Wiki Categories: Map Features

Menouthias Islands

  • The Menouthias Islands are mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (first century BCE).
  • They probably refer to the Zanzibar Archipelago of islands opposite Azania, consisting of Pemba Island and Unguja Island, known as Zanzibar, along with other smaller islands.

Description

  • The Periplus describes Rhapta as a port two days south of the Menouthias Islands. Rhapta may have been Dar es Salaam.
  • Trade has been conducted between Zanzibar and Mesopotamia and India since c. 2,000 BCE.

 

Zanzibar may have been the Menouthias Islands

Khyber Pass

  • The Khyber Pass is a 30 mile (48km) Pass in the Spin Ghar mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan, passing through the Spin Gar mountains.
  • The Merchants on the Silk Road used this Pass on the route from China to Pakistan and on to India.

Invasion Route

  • In 550 BCE
    • Cyrus the Great, marched a Persian Army through the Khyber Pass to invade India.
  • In 515 BCE
    • Darius the Great, also marched a Persian Army through the Khyber Pass to invade India.
  • In 326 BCE
  • Between 1221-1327 CE
    • The Mongol Invasions used the Khyber pass.

Other Passes

 

 

Khyber Pass, Pakistan:

Mountains of the Moon

  • The Mountains of the Moon were identified by two second century CE Roman Geographers as being near the Source of the White Nile.
  • The Source of the White Nile was not found again until 1858.

Marinus of Tyre (c. 114 CE)

  • Marinus of Tyre recorded in his World Chart (114 CE) that during the first century CE, a Greek Merchant called Diogenes, returning from India, landed near Rhapta on the east coast of Africa, known as Azania.
  • After travelling inland for 25 days, he arrived at two great inland lakes and, at what the locals called the ‘Mountains of the Moon’, because their peaks were covered in snow. and described this area as the source of the river Nile.

Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)

  • Ptolemy the Greco-Roman Cartographer c. 150 CE, then placed the source of the Nile next to the two great lakes in his map of the world.
  • He described the ‘Mountains of the Moon’ in Greek as the ‘Selenes Oros’, and in Latin as the ‘Lunae Montes’.
  • He also placed Rhapta on the exact location of the River Rufiji, opposite Mafia Island, Tanzania.

The Location of the Mountains of the Moon

  • The Mountains of the Moon are usually considered to be the snow capped Ruwenzori Mountains in Uganda.
  • Alternatively, they may also refer to Mount Kilimanjaro in northeastern Tanzania, the highest Mountain in Africa, which is also covered in snow all year round.
  • In addition, the largest river feeding Lake Victoria is the Kagera River, which could also be interpreted as the source of Nile. The source of the Kagera river is Lake Rweru in Burundi.
  • Lake Victoria then drains via the Nile river at Jinja, Uganda.

Nineteenth Century rediscovery of the Source of the Nile

  • The Source of the White Nile was not rediscovered until 1858 by two British officers, Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke, who arrived in Zanzibar and travelled inland, in almost exactly the same way Diogenes had done nearly 2,000 years earlier.
  • The Source of the Blue Nile was discovered earlier in Ethiopia during the 1630’s by two Portuguese missionaries, Paez and Lobo.

 

Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Socotra Gyre

  • The Socotra Gyre is a clockwise Eddy in the Indian Ocean that rotates to the East of the island of Socotra.
  • It lies north of the Great Whirl, another much larger eddy, which lies off the coast of Somalia.

 

 

Darsah, Socotra Archipelago

 

Somali Current

  • The Somali Current flows along the East coast of Africa and reverses direction depending on the origin of the Monsoon.

Description

  • May to November:
    • The Somali Current flows Northward in a band 30-60 miles (48-96 km) wide, along the East Coast of Africa.
    • During the Southwest Monsoon which blows at a steady 30mph (48 kph), between May and June, the Current is at its strongest flow.
    • Between June and August, this intense Current produces two main Eddies that rotate clockwise, the Great Whirl and a secondary Eddy known as the Socotra Gyre. The surface current of the Great Whirl can reach 5 mph (7 kph).
  • From December to April:
    • During the Northeast Monsoon, the Somali Current reverses to become a Southward Flow, reaching up to Latitude 10° North, which includes most of the Somali Coastline. The Current is at its strongest in January.
    • However, the current flows north between Socotra and the Horn of Africa, due to the Great Whirl.

 

Somali Current

Pergamon

  • Pergamon, also spelt Pergamum, was an ancient Greek city whose Ruins are located next to the modern city of Bergama in modern Turkey. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  • It was the first capital of the Roman Province of Asia, until it was replaced by Ephesus. Pergamon had a population of c. 200,000.

Library of Pergamon

Greek and Roman Sites

  • Upper Acropolis
    • Pergamon Altar
    • Greek Theatre
      • with seathing for 10,000 spectators.
    • Temple of Dionysus
    • Temple of Athena
    • Library of Pergamon
    • The Royal Palaces
    • The Herron
      • An Altar to worship the Greek Kings.
    • The Upper Agora
    • Roman Baths
    • Diodorus Pasporos Heroon
    • Arsenals
  • Roman Sites
    • Trajaneum
      • Temple to Trajan and Zeus Philios.
    • Roman Baths
  • Lower Acropolis
    • Gymnasium
    • Sanctuary of Hera
    • Sanctuary of Demeter
    • House of Attalus
    • Lower Agora
    • Gate of Eumenes
  • 3 miles (5km) below the Acropolis:
    • The Sanctuary of Asclepius
    • Roman Theatre
    • North Stoa
    • South Stoa
    • Temple of Asclepius
    • Temple of Telesphorus
    • A healing spring
    • Underground passage
    • Library
    • Via Tecta
      • a colonnaded Sacred Way to the Sanctuary
    • A Gate known as the Propylon
  • 0.5 miles (1km) south of the Acropolis:
    • Temple of Isis and Serapis

 

Pergamon

 

Sudd

  • The Sudd is a huge area of malaria infested impenetrable swamps and marshes on the White Nile in South Sudan.
  • It is located approximately 500 miles (800km) south of Khartoum.

