Ebria
Established Nation
Periplus of on the Sea of Buto
by Aristos of Therme
On the People of the Nobatian Coast
Manuscript Faras322-U32/5In the spring of year 4 of the 144th Pampelasgiad, I have left the port of Berenice Arsinoica, with a load of Memphian faience, a gift from the Memphian king Demeas II to the peoples of the eastern coast, the Nobatians. We waited about a fortnight for the storms of the Sea of Buto, so ssavage, so strong and so often, a clear sign that Poseidon himself wants people to never cross it, to end. The men were quite anxious, if not really afraid of crossing the sea of Buto like this. Usually people just cross the strait into the land of the Blemmyes and then cabotage along the coast towards the estuary of the great river Iteron. But because our load is a special one, we have to reach Pakhoras as fast as possible.
Before we left, we sacrificed a white bull to Poseidon (which was sponsored by King Demeas himself) so that the seas will be safe for us, and we sailed at first light. The sea was calm, the wind was strong, coming from behind. It was quite a divine experience, sailing like this in one of the world's most treacherous seas. The warm, green-blueish waters were still, huge while clouds were racing along with us as the strong winds were pushing us towards the south-east. The crew was quite small, and we had with us a Pelasgian priest, a diviner under the name of Hyppotas of Pelaphos, whom had with him both a lyre and a kithara. In the evenings I usually listened to his songs, and observed how sober songs like the Hymn to Hermes and the Ode to Orpheus were played on the lyre, while he used the Kithara to play skolions and drinking songs. The men believed that the very good weather we had came from the Lyre songs of Hyppotas, whom was singing not only to them, but to Poseidon too. I am not that sure about that.... I believe the sacrificed bull had more to do with that.
The Sea of Buto is the heart of Central Himyar. This is where the peoples of the world converge together. To the north west, one has the rich port cities of the Kingdom of Memphis, a successor of the Empire of Anaxandros the Great, and tied with him the Pelasgian league even further to the north. To the east, one can find the city states of the Blemmyes, an interesting but weird people. Like the Nobatians, they speak some bastardised dialect of Leontic, but they never reached the level of civilisation seen in the western coast. Their cities are small, and many of them live nomadic lifestyles in the Sea of Fire desert, following their camels from oasis to oasis. An extremely hard life, they live. Yet, their archons are some of the richest people in the world. Their polities are known as the Frankincense Kingdoms, as they have grown rich from the trade of frankincense, which is extracted from trees found only in their lands. The strongest and richest of those kingdoms if Rhapta, which can be found nine days of walking inland from the coast. Even more to the east are the lands and cities made of sand owned by the Cyanopians, which are monstrous, blue skinned people, with human lower bodies and dog's heads.
To the south of the Blemmyes lie the rich and fertile valleys of the Iteron river. The old Nobatians were very similar to the Kypths, which still live in the Memphian Kingdom. They built grand monuments or sandstone to their weird animal gods. While they were representing them as animals, one can still observe the essence of the true gods in them. Both Zeus and Ares rest in the form of the proto-Nobatian god Apedemak, a god with human body but a lion's head. Amesemi, his wife, is exactly Hera. Menhit is the goddess of the Sun, a female form of Apollo. Anhur is nothing but Atlas renamed, while Sebiumeker is a male version of Aphrodite, while his brother and lover is called Arensnuphis. They say that the former represents eros, romantic and sexual love, while the latter represents brotherly love. The last of them, Mandulis is a weird one, as many say that it is a foreigner but from what I understand it represents the goddess Artemis. But there are so many of them. The old Nobatians were a superstitious people and lived complicated lives, fearing gods and spirits that they thought they laid everywhere, from trees to stones, without understanding that the gods have only one home and that is in the high peaks of the Propontian mountains.
By the end of the second week as we were crossing the sea, we started losing speed and this meant only one thing. We were approaching our destination, as the currents from the Iteron river, flowing against us were slowing us down. Only a few hours after I observed this change in speed, one could then see the lands upon which we were to disembark. The old pyramids of the Proto-Nobatians, built on the oposite banks of the Iteron River from the city of Pakhoras, were the first to be seen, as their peaks, made out of sandstone that is now worn out rise above the dust from the ground and still shine when the sun is out. The men celebrated. Our destination was close and we did what no man has done before, crossed the Sea of Buto in a direct line from Berenice Arsinoica to Pakhoras without going along the coast of the Blemmyes. We have made history and the gods aided us in it.
