Sailing Around Erythraean Sea: Fifteen

The unknown navigator, still in Opone ( modern day Hafun)is moving forward.

Beyond Opone, the shore trending more toward the south, first there are the small and great bluffs of Azania, this coast is destitute of harbours, but there are places where ships can lie at anchor, and the shore being abrupt; and this course is of six days; the direction being south west. Then come small and great beach for another six days' course and after that in order, the Courses of Azania, the first being called Sarapion and the next Nicon; and after that several rivers and other anchorages, one after the other, separately a rest and a run for each day, seven in all, until Pyralae islands and what is called the Channel; after which a little to the south of the southwest, after two courses of a day and night along the Ausanitic coast, is the island Menuthias, about three hundred stadia from the mainland, low and wooded, in which there are rivers and many kinds of birds and the mountain tortoise. There are no wild beasts except the crocodiles, but there they do not attack men. In this place there are sewed boats, and canoes hollowed from single log, which they use for fishing and catching tortoise. In this land, they also catch them in a peculiar way, in wicker baskets, which they fasten accross the channel-opening between the breakers.

My Search:-

1. Opone: Modern day Hafun or Xaafuun in Somalia; an island in Arabian sea connected by an isthmus to the Horn. South of it is Bandarbeyla.


2. Bluff: Steep cliff or bank especially by a river or sea.

3. Azania: A region comprising of southeastern African states of Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania.

4. Sarapion: Mombasa, a coastal city in southeastern Kenya. Strategic location with regard to trade with India, Arabia and Mediterranean regions. Nayali beach located in Mombasa is known for its white sand. The calm blue ocean makes the spot serene. But Mombasa port was called "Mvita" in Swahili language, meaning fighter. Sarapion was a Greek athlet of Alexandria who won the stadion race at 204th Olympiad in 57 CE. He must have been a contemporary of the Koine Greek author. Either he, or the Greco Roman authorities must have renamed the port commemorating the event.

5. Nicon: A seaside Trading post on the Tanzanian coast, most probably Ukunda. Nikonia was an ancient Greek city on the eastern bank of Dniester estuary. Nikonia was later submerged. Nicon on the Red Sea coast might have been named after the lost city around Dniester estuary.

6. Pyralae: Pyralae islands and the Channel. On the coast of either Tanzania or Kenya. The Channel refers to either the Lamu Channel Kenya or the Zanzibar channel, or the Pemba channel in Tanzania.

7. Ausanitic coast: May be on Kenyan coast or Tanzanian coast.

8. Menuthias: A group of islands located off the coast of Zanzibar  or Pemba island in Tanzania.

Take note of the paragraph above, the unknown sailor writes, "this coast is destitute of harbours, but there are places where ships can lie at anchor."
It implies that Azania coast lacked natural harbours, but anchorages were available but their suitability depended on factors like shifting sandbars, shallow waters, tides etc. Therefore anchorages likely to change over time making it challenging to pinpoint exact locations.


End of the Section 


 

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