Adulis ( Sabaean: 𐩱 𐩵 𐩡 𐩪, , ) was an

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

city along the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

in the Gulf of Zula, about south of

Massawa Massawa or Mitsiwa ( ) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea Region, Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak Archipelago. It has been a historically important port for ...

. Its ruins lie within the modern Eritrean

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

of Zula. It was the emporium considered part of the D’mt and the

Kingdom of Aksum The Kingdom of Aksum, or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom in East Africa and South Arabia from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, based in what is now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, and spanning present-day Djibouti and Sudan. Emerging ...

. It was close to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

, with its luxury goods and trade routes. Its location can be included in the area known to the

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ians as the

Land of Punt The Land of Punt (Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pwnt#Egyptian, pwnt''; alternate Egyptian language#Egyptological pronunciation, Egyptological readings ''Pwene''(''t'') ) was an ancient kingdom known from Ancient Egyptian trade records. ...

, perhaps coinciding with the locality of ''Wddt'', recorded in the geographical list of the

Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt The Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVIII, alternatively 18th Dynasty or Dynasty 18) is classified as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the era in which ancient Egypt achieved the peak of its power. The Eighteenth Dynasty ...

History

Archeological excavations conducted at Adulis unearthed the existence of a late prehistoric settlement beneath the town, dating from the mid-2nd to early 1st millennium BCE. Adulis may correspond to ''Wddt'', a region recorded in the geographical lists of Egypt’s 18th dynasty (ca. 1450 BCE) as part of the

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

is the earliest European writer to mention Adulis (N.H. 6.34). He misunderstood the name of the place, thinking the toponym meant that it had been founded by escaped Egyptian slaves. Pliny further stated that it was the 'principal mart for the

Troglodytae The Troglodytae (, ''Trōglodytai''), or Troglodyti (literally "cave goers"), were people mentioned in various locations by many ancient Greek and Roman geographers and historians, including Herodotus (5th century BCE), Agatharchides (2nd centur ...

and the people of

Aethiopia Ancient Aethiopia, () first appears as a geographical term in classical documents in reference to the skin color of the inhabitants of the upper Nile in northern Sudan, of areas south of the Sahara, and of certain areas in Asia. Its earliest men ...

'. Adulis is also mentioned in the ''

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and Roman commerce, trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports lik ...

'', a guide of the

and the Indian Ocean. The latter guide describes the settlement as an emporium for the

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, 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 mamm ...

, hides, slaves and other exports of the interior. Roman merchants used the port in the second and third century AD. It appears that the city was located some distance from its actual port—approximately 20 stades away—which sources refer to as "the harbour of the ʿAdulītā". Further evidence of this distinction can be seen in the fact that the ʿAdulītā are sometimes mentioned separately from the Aksumites. Epiphanius, when listing the nine kingdoms of the "Indians,: distinguishes between the Aksumites and the "ʿAdulītā". MapHymiariteKingdom

Cosmas Indicopleustes Cosmas Indicopleustes (; also known as Cosmas the Monk) was a merchant and later hermit from Alexandria in Egypt. He was a 6th-century traveller who made several voyages to India during the reign of emperor Justinian. His work '' Christian Topogr ...

visited the town in 520 AD, when it was governed by a man named "Asbas" during the reign of King Kaleb of Axum, he recorded two inscriptions he found here in the 6th century: the first, probably the copy of another inscription at Alexandria, records how Ptolemy Euergetes (247–222 BC) used

war elephants A war elephant is an elephant that is trained and guided by humans for combat purposes. Historically, the war elephant's main use was to charge the enemy, break their ranks, and instill terror and fear. Elephantry is a term for specific mil ...

captured in the region to gain victories in his wars abroad; the second, known as the ''

Monumentum Adulitanum The ''Monumentum Adulitanum'' is the name for two Greek inscriptions from Adulis, the major port city in the modern day Eritrea Kingdom of Aksum. The two Greek inscriptions are known, respectively, as Monumentum Adulitanum I and Monumentum Adulitan ...

'', was inscribed in the 27th year of a king of Axum, perhaps named Sembrouthes, other scholars theorize him to be the Aksumite king GDRT, boasting of his victories in Arabia and northern Ethiopia. A fourth century work traditionally ascribed to the writer

Palladius of Galatia Palladius of Galatia () was a Christian chronicler and the bishop of Helenopolis in Bithynia. He was a devoted disciple of Saint John Chrysostom. He is best remembered for his work, the '' Lausiac History.'' He was also the author of the ''Dialo ...

