Barbaria was the name used by the

ancient Greeks Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

for littoral

northeast Africa Northeast Africa, or ''Northeastern Africa'' or Northern East Africa as it was known in the past, is a geographic regional term used to refer to the countries of Africa situated in and around the Red Sea. The region is intermediate between North ...

. The corresponding

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

term, ''bilad al-Barbar'' (land of the Barbar), was used in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

.Michael Peppard, "A Letter Concerning Boats in Berenike and Trade on the Red Sea", ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' 171 (2009), pp. 193–198. The name of Barbaria is preserved today in the name of the Somali city of

Berbera Berbera (; so, Barbara, ar, بربرة) is the capital of the Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of the British Somaliland protectorate before Hargeisa. I ...

, the city known to the Greeks as

Malao Malao ( grc, Μαλαὼ) was an ancient proto-Somali port in present-day Somaliland. The town was situated on the site of what later became the city of Berbera. It was a key trading member involved in the Red Sea-Indian Ocean commerce in the ea ...

.David M. Goldenberg, "Geographia Rabbinica: The Toponym Barbaria", ''Journal of Jewish Studies'' 50, 1 (1999), pp. 67–69.

Greek sources

According to the ''

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' ( grc, Περίπλους τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς Θαλάσσης, ', modern Greek '), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and ...

'', a 1st-century travelogue written by a Greek merchant based in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

, Barbaria extended from the border of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

just south of

Berenice Troglodytica Berenice Troglodytica, also called Berenike ( Greek: ) or Baranis, is an ancient seaport of Egypt on the western shore of the Red Sea. It is situated about 825 km south of Suez, 260 km east of Aswan in Upper Egypt and 140 km s ...

to just north of

Ptolemais Theron Ptolemais Theron ( grc, Πτολεμαῒς Θηρῶν and Πτολεμαῒς ἡ τῶν θηρῶν) ('Ptolemais of the Hunts') was a marketplace on the African side of the Red Sea,Raoul McLaughlin, ''The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean'', p. ...

. From there to the Bab-el-Mandeb was the kingdom ruled by

Zoskales Zoskales ( grc, Ζωσκάλης) (c. 100 CE) was an ancient King in the Horn of Africa. His realm included the ancient city of Adulis in modern day Eritrea. History The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' mentions Zoskales as the ruler of the por ...

(possibly

Aksum Axum, or Aksum (pronounced: ), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire, a naval and trading power that ruled the whole regio ...

), after which the "rest of Barbaria" extended to

Opone Opone ( grc, Οπώνη) was an ancient proto-Somali city situated in the Horn of Africa. It is primarily known for its trade with the Ancient Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Persians, and the states of ancient India. Through archaeological remains, t ...

. This second Barbaria was the location of the so-called "far-side" ports. Lionel Casson (ed.), ''The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary'' (Princeton University Press, 1989), p. 45.Lionel Casson, "Barbaria", in Glen W. Bowersock, Peter Brown and Oleg Grabar (eds.), ''Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World'' (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999), p. 334. In the ''

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

'' of

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

(2nd century), Barbaria is said to extend even further, as far south as

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...

, although the land south of Opone is called

Azania Azania ( grc, Ἀζανία) is a name that has been applied to various parts of southeastern tropical Africa. In the Roman period and perhaps earlier, the toponym referred to a portion of the Southeast Africa coast extending from northern Kenya ...

in the ''Periplus''. Ptolemy describes the city of

Rhapta Rhapta ( grc, Ῥάπτα and Ῥαπτά) 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. ...

as the "metropolis of Barbaria". Barbaria is also mentioned in

Marcian of Heraclea Marcian of Heraclea ( grc-gre, Μαρκιανὸς Ἡρακλεώτης, ''Markianòs Hērakleṓtēs''; la, Marcianus Heracleënsis; fl. century AD) was a minor Greek geographer from Heraclea Pontica in Late Antiquity. His known works are: * ...

