Barbarikon

Part of a series on the
History of Karachi
Prehistoric period
Mulri Hills
Ancient period
Allahdino Pir Shah Jurio
Classical period
Krokola Minnagara Barbarikon Debal Banbhore
Islamic period
Muhammad bin Qasim
Local dynasties
Samma dynasty Kalhora dynasty Talpur dynasty
British period
Sind Division Sind Province
Independent Pakistan
Federal Capital Territory Sindh Province 1972 labour unrest Demographics Violence
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Barbarikon (

It may have been a translation from Sumerian word Meluhha for the Sindh from which the Sanskrit word for barbarian, Mleccha derives.

Barbarikon is mentioned briefly in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea:

"This river [the

Indus] has seven mouths, very shallow and marshy, so that they are not navigable, except the one in the middle; at which by the shore, is the market-town, Barbaricum. Before it there lies a small island, and inland behind it is the metropolis of Scythia, Minnagara; it is subject to Parthian

princes who are constantly driving each other out."

"The ships lie at anchor at Barbaricum, but all their cargoes are carried up to the metropolis by the river, to the King. There are imported into this market a great deal of thin clothing, and a little spurious; figured

storax, frankincense, vessels of glass, silver and gold plate, and a little wine. On the other hand there are exported costus, bdellium, lycium, nard, turquoise, lapis lazuli, Seric skins, cotton cloth, silk yarn, and indigo

. And sailors set out thither with the Indian Etesian winds, about the, month of July, that is Epiphi: it is more dangerous then, but through these winds the voyage is more direct, and sooner completed."

Its principal function beyond supplying its immediate hinterland was as a transshipment port for supplies of Persian turquoise and Afghan lapis lazuli, to be carried overland to Egypt.^[2]

See also

• Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
• Regio Patalis
• Banbhore

References