Доклады Международного конгресса ИИСАА. Т. 1

II. Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia / Ближний Восток, Кавказ и Центральная Азия Доклады Международного конгресса по источниковедению и историографии стран Азии и Африки. Т. 1. 2020 109 It is worth mentioning that the Martyrdom of Saint Arethas indicates that in ca. 525AD a large number of merchant ships of various origins (Byzantine, Persian, Ethi- opian, and Indian) anchored at the port ofAdulis, the capital of Ethiopia. 1 Furthermore, The Martyrdom reports that the king of the Ethiopians [Ĕlla Aṣbĕḥa] did not hesitate to confiscate many of the merchant ships anchored in Adulis and used them for the transportation of his huge Ethiopian army which invaded the Himyarite Kingdom in ca. 525. 2 More important details are found in the Martyrdom about the type of ships used for the transportation of the Ethiopian army in this invasion. It reveals that ten of the ships made inAdulis were built according to the local Indian sewn boat method. 3 Likewise, the nine Indian ships were undoubtedly also constructed according to the Indian method while we can assume that the rest of the ships, owed by traders from the Byzantine ports of Bereniki and Klysma, were of the Mediterranean type. 4 Recent significant underwater archaeological discoveries have amply demon- strated that in ancient and medieval times many ships, sailing in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, were constructed according to the Mediterranean design with few differentiations. Thus, the insufficient iconographic evidence is augmented with the reliable archaeological finds. 5 Unfortunately, concerning the sewn boats used on 1 “πλοῖα τῶν ἐμπόρων …Ἰνδῶν” (ships of the Indian merchants). Le martyre de Saint Aréthas. P. 263, §29, line 4. See also the relevant passage with an extensive commentary in Christides V. The Himyarite Kingdom on the Eve of and after the Ethiopian Dominance in the Sixth Century A.D. in the Martyrdom of St. Arethas and his Companions and in the Acts of St. Gregentius // Journal of Semitics . 2015. 24. 2. P. 683; Nappo Dario. Roman Policy in the Red Sea betweenAnastasius and Justinian // Blue L., Cooper J., Thomas R. (eds.). Connected Hinterlands, Proceedings of Red Sea Project IV Conference (Southampton 2008). Southampton, 2008. P. 75. 2 For this Ethiopian expedition see a detailed description in Christides. The Dawn of the Urbanization in the Kingdom of the Himyarites in the 6 th century. P. 40–44. For the trustwor- thiness of the above passage of the Martyrdom, see Detoraki’s comment in Le martyre de Saint Aréthas. P. 262, note 177: “L’auteur du Martyre montre sa familiarité avec la terminologie et les coutumes navales à plusieurs reprises dans le texte.” 3 “Ἰνδικὰ δέκα πλοῖα” (ten Indian [merchant] ships). Le martyre de Saint Aréthas. P. 263, § 29, line 9. 4 For the Mediterranean type of construction we do have ample information from the shipwrecks of Yassiada and Serçe Limani; see Carlson D. N., Leidwanger J., Kampbell S. M. (eds.). Maritime Studies in theWake of the Byzantine Shipwreck at Yassiada Turkey. College Station, TX., 2015; Van Doorninck F. H. Jr. The Byzantine Ship at Serçe Limani: An Exam- ple of Small-Scale Maritime Commerce with Fatimid Syria in the Early Eleventh Century // Macrides R. (ed.). Travel in the Byzantine World. Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies Publications 10. Aldershor, 2002. P. 137–148. 5 Whitewright J. Roman Rigging Material from the Red Sea Port of Myos Hormos // The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology . 2007. 36.2. P. 282–292; Blue L., Whitewright J., Thomas R. Ships and Ships’ Fittings // Peacock D., Blue L. (eds.). Myos Hormos — Quseir al-Qadim. Roman and Islamic Ports on the Red Sea. Volume 2: Finds