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Rhapta (Ancient Greek: Ῥάπτα[1] and Ῥαπτά[2]) was an 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 Arabian vassals of the Himyarite kingdom, particularly a certain "Mapharitic chieftain."[3][4]
According to Claudius Ptolemy, Diogenes, a merchant in the Indian 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, 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.[5]
Rhapta is also mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium[1] and Cosmas Indicopleustes.
Stephanus of Byzantium and Ptolemy write that Rhapta was a metropolis of Barbaria (Ancient Greek: Βαρβαρίας).[1][6]
According to Huntingford, it is certain that the people of Rhapta did not speak a Bantu language, since the 1st century AD is too early for Bantu speakers to have reached the East African coast.[7] It is possible that the survivors of the 1st century inhabitants are the Iraqw, Gorowa, Alagwa and Burungi.[8] Roland Anthony Oliver states that there is no evidence where Greco-Roman sources allude to the inhabitants of Rhapta being of Bantu origin.[9]
- ^ a b c Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, §R543.8
- ^ Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898) - Rhapta
- ^ Wilfred Harvey, Schoff (1912). The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: travel and trade in the Indian Ocean". New York : Longmans, Green. pp. 33–35.
- ^ Lionel Casson (ed.), The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (Princeton University Press, 1989), p. 45.
- ^ McLaughlin, Raoul (2014). The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean: The Ancient World Economy & the Kingdoms of Africa, Arabia & India. Pen & Sword Military. p. 126. ISBN 978-1526738073.
- ^ PTOLEMAEUS, GEOGRAPHY, § 4.7.12
- ^ Oliver, Roland Anthony (1968). History of East Africa. Clarendon Press. pp. 80–93.
- ^ Society, Hakluyt (1980). The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-904180-05-3.
- ^ Oliver, Roland Anthony (1968). History of East Africa. Clarendon Press. p. 101.