Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c26.s5.4

v1.c26.s5.4

During the first century AD the Roman traders wrote about Indian brass (vide our chapter 16). While the Periplus used the Greek term oreichalcos (mountain copper) for brass, Pliny mentioned about aurichalcum (golden copper) made in India from cadmia, identified as calamine or the zinc ore. Samuel Beal suggested that the name cadmia came from Calamina, a port at the mouth of the Indus, which negotiated the export of the ore or the alloy of zinc. Ball (1886-87: 331) however suggested that the port was Calliana or Kalyāṇa near Bombay. The sixth century AD traveller Sopater mentioned about Calliana exporting brass.