Limyrikê is a historical region of present-day India, mentioned in the ancient Greco-Roman texts. It generally corresponds to the present-day

Malabar Coast The Malabar Coast is the southwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing m ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

Extent

According to the ''

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' ( grc, Περίπλους τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς Θαλάσσης, ', modern Greek '), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and ...

'' (53:17:15-27), Limyrike began at Naura and

Tyndis Tyndis ( grc, Τύνδις) was an ancient Indian seaport/harbor-town mentioned in the Graeco-Roman writings. According to the ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea,'' Tyndis was located north of port Muziris in the country of the Cerobothra (pres ...

;

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

(7.1.8) mentions only Tyndis as its starting point. The region probably ended at

Kanyakumari Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland Ind ...

; it thus roughly corresponds to the present-day

History

Pliny the elder mentioned that this region was prone to pirates.

Cosmas Indicopleustes Cosmas Indicopleustes ( grc-x-koine, Κοσμᾶς Ἰνδικοπλεύστης, lit=Cosmas who sailed to India; also known as Cosmas the Monk) was a Greek merchant and later hermit from Alexandria of Egypt. He was a 6th-century traveller who ma ...

mentioned that it was a source of peppers.Das, Santosh Kumar (2006). The Economic History of Ancient India. Genesis Publishing Pvt Ltd. p. 301.

Misidentification as Damirice

Tabula Peutingeriana ' (Latin Language, Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the ''cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire. The m ...

'', an ancient Roman map uses the name "Damirice" to describe an area between the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

and the

Ganges River The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

, and uses the name "Dymirice" to describe a region somewhat close to the Malabar Coast. Assuming possible phonetic connection between the words "Damir-" and "

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

" (the language of Limyrikê), some modern scholars have wrongly used the term "Damirice" (or "Damirica") to describe Limyrikê.

Wilfred Harvey Schoff Wilfred Harvey Schoff (1874–1932) was an early twentieth-century American antiquarian and classical scholar. Career Schoff was responsible for translating a number of important ancient texts. Among these works was the 1st century CE Greco ...

's 1912 translation of the ''Periplus'' wrongly uses the term "Damirica" instead of "Limyrikê", because of which the error has been reproduced by several scholars relying on this faulty translation. Actually, the "Damirice" of ''Tabula Peutingeriana'' is over a thousand miles from Limyrikê.

References

Bibliography

* {{cite book , author=Lionel Casson , title=The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qQWYkSs51rEC&pg=PA213 , year=2012 , publisher=Princeton University Press , isbn=978-1-4008-4320-6 Periplus of the Erythraean Sea Historical Indian regions Malabar Coast Tamilakam