Aromata Promontorium
Ἀρώματα ακρον καὶ ἐμπόριον
Aromata Promontorium (Ἀρώματα ακρον καὶ ἐμπόριον, Ptol. 4.7.10; Ἄρωμα, Steph. B. sub voce Arrian, Perip. Mar. Eryth. 7, 8, 17, 33: Eth. Ἀρωμεύς: the modern Ξαπ γυαρδαφυι), was the easternmost headland of Africa, in lat. 11° N. The promontory was a continuation of Mount Elephas, and the town Aromata was the principal city in the Regio Cinnamonifera (ἡ Κινναμοφόρος Χωσά, Strab. xvi. p.774.) Ptolemy, indeed (4.7.34), places the region of cinnamon and spices further to the west and nearer to the White Nile. The district of which Aromata was the capital bounded Africa Barbaria to the north, and the Long-lived Aethiopians (Macrobii) are placed by some geographers immediately south of it. The quantity of spices employed by the Egyptians in the process of embalming rendered their trade with Aromata active and regular. Diodorus (1.91) mentions cinnamon as one of the usual condiments of mummies.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.