User:Shahanshax/sandbox/Mundus

This page is about a classical emporium in Somalia. For other uses, see Mundus (disambiguation).

Mundus
Pottery artifacts excavated from the ancient site of Heis (Xiis), identified with Mundus of Greco-Roman sources. The artifacts date to Classical antiquity and originated from ancient Roman and Egyptian and were excavated by Georges Révoil in 1882. They are now hosted in the Musée de l'Homme, in Paris, France.
Location of Mundus in Sanaag Shahanshax/sandbox/Mundus (Somalia) Shahanshax/sandbox/Mundus (Somaliland) Shahanshax/sandbox/Mundus (Horn of Africa)
11°00′N 47°10′E
Type	Settlement
Periods	Classical antiquity to late antiquity
Cultures	Ancient Somali, Barbaria, Ancient Somali city-states
Location	Heis, Erigavo district, Sanaag, Somalia
Site notes
Excavation dates	1882-2019
Archaeologists	Georges Révoil, Neville Chittick, Carl Phillips, Jorge de Torres, Manuel Antonio Franco Fernández, Candela Martínez Barrio, Ahmed Jama Dualeh
Condition	Ruins

Mundus (Ancient Greek: Μούνδος, Romanized: Moundos; Latin: Mundus), also known as Moundou or Mundu/Mondu/Moundo, was an ancient Proto-Somali emporium situated along the northern Somali coast of the Gulf of Aden, in what is today northern Somalia. Together with the neighboring Mosylon,Avalites, the port of Isis and Malao, it was one of the principal ports and trading hubs of ancient Ethiopia. Archaeologist identifies Mundus with the modern coastal town of Xiis in sanaag region of Khatumo. Mundus appears in Greco-Roman geography during the 1st century AD, when it was mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, and later by Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD in his Geography.

According to the Periplus, Mundus formed part of the so-called far-side ports of the Barbar (the ancient Somali people), which stretched from Avalites to Opone.Mundus was known for supplying luxury goods, especially Somali aromatics, spices, and incense resins such as frankincense, myrrh, cassia, and a specific incense called Mocrotu, as well as slaves (though the sources or methods of transporting the latter are not specified in the Periplus). During Classical to Late Antiquity, Mundus was a commercial center along the spice and incense trade routes, engaging in trade with neighboring Arabia, from where many of its goods were exported. Near Mundus’s shore lies an island where ships could anchor safely, and its merchants were hardy and resilient.

History

Mundus in Greco-Roman Works

Mundus first appeared in ancient Greco-Roman geography during the 1st century CE. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea mentions Mundus and describes it as follows:

"Two days' sail, or three, beyond Malao is the market-town of Mundus, where the ships lie at anchor more safely behind a projecting island close to the shore. There are imported into this place the things previously set forth, and from it likewise are exported the merchandise already stated, and the incense called mocrotu. And the traders living here are more quarrelsome."

— Chap.9.

The Periplus mentions that Mundu (or Mundus) exported myrrh, frankincense, cassia, slaves, and an incense called mokrotou, while describing its people as hard bargainers. It refers to the settlement as the Port of Trade of Mundu .Ptolemy, in his Geography (2nd century AD), also mentions Mundus. He places the marketplace of Mondu within Avalites Bay and provides its coordinates as 78°00′ longitude and 7°00′ latitude. Nearby Mundus lie Avalites, Malao, and Mosylon.

Origin

Land of Punt

Main article: Land of Punt

Mmtu/Mntu in hieroglyphs
Era: New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC)

During Pharaoh Thutmose III’s reign, the Temple of Karnak records several locations in the Land of Punt, listing forty names—including Mmtu/Mntu, which the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette identified with the classical Mundus.

First archaeological finding of Xiis

The first archaeological work at Xiis was carried out in 1882 by the French explorer Georges Révoil. While exploring the northern Somali coast along the Gulf of Aden, Révoil discovered numerous artifacts from cairns at Xiis. These finds included pottery, glassware, beads, Roman mosaic tiles, decorative vessels, and inlays—among them a theater mask of Dionysus. The artifacts, dated to the 1st century AD, originated from ancient Rome and Egypt, indicating evidence of trade activity in the area during antiquity.

Second Archaeological excavation of Xiis

In 1976, the British archaeologist Neville Chittick discovered pottery sherds of Parthian, Roman, and Nubian origin at Maʿajilayn (nearby Xiis).

The site was visited by Neville Chittick in 1976, who found Roman glass, dated to about the 4th century AD, in a small robbed cairn, as well as potsherds on the surface of the site that he dated between the 2nd and 5th centuries AD. He also documented specialized ancient disc-like monuments at Maʿajilayn (nearby Xiis), dated between the 1st and 4th centuries AD, along with Parthian, Nubian, and Roman ceramic sherds.