Adulis: the city behind the port

Adulis is often called Aksum’s port. The phrase is accurate as far as it goes. Yet it conceals almost everything that made the relationship possible: a dispersed harbour landscape, regulated exchange, inland transport, urban labour and institutions with histories of their own.

A port is more than a possession. Adulis joined anchorages, roads, labour and institutions into the coastal system that made Aksumite power possible.