Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c24.s2.2

v1.c24.s2.2

Copper metal used to be exported from Barygaza to the Persian Gulf when the *Periplus* was written, and from Kalyana in the time of Cosmas five centuries later. At the same time, ‘Meliephtha Khalka’, literally ‘copper cooked in honey’, possibly meaning sheets of ductile or soft copper used to be imported to India. This ductile copper in thin sheets was called ‘honey copper’ because the sheets were shaped like honey-cakes. Ductile copper in Roman times generally meant an alloy with 5 to 10 per cent of lead. (Schoff, 1912: 70)