Nelcynda

Nelcynda (Ancient Greek: Νέλκυνδα, also Nelkynda) was an early historic inland port town and settlement located in what is now Kerala, on the Malabar Coast, in southern India. It is mentioned by several classical Greco-Roman authors, including Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy, as well as in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and on the Peutingerian Table. No archaeological evidence has been found for Nelcynda. The port is also not attested in either early Tamil poems (the Sangam Literature) or in Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions. Nelcynda is commonly mentioned alongside "Becare", another early historic port on the Malabar Coast, which likely served as its loading site. According to Greco-Roman geographers, Becare, located on the seacoast, was linked to Nelcynda, possibly via an inland river. Ptolemy identified the river on which Nelcynda was situated as the "Baris". The Periplus appears to suggest that both Becare and Nelcynda were located on the same river. Scholars have also noted that, between the time of Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy, Muziris (Muchiri) rose in importance while the ports of Bacare and Nelcynda declined. The ports of Bacare and Nelcynda are listed as "towns" under the rule of the Pandya (the Pandiôn) kings in the Periplus. Scholars suggest that Nelcynda may have been under the control of the Ay (the Aioi) rulers, a prominent lineage in early historic southern Kerala, who

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).