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meat, or the salt, or the iron; but if it does not please him, he leaves the gold, and that other man comes, and seeing that he has not taken it, either adds more, or takes his gold and departs. Such is the trade of those there, since they are of different tongues and they are especially lacking in many interpreters. They spend in that country five days, more or less, according to the access, entering and trading, until they have finished their business. 2.53 And in returning again, they return armed and with one accord, because there are certain people in the country between who molest them and wish to take the gold from them. So, acting in this way, they carry on their trade for six months in going and returning, walking more slowly on the way there, especially because of the beasts of burden, but returning more hastily, so that the storms and the rains may not overtake them on the road. For in those parts is the head of the river Nile, and in winter from the many rains many rivers are formed from it onto the road. And the winter of those parts is at the same time as our summer, from the beginning of the month Epiphi according to the Egyptians until the end of Thoth, raining very heavily for the three months, so as to make a multitude of rivers, and all of them pour into the Nile. I have written these things, having learned some by sight, and others by hearing from those who trade accurately there. 2.54 I wish also to relate another story to your reverence, contributing to the present subject. In the city of the Ethiopians called Adoule, which is on the coast about two miles away, being the port of the nation of the Axumites, where we who trade from Alexandria and from Elan also carry on our commerce—there is a throne situated at the entrance of the city on the western side, facing the road to Axum, of marble, belonging to one of the Ptolemies who ruled here, of white Docimian marble, such as are the white little tables, but not, however, Proconnesian, having a square base and four small slender columns at the four corners and one thicker one in the middle carved in a rope-like pattern, and on top of the columns the seat and the back of the throne behind and the parts on either side, right and left, the whole throne and the base and the five columns and the seat and the back and the parts on either side are all carved from one stone, being in all about two and a half cubits high, like what are called chairs among us. 2.55 Behind this throne stands another marble slab of basanite stone, about three cubits high, square, like a stele, the top of which is pointed in the middle above, but a little lower on either side, like the shape of the letter lambda, while the whole body is square. But now this stele has fallen behind the throne, its very bottom part having been broken and lost, but the whole marble, and the throne, is filled with Greek letters. 