Editing Somalia (section)

=== Antiquity and classical era ===
{{Main|Somali Architecture}}
[[File:Men from Punt Carrying Gifts, Tomb of Rekhmire MET 30.4.152 EGDP013029.jpg|thumb|Men from [[Land of Punt|Punt]] carrying Gifts, Tomb of [[Rekhmire]].]]
Ancient [[pyramid]]ical structures, [[mausoleum]]s, ruined cities and stone walls, such as the [[Wargaade Wall]], are evidence of an old civilization that once thrived in the Somali peninsula.<ref name="Nthos">{{cite book|last=Njoku|first=Raphael Chijioke|title=The History of Somalia|year=2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-37857-7|pages=29–31|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FlL2vE_qRQ8C|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=18 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518175752/https://books.google.com/books?id=FlL2vE_qRQ8C|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Dalal|first=Roshen|title=The Illustrated Timeline of the History of the World|year=2011|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-4488-4797-6|page=131|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RO4kS1IR71sC|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123104928/https://books.google.com/books?id=RO4kS1IR71sC|url-status=live}}</ref> This civilization enjoyed a trading relationship with [[ancient Egypt]] and [[Mycenaean Greece]] since the second millennium BCE, supporting the hypothesis that Somalia or adjacent regions were the location of the ancient [[Land of Punt]].<ref name="Nthos" /><ref>{{cite book|author=Abdel Monem A. H. Sayed|editor=Zahi A. Hawass|title=Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-first Century: Archaeology|year=2003|publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press|isbn=977-424-674-8|pages=432–433|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1E13DorsFMEC|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=18 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518175753/https://books.google.com/books?id=1E13DorsFMEC|url-status=live}}</ref> The Puntites native to the region traded [[myrrh]], spices, gold, ebony, short-horned cattle, ivory and [[frankincense]] with the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Indians, Chinese and Romans through their commercial ports. An Egyptian expedition sent to Punt by the [[Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt|18th dynasty]] Queen [[Hatshepsut]] is recorded on the temple reliefs at [[Deir el-Bahari]], during the reign of the Puntite King Parahu and Queen Ati.<ref name="Nthos" />

In the [[Classical antiquity|classical era]], the [[Macrobians]], who may have been ancestral to Somalis, established a powerful  kingdom that ruled large parts of modern Somalia. They were reputed for their longevity and wealth, and were said to be the "tallest and handsomest of all men".<ref name="Wheeler pg 526">[https://archive.org/stream/geographyofherod00whee/geographyofherod00whee_djvu.txt The Geography of Herodotus: Illustrated from Modern Researches and Discoveries] by James Talboys Wheeler, pg 1xvi, 315, 526</ref> The Macrobians were warrior herders and seafarers. According to Herodotus' account, the [[Persian Emperor]] [[Cambyses II]], upon his [[History of Achaemenid Egypt|conquest of Egypt]] in 525 BC, sent ambassadors to Macrobia, bringing luxury gifts for the Macrobian king to entice his submission. The Macrobian ruler, who was elected based on his stature and beauty, replied instead with a challenge for his Persian counterpart in the form of an unstrung bow: if the Persians could manage to draw it, they would have the right to invade his country; but until then, they should thank the gods that the Macrobians never decided to invade their empire.<ref name="Wheeler pg 526" /><ref name="Kitto2">John Kitto, James Taylor, ''The popular cyclopædia of Biblical literature: condensed from the larger work'', (Gould and Lincoln: 1856), p. 302.</ref> The Macrobians were a regional power reputed for their advanced architecture and [[gold]] wealth, which was so plentiful that they shackled their prisoners in golden chains.<ref name="Kitto2" /> The [[camel]] is believed to have been domesticated in the Horn region sometime between the 2nd and 3rd millennium BCE. From there, it spread to [[Egypt]] and the [[Maghreb]].<ref>Suzanne Richard (2003) [https://books.google.com/books?id=khR0apPid8gC&pg=PA120 Near Eastern archaeology: a reader] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123104928/https://books.google.com/books?id=khR0apPid8gC&pg=PA120 |date=23 January 2023 }}, Eisenbrauns, p. 120 {{ISBN|1-57506-083-3}}.</ref>

During the classical period, the [[Barbaria (region)|Barbara]] city-states of [[Mosylon]], [[Opone]], [[Heis (town)|Mundus]], [[Bulhar|Isis]], [[Malao]], [[Zeila|Avalites]], [[Essina]], [[Nikon (Somalia)|Nikon]] and [[Sarapion]] developed a lucrative trade network, connecting with merchants from [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic Egypt]], [[Ancient Greece]], [[Phoenicia]], [[Parthian Empire|Parthian Persia]], [[Sabaeans|Saba]], the [[Nabataean Kingdom]], and the [[Roman Empire]]. They used the ancient Somali maritime vessel known as the ''[[beden]]'' to transport their cargo.
[[File:Beden.jpg|thumbnail|The [[Beden]] is a fast, ancient Somali single or double-masted maritime ship.]]
After the [[Nabatea#Roman annexation|Roman conquest of the Nabataean Empire]] and the Roman naval presence at [[Aden]] to curb piracy, Arab and Somali merchants agreed with the Romans to bar Indian ships from trading in the free port cities of the [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabian peninsula]]<ref>{{Harvnb|Warmington|1995|p=54}}.</ref> to protect the interests of Somali and Arab merchants in the lucrative commerce between the Red and Mediterranean Seas.<ref name="EHW">{{Harvnb|Warmington|1995|p=229}}.</ref> However, Indian merchants continued to trade in the port cities of the Somali peninsula, which was free from Roman interference.<ref>{{Harvnb|Warmington|1995|p=187}}.</ref> For centuries, Indian merchants brought large quantities of cinnamon to Somalia and Arabia from [[Ceylon]] and the [[Maluku Islands|Spice Islands]]. The source of the cinnamon and other spices is said to have been the best-kept secret of Arab and Somali merchants in their trade with the Roman and Greek world; the Romans and Greeks believed the source to have been the Somali peninsula.<ref>{{Harvnb|Warmington|1995|pp=185–186}}.</ref> The collusive agreement among Somali and Arab traders inflated the price of Indian and Chinese cinnamon in North Africa, the Near East, and Europe, and made the cinnamon trade a very profitable revenue generator, especially for the Somali merchants.<ref name="EHW" />