a brief note on contacts between ancient African kingdoms and Rome.
finding the lost city of Rhapta on the east African coast.
Few classical civilizations were as impactful to the foreign contacts of ancient African states and societies like the Roman Empire.
Shortly after Augustus became emperor of Rome, his armies undertook a series of campaigns into the African mainland south of the Mediterranean coast. The first of the Roman campaigns was directed into Nubia around 25BC, but was defeated by the armies of Kush in 22BC. While the Roman defeat in Nubia permanently ended its ambitions in this region and was concluded with a treaty between Kush's envoys and the emperor on the Greek island Samos in 21BC, Roman campaigns into central Libya beginning in 20BC were relatively successful and the region was gradually incorporated into the empire.
The succeeding era, which is often referred to as 'Pax Romana', was a dynamic period of trade and cultural exchanges between Rome and the rest of the world, including north-eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean world.
The increase in commercial and diplomatic exchanges between Kush and Roman Egypt contributed to the expansion of the economy of Meroitic Kush, which was one of the sources of gold and ivory exported to Meditteranean markets.1 By the 1st century CE, Meroe had entered a period of prosperity, with monumental building activity across the cities of the kingdom, as well as a high level of intellectual and artistic production. The appearance of envoys from Meroe and Roman Egypt in the documentary record of both regions demonstrates the close relationship between the two state’s diplomatic and economic interests.
the shrine of Hathor (also called the 'Roman kiosk') at Naqa, Sudan. ca. 1st century CE.
It was constructed by the Meroitic co-rulers Natakamani and Amanitore and served as a ‘transitory’ shrine in front of the larger temple of the Nubian god Apedemak (seen in the background). Its nickname is derived from its mix of Meroitic architecture (like the style used for the Apedemak temple) with Classical elements (like the decoration of the shrine’s columns and arched windows). The Meroitic inscriptions found on the walls of the shrine indicate that it was built by local masons who were likely familiar with aspects of the construction styles of Roman-Egypt or assisted by a few masons from the latter.2
The patterns of exchange and trade that characterized Pax Romana would also contribute to the expansion of Aksumite commercial and political activities in the Red Sea region, which was a conduit for the lucrative trade in silk and spices from the Indian Ocean world as well as ivory from the Aksumite hinterland. At the close of the 2nd century, the armies of Aksum were campaigning on the Arabian peninsula and the kingdom’s port city of Adulis had become an important anchorage for merchant ships traveling from Roman-Egypt to the Indian Ocean littoral. These activities would lay the foundation for the success of Aksumite merchants as intermediaries in the trade between India and Rome.
Dungur Palace, Aksum, Ethiopia - Reconstruction, by World History Encyclopedia.
This large, multi-story complex was one of several structures that dominated the Aksumite capital and regional towns across the kingdom, and its architectural style was a product of centuries of local developments. The material culture of these elite houses indicates that their occupants had access to luxury goods imported from Rome, including glassware, amphorae, and Roman coins.3
The significance of the relationship between Rome and the kingdoms of Kush and Aksum can be gleaned from Roman accounts of world geography in which the cities of Meroe and Aksum are each considered to be a 'Metropolis' —a term reserved for large political and commercial capitals. This term had been used for Meroe since the 5th century BC and Aksum since the 1st century CE, since they were the largest African cities known to the classical writers4.
However, by the time Ptolemy composed his monumental work on world geography in 150 CE, another African city had been elevated to the status of a Metropolis. This new African metropolis was the city of Rhapta, located on the coast of East Africa known as ‘Azania’, and it was the southernmost center of trade in a chain of port towns that stretched from the eastern coast of Somalia to the northern coast of Mozambique.
The history of the ancient East African coast and its links to the Roman world are the subject of my latest Patreon article.
Please subscribe to read about it here:
Fresco with an aithiopian woman presenting ivory to a seated figure (Dido of Carthage) as a personified Africa overlooks, from House of Meleager at Pompeii, MAN Napoli 8898, Museo Archaeologico Nazionale, Naples
The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization pg 461-465, 398), The Image of the Ordered World in Ancient Nubian Art pg 466-467
Hellenizing Art in Ancient Nubia 300 BC–AD 250 and its Egyptian Models: A Study in “Acculturation” by László Török pg 301-308
Foundations of an African Civilization: Aksum & the Northern Horn By D. W. Phillipson pg 121-125, 197-200
Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa By George Hatke pg 29, Foundations of an African Civilization: Aksum & the Northern Horn By D. W. Phillipson pg 121
My high school Latin teachers presented “ambassadors” as hostages for the good behavior of the heads of state they represented. I was quite happy that such an attitude is no longer generally applied.
I know that our modern ideas about diplomacy date from The Treaty of Westphalia and the Congress of Vienna, but now I wonder if there was a diplomatic corps hanging around Rome?