2.56 Therefore, when I was present in those places, more or less twenty-five years ago, at the beginning of the reign of Justin, the emperor of the Romans, the then king of the Axumites, Ellatzbaas, being about to go out to war against the Homerites across the sea, wrote to the governor of Adoulis to take copies of the inscriptions on the Ptolemaic throne and on the stele and to send them to him. And the governor at that time, named Asbas, called me and another merchant named Menas, who, having become a monk in Raithou, not long ago departed this life, and commanded us to go and take copies of the inscriptions. And having taken them, we gave them to the governor, keeping copies for ourselves, which I will now place in this treatise, contributing to our knowledge of the places and the inhabitants and the distances. 2.57 We found also carved on the back parts of the throne both Heracles and Hermes, of whom the late Menas, who was with me, said that Heracles was a symbol of strength, and Hermes, of wealth. And I, remembering the Acts of the Apostles, contradicted him on the one point, saying that the

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κρέας, ἢ τοὺς ἅλας, ἢ τὸ σιδήριον· εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἤρεσεν αὐτῷ, ἀφίησι τὸ χρυσίον, καὶ ἦλθε κἀκεῖνος θεωρῶν ὅτι οὐκ ἔλαβε καὶ ἢ προστίθησιν ἢ ἔλαβε τὸ χρυσίον ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἀπέρχεται. Τοιαύτη ἐστὶν ἡ συναλλαγὴ τῶν ἐκεῖσε, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἀλλόγλωσσοί εἰσι καὶ ἑρμηνέων μάλιστα πολλῶν ἀποροῦσι. Ποιοῦσι δὲ κατὰ τόπον εἰς ἐκείνην τὴν χώραν ἡμέρας πέντε πλέον ἔλαττον κατὰ πρόσβασιν εἰσερχόμενοι καὶ πραγματευόμενοι, μέχρις οὗ ἀποπραγματεύσονται. 2.53 Ἐν δὲ τῷ ὑποστρέψαι πάλιν ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἔνοπλοι ὑποστρέφουσι διὰ τὸ εἶναί τινας μεταξὺ τῆς χώρας ἐκείνης ἐπηρεάζοντας αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀφελεῖν βουλομένους ἀπ' αὐτῶν τὸ χρυσίον. Οὕτως οὖν ποιοῦντες ἑξαμήνου ποιοῦσι τὴν ἐμπορίαν ἐν τῷ ὑπάγειν καὶ ὑποστρέφειν αὐτούς, βραδύτερον περιπατοῦντες ἐν τῷ ὑπάγειν, μάλιστα διὰ τὰ ἄλογα, ὑποστρέφοντες δὲ σπουδαιότερον, ἵνα μὴ οἱ χειμῶνες καὶ οἱ ὑετοὶ καταλάβωσιν αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ. Περὶ γὰρ τὰ ἐκεῖ ἐστιν ἡ κορυφὴ τοῦ Νείλου ποταμοῦ καὶ κατὰ χειμῶνα ἐκ τῶν πολλῶν ὑετῶν πολλοὶ ποταμοὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν ὁδὸν γίνονται. Ἔστι δὲ ὁ χειμὼν τῶν αὐτόθι κατὰ τὸ παρ' ἡμῖν θέρος, ἀπὸ τοῦ κατ' Αἰγυπτίους Ἔπιφι μηνὸς ἀρχὴ ἕως τέλους τοῦ Θώθ, σφοδρῶς πάνυ βρέχων τοὺς τρεῖς μῆνας, ὥστε πλῆθος ποταμῶν ποιεῖν, πάντες δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν Νεῖλον ἐκχέουσι. Ταῦτα δὲ τὰ μὲν ὄψει παραλαβών, τὰ δὲ ἀκηκοὼς ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν ἐκεῖσε ἀκριβῶς πραγματευομένων γέγραφα. 