Emporion (trading port) on the East African coast, described as 'the last emporion of Azania' in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (a Greek merchant's sailing guide, composed c. 40-70 AD) and again by Claudius Ptolemy (Geography, c. 150 AD). Both sources describe it as ruled by a 'Mapharitic chieftain' — a vassal governor of the South Arabian Himyarite kingdom (already tracked in canonical, himyarite_kingdom) — trading ivory and tortoiseshell, reachable by sailors from India blown off course down the coast.
Vanishes from the historical record after Ptolemy's 2nd-century mention; no later classical or Islamic-era source places it, and archaeology has not conclusively confirmed the site.
Translation and commentary on the primary 1st-century source that first describes Rhapta.
Broad archaeological survey situating Rhapta and the disputed Roman-Indian Ocean trade evidence within the wider East African record.