Description

  • The inland delta is roughly 300 miles (480km) long and 100 miles (160km) wide in the dry season, but can expand to five times its size in the wet season.
  • It acted as a barrier to exploring the Nile for centuries. Instead, a Caravan route called the Way of the Forty ran from South Sudan to Egypt and bypassed the Sudd.

The Way of the Forty

  • The Darb el-Arba Camel Caravan Route, meaning in Arabic, ‘the Way of the Forty’, took 40 days, starting from Kobbei in Darfur, Sudan, via the Kharga Oasis and Wadi Howar in the Libyan Desert, and terminating in modern Assiut, on the Nile in Egypt.
  • The Romans built a chain of mud brick Forts to protect the Route.

 

The Sudd, South Sudan

Bitumen

  • Bitumen is a black resinous petroleum based substance that oozes naturally from the ground.
  • It is found in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Bahrain and Kuwait.

Uses of Bitumen in the Ancient World

    • Adhesive
      • for putting eyes onto statues and to repair broken pottery.
      • Decorative art on pottery and other objects, consisting of shells, stones or mother of pearl were held in place by Bitumen.
    • Disinfectant
      • in medicine.
    • Embalming Fluid
      • in Ancient Egypt, in a mixture consisting of Bitumen, Conifer Resin, Grease and Beeswax.
    • Flammable material
      • in Incense.
    • Insecticide
    • Sealant
      • in Coffins and Sarcophagi.
    • Sealant
      • to seal baths and also roofs made from palm leaves.
    • Sealant
      • to waterproof canoes and hulls of vessels.
    • mortar
      • for building Palaces, Public Buildings and Ziggurats.
    • Surfacing material
      • in the Processional Way in Babylon.
    • Terraces
    • Waterproofing
      • used for coating containers and wooden posts.

 

Iraq

Dilmun Civilisation

  • The Dilmun Civilisation is regarded as one of the oldest known Bronze Age civilisations in the Middle East. It is thought to have been based on the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.
  • In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Sumerians describ Dilmun as a Garden of Paradise.

History

  • Dilmun flourished between 3000 BCE and 800 BCE, until it was absorbed into the Persian Empire in 600 BCE. A clay tablet dated to 567 BCE states that Dilmun was then ruled by the King of Babylon.
  • Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, is considered to have been the home of the Dilmun Civilisation.
  • Bahrain is located in the Persian Gulf, off the coast of Saudi Arabia, whilst Iran is 124 miles (200 km) away on the opposite coast.
  • Dilmun acted as an intermediary in the Trade between Mesopotamia and India.
  • In 2,300 BCE, a Clay Cuneiform tablet mentions that Dilmun had its own fleet of ships which brought Tribute in the form of Wood for the King of Lagash.
  • The Weights and Measures used in Dilmun were identical to those used in India for the trade in Ingots.
  • Dilmun seems to have hosted an important Metal Exchange in Ingots of various metals.

Trade

 

Bahrain

Kattigara

  • Kattigara was the Silk Road Port in the South China Sea where Roman Merchants bought Silk from China, according to Ptolemy (2nd century CE).
  • It is thought to have been one of two locations, Oc Eo or Jiaozhi in Vietnam, then a Province of China under the Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE).

The Silk Road

  • China was the source of Silk, brought to Rome via the Silk Road.
  • The Maritime Route from India to China, passed through both the Straits of Malacca as well as over the Isthmus of the Malay Peninsular.
  • Two sources, Ptolemy and the Book of Liang, identify the ports from which Silk was shipped.

Possible locations for Kattigara

  • Kattigara is thought to have been either:
    • Oc Eo, an archeological site on the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.
    • Jiaozhi, a site on the Red River Delta near Hanoi in Vietnam.

Ptolemy

  • The Geographer Ptolemy records that Kattigara was the main port for Roman vessels to China.
  • Kattigara or Cattigara, is thought to have been either:
    • The archeological site of Oc Eo on the Mekong Delta in Southern Vietnam.
    • Or Jiaozhi, on the Red River Delta near Hanoi in Northern Vietnam.

Book of Liang

  • The ‘Book of Liang’ states that the two main ports of call for the Merchants of ‘Da Qin’ (Roman Empire) were in modern Vietnam, which was absorbed into the Chinese Empire in 111 BCE:
    1. Jiaozhi in the Red River Delta, Northern Vietnam.
      • This was the Land around the Red River Delta, corresponding to the Tonking area of North Vietnam, also known as Annam.
      • The Capital and Port city of Annam (Rinan) or Jiaozhi was ‘Co Loa Citadel’ near Hanoi.
    2. Funan in the Mekong Delta, Southern Vietnam.
      • The Port was at Oc Eo, where Chinese, Roman and Indian Goods have been excavated.
  • The ‘Book of Liang’ recorded that in 226 CE a Roman Merchant from ‘Da Quin’ (Roman Empire) was sent by the Prefect of Tonkin to meet the Wu Emperor Sun Quan.

 

Oc Eo, Vietnam