Heritage, Numismatics - Tuesday, February 20, 2007 21:30 - 6 Comments

Glimpse from History-Gondophares, Roman and Venetian gold coins

Foreign coins discovered from many sites in modern India are many and varied. This include the Persian and Greek coins discovered from North India ( modern Pakistan ) and the vast number of Roman coins from South India in Malabar coast highlighting the trade relations between Roman ports and the Indian ports in Malabar coast.

What is interesting from the numismatics is the attestation of the early literature confirming the mission of St. Thomas the Apostle in India. It also corroborates the trade relationship modern Kerala had in ancient times shedding lights on the origin of Nasranis.

This article discuss about some of the coin found and the significance of numismatics with the mission of St. Thomas in India.

1. Gondophares coins

Gondophares is connected to St Thomas in early Christian traditions embodied in the Acts of Thomas. The Acts of Thomas describes St.Thomas embarking on a sea voyage to India, thus connecting Thomas to the west coast of India and his martyrdom with a king in South. Though the Acts are usually considered to be moral entertainments of a legendary nature, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea is a surviving roughly contemporary guide to the routes commonly being used for navigating the Arabian Sea.

At the times the Acts were analysed, and until the discovery of his coins in the region of Kabul and the Punjab, there was no reason to suppose that a king named “Gondophares” had ever really existed.

Till 1834, questions on St. Thomas mission were around the historical figure King Gondophares. Did a king of the name of Gondophares reign over any portion of India? Was he a contemporary of the Apostolic age? Where was his kingdom situated? Was it practicable for the Apostle Thomas to have had access to it? Continue…