Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c24.s2.10

v1.c24.s2.10

Pliny says that the finest of all iron was sent to the Roman empire by the ‘Seres’, who were Cheras of the Malabar coast. The author of the Periplus knew that the sword-blades found with the Axumites at Adulis and other African ports were ‘Indian’ coming from the interior of Ariace (North-West India), although he did not find them in any Indian port. Evidently the sources was kept a secret, and the Indian trade in iron and steel was conducted directly with the Pārthians, Arabs and Axumites. Warmington concluded that the ‘excellent Pārthian metal’ mentioned by the Graeco-Romans was ‘perhaps really Indian’. Eventually they also learnt the secret of production, for Salmasius (Saumaise) notes a Greek chemical treatise ‘On the Tempering of Indian Steel’. The Romans worked on the importations (not direct) of Indian iron and steel to produce fancy cutlery, and armour at Damascus and Irenopolis.