Editing Opone

{{Short description|Ancient proto-Somali trading center}}{{About|the historical city|the modern city|Hafun}}
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| colspan="2" style="margin-left: inherit; background:#DEB887; text-align:center; font-size: medium;" |Ancient<br>'''Opone'''
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[[File:Periplous of the Erythraean Sea.svg|250px|.]]</div>
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| '''Location'''
|[[Hafun]], [[Somalia]]<ref>Periplus of Erythraean Sea</ref>
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| '''City-state existed:'''
| 1st millennium BC–500 AD
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<!--| colspan=2 | <small>{{{footnotes}}}</small> -->
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'''Opone''' ({{langx|grc|Ὀπώνη ἐμπόριον}}) was an ancient [[seaport]] and [[Emporium (antiquity)|emporium]] located in present-day [[Somalia]]. It is primarily known for its trade with the [[Ancient Egypt]]ians, [[Ancient Rome|Romans]], [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]], [[Persian Empire|Persians]], and the states of [[History of India|ancient India]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buch |first=Maganlal Amritlal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JGlMAAAAMAAJ |title=Economic Life in Ancient India: A Systematic Survey |date=1924 |pages=249 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Valdron |first=D. G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Z14EAAAQBAJ&q=trading+post+Opone+ |title=Dawn of Cthulhu: Strange Realities, Volume 1 |date=2017 |publisher=Fossil Cove Press |isbn=978-0-9879061-5-1 |pages=17–18 |language=en}}</ref> The historic port has been identified with the city of [[Hafun]] through archaeological remains.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8HKDtlPuM2oC&q=Opone+hafun+ |title=A Dictionary of Archaeology |last2=Jameson |first2=Robert |date=2008-04-15 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-75196-1 |language=en}}</ref> It is possible that it corresponds to the [[Land of Punt]] as known by the ancient Egyptians during the [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Old]], [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle]], and [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/punt/|title=Punt|newspaper=Ancient History Encyclopedia|access-date=2017-11-27}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Pharmacographia|first1=Friedrich August|last1=Flückiger|first2=Daniel|last2=Hanbury|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781108069304|date=2014-03-20|page=136|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iTTeAgAAQBAJ&q=opone+punt&pg=PA136}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=In Search of Myths & Heroes: Exploring Four Epic Legends of the World|first=Michael|last=Wood|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520247246|date=2005|page=[https://archive.org/details/insearchofmythsh00mich/page/155 155]|url=https://archive.org/details/insearchofmythsh00mich|url-access=registration|quote=opone punt.}}</ref>

==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]].

==Archaeological remains==
[[Ancient Egypt]]ian, [[Roman Empire|Roman]] and [[Persian Gulf]] pottery has been recovered from the site by an [[archaeology|archaeological]] team from the [[University of Michigan]]. In the 1970s, [[Neville Chittick]], a [[British people|British]] [[archaeologist]], initiated the British-Somali expedition where he and his [[Somali people|Somali]] colleagues encountered remains of ancient [[drystone wall]]s, houses with [[courtyard]]s, and the location of the old [[harbour]].

==See also==
*[[Essina]]
*[[Sarapion]]
*[[Qandala]]
*[[History of Somalia]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Ancient Somalia]]
[[Category:City-states]]
[[Category:Maritime history of Somalia]]
[[Category:University of Michigan]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek geography of East Africa]]
[[Category:Land of Punt]]