, relates the journey of an anonymous Egyptian lawyer (''scholasticus'') to India in order to investigate

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

philosophy. He was accompanied part of the way by one Moise or Moses, the Bishop of Adulis. The existence of the See of Adulis is also confirmed by the

Notitiae Episcopatuum The ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' (singular: ''Notitia Episcopatuum'') were official documents that furnished for Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church. In the Roman Church (the mos ...

. The last years of Adulis are a mystery. Yuri Kobishchanov detailed a number of raids Aksumites made on the Arabian coast (the latest being in 702, when the port of

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

was occupied), and argued that Adulis was later destroyed by the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s, which brought to an end Axum's naval power and contributed to the Aksumite Kingdom's isolation. It has traditionally been claimed that the town was destroyed in 640 AD by an Arab expedition; however, the evidence remains inconclusive. While excavations have revealed traces of fire, historical records indicate that the Arab expedition was ultimately considered a failure. Muslim writers occasionally mention the nearby

Dahlak Archipelago The Dahlak Archipelago is an Eritrean island group located in the Red Sea, measuring around 643 square km (248 square miles) and lying roughly 58 kilometers (31 nautical miles, 36 miles) east of Massawa, the regional capital city. Etymol ...

as places of exile. In any case, the naval power of Axum waned and the port of Adulis was abandoned sometime around the 8th century AD.

Archeological excavations

Adulis was one of the first Axumite sites to undergo excavation, when a French mission to Eritrea under Vignaud and Petit performed an initial survey in 1840, and prepared a map which marked the location of three structures they believed were temples. In 1868, workers attached to Napier's campaign against

Tewodros II Tewodros II (, once referred to by the English cognate Theodore; baptized as Kassa, – 13 April 1868) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death in 1868. His rule is often placed as the beginning of modern Ethiopia and brought an end to ...

visited Adulis and exposed several buildings, including the foundations of a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

-like church. The first scientific excavations at Adulis were undertaken in 1906, under the supervision of Richard Sundström. Sundström worked in the northern sector of the site, exposing a large structure, which he dubbed the "palace of Adulis", as well as recovering some examples of Axumite coinage. The Italian Roberto Paribeni excavated in Adulis the following year, discovering many structures similar to what Sundström had found earlier, as well as a number of ordinary dwellings. He found a lot of pottery: even wine amphorae imported from the area of modern

Aqaba Aqaba ( , ; , ) is the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Situated in southernmost Jordan, Aqaba is the administrative center of the Aqaba Governorate. The city had a population of 148, ...

were found here during the decades of existence of the colony of

Italian Eritrea Italian Eritrea (, "Colony of Eritrea") was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy in the territory of present-day Eritrea. The first Italian establishment in the area was the purchase of Assab by the Società di Navigazione Rubattino, Rubattino Shippin ...

. These types now called Ayla-Axum Amphoras have since been found at other sites in Eritrea including on Black Assarca Island. Over 50 years passed until the next series of excavations, when in 1961 and 1962 the Ethiopian Institute of Archeology sponsored an expedition led by Francis Anfray. This excavation not only recovered materials showing a strong affinities with the late Axumite kingdom, but a

destruction layer A destruction layer is a stratum found in the excavation of an archaeological site showing evidence of the hiding and burial of valuables, the presence of widespread fire, mass murder, unburied corpses, loose weapons in public places, or other evi ...

. This in turn prompted Kobishchanov to later argue that Adulis had been destroyed by an Arab raid in the mid-7th century, a view that has since been partially rejected. A pair of fragments of glass vessels were found in the lowest layers at Adulis, which are similar to specimens from the

18th Dynasty of Egypt The Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVIII, alternatively 18th Dynasty or Dynasty 18) is classified as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the era in which ancient Egypt achieved the peak of its power. The Eighteenth Dynasty ...

. One very specialised imported vessel discovered at the site was a Menas flask. It was stamped with a design showing the Egyptian St. Menas between two kneeling camels. Such vessels are supposed to have held water from a spring near the saint's tomb in Egypt (Paribeni 1907: 538, fig. 54), and this particular one may have been brought to Adulis by a pilgrim. Since Eritrean Independence, the National Museum of Eritrea has petitioned the Government of Ethiopia to return artifacts of these excavations. To date they have been denied.

History

Archeological excavations

See also

Notes

Further reading