Rauso Explained

Rauso was a region in the Horn of Africa in Late Antiquity.^{[1] [2]}

Geography

The Monumentum Adulitanum is a third-century monumental inscription by an anonymous King of Axum recording his various victories in war. It is lost, but its text was copied down in the 6th century by Cosmas Indicopleustes in his Christian Topography. It describes how he conquered a land and people called Rauso to the west of Aromata. The description of the land is congruous with modern-day Dollo Zone and Haud^{[3] [4]} also translated "Land of Incense"^[5] or "Frankincense Country":^{[6] [7]}

I subjugated the peoples of Rauso who live in the midst of incense-gathering barbarians between great waterless plains.^{[3] [4]}

British Anglican priest William Vincent described the region of Rauso as stretching westwards from Aromata all the way to the hinterlands of the hitherto prospective Adal Kingdom. During its extant existence, the contemporary polity to the north of Rauso was Sesea.^[8] The region of Rauso could also be congruous with the Nugaal plains of northern Somalia.^[9] It may have been located further inland towards the Ethiopian highlands near Raaso.^[10] Laurence P. Kirwan identified it with the Danakil Desert, inhabited today by the Afar.^{[11] [12]}

Politics

Frederick Guest Tomlins described Rauso as a kingdom.^[13] It also had an alternative toponym by the epithet of Raithus, or as Ptolemy used to call it; Rhaptus. It used to exchange ordained religious ministers with the northern principalities.^[14] A predominant religion practised during the Rauso period was Waaqism.^[15] During the classical era, through contact with Hadhramaut and Himyarite traders, the Rauso kingdom had contact with Abrahamic religions too, in the form of Christianity in the former and Judaism in the latter, and some of these populations had settled and became Somalized. The pre-Rauso era is largely regarded as corresponding with Lowland East Cushitic history.^{[16] [17]}

Rauso was situated in the vicinity of a major trade route linking the interiors of Ethiopia with the coast; thus it was part of the wider incense and aromatics trade centred in Barbaria.^{[18] [19]} It was bordered to the south by various Horner and Cushitic tribal groupings such as the Northern Azanians, the Ormas, the Bazrangids, the Tunni, and Gabooye.^[20] Sometime during the latter half of the 1st millennium, Rauso was replaced by the Jabarta and Ximan civilizations.^[21] Concurrently, there also existed a predominantly Christian civilization called Harli towards the north in the Nugaal Valley.^{[22] [23]}

Notes and References

1. Book: Munro-Hay, S. C. (Stuart C.) . Ethiopia, the unknown land : a cultural and historical guide . 2002 . London ; New York : I.B. Tauris . Internet Archive . 978-1-86064-744-4 . 235.
2. Shitomi . Yuzo . 1997 . A New Interpretation of the Monumentum Adulitanum . Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (The Oriental Library) . 55 . 81–102 . 0082-562X.
3. Stuart Munro-Hay, Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity (Edinburgh University Press, 1991), p. 187.
4. Munro-Hay, Ethiopia, the Unknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide (I. B. Tauris, 2003), p. 235.
5. Y. Shitomi (1997), "A New Interpretation of the Monumentum Adulitanum", Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko 55, 81–102.
6. Book: Baumgarten, Siegmund Jacob . Übersetzung der algemeinen Welthistorie: die in Engeland durch eine Geselschaft von Gelehrten ausgefertiget worden : nebst den Anmerkungen der holländischen Übersetzung auch vielen neuen Kupfern und Karten . 1756 . Gebauer . 321 . de.
7. Book: Mountnorris, George Annesley . Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, The Red Sea, Abyssinia, and Egypt in the Years 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806 . Valentia . George Viscount . 1809 . Miller . 198 . en.
8. Book: Vincent, William . The Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients in the Indian Ocean . 1807 . T. Cadell and W. Davies . 548 . en.
9. Book: Sources for the History of Arabia . 1979 . University of Riyadh Press . 95 . ar.
10. Book: (the Melodian), Saint Cosmas . Topografia cristiana: libri I-V . 1992 . M. D'Auria . 978-88-7092-088-8 . 68 . it.
11. L. P. Kirwan (1972), "The Christian Topography and the Kingdom of Axum", The Geographical Journal, 138(2), p. 174.
12. Book: Kirwan, Laurence . Studies on the History of Late Antique and Christian Nubia . 2002 . Ashgate Variorum . 978-0-86078-893-5 . 42 . en.
13. Book: Tomlins, Frederick Guest . A Universal History of the Nations of Antiquity: Comprising a Complete History of the Jews, from the Creation to the Present Time : Likewise an Account of Ancient Syria, Grecian Islands, Persian Empire, Armenia, Numidia, Ethiopia, Arabia, Scythia, the Celtes, &c. &c. &c. : to which are Prefixed the Various Theories of Creation, According to the Most Esteemed Ancient and Modern Writers . 1844 . W. Milner . 846 . en.
14. Book: Tomlins, Frederick Guest . A Universal History of the Nations of Antiquity: Comprising a Complete History of the Jews, from the Creation to the Present Time : Likewise an Account of Ancient Syria, Grecian Islands, Persian Empire, Armenia, Numidia, Ethiopia, Arabia, Scythia, the Celtes, &c. &c. &c. : to which are Prefixed the Various Theories of Creation, According to the Most Esteemed Ancient and Modern Writers . 1844 . W. Milner . 846 . en.
15. Book: Ahmed, Akbar S. . Islam in Tribal Societies: From the Atlas to the Indus . 2013-10-16 . Routledge . 978-1-134-56527-6 . 127-128 . en.
16. Tindel, Raymond D. "Archaeological Survey of Yemen: The First Season." Current Anthropology 21.1 (1980): 101-102.
17. [Glen W. Bowersock]
18. Book: Henze, Paul B. . Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia . 2000 . Hurst & Company . 978-1-85065-393-6 . 29 . en.
19. Book: Kirwan, Laurence . Studies on the History of Late Antique and Christian Nubia . 2002 . Ashgate Variorum . 978-0-86078-893-5 . 42 . en.
20. Martin . E.G. . 1974 . Mahdism and Holy Wars in Ethiopia Before 1600 . Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies . 4 . 0308-8421.
21. Book: Mashhūr, ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad . شمس الظهيرة في نسب اهل البيت من بني علوي فروع فاطمة الزهراء وامير المؤمنين علي رضي الله عنه . 1984 . عالم المعرفة، . 112 . ar.
22. M-Shidad Hussein . S. . 2021-04-03 . Ruined towns in Nugaal: a forgotten medieval civilisation in interior Somalia . Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa . en . 56 . 2 . 250–271 . 0067-270X.
23. Book: Society . Royal Geographical . Supplementary Papers Page . 551 . They called the people " Harli," and said they were there prior to the Gallas. The latter had dug the rocky wells at Kirrid which we saw on first entering the country, and had cut a rude Christian cross in the face of the cave—■ the only ancient sign existing of a rude form of Christianity in the land.