Adulis
Adulis (also Adule ) was an ancient trading town on the Red Sea that was not yet precisely located . According to the Periplus Maris Erythraei , Adulis was in a bay on the coast opposite the "mountain island" below Ptolemais , three day trips from Koloe (Qohaito?) And eight day trips from Aksum . Possibly the ruins south of Massaua am Habas in Eritrea are the remains of the city, possibly the Somali region of Awdal is a metathesis of the ancient city name, which is typical for Semitic languages .
In Roman times elephants were hunted in the immediate vicinity of the city. Otherwise the ivory came from the interior and was considered superior to that from Muza . Founded as a trading post under Ptolemy II , Adulis was for a long time the only port city of the Kingdom of Aksum ; a ruler named Zoskales is documented there for the 1st century AD . Ivory was exported from Adulis, and metal goods and textiles were imported from Egypt and India . Adulis was obviously an important trading post in the trade in African goods and in the Indian trade . In late antique times, Adulis was a Christian city; it appears in the 7th / 8th To have perished or been destroyed in the 19th century.
An inscription on a stele of Ptolemy III comes from Adulis . Euergetes, in which an unnamed king boasts that he has conquered the Seleucid Empire in his 27th year of reign and that he has penetrated to the borders of India. The Aksumite king Ezana added a postscript. The historically significant text has only been preserved in a copy of the Cosmas Indicopleust from the 6th century. Usually the ruler with Ptolemy III. Euergetes (247-222 / 221 BC), who died in his 26th year of reign, or equated with a ruler of Aksum, but Beeston wants to ascribe it to the Himyar king Yasduq'il .
literature
- AFL Beeston: The Authorship of the Adulis Throne Text . In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies London 43/3, 1980, 453–458.
- Raoul McLaughlin: The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean. The Ancient World Economy and the Kingdoms of Africa, Arabia and India. Pen & Sword, Barnsley 2014.
- Richard Pietschmann : Adule . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Col. 431 f.
- Timothy Power: The Red Sea from Byzantium to the Caliphate: AD 500-1000. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo 2012.
- Wilhelm H. Schoff: The Periplus of the Erythraen Sea. Travel and trade in the Indian Ocean by a merchant of the first century . New Delhi 2001.
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Periplus Maris Erythraei 4
- ↑ Periplus 4
- ↑ Periplus 17
- ^ Wilhelm Dittenberger , Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (OGIS) 54 = Kai Brodersen / Wolfgang Günther / Hatto H. Schmitt : Historical Greek inscriptions in translation. Volume 3, 404.