The port of Pakhoras was much busier than I would have expected. Ships from from as far as Cyanopia, from the lands of extreme south-east Himyar, where they use seashells as currency, from the deep south where blueskinned and headless men live in cities all built underground, in the sides of the mountains, where jungles are so thick that no human can enter them and when he does, he is immediately killed by all sorts of illnesses and creatures. Some say that in those forests, you can see hairy human-like creatures that live in the trees. I do wonder if those are the first humans, designed by Prometheus.
The Nobatians of today, are a weird people. I for one wouldn't call them Pelasgians. They do speak a language that is quite similar to ours but it feels like they have left behind all signs of Leontic civilisation when they crossed the sea. They have come to this lands during the Dark Ages, two or three hundred winters ago, and moved in at a time when the Proto-Nobatians have all but collapsed. It is clear that such a barbarian society would have been taken down by their own abuses, corruption and clearly, a misinterpretation of all signs from the Gods. Broken, they moved back to their forsaken villages and the Leontians came. I for one am quite disappointed. Leontians were supposed to bring civilisation, but what they did, was to adopt barbarous ways.
First off, the new Nobatians, adopted the clothing styles and standards of beauty of the barbarians they conquered. Seeing men with just a loincloth around their waist, but covering their chest, shoulders, arms and even ankles in jewellery is nothing but bad taste. The men hate the form that the gods have gave them, and shave off their entire body, leaving only the head and the face to look like a proper man's, but even that they keep trimmed short. The kids are shaved on their heads too, and one can only recognise boy from girl from the fact that boys wear their loincloth while girls cover their upper body too. I find this shocking, especially when in civilised Pelasgia or even in Memphis, a land where Leontics mixed with barbarians like in here, shaving one's body is seen as a punishment for adultery or deviancy. I cannot understand why the Nobatians would do this by themselves and be proud of themselves. They wear makeup, man and woman alike, using a dark green to black concoction to cover their eyelids, especially as a way to show off their status, when they participate in formal engagements. Women wear their hair in all shapes and forms, with some of them dying it. Married women usually wear a veil, as to protect them from the sun, as a paler skin is a sign of beauty and social status. Men and women alike do wear henna tattoos on their hands and forearms, with intricate designs. As in any civilised society, being bald is seen as a deformity and Nobatians who suffer from this use wigs to hide it.
They did copy the old architectural styles but mixed in Leontic influences too. When walking the streets of Pakhoras, which the locals call Faras, from the port, one does feel in the middle of Eastern Himyar, as most houses are made from sandstone in the city, the old pyramids are rising and dominating the whole city, but farther to the south one can find the Archon's palace in the middle of an Acropolis that looks like it mimics the one in Propontis or Thermi.
They speak a bastardised form of Pelasgian, but like the Blemmyes it is sometimes impossible to understand them, as they have also adopted words from the Proto-Nobatians which they subjugated. The man is still the head of the family, as it is normal in a civilised society, but what is intriguing is that they do have an aversion to slavery. Prisoners of war are used in construction project but only for a temporary time, until they manage to earn enough to ransom themselves. Other than that, the workers are paid in wheat, beer and sometimes even coins and for many, being employed in a construction project for the city or for the Archon or on a temple, offers a sense of pride.
Like I said again and again, they do speak a bastardised Leontic language. This gives them the right to participate in the Pampelasgian games and one does see Nobatians quite often in it, especially in chariot racing and boxing competitions. They do have their own games, dedicated to Apollo or Menhit, as they call him, but they are quite known in Pelasgia as the Apolloniad. In spite of all their differences, how come we still see them as brothers to us and let them stain the Pampelasgian festivals, I don't really understand.
After a month we will be leaving towards Raphta, as I hope to get some gems from Nobatia, as I know that they will sell very well there and from there come back to Berenice Arsinoica with frankincense and spices.