Epilogue

The epilogue summarizes what the two texts of the Muziris papyrus tell us about the pepper and ivory production of the ancient Cēra kingdom, South Indian commercial connections with the Ganges Valley, the logistics of the Red Sea–Alexandria transports, the complex relationships between the South India traders and the contractors of the Red Sea tax, and the assessment and payment of the import and export customs duties. It also looks at what the two texts do not mention—the part of pearls and precious stones in the South India trade of the mid-second century ad. Furthermore, a speculative estimate of the commercial venture final balance is attempted.

Maris Rubri Vectigal

This chapter focuses on the Red Sea tax. The double (import to and export from Egypt) customs duties on Indian commodities referred to by Strabo and the ‘Red Sea tax’ (maris Rubri vectigal) mentioned by Pliny were one and the same. The Muziris papyrus texts provide crucial details regarding how and when these customs duties were assessed and paid. Theoretically, the customs duties on Indian commodities could be paid either in money or in kind, as the taxpayer wished. However, while some evidence suggests that payments in kind were sometimes chosen in Late Antiquity, the texts of the Muziris papyrus show that the merchant of the Hermapollon paid his dues in money, and that in the mid-second century AD, payment in money was the preferred option.

South Indian Perspectives

This chapter details pepper production and collection in ancient India. From Antiquity to Early Modernity, South India’s pepper trade was influenced by the geographical and cultural diversity of the communities who made the pepper available for overseas consumption: the gatherers in the upland forests of the Western Ghats, and the lowland peoples who brought it to the emporia. Because of the ecological, cultural, and socio-economic variability within South India, the demands for pepper led to different patterns of production, which in turn developed in different micro-contexts. Indeed, different travellers have left different reports regarding the means by which western merchants acquired black pepper. It is important to recognize that more than one step of the long process that brought pepper and ivory from the foothills of the Western Ghats to Alexandria occurred within India itself, and that the nature of these exchanges ranged from informal to formal. Ultimately, a broader and more inclusive perspective is necessary to capture both the commercial activities reflected in the Muziris loan contract and the transactions between the Western Ghats forest communities and the Muziris-based dealers.

Introductory Notes

The P.Vindob. G 40822 is a fragment of a papyrus 38 cm high and 27 cm wide, written on both sides. The blank space on the top and at the bottom shows that no line is missing on top or at the bottom of recto col. ii and verso col. iii. First edition by Harrauer/Sijpensteijn (1985). Afterwards, ...

Introduction and Synopsis

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the two texts of the Muziris papyrus. The publication of the Muziris papyrus texts—and the slow, tedious process of their interpretation and explanation—marks a turning point for studies on Indo-Roman trade specifically, and on the Roman economy more broadly. On the Roman side, apart from showing the impressive organizational and financial potential of ancient mercantile communities, the Muziris papyrus clarifies some of the routine practices associated with Greco-Roman maritime loan agreements, and demonstrates how such practices were adapted to the peculiarities of the South Indian trade. It also details how customs duties on imported Indian items were assessed and collected, and hints at the intriguing interplay among the state, the financial elites, and the merchants. On the Indian side, the cargo of the Hermapollon—the Roman Indiaman whose imports are itemized and evaluated on the verso of the Muziris papyrus—highlights the commercial importance of a region and of an emporion strategically poised between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

Three Minor Cargoes

This chapter assesses the last three lines of col. iii of the Muziris papyrus verso text, which evaluates the three-quarter portions of the items imported by a ship named the Hermapollon. The preceding lines of col. iii (ll. 1–26) record the evaluation process of the portions of three items in that cargo: Gangetic nard, entire tusks of sound ivory, and schidai (the trimmings of ivory tusks). The manner in which these commodities are evaluated is not the same. While the value of the Gangetic nard cargo is calculated by multiplying the price per container by the number of containers, the assessment of the two ivory types—the tusks of sound ivory and the schidai—shows a more complex pattern. Understanding the rationale for this convoluted procedure will reveal the purpose of the entire text.

Selling and Repaying

This chapter addresses the question of how a borrower actually repaid his debt—not only on the subject of the Muziris papyrus contract, but also, more generally, on the mechanisms of maritime credit in classical antiquity. At first glance, the details provided by the loan contract on the Muziris papyrus recto do not help to answer this question. Yet establishing how the borrower was to repay his debt while his cargo was ‘under the power and seal’ of the lender is critical for understanding the contract as a whole. To reconcile the rights of the lender with the needs of the borrower, U. E. Paoli imagined that the borrower would find a buyer for his items, receive payment, and use that money to free his goods from the financier’s control. It is unlikely, however, that this was usual. What makes it improbable is the fact that it would have required a single sale—which means either a single buyer or several buyers associated in a single purchase—that entirely repaid the loan.

Supporting Sources

This chapter studies literary sources that are critical for understanding the extant parts of the Muziris papyrus texts and for reconstructing those parts that are lost. Written several generations before the Muziris papyrus, some passages from Strabo, Pliny, and Periplus give precious information on what were probably consistent features of the South India trade during the first two centuries of the Roman Empire. These features include the items traded, the size of the vessels, the sailing timetables, and the structure of the customs duties. The chapter also considers Ptolemy’s Geography, which was written at a time close to that of the papyrus. Despite the poor placement of South India on its world map, its relevant paragraphs are important, as they provide a more or less contemporaneous perspective of the region’s political landscape.

Dramatis Personae

This concluding chapter identifies the two co-signatories of the loan contract. The manager of the department charged with levying customs duties on Indian commodities (paralemptes) was also the lender of the loan contract written on the recto of the Muziris papyrus. In all likelihood, the borrower was the owner of the Hermapollon. However, the cargo imported from Muziris was so enormous that it could hardly have belonged to a single merchant, as the loan contract—signed by a single borrower—seems to suggest. In all likelihood, the underwriter, a lone Indian Ocean ship owner (naukleros Erythraikos), represented also the Indian Ocean merchants (emporoi Erythraikoi) who chartered transport space on his ship. The Muziris papyrus lays bare the terms of a cooperative arrangement between the paralemptes and the naukleros, which may have been a structural peculiarity of Roman trade with India in the first two centuries AD. Above the merchants/borrowers and customs collectors/lenders is the imperial administration, whose officers assist and monitor the arabarchs’ work.

The Other Cargo Items

This chapter discusses col. ii of the Muziris papyrus verso text. Apart from the almost fully preserved third column, the Muziris papyrus also retains the ends of most of the lines of verso col. ii. Gangetic nard, sound ivory, and schidai, the three cargoes whose three-quarter portions are evaluated in col. iii (ll. 1–26) were just minor cargoes. Although based on incorrect assumptions, the editors arrived nevertheless at the right conclusion: the cargo of the Hermapollon comprised six items. The chapter then considers ll. 20–30 and 1–3, which pertain to pepper, as well as ll. 14–19, which refer to two items—one of which is most probably malabathron and the other might be tortoise shell.