"Roman" city of Rhapta may have been found in Tanzania

[Duncan Head]

Pointed out by Stuart on the dbmmlist:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/africas-atlantis-lost-roman-city-rhapta-discovered-off-tanzanias-mafia-island-believes-1564843

An 'ancient sunken city' discovered by a diver off Tanzania's Mafia island last month is believed to be the Roman market town of Rhapta. Archaeologist Felix Chami, from the University of Dar es Salaam, says he believes the ruins are that of Rhapta, as the construction techniques, ceramics and location all fit early descriptions of the city.

Rhapta was a coastal Roman trading outpost located somewhere in Southeast Africa. It became prominent in the 1st century, but details of its exact location are not known. The city was mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, written in 50 AD, which says it was the most southerly trading settlement of Azania. Several different locations have been suggested, including Msasani, Kisuyu and Mafia Island.

This is incredibly interesting, though calling it a "Roman" city is stretching it a bit - a friendly city with which the Romans traded. The "Periplus of the Erythraean Sea" says of Rhapta:

Two days' sail beyond, there lies the very last market-town of the continent of Azania, which is called Rhapta; which has its name from the sewed boats {rhapton ploiarion) already mentioned; in which there is ivory in great quantity, and tortoise-shell. Along this coast live men of piratical habits, very great in stature, and under separate chiefs for each place. The Mapharitic chief governs it under some ancient right that subjects it to the sovereignty of the state that is become first in Arabia. And the people of Muza now hold it under his authority, and send thither many large ships; using Arab captains and agents, who are familiar with the natives and intermarry with them, and who know the whole coast and understand the language.

The "Mapharitic" chief, looking elsewhere in the Periplus, is the king of Saba-and-Himyar in South Arabia (remember them? - http://soa.org.uk/sm/index.php?topic=2151.0), and Muza is an Arabian port. So it would be more accurate to call this a South Arabian trading colony, though allied to Rome.

[Patrick Waterson]

True.  Accuracy and headline-grabbing may be on a continuum, but rarely in the same place at the same time.

One more piece of the Imperial trading network falls into place - or at least reveals itself from among the likely possibilities.