Rauso was a region in the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

Late Antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

Geography

The '' Monumentum Adulitanum'' is a 4th-century monumental inscription by King

Ezana of Axum Ezana ( gez, ዔዛና ''‘Ezana'', unvocalized ዐዘነ ''‘zn''; also spelled Aezana or Aizan) was ruler of the Kingdom of Axum, an ancient kingdom located in what is now Eritrea and Ethiopia. (320s – c. 360 AD). He himself employed the ...

recording his various victories in war. It is lost, but its text was copied down in the 6th century by

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 ...

in his ''

Christian Topography The ''Christian Topography'' ( grc, Χριστιανικὴ Τοπογραφία, la, Topographia Christiana) is a 6th-century work, one of the earliest essays in scientific geography written by a Christian author. It originally consisted of fiv ...

''. It describes how Ezana conquered a land and people called Rauso to the west of

Aromata Aromata (Greek: Αρώματα, lit. "spices, aromatics"), also called the Spice Port,Lionel Casson (ed.), ''The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary'' (Princeton University Press, 1989), p. 115. was an empo ...

. The description of the land is congruous with modern-day Dollo Zone and

Haud The Haud (also Hawd) (, ), formerly known as the Hawd Reserve Area is a plateau situated in the Horn of Africa consisting of thorn-bush and grasslands. The region includes the southern part of Somaliland as well as the northern and eastern parts ...

. Stuart Munro-Hay, ''Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity'' (Edinburgh University Press, 1991), p. 187.Munro-Hay, ''Ethiopia, the Unknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide'' (I. B. Tauris, 2003), p. 235. also translated "Land of Incense"Y. Shitomi (1997), "A New Interpretation of the ''Monumentum Adulitanum''", ''Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko'' 55, 81–102. or "frankincense country":

I subjugated the peoples of Rauso who live in the midst of incense-gathering barbarians between great waterless plains.

British Anglican priest William Vincent described the region of Rauso as stretching westwards from Aromata all the way to the hinterlands of the hitherto prospective Adal Kingdom. During its extant existence, the contemporary polity to the north of Rauso was Sesea. The region of Rauso could also be congruous with the Nugaal plains of northern Somalia.

Laurence P. Kirwan Sir Archibald Laurence Patrick Kirwan KCMG (13 May 1907 – 16 April 1999) was a British archaeologist and geographer who made major contributions to the study of ancient Egypt, Nubia, East Africa and South Arabia. ''The Guardian'', in his obitua ...

identified it with the

Danakil Desert The Danakil Desert is a desert in northeast Ethiopia, southern Eritrea, and northwestern Djibouti. Situated in the Afar Triangle, it stretches across of arid terrain. It is inhabited by a few Afar, who engage in salt mining. The area is known f ...

, inhabited today by the

Afar Afar may refer to: Peoples and languages *Afar language, an East Cushitic language *Afar people, an ethnic group of Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia Places Horn of Africa *Afar Desert or Danakil Desert, a desert in Ethiopia *Afar Region, a region ...

Politics

English journalist Frederick Guest Tomlins described Rauso as a Kingdom. Rauso also had an alternative toponym by the epithet of Raitnus. It used to exchange ordained religious ministers with the northern polities. A predominant religion practised during the Rauso period was

Waaqism Waaq (also Waq or Waaqa) is the ancient name for God in the Cushitic languages of both the Oromo people and Somali people in the Horn of Africa.Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, ''Culture and Customs of Somalia'', (Greenwood Publishing Group: 2001), p.65 ...

. During the classical era, through its contact with Hadhramaut and Himyarite traders, the Rauso kingdom had contact with Abrahamic religions too, in the form of Christianity in the former and Judaism in the latter, and some of these populations had settled and became Somalized. The pre-Rauso era is largely regarded as corresponding with Lowland East Cushite history. It was bordered to the south by various Horner and cushitic tribal groupings such as the Northern Azanians, the Ormas, the Bazrangids, the Tunni, Gabooye and various other Lowland East Cushites. Sometime during the latter half of the

1st millennium File:1st millennium montage.png, From top left, clockwise: Depiction of Jesus, the central figure in Christianity; The Colosseum, a landmark of the once-mighty Roman Empire; Kaaba, the Great Mosque of Mecca, the holiest site of Islam; Chess, a new ...

, Rauso was replaced by the Jabarta and Ximan civilizations. Concurrently, there also existed a predominantly Christian civilization called ''Harli'' towards the north in the Nugaal Valley.

References

{{reflist Ancient Somalia