One - Ancient Ports: Myos Hormos & Berenice:

1. Myos Hormos 

The first port mentioned in the ancient document is Myos Hormos. It is in Egypt, situated on the Red Sea, and was active in the second century of Common Era. Excavations carried out recently by David Peacock and Lucy Blue of the University of Southampton identified it with present day site of Qusier al Quadim (Old Qusier), ten kilometres north of modern town of El Qoseir. Qusier is an Arabic name.  Popular interpretation is that it comes from Arabic word "qasir" meaning short, it being the shortest route from Nile Valley to the Red Sea. Myos Hormos is a Koinee Greek name, and this name was adopted by the document Periplus Maris Eritraea. It may literally mean the harbour of Mussels, because of the presence of pearl mussels on the opposite coast.

2. Berenice

Beyond Qusier al Quadim around 300 kilometres south is Berenice Troglodytica. Between Myos Hormos, and Berenice Troglodytica, in modern day we have Port Ghalib, a luxury resort town, near Marsa Alam International Air Port. Berenice was situated at the lower base of a small promontory, which is called Ras Banas. And the lower base is called Foul Bay. This promontory must have been reef-backed headland or a chain of islets in the first century of Common Era. The toponym, Bernice Troglodytica is an exonym. The word Berenice is derived from the Greek term 'pherein nike" which means bringer of victory. Many cities were named Berenice after Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, especially after Queen Berenice II wife of Ptolemy III. The port must have been founded or renamed by the Ptolemies. The naming was political and dominative. Troglodytica is a geographical - ethnographic marker, and not part of city name itself. It derives from Greek word "trogle"  meaning cave and "dytes"  meaning dwellers. Red Sea coast and hinterland were inhabited by nomadic and pastoral people. So the name can be interpreted as Berenice (Royal City) in the coast of cave dwellers. It indicates that the site was not a major settlement before the Greeks. Since it was at the lower base of a promontory where a natural bay was formed it must have been a safe anchorage and watering point. From the description of the above two ports, it can be inferred that the document was prepared at the behest some merchant's association on behalf of their members. But there is no evidence that Periplus Maris Eritraea was commissioned by a formal merchants' association, though its structure, tone and selectivity strongly suggest that it was composed within a professional mercantile milieu and intended for circulation among experienced merchant navigators. After Berenice comes the country of Barbaroi.The coastal parts are inhabited by Ichthyophagoi (fish eaters) living in mean huts built in narrow areas. Beyond that is inhabited by Barbaroi or barbarians and beyond them Agriophagoi, or wild animal eaters, and Moschophagoi, or shoot eaters in organised chiefdoms and beyond them is a metropolis Meroe. We can broadly classify them as hunter-gatherers. The metropolis Meroe belonged to Kushite Kingdom (Ethiopia) located in modern Bagrawiyah, on the eastern bank of the River Nile. The ruins of Meroe including the royal Pyramids are located adjacent to the group of villages known as Bagrawiyah. This site served as the capital of the Kingdom of Kush from around 590BCE to the 4th century CE. Red Sea port Adulis was economically connected to Meroe. Ivory, gold, slaves and animals flowed through Meroe to Adulis.

In the next section we are going to look at Adulis.