Editing Rhapta (section)

{{Short description|Ancient marketplace}}
{{History of Tanzania}}
'''Rhapta''' ({{langx|grc|Ῥάπτα<ref name= "Stephanus of Byzantium">[https://topostext.org/work/241#R543.8 Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, §R543.8]</ref> and Ῥαπτά<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=rhapta-harpers Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898) - Rhapta]</ref>}}) was an [[Emporium (antiquity)|emporion]] said to be on the coast of [[Southeast Africa]], first described in the 1st century CE. Its location has not been firmly identified, although there are a number of plausible candidate sites. The ancient ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]]'' described Rhapta as "the last emporion of [[Azania]]", two days' travel south of the [[Menouthias]] islands (Chapter 16). The ''Periplus'' also states that the city and port were ruled by [[South Arabia]]n vassals of the [[Himyarite Kingdom|Himyarite kingdom]], particularly a certain "[[Mofar|Mapharitic]] chieftain."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wilfred Harvey|first=Schoff |title=The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: travel and trade in the Indian Ocean".|publisher=New York : Longmans, Green|year=1912|pages=33–35}}</ref><ref name="Casson45">[[Lionel Casson]] (ed.), [http://dge.cchs.csic.es/dge-i/lst-trad/Bookzz/Casson%201989.pdf ''The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary''] (Princeton University Press, 1989), p. 45.</ref>

According to [[Claudius Ptolemy]], [[Diogenes (explorer)|Diogenes]], a merchant in the [[India]]n trade, was [[blown off course]] from his usual route from India, and after travelling 25 days south along the coast of Africa arrived at Rhapta, located where the river of the same name enters the [[Indian Ocean]] opposite the island of [[Menouthias]]. Diogenes further describes this river as having its source near the [[Mountains of the Moon (Africa)|Mountains of the Moon]], near the swamp whence the [[Nile]] was said to also have its source. Ptolemy also mentions another Greek captain, called Theophilos, who took twenty days to travel from the [[Horn of Africa]] to Rhapta.<ref name="The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean">{{Cite book|title=The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean: The Ancient World Economy & the Kingdoms of Africa, Arabia & India|last=McLaughlin|first=Raoul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WmZtBQAAQBAJ|publisher=Pen & Sword Military|year=2014|isbn=978-1526738073|page=126}}</ref>

Rhapta is also mentioned by [[Stephanus of Byzantium]]<ref name= "Stephanus of Byzantium"/> and [[Cosmas Indicopleustes]].

Stephanus of Byzantium and Ptolemy write that Rhapta was a [[Colonies in antiquity|metropolis]] of [[Barbaria (region)|Barbaria]] ({{langx|grc|Βαρβαρίας}}).<ref name= "Stephanus of Byzantium"/><ref>[https://topostext.org/work/209#4.7.12 PTOLEMAEUS, GEOGRAPHY, § 4.7.12]</ref>

According to [[George Wynn Brereton Huntingford|Huntingford]], it is certain that the people of Rhapta did not speak a [[Bantu languages|Bantu language]], since the 1st century AD is too early for Bantu speakers to have [[Bantu expansion|reached]] the East African coast.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oliver |first=Roland Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TQvqPXd9t2QC |title=History of East Africa |date=1968 |publisher=Clarendon Press |pages=80–93 |language=en}}</ref> It is possible that the survivors of the 1st century inhabitants are the [[Iraqw people|Iraqw]], [[Gorowa people|Gorowa]], [[Alagwa people|Alagwa]] and [[Burunge language|Burungi]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Society |first=Hakluyt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vpoN9PDYKC4C |title=The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea |date=1980 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-0-904180-05-3 |pages=147 |language=en}}</ref> Roland Anthony Oliver states that there is no evidence where Greco-Roman sources allude to the inhabitants of Rhapta being of [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]] origin.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oliver |first=Roland Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TQvqPXd9t2QC&q=history+of+east+africa+books+oliver+matthew |title=History of East Africa |date=1968 |publisher=Clarendon Press |pages=101 |language=en}}</ref>