2.54 Βούλομαι δὲ καὶ ἑτέραν ἱστορίαν διηγήσασθαι τῇ σῇ εὐλαβείᾳ συντελοῦσαν πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν ὑπόθεσιν. Ἐν τῇ Ἀδούλῃτῇ καλουμένῃ τῶν Αἰθιόπων πόλει, παραλίῳ τυγχανούσῃ ὡς ἀπὸ μιλίων δύο, λιμένι ὑπαρχούσῃ τοῦ Ἀξωμιτῶν ἔθνους, ἔνθα καὶ τὴν ἐμπορίαν ποιούμεθα οἱ ἀπὸ Ἀλεξανδρείας καὶ ἀπὸ Ἐλᾶ ἐμπορευόμενοιδίφρος ἐστὶ κείμενος ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ τῆς πόλεως κατὰ τὸ δυτικὸν μέρος, προσέχων ἐπὶ τὴν ὁδὸν Ἀξώμεως, μαρμάρινος, ἑνὸς τῶν βασιλευσάντων ἐνταῦθα Πτολεμαίου, ἀπὸ δοκιμασίου μαρμάρου λευκοῦ, οἷά εἰσι τὰ τραπέζια τὰ λευκά, οὐ μέν τοι προκοννήσιος, ἔχων βάσιν τετράγωνον καὶ τέσσαρα κιόνια λεπτὰ μικρὰ εἰς τὰς τέσσαρας γωνίας καὶ ἕνα παχύτερον μέσον γεγλυμμένον σχοινωτὸν καὶ ἐπάνω τῶν κιονίων τὸ κάθισμα καὶ τὸ ἀνακλιτὸν τὸ ὄπισθεν τοῦ θρόνου καὶ τὰ παρ' ἑκάτερα πλευρὰ δεξιὰ καὶ ἀριστερά, ὅλος ὁ δίφρος καὶ ἡ βάσις καὶ τὰ πέντε κιόνια καὶ τὸ κάθισμα καὶ τὸ ἀνακλιτὸν καὶ τὰ παρ' ἑκάτερα πλευρὰ ὅλα εἷς λίθος γεγλυμμένος, ἔχων ὅλος ὡς πήχεις δύο ἥμισυ, ὡς αἱ παρ' ἡμῖν καλούμεναι καθέδραι. 2.55 Ὄπισθεν δὲ αὐτοῦ τοῦ δίφρου ἄλλο μάρμαρον ἀπὸ βασανίτου λίθου ἐστὶν ἱστάμενον, ὡσεὶ πηχῶν τριῶν, τετράγωνον, ὡς εἰκών, ἧς ἡ κεφαλὴ τὸ μέσον μὲν ὀξὺ ἄνω, τὰ παρ' ἑκάτερα δὲ μικρὸν χαμηλότερα, ὡς τύπον τοῦ στοιχείου τοῦ λάμβδα, ὅλον δὲ τὸ σῶμα τετράγωνον. Νυνὶ δὲ αὐτὴ ἡ εἰκὼν πεπτωκυῖά ἐστιν ὄπισθεν τοῦ δίφρου, τὸ κάτω πάνυ μέρος αὐτῆς κλασθὲν καὶ ἀπολεσθέν, ὅλον δὲ τὸ μάρμαρον, καὶ ὁ δίφρος, πεπληρωμένον γραμμάτων ἑλληνικῶν. 2.56 Παρόντι οὖν μοι ἐν τοῖς τόποις ἐκείνοις, πρὸ τούτων τῶν ἐνιαυτῶν εἴκοσι πέντε πλέον ἔλαττον, ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ τῆς βασιλείας Ἰουστίνου τοῦ Ῥωμαίων βασιλέως, ὁ τηνικαῦτα βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἀξωμιτῶν, Ἐλλατζβάας, μέλλων ἐξιέναι εἰς πόλεμον πρὸς τοὺς Ὁμηρίτας τοὺς πέραν γράφει τῷ ἄρχοντι Ἀδούλεως ἀναλαβεῖν τὰ ἴσα τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐν τῷ δίφρῳ τῷ πτολεμαϊκῷ καὶ τῇ εἰκόνι καὶ ἀποστεῖλαι αὐτῷ. Καλέσας δέ με ὁ τότε ἄρχων ὀνόματι Ἀσβᾶς καὶ ἄλλον ἕνα πραγματευτὴν ὀνόματι Μηνᾶν, ὃς γενόμενος μονάζων ἐν τῇ Ῥαϊθοῦ οὐ πρὸ πολλοῦ τὸν βίον μετήλλαξε, κελεύει ἡμῖν ἀπελθεῖν καὶ ἀναλαβεῖν τὰ γεγραμμένα. Λαβόντες δὲ δεδώκαμεν τῷ ἄρχοντι, κατασχόντες ἑαυτοῖς τὰ ἴσα, ἃ καὶ νῦν θήσω ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ συγγραφῇ, συμβαλλόμενα ἡμῖν πρὸς τὴν τῶν τόπων καὶ τῶν οἰκούντων καὶ τῶν διαστημάτων εἴδησιν. 2.57 Εὕραμεν δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὀπισθίοις τοῦ δίφρου γεγλυμμένους τόν τε Ἡρακλέα καὶ Ἑρμέα, οὓς ὁ μετ' ἐμοῦ μακαρίτης Μηνᾶς ἔλεγε τὸν μὲν Ἡρακλέα σύμβολον εἶναι δυνά μεως, τὸν δὲ Ἑρμέα, πλούτου. Κἀγὼ δὲ μνησθεὶς τῶν Πράξεων τῶν ἀποστόλων ἀντέλεγον αὐτῷ εἰς τὸ ἓν λέγων ὅτι τὸν