Aromata (Greek: Αρώματα, lit. "spices,aromatics"), also called theSpice Port,[1] was an ancientseaport andemporium in theHorn of Africa, today a part ofSomalia. It lay near the tip ofCape Guardafui, which was itself called the "promontory of spices" (Aromaton akron, Αρώματον ἄκρον).[2][3] It was notable for its produce of resins and various herbs.[4]
It is to be identified withDamo, a site protected on the south but exposed on the north.[2][5] British archaeologistNeville Chittick discoveredRoman pottery near Damo, confirming the identification.[2] Previously,G. W. B. Huntingford had identified withOlok (Olog), which is 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) to the west.[6][7]
According to the 1st-centuryPeriplus of the Erythraean Sea, the "port of spices" (Aromaton emporion, Ἀρωμάτων ἐμπόριον) had aroadstead oranchorage (hormos) in the land of theBarbaroi.[8][9][10] It was one of the "far side" ports that lay in a line along the north Somali coast. They were "far" because they came afterAdulis and beyond the strait ofBab-el-Mandeb. Merchants leftEgypt in July to reach them.[11] Aromata was the sixth port afterZeyla (Aualites),Berbera (Malao),Heis (Moundou),Bandar Kasim (Mosullon) andBandar Alula (Akannai).[6] It could occasionally be dangerous to ships.[12]
According to the 2nd-centuryGeography ofPtolemy, a merchant named Diogenes, returning from India, was driven south by a north wind as he approached Aromata. He sailed for 25 days with the coast of theTroglodytae on his right (west) almost as far asRhapta inAzania. CitingMarinus of Tyre, Ptolemy adds that a merchant named Theophilos sailed from Rhapta to Aromata in twenty days with a south wind blowing. Ptolemy emphasises that these were single sailings and he does not know the average number of days to sail between Aromata and Rhapta.[13] He places Aromata 6°N, while Marinus places it 4.25°N. He cites a certain Dioskoros for the location ofCape Prason, the southernmost point the Greeks reached in Africa, being "many days" beyond Rhapta. He then estimates the distance from Aromata to Cape Prason as 20.67° of latitude.[14] Ptolemy also says that he has heard from traders that the direction fromArabia Felix to Aromata is southwest not due south.[15] He places Aromata on theGulf of Aden and not in theIndian Ocean.[1]
Aromata, like all other ports on the Gulf of Aden, was independent and ruled by its own chief.[1] Its major exports werefrankincense and all grades ofcassia (gizeir,asuphe,magla andmoto).[16] It may have served as a major transshipment port for goods coming fromIndia andSoutheast Asia, the latter being the main source for cassia. It also exported grain, rice, sesame oil and cotton cloth.[17] According to thePeriplus, a ship warned at Aromata of an approaching storm on the Indian Ocean could take refuge at Tabai (Chori Hordio), two days' sailing and on the other side of the cape.[2]
TheMonumentum Adulitanum is a third-century monumental inscription by an anonymousKing of Axum recording his various victories in war. It is lost, but its text was copied down in the 6th century byCosmas Indicopleustes in hisChristian Topography.[18] It describes the King's conquest of a country towards the east as the "Land of Aromatics",[19][20] also translated "Land of Incense"[21] or "Frankincense Country":[22]
I am the first and only of the kings my predecessors to have subdued all these peoples by the grace given me by my mighty god Ares [Maḥrem], who also engendered me. It is through him that I have submitted to my power all the peoples neighbouring my empire, in the east to the Land of Aromatics, to the west to the land of Ethiopia [Kush] and the Sasou [?Sesea]; some I fought myself, against others I sent my armies.[19][20]
Paul Henze takes this to refer to the whole of the "dry coastal region, a major source of incense" from the lowlands of what is todayEritrea through Somalia and perhaps even a part ofSouth Arabia.[23] Yuzo Shitomi suggests that it may in fact have beenḤaḍramawt in South Arabia.[21]L. P. Kirwan distinguishes two lands of incense: that of theMonumentum Adulitanum (which he places in South Arabia) and that of theChristian Topography itself (which is the Aromata of thePeriplus and Ptolemy).[24]
South of the Aromatic Coast, the present Somali country in which frankincense was gathered, he mentions Zengisa Acra, Cape Zenj or Zengg
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