Lake Monoleus was a coastal feature mentioned by PlinyPliny the Elder, Natural History 6,171. as being on the Red Sea Coast near Ptolemais Theron. The lake was probably a coastal lagoon.Dionysius A. Agius, Emad Khalil, Eleanor Scerri, Alun Williams, Human Interaction with the Environment in the Red Sea: Selected Papers of Red Sea Project VI (BRILL, 20 Apr. 2017) p18
According to Pliny PlinyNatural History 6: 34. the city of Ptolemais Theron was situated adjacent to Lake MonoleusAlexander Porteous, The Forest in Folklore and Mythology (Courier Corporation, 3 Apr. 2012) p12. at a distance of 4820 stadia from BereniceAbraham Rees, The Cyclopædia: Or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature (Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1819) and located in Æthiopia, though modern Eritrea is more probable.
The lake must have been not connected to the Red Sea as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea chapter 3 written (mid 1st century) notes that Ptolemais Theron had "no harbor, and can only be reached by small boats".Huntingford, G. W. B. 1980. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea - by an unknown author; with some extracts from Agatharkhides "On the Erythraean Sea". Vol. 151, Works issued by the Hakluyt Society. Second series. London: Hakluyt Society.
The location of the lake (if that is what it was) remains unknown, though several locations have been conjectured. G.W.B. Huntingford notes that Ptolemais (hence Lake Monocleus) has been identified both with the locales of Arqiqo and also Suakin, and notes that Suakin lay at the end of an ancient caravan route that links it to Barbar on the Nile. Ariqiqo, alternatively, derives its name from the local word for elephantRichard Pankhurst, The Ethiopian Borderlands (Asmara: Red Sea Press, 1997), p. 104. and is known for its mangrove shallows, one interpretation of the lake. Stanley M. Burstein argues for Trinkitat, where he states that "classical architectural fragments" have been found.Stanley M. Burstein, Agatharchides of Cnidus, On the Erythraean Sea (London: the Hakluyt Society, 1989) p.144 n.2.
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