Azania
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Azania was a region in ancient Arcadia in Ethiopia located in the Horn of Africa, which was according to Pausanias named after the mythical king Azan.
Variants
- Azan (mythical king)
- Ancient Greek: Ἀζανία
- Azanian Sea (Pliny.vi.32)
- Azanians (people)
Jat Gotras Namesake
History
According to Herodotus, the region contained the ancient town of Paus. The use of this name coincides with a reference in which Pliny the Elder mentions an "Azanian Sea" (N.H. 6.34) that began around the emporium of Adulis and stretched around the south coast of Africa. It may well be that the Greek usage resonated with a term already in use around the Horn of Africa especially in the light of the fact that the term with a different meaning to the Greek Arcadian meaning, was in use in South Asia, Southeast Asia and China. The Greek Travelogue is unlikely to reflect navigation of the African East Coast.
The 1st century AD Greek travelogue the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea first describes Azania based on its author's intimate knowledge of the area. Chapter 15 of the Periplus suggests that Azania could be the littoral area south of present-day Somalia (the "Lesser and Greater Bluffs", the "Lesser and Greater Strands", and the "Seven Courses").[1] Chapter sixteen describes the emporium of Rhapta, located south of the Puralean Islands at the end of the Seven Courses of Azania, as the "southernmost market of Azania". The Periplus does not mention any dark-skinned "Ethiopians" among the area's inhabitants. They only later appear in Ptolemy's Geographia, but in a region far south, around the "Bantu nucleus" of northern Mozambique. According to John Donnelly Fage, these early Greek documents altogether suggest that the original inhabitants of the Azania coast, the "Azanians", were of the same ancestral stock as the Afro-Asiatic populations to the north of them along the Red Sea. Subsequently, by the 10th century AD, these original "Azanians" had been replaced by early waves of Bantu settlers.[2]
Later Western writers who mention Azania include Claudius Ptolemy (c. 100 – c. 170 CE) and Cosmas Indicopleustes (6th century CE).
Azania was known to the Chinese as 澤散 (Middle Chinese: /ɖˠæk̚.sɑnX/, Pinyin: zésàn) by the 3rd century AD.[3]
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[4] mentions.... The sea then makes a two-fold indentations1 in the land upon these coasts, under the name of Rubrum2 or "Red," given to it by our countrymen; while the Greeks have called it Erythrum, from king Erythras3, or, according to some writers, from its red colour, which they think is produced by the reflection of the sun's rays; others again are of opinion that it arises from the sand and the complexion of the soil, others from some peculiarity in the nature of the water. (24.) Be this as it may, this body of water is divided into two gulfs. The one which lies to the east is called the Persian Gulf, and is two thousand five hundred miles in circumference, according to Eratosthenes. Opposite to it lies Arabia, the length of which is fifteen hundred miles. On the other side again, Arabia is bounded by the Arabian Gulf. The sea as it enters this gulf is called the Azanian Sea4 . The Persian Gulf, at the entrance, is only five5 miles wide; some writers make it four.
1 Forms two bays or gulfs in succession.
2 He gives this name to the whole expanse of sea that lies between Arabia and Africa on the west, and India on the east, including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.
3 Or Erythrus. In all probability entirely a mythical personage. The sea having been called in Greek ἐρυθραῖα, or "red"—the legend most probably thence took its rise. No very satisfactory reason has vet been given for its being so called. The Hebrew name of it signifies the "Sedgy Sea."
4 From Azania in Æthiopia, mentioned again in c. 34 of the present Book.
5 The maps appear to make it considerably more.
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[5] mentions Arabia....Opposite to this place, in the main sea, lies the island of Ogyris32, famous for being the burial-place of king Erythras33; it is distant from the mainland one hundred and twenty miles, being one hundred and twelve in circumference. No less famous is another island, called Dioscoridu34, and lying in the Azanian Sea35; it is distant two hundred and eighty miles from the extreme point of the Promontory of Syagrus36.
32 Hardouin and Ansart think that under this name is meant the island called in modern times Mazira or Maceira.
33 There seem to have been three mythical personages of this name; but it appears impossible to distinguish the one from the other.
34 Or "Dioscoridis Insula," an island of the Indian Ocean, of considerable importance as an emporium or mart, in ancient times. It lay between the Syagrus Promontorium, in Arabia, and Aromata Promontorium, now Cape Guardafui, on the opposite coast of Africa, somewhat nearer to the former, according to Arrian, which cannot be the case if it is rightly identified with Socotorra, 200 miles distant from the Arabian coast, and 110 from the north-east promontory of Africa.
35 So called from Azania, or Barbaria, now Ajan, south of Somauli, on the mainland of Africa.
36 Now Cape Fartash, in Arabia.
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[6] mentions Troglodytice....After passing this place we come to the Azanian Sea 12, a promontory by some writers called Hispalus, Lake Mandalum, and the island of Colocasitis, with many others lying out in the main sea, upon which multitudes of turtles are found. We then come to the town of Suche, the island of Daphnidis13, and the town of the Adulitæ14, a place founded by Egyptian runaway slaves. This is the principal mart for the Troglodyte, as also for the people of Æthiopia: it is distant from Ptolemais five days' sail. To this place they bring ivory in large quantities, horns of the rhinoceros, hides of the hippopotamus, tortoise-shell, sphingiæ15, and slaves.
12 So called from Azania, the adjoining coast of Africa, now known as that of Ajan. It was inhabited by a race of Æthiopians, who were engaged in catching and taming elephants, and supplying the markets of the Red Sea coast with hides and ivory.
13 Now called Seyrman, according to Gosselin.
14 Its name was Adule, being the chief haven of the Adulitæ, of mixed origin, in the Troglodytic region, situate on a bay of the Red Sea, called Aduliticus Sinus. It is generally supposed that the modern Thulla or Zulla, still pronounced Azoole, occupies its site, being situate in lat. 15' 35' N. Ruins are said to exist there. D'Anville, however, in his map of the Red Sea, places Adule at Arkeeko, on the same coast, and considerably to the north of Thulla. According to Cosmas, Adule was about two miles in the interior.
15 Pliny gives a further description of this ape in B. viii. c. 21., and B. x. c. 72. They were much valued by the Roman ladies for pets, and very high prices were given for them.
References
- ↑ George Wynn Brereton Huntingford, The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, (Hakluyt Society: 1980), p.29
- ↑ Fage, John (23 October 2013). A History of Africa. Routledge. pp. 25–26. ISBN 978-1317797272.
- ↑ "Weilue: The Peoples of the West. Draft translation by John Hill". Depts.washington.edu. 23 May 2004.
- ↑ Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 28
- ↑ Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 32
- ↑ Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 34
Back to Jat Places in Africa