Sites of Ancient Somalia

[James Dahl]

I put together a Bing map of the sites of ancient Somalia.

I have been studying this for some time and I have cross referenced both Ptolemy's Geographica, and the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea to determine the real location of these places.

Here is the map:
http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=5.1455 ... 24BC47!138

[Advo]

I think if you keep it up, one day we will make you the historian of Somalia when everything is sorted out.

[HalfDzed]

Future curator of Somalia's natural history and landmarks museum.

[Faranacab]

[Bamaarn]

Zaylac, the number 1 ancient location, is missing from the map.

[udun]

Zaylac, the number 1 ancient location, is missing from the map.

[Cumar-Labasuul]

What language is names such as avalites, malao and mundus from?

[James Dahl]

What language is names such as avalites, malao and mundus from?

Well they are transcriptions of local names into Ancient Greek, which is a somewhat inexact process. Some a pretty close, for instance the Periplus mentions Muza, meaning the port of al-Muza near Zafar in ancient times in Yemen. Other names are less exact, such as Aden referred to as "Eudaemon Arabia". So we have no way of knowing how accurate the ancient Greek names for these places were.

Zaylac, the number 1 ancient location, is missing from the map.

I always identified Avalites with Zeila, but when I I did the measurements in Roman Stadia as the book describes the distances, Zeila is too far away from Malao (which is certainly Berbera) and too close to Adulis (which is near Zula, Eritrea) to be Avalites. In terms of where the author places Avalites, Avalites is more likely to be near Lugaye.

That's not to say Zeila isn't an ancient town, noone is arguing that, but it was probably founded after the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea was written around 70 CE.

[James Dahl]

The study by Neville Chittick in 1975 where he wrote about the "Early Ports in the Horn of Africa", he excavated an ancient building and courtyard in Xiis (ancient Mundus), where Roman glassware was dug up from an ancient cairn. Damo is clearly ancient Aromata and Xaafun is ancient Opone.

[RuralMan08]

You missed out the two most important ancient towns:

1. Amoud.

2. Awbare





Awbere is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Ethiopia, officially known as Teferi Ber [8] which in Amharic denotes the name of Ras Tafari Makonnen's (Ge'ez ልጅ፡ ተፈሪ፡ መኮንን) Gate of Fear, the only threat for the Abyssinian Christian Empire during the peak of power for the Muslim State of Adal.[9]. Awbere was one of the biggest cities of the former Adal Empire. It is the final resting place of Sheikh Awbare whose tomb is located west of the town. [10] It was also the first town that was settled by Shiekh Abadir Omar Al-Rida ibn Muhammad ibn Shamsadin Al-Bakri Al-Siddiqi who is the common ancestor of all Siddiqi families of The Horn of Africa.[11] The tradition of the Siddiqis tells that it was this Shiekh who came from Yemen and settled at the town of Awbere, on the border of Ethiopia and Somalia, and gave birth to his six sons whom the Siddiqis count as their fathers.

[James Dahl]

You missed out the two most important ancient towns:

1. Amoud.

2. Awbare





Awbere is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Ethiopia, officially known as Teferi Ber [8] which in Amharic denotes the name of Ras Tafari Makonnen's (Ge'ez ልጅ፡ ተፈሪ፡ መኮንን) Gate of Fear, the only threat for the Abyssinian Christian Empire during the peak of power for the Muslim State of Adal.[9]. Awbere was one of the biggest cities of the former Adal Empire. It is the final resting place of Sheikh Awbare whose tomb is located west of the town. [10] It was also the first town that was settled by Shiekh Abadir Omar Al-Rida ibn Muhammad ibn Shamsadin Al-Bakri Al-Siddiqi who is the common ancestor of all Siddiqi families of The Horn of Africa.[11] The tradition of the Siddiqis tells that it was this Shiekh who came from Yemen and settled at the town of Awbere, on the border of Ethiopia and Somalia, and gave birth to his six sons whom the Siddiqis count as their fathers.

The border between "Ancient" Somalia and "Medieval" Somalia is around the year 600. Above I'm talking about ancient towns older than the year 600 CE. Amud and Awbere are very old towns but I don't know if they're that old or not.

[RuralMan08]

The border between "Ancient" Somalia and "Medieval" Somalia is around the year 600. Above I'm talking about ancient towns older than the year 600 CE. Amud and Awbere are very old towns but I don't know if they're that old or not.

They are very old, we are talking antiquity, so is Abarso in Awdal region. These towns are many thousands of years old.

Do your research bro because I've seen some towns that you listed that is no way near as old as Amud, Awbare or Abarso

[James Dahl]

The border between "Ancient" Somalia and "Medieval" Somalia is around the year 600. Above I'm talking about ancient towns older than the year 600 CE. Amud and Awbere are very old towns but I don't know if they're that old or not.

They are very old, we are talking antiquity, so is Abarso in Awdal region. These towns are many thousands of years old.

Do your research bro because I've seen some towns that you listed that is no way near as old as Amud, Awbare or Abarso

Well what research heheh that the biggest problem the research hasn't been done. I would love to take part in uncovering the ancient history of Somalia. Somali regional governments need to start building up antiquities depts.

[Babygirl-]

..

[tightrope]

I'VE NEVER HEARD OF MOUNT PHALANGIS, NEAR BENDER BEYLA. ANY MORE DETAILS ON THAT AREA?