Editing Rhapta

{{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>

==Name==
It was named Rhapta (meaning sewn in Greek),<ref name="The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean"/> due to the sewed boats (ῥαπτῶν πλοιαρίων) which were used there.<ref>[https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/Περίπλους_της_Ερυθράς_Θαλάσσης#16 Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, §16]</ref>

==Location==
[[G.W.B. Huntingford]] lists five proposed locations for Rhapta:
* [[Tanga, Tanzania|Tanga]], at the mouth of the [[Mkulumuzi river|Mkulumuzi]] and [[Sigi River]]s
* [[Pangani]], at the mouth of the [[Pangani River|Ruvu River]]
* [[Msasani]], three miles north of [[Dar es Salaam]]—or Dar es Salaam itself
* [[Kisuyu]]
* Somewhere in the [[Rufiji River]] delta, opposite [[Mafia Island]].

Huntingford dismisses the first two as being too close to [[Zanzibar]] and [[Pemba Island|Pemba]] islands (which he identifies with Menouthis, and follows the author of the ''Periplus'' in locating Menouthis north of Rhapta). He observes that there is no river at Msasani, and thus concludes Kisuyu or the Rufiji delta are the most likely candidates. However, J. Innes Miller points out that [[Roman Empire|Roman]] coins have been found on Pemba; that the Ruvu emerges near the [[Mount Kilimanjaro|Kilimanjaro]] and [[Mount Meru (Tanzania)|Meru]] mountains—which confirm the account of Diogenes; and that an old inscription in [[Semitic language|Semitic]] characters has been found near the [[Pangani]] estuary, which make Pemba a likely candidate for Rhapta.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} However, the first evidence of inhabitation starts solely in the seventh century at a site called [[Tumbe]] on the northern end of the island,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Fleisher|first1=Jeffery|last2=LaViolette|first2=Adria|title=The early Swahili trade village of Tumbe, Pemba Island, Tanzania, AD 600-950|journal=Antiquity|volume=87}}</ref> limpidly contradicting these assertions. Furthermore, John Perkins states this: "Some Roman, Byzantine, and Sasanian coins are reported from the East African coast; however, none of these come from excavations, and the surrounding evidence suggests that they probably did not reach the Swahili Coast in antiquity. Evidence for contacts and trade between this part of Africa and the Roman and Persian worlds is mainly recorded in the limited written records."<ref>Perkins, John, "The Indian Ocean and Swahili coins, international networks and local developments" in ''Afriques'', 2015</ref>

In recent years, professor [[Felix A. Chami|Felix Chami]] has found archaeological evidence for extensive Roman trade on Mafia Island and, not far away, on the mainland, near the mouth of the Rufiji River, which he dated to the first few centuries CE.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Chami |first=Felix A. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/200009 |title=Roman Beads from the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania: First Incontrovertible Archaeological Link with the Periplus |journal=[[Current Anthropology]] |pages=237–242 |volume=40 |issue=2 |date=1999  |doi=10.1086/200009|jstor=10.1086/200009 |s2cid=143050537 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Goods==
[[File:Cinnamomum verum.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Cinnamon sticks.]]
Which goods were traded at Rhapta is disputed. The ''Periplus'' only states that it was a source of [[ivory]] and [[tortoise]] shell. J. Innes Miller argues that Rhapta formed an important link in the trade route between what is now modern [[Indonesia]] and consumers in the Mediterranean region. Miller notes that ancient authorities, e.g. [[Herodotus]] ([https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/3D*.html#111 3.111]) state that [[cinnamon]] and [[Cinnamomum aromaticum|cassia]] bark were harvested in Africa, yet these species until recently were found only in [[Southeast Asia]], which would hint at some conflation. Miller points to the well-documented cultural links between Indonesia and East Africa (e.g., the [[Malagasy language]] is related to [[Malay language|Malay]], both people use double [[outrigger canoe]]s). He then posits that the use of [[monsoon]]s began far earlier than previously thought, allowing traders to bring their spices westward perhaps as early as the [[2nd millennium BC]].

It is possible that both the account of the ''Periplus'' and at least part of Miller's theory are correct, for the ''Periplus'' focuses on the availability of tortoise shell, and its silence about other goods should not be taken as evidence that other goods were not traded.

==See also==
* [[Azania]]
* [[Menouthias]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
* Casson, Lionel. 1989. ''The Periplus Maris Erythraei''. (Translation by H. Frisk, 1927, with some updates and improvements). Princeton, Princeton University Press. (This is considered by some the most accurate translation of the ''Periplus'' into English, and also includes the Greek text.)
* Chami, F. A. 1999. "The Early Iron Age on Mafia island and its relationship with the mainland." ''Azania'', 34, pp.&nbsp;1–10.
* Chami, Felix A. 2002. [https://web.archive.org/web/20030619213402/http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/ane/fullpapers.doc "The Graeco-Romans and Paanchea/Azania: sailing in the Erythraean Sea" in ''Red Sea Trade and Travel''. Presented Sunday 6 October 2002 at the British Museum]. Organised by The Society for Arabian Studies.
* Hill, John E. 2004. [https://web.archive.org/web/20050315032618/http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html ''The Peoples of the West from the Weilue'' {{lang|zh-Hant|魏略}} ''by Yu Huan'' {{lang|zh-Hant|魚豢}}'': A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE.''] Draft annotated English translation. See especially Section&nbsp;15 on ''Zesan'' = Azania and notes.
* Huntingford, G. W. B. 1980. ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea''. London: the Hakluyt Society.
* Miller, J. Innes. 1969. Chapter&nbsp;8: "The Cinnamon Route". In: ''The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire''. Oxford: University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-814264-1}}
* Ray, Himanshu Prabha, ed. 1999. ''Archaeology of Seafaring: The Indian Ocean in the Ancient Period''. Pragati Publications, Delhi.
* Schoff, Wilfred H. 1912. ''The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea''. New York, Longmans, Green, and Co. Second Edition. Reprint, New Delhi, Oriental Books Reprint Corporation. 1974.

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[[Category:History of Kenya]]
[[Category:Precolonial Tanzania]]
[[Category:Retail markets]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek geography of East Africa]]
[[Category:History of South Arabia]]