Rhapta
Rhapta (after the Periplus Maris Erythraei from the Greek rhapton ploiarion, "boat tied together") was an ancient market on the East African coast whose location has not yet been clearly identified, although there are a number of plausible identifications. Rhapta was the southernmost place known to the Romans on the coast of Azania and is mentioned by Claudius Ptolemy , the Periplus Maris Erythraei and Cosmas Indicopleustes .
Claudius Ptolemy and the Periplus Maris Erythraei describe Rhapta as a larger city that, after the Periplus, was under Sabaean and Himyar rule and was administered from the Arab port of Muza , which levied customs duties across the region.
Localization
The Periplus Maris Erythraei is an important source for the localization of Rhapta. In chapter 16 it says: Two days beyond [the island of Menuthias] lies the very last commercial port on the coast of Azania called Rhapta . Based on the description in Chapter 15, Menuthias must be an island in the Zanzibar Archipelago . Claudius Ptolemy mentions Rhapta twice: A trader named Diogenes went off course on his way back from India and reached Rhapta after 25 days. This is due to the mouth of a river of the same name, which has its source in the Moon Mountains near the Nile source , opposite the island of Menuthis. In addition, he lists the following entries in the Geographikè Hyphégesis at the end of the places at the "Barbarian Bay" (the East African coast between Cape Guardafui and Cape Delgado ): mouth of the Rhaptus river: 72 ° 00 'E 7 ° 00' S; Rhapta, metropolis of Barbaria [= south of Azania], a short distance from the sea 71 ° 00 'E 7 ° 00' S; Rhaptum promontory 73 ° 50 'E 8 ° 25' S. According to these coordinates, Rhapta was in the area of Dar es Salaam in a larger bay. This allows the location of Rhapta to be limited to the area between the Rufiji Delta and the coast opposite the Zanzibar archipelago.
Archaeological evidence
A number of finds from the presumed area of Rhapta prove the brisk trade with the Mediterranean world and with India. These include Egyptian ceramics from the 7th century BC. BC, Greek glass beads from the Rufji Delta and Greek, Roman and Indian ceramics found in limestone caves on Zanzibar and Mafia .
Individual evidence
- ^ Geographikè Hyphégesis IV, 7
literature
- Felix A.Chami: The Early Iron Age on Mafia island and its relationship with the mainland. In: Azania. No. 34, 1999, ISSN 0067-270X , pp. 1-10.
- Felix A. Chami: The Graeco-Romans and Paanchea / Azania. Sailing in the Erythraean Sea. In: Paul Lunde, Alexandra Porter (eds.): Red Sea Trade and Travel . Proceedings of Red Sea project I, held in the British Museum, October 2002. Archaeopress, Oxford 2004, ISBN 1-8417-1622-7 ( Society for Arabian Studies Monographs 1).
- Himanshu Prabha Ray (Ed.): Archeology of Seafaring. The Indian Ocean in the Ancient Period. Pragati Publications, Delhi 1999, ISBN 81-7307060-1 ( Indian Council of Historical Research. Monograph series 1).