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[3][circular reference] of the Himyarite kingdom, particularly a certain “Mapharitic chieftain.”[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]
^Wilfred Harvey, Schoff (1912). The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: travel and trade in the Indian Ocean". New York : Longmans, Green. pp. 33–35.
^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.
Rhapta (Ancient Greek: Ῥάπτα and Ῥαπτά) was an emporion said to be on the coast of Southeast Africa, first described in the 1st century CE. Its location...
present locations; for others, there is considerable debate. For instance, "Rhapta" is mentioned as the farthest market down the African coast of "Azania"...
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town of Rhapta as "metropolis" of a political entity called Azania. Archaeologists have not yet succeeded in identifying the location of Rhapta, although...
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AD 79 Pompeii destroyed AD 1 Caroline Islands colonized 2nd century 150 Rhapta, hint of pre-Swahili, Periplus of the Erythraean Sea 200 Bantu reach east...
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Africa was well-known to Mediterranean geographers. The trading post of Rhapta, described as "the last marketplace of Azania," may correspond to the coast...
Empire (R) (50–937 AD) (List of kings of Axum) Azania (?-1st century AD) (Rhapta) (Southern Cushitic people and the Bantu expansion) Empire of Zanj and the...
settlers have been variously identified with the trading settlements of Rhapta, Azania and Menouthias referenced in early Greek and Chinese writings from...
Caecilius Metellus Celer, as recorded by Cornelius Nepos and Pomponius Mela 50: Rhapta 412: Faxian 986: Bjarni Herjólfsson 999: Leif Erikson 1312: Lancelotto Malocello...
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