Region
Scytia Dymirice
Malabar coast
Listen to the story
Scytia Dymirice marks the Malabar coast of southern India, the land Greek and Roman writers called Limyrike, roughly today's Kerala. The geographer Ptolemy and a Greek sailing guide to the Indian Ocean describe it: its capital was Karura, and its trading ports, above all the famous Muziris, drew many Greek ships and offered beryls. Limyrike may itself be a misreading of Damirike, a name linked to Tamil, which the map's form seems to echo. A list of places compiled in Ravenna calls it India Dimirica, and nearby the Tabula also names Damirice, perhaps the same region entered twice.