Adulis

Adulis was a prominent ancient port city on the Red Sea, serving as a key trading hub linking the Aksumite Empire with Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula. The 1st-century Greek merchant guide Periplus Maris Erythraei described it as a thriving emporium for ivory, gold, and enslaved people — three days' journey from Koloe and eight from Aksum. Whether the ruins south of Massawa near the Habas River are genuinely its remains is still archaeologically unresolved; some scholars also propose that the Somali region of Awdal preserves the ancient name through a Semitic metathesis. Adulis remains one of the more tantalizing open questions in East African antiquity.