchange: 313-314.83. Michael Mitchiner, ‘The Interpretation of Foreign Coins Found in Southernmost India’, in Foreign Coins Found in the Indian Subcontinent: 8th-10th January, 1995, 4th International Colloquium, eds. David W. MacDowall, Amiteshwar Jha (Nashik: Indian Institute of research in Numismatic Studies, 2004): 17; Michael Mitchiner, Coin Circulation in Southernmost India (Nashik: Indian Institute of Research in Numismatic Studies, 1995): 86, 224-225.84. 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Tomber, Indo-Roman Trade: 51-52.100. Ian Glover, ‘West Asian Sassanian-Islamic Ceramics in the Indian Ocean, South, Southeast and East Asia’, Man and Environment 26(1), (2002): 168-169.101. See Heidrun Schenk, ‘Parthian glazed pottery from Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean trade’ Zeitschrift für Archäologie Aussereuropäischer Kulturen 2 (2007): 57-58; Ritvik Balvally, Krishnan Krishnan, Y. S. Rawat and Jeewan S. Kharakwal, ‘Sasanian Glazed Ware from Western India’, Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 6 (2018): 299-309.102. Schenk, ‘Tissamaharama Pottery’: 98.103. Schenk, ‘Parthian glazed pottery from Sri Lanka’: 71.104. Tomber, ‘Rome and Mesopotamia’: 982-984.105. Tomber, ‘Rome and Mesopotamia’: 982.106. Procopius, History of the Wars 1.20.9-12.107. Darley, Indo-Byzantine exchange: 33, 313-314.108. D. T. Potts and Joe Cribb, ‘Sasanian and Arab-Sasanian Coins from Eastern Arabia’, Iranica Antiqua 30 (1995): 123.109. Joe Cribb: personal communication.110. Joe Cribb, ‘Fifth Century Sasanian Coins found in Guangdong Province, Southern China’, Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society 236 (2019): 5-10.111. Darley, Indo-Byzantine exchange: 315.112. Potts, Cribb, ‘Sasanian and Arab-Sasanian Coins’: 123-137.113. John Perkins, ‘The Indian Ocean and Swahili Coast coins, international networks and local developments’, Afriques 6 (2015); M. C. Horton, ‘Early Maritime Trade and Settlement along the Coasts of Eastern Africa’, in The Indian Ocean in Antiquity, ed. Juluan Reade (London and New York: Routledge, 1996): 447.114. Rebecca Darley, ‘Self, Other and the Use and Appropriation of Late Roman Coins in Peninsular India (4th-7th Century CE)’ in Negotiating Cultural Identity: Landscapes in Early Medieval South Asian History, ed. Himanshu P. Ray (London: Routledge, 2019): 60-84.115. Darley, ‘Self, Other and Use’: 78.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the National Science Centre in Poland under [Grant no. 2017/24/C/HS3/00120].