Valuation of the Indo-Roman Spice Trade
Chakravarti emphasises Muziris as the main Malabar export port for Gangetic spikenard because of the documentation of the cargo detailed in the mid-second-century CE Muziris Papyrus (valued at 4,500 silver drachmae for each of sixty containers – a huge sum of money), as well as its description in the Periplus.
However, Nelkynda was also likely to have been involved in the export, also described in the Periplus. Gangetic nard was considered the best of all Indian nard. Both ports also exported pepper.With these large sums of money being spent, it is perhaps unsurprising that there have been more than twenty Roman coin hoards found in southern India. Most of them were found inland and may have been acts of desperation by local merchants in times of crisis. However, the Kottayam hoard, found in 1847 near Nelkynda – the largest hoard yet discovered – may have been hidden by Romans. It contained more than 1,000 documented gold aurei with the youngest coins from the reign of Nero (54–68 CE), but it is thought that the undisturbed hoard may have been in excess of 8,000 coins (the hoard was found by villagers and most of the coins were dispersed and lost). Purchasing power in modern currency might have been around $2 million. The coins were in excellent condition; this from a contemporary, Capt. Drury’s (1852), report:
A most interesting discovery of a large quantity of ancient Roman gold coins has lately been made in the neighbourhood of Cannanore on the Malabar coast, not only remarkable for the numbers found (amounting to some hundreds) but also for their wonderful state of preservation. Many appear almost as fresh as on the day they were struck: the outline of the figures is so sharp and distinct, and the inscriptions so clear and legible. With very few exceptions, they are all of gold, and of the age of Imperial Rome from Augustus downwards, several of them being coeval with the earliest days of the Christian era …107
Some of the coins were in a brass vessel – this, together with the mint condition of the coins and the proximity to the port of Nelkynda, is suggestive of the hoard being buried soon after its arrival in India and possibly representing a typical coin consignment, probably to purchase spices.108
McLaughlin added further information regarding expenditure and value.
The Hou Hanshu (History of the Later Han), compiled in the fifth century CE, referred to a Roman profit of ten to one in their dealings with India.109 Applying this to the cargo value documented in the Muziris Papyrus (9.2 million sesterces pre-tax) fits well with the possible consignment value of 8,000 aurei of the Kottayam hoard, which was equivalent to 800,000 sesterces.The De Romanis calculation of the Hermapollon cargo based on the incomplete Muziris Papyrus assumed (reasonably) that black pepper and malabathron were the main items of the ‘unknown cargo’, though alternatives are also feasible.110 He made estimates for the post-tax value of 1,151 talents, 5,852 drachmas, a huge sum.
Correlation of ancient Graeco-Roman currency to modern equivalents is notoriously difficult, but based on rough comparisons (such as purchasing power) the modern value might have been several million US dollars. Though a wild generalisation, it is still useful to put things in rough perspective – and gives an indication of the sort of prize that was being exploited. It seems extremely good business for one shipment, but perhaps not unreasonable given the risks involved. Annual Indo-Roman Spice Trade
De Romanis doubts that the 120 ships per year sailing from the Red Sea quoted by Strabo were all large ships heading for the Malabar Coast, but a proportion of them would have been, perhaps fewer than twelve.111 On the other hand, Strabo only mentioned Myos Hormos – what about the other major port, Berenike? Presumably ships were departing there too. As B. Fauconnier commented, the controversy over Strabo’s observation led to the so-called ‘intensity debate’.112
A reality check on all the above is called for. Kerala’s black pepper production is currently around 20,000 tons/year, while total production from three southern states is 59,000 tons/year (India’s total production). If the Hermapollon cargo of (assumed) 544 tons was typical of 120 ships/year, then the historic Roman import in the first century CE (65,280 tons) would have exceeded total modern (2019–20) national production – clearly absurd.
The De Romanis estimate of twelve ships/year (6,528 tons) looks possible (a third of current Kerala production).Following the capture of Egypt in 30 BCE, total Imperial revenues rose to around 420 million sesterces/year, though there was still a deficit. Taxation was one of the big contributors to government revenue, then as now. McLaughlin concluded that based on the fleet of ships quoted by Strabo and the figures from the Muziris Papyrus, the trade could have raised around 1,000 million sesterces of revenue; the quarter tax (25 per cent levied by the Roman state on imports) and surcharge could have raised 275 million sesterces for the government.113
Pliny complained about the money flowing out for luxury goods: ‘At the very lowest computation, India, the Seres [China], and the Arabian Peninsula, withdraw from our empire one hundred millions of sesterces every year – so dearly do we pay for our luxury and our women.’114 The money spent in India alone was half that, but he was pragmatic enough to see the value of the enormous profits being made: ‘in no year does India drain our empire of less than [usually quoted as] fifty millions of sesterces, giving back her own wares in exchange, which are sold among us at fully one hundred times their prime cost.’115
Wilson and Bowman observed that Pliny’s figures above could be interpreted as a tenfold increase between India and the Red Sea (where tax would be payable) and a further tenfold increase between the Red Sea and Rome.116 The quarter tax payable in Egypt on 500 million sesterces would be 125 million sesterces to the government. Pliny had no cause for complaint!