and in the breaking down of the monolithic apostolic church to different fragments under different faith streams. They were organised as a Church in the 8th century, served by foreign bishops, and with a hereditary local chief called Archdeacon (Arkadiyokon). In the 16th century the overtures of the Portuguese padroado to bring the Saint Thomas Christians into the Latin Rite Catholicism led to the first of several rifts in the community and the establishment of Pazhayakoor (Catholic) and Puthenkoor factions. Since that time further splits have occurred, and the Saint Thomas Christians are now divided into several denominations, each with their own liturgies and traditions. First century BC On the southwestern side of the Indian peninsula; between the mountains and the Erythraean Sea (now the Arabian Sea); stretching from Kannur to Kanyakumari was the land called Cherarajyam, which was ruled by local chieftains. Later this land came to be known as the Malabar region and (now Kerala). Muziris (near Kochi) was the important entry port. After the discovery of Hippalus, every year 100 ships arrived here from various parts of the then known world, including Red Sea ports. According to the Bible, during the time of Moses and Solomon, the Malabar Coast traded spices and luxury articles with Israel (I Kings 9:26–28, 10:11, 22; 2 Chronicles 8:18, 9:21). Excavations carried out at Pattanam (near Kochi) from 2005 provided evidence that the maritime trade between Kerala and the Mediterranean ports existed even before 500 BC or earlier. It is possible that some of those traders who arrived from the west, including Jews, remained in Kerala. While Augustus (31 BC- 14 AD) was the Roman emperor and Herod the Great (37–4 BC) was King of Judea, ambassadors from Malabar visited the Emperor according to an account of Nicolaus of Damascus. Certain nasrani writings hypothesize that these ambassadors were the Biblical Magi of Matthew 2:1, as a tradition. First 15 centuries Arrival of Saint Thomas Saint Thomas Christians believe that Thomas the Apostle arrived in the Malabar Coast around AD 52. He landed at Muziris (now estimated as Pattanam, near Kochi on the Malabar Coast), after his first mission in the Parthian empire, during the era of King Gondophares It is believed that St. Thomas itinerated for 30 years in Kerala and proceeded to the East coast of India from Malankara and died a martyrs' death at a place called Mylapore-Chinnamalai in Tamil