. Later sources (

Cosmas Indicopleustes Cosmas Indicopleustes ( grc-x-koine, Κοσμᾶς Ἰνδικοπλεύστης, lit=Cosmas who sailed to India; also known as Cosmas the Monk) was a Greek merchant and later hermit from Alexandria of Egypt. He was a 6th-century traveller who ma ...

and

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethn ...

) place it on the African side of the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channe ...

.Ramzi Rouighi, "The Berbers of the Arabs", ''Studia Islamica'' 106, 1 (2011), 49–76. The first contact of the Greeks with Barbaria came in the 3rd century BC, when the

Ptolemies The Ptolemaic dynasty (; grc, Πτολεμαῖοι, ''Ptolemaioi''), sometimes referred to as the Lagid dynasty (Λαγίδαι, ''Lagidae;'' after Ptolemy I's father, Lagus), was a Macedonian Greek royal dynasty which ruled the Ptolemaic ...

set up bases for elephant hunting. These bases remained in use as ports for the export of

myrrh Myrrh (; from Semitic, but see '' § Etymology'') is a gum-resin extracted from a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus '' Commiphora''. Myrrh resin has been used throughout history as a perfume, incense and medicine. Myrrh m ...

and

frankincense Frankincense (also known as olibanum) is an aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes, obtained from trees of the genus '' Boswellia'' in the family Burseraceae. The word is from Old French ('high-quality incense'). There are several species ...

throughout antiquity. There were many smaller ports that exported tortoiseshell and

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

. In the ''Periplus'', Barbaria is said to lack central government and is ruled by local chiefs. Azania, on the other hand, is subject to the

Sabaeans The Sabaeans or Sabeans (Sabaean:, ; ar, ٱلسَّبَئِيُّوْن, ''as-Sabaʾiyyūn''; he, סְבָאִים, Səḇāʾīm) were an ancient group of South Arabians. They spoke the Sabaean language, one of the Old South Arabian langu ...

and Himyarites. In the ''Periplus'', the inhabitants of the first Barbaria, or the ''Barbarike chora'' (Barbarian region), include the eponymous Barbaroi (Barbarians, Berbers), but also Ichthyophagoi (fish eaters), Agriophagoi (wild beast eaters) and Moschophagoi (shoot eaters). These are probably the same people as the Trogodytes of other ancient geographers. The Moschophagoi may correspond to the Rhizophagoi (root eaters) and Spermatophagoi (seed eaters) of other geographers.

Arabic sources

Arabic sources refer to the coast as the ''Baḥr Berberā'' or ''al-Khalīj al-Berberī'' and its inhabitants as the Berbera or Berābir. They are the

Somalis The Somalis ( so, Soomaalida 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒆𐒖, ar, صوماليون) are an ethnic group native to the Horn of Africa who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The Lowland East Cushitic Somali language is the shared ...

, distinguished from the Habash to their north and the

Zanj Zanj ( ar, زَنْج, adj. , ''Zanjī''; fa, زنگی, Zangi) was a name used by medieval Muslim geographers to refer to both a certain portion of Southeast Africa (primarily the Swahili Coast) and to its Bantu inhabitants. This word is als ...

to their south. From Arabic, this terminology for northeast Africa entered

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

(''Barbara''), Persian (''Barbaristan'') and even Chinese (''Pi-pa-li''). Most of these usages are associated with Somalia. The Chinese term, although probably derived from Berbera, refers to the coast and hinterland and not just the port.Paul Wheatley, "The Land of Zanj: Exegetical Notes on Chinese Knowledge of East Africa prior to AD 1500", in Robert W. Steel and R. Mansell Prothero (eds.), ''Geographers and the Tropics: Liverpool Essays'' (Longmans, 1964), pp. 139–187, at 142–43.

References

External links

''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea''
- Schoff translation {{Regions of the world, state=collapsed Historical regions Horn of Africa

Greek sources

Arabic sources

See also

References

External links