Editing Opone (section)

==History and trade==
{{See also|Maritime history of Somalia}}Opone, like other city-states such as [[Avalites]], [[Malao]], and [[Mosylon]], came into existence with the collapse of the [[Macrobians|Macrobian]] kingdom.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n8JZAAAAYAAJ&q=avalit%C3%A6&pg=PA107 |title=The Chautauquan: organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle |date=1881 |publisher=Chautauqua Press |pages=107 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ylönen |first=Aleksi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B9PwEAAAQBAJ&q=Macrobians+Opone+ |title=The Horn Engaging the Gulf: Economic Diplomacy and Statecraft in Regional Relations |date=2024-01-25 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-7556-3515-3 |pages=111 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Josephus |first=Flavius |author-link=Josephus Flavius |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C-ZBAQAAMAAJ&q=Opone+avalit%C3%A6 |title=The Whole Genuine and Complete Works of Flavius Josephus ... |date=1794 |publisher=William Durell |pages=687 |language=en}}</ref>

Pottery found in Oponean [[tomb]]s date back to the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] [[monarchy|Kingdom]] of [[Greece]] that flourished between the 16th and 11th century BC.<ref>An Archaeological Reconnaissance of the Horn: The British-Somali Expedition 1975, Neville Chittick pg 133</ref> Its major periods of activity were during the 1st century BC and the 3rd to the 5th centuries AD.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Shaw|first=Ian|title=A Dictionary of Archaeology|year=2002|publisher=Wiley|isbn=978-0-631-23583-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zmvNogJO2ZgC&q=opone+tombs&pg=PA264|author2=Robert Jameson|access-date=25 September 2010|page=264}}</ref> Opone was mentioned by an anonymous [[Greek people|Greek]] merchant in the 1st century AD ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]]''. The town is featured in the ancient document's thirteenth entry, which in part states:

{{cquote|And then, after sailing four hundred [[Ancient Greek weights and measures|stadia]] along a promontory, toward which place the [[ocean current|current]] also draws you, there is another market-town called Opone, into which the same things are imported as those already mentioned, and in it, the greatest quantity of [[cinnamon]] is produced, (the arebo and moto), and a great quantity of [[tortoiseshell material|tortoiseshell]], better than that found elsewhere.
}}

Opone served as a port of call for merchants from [[Phoenicia]], [[Egypt]], [[Greece]], [[Persia]], [[Yemen]], [[Nabataea]], [[Azania]], the [[Roman Empire]] and elsewhere,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Steam Workshop::Gedemo Opone City-State|url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1609404120|website=steamcommunity.com|language=en|access-date=2020-05-25}}</ref> as it sat at a strategic location along the coastal route from the [[Mocha, Yemen|Mochan]] trading center of Azania to the [[Red Sea]]. Merchants from as far afield as [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]] passed through the city, exchanging spices, silks, and other goods, before departing south for Azania or north to [[Yemen]] or [[Egypt]] on the [[trade route]]s that spanned the length of the [[Indian Ocean]]'s rim. As early as 50 AD, it was well known as a center for the [[cinnamon]] trade, along with the barter of [[clove]]s and other [[spice]]s, [[ivory]], exotic [[hide (skin)|animal skin]]s and [[incense]].