who are the somali people the somali people are one of the most homogenous ethnic groups on the
african continent and their origins and history can be traced back to antiquity and biblical times
they were not always referred to as somalis but bore many different names in ancient times the
people that inhabited the horn of africa and were the ancestors of today's somalis
were referred to as the macrobians by the ancient greek historian herodotus according
to herodotus the persian emperor Cambyses II upon his conquest of egypt in 525 bc
sent ambassadors to macrobia somalia bringing luxury gifts for the macrobian king to entice his
submission the macrobian ruler replied instead with a challenge for his persian counterpart
in the form of an unstrung bow if the persians could manage to draw it
they would have the right to invade his country but until then they should thank the gods that
the macrobians never decided to invade their empire the tale is consistent with somali
culture where high importance is given to verbal eloquence martial bravery and intellectual riddles
herodotus described the macrobians as a regional power reputed for its advanced architecture and
gold wealth which was so plentiful that they shackled their prisoners in golden chains
the hebrew bible in the book of genesis mentions a land associated with the garden of Eden named
Havilah a river flows out of Eden to water the garden and from there it divides and becomes four
branches it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah where there is gold and the gold
of that land is good bdellium and onyx stone are there and according to prominent medieval rabbi
Saadia Gaon the land of Havilah is said to be in the city of Zeila in present-day somaliland
which is corroborated by the 12th century jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela who is said to have
visited the prosperous town during his travels to the east the port city of Zeila anciently known as
Avalites by the greeks is situated in the barbara geographical region on the northern somali coast
during antiquity Zeila was part of the somali city-states that engaged in a
lucrative trade network with phoenicia egypt greece persia and the roman empire
trade and seafaring were a cornerstone of somali culture which is why the somalis developed their
own maritime vessels known as beden the beden ships were fast single or double
masted vessels that were used for travel or to transport merchandise they are known to be the
longest surviving hand-sewn boats in the horn of africa and the arabian peninsula other maritime
technologies that were used by the somalis include lighthouses to coordinate shipping and hourglasses
for timekeeping during travel somali's developed a very accurate ancient timekeeping system
known as the somali calendar which is comprised of both solar and lunar calendric systems
while the lunar calendar was mostly used for religious observations as well as social and
economic contracts the solar calendar was used for weather forecasting maritime travels and
to identify the seasons although unfamiliar to most of the rest of the world the somali
solar calendar is one of the most fascinating sophisticated and accurate calendars in the world
its evolution probably dates from approximately 2 500 years ago which is earlier than the Julian
calendar which our current Gregorian calendar is based on it is based on the number of seven
and is organized into four seasons 12 months and 52 weeks plus one day the seasons are
named Xagaa summer which is 91 days or 13 weeks Dayr autumn which is the same number of days
Diraac winter also the same number of days and Gu spring which is 92 days or 13 weeks plus one day
accordingly the year is 12 months seven of which have 30 days and five of which have 31.
Xagaa and Diraac are dry seasons that are known as Jiilaal while Dayr and Gu are rainy seasons
known as Nur the new year is characterized by a festival called Dabshid which means
lighting the fire in somali and where people celebrate by lighting large fires and sacrificing
livestock which are traditionally goats the somali calendar year consists of 365 days
which is similar to the ancient egyptian calendar historians have observed a great deal of cultural
and linguistics links between the ancient somalis and their egyptian counterparts
for example these astronomical terms have very close similarities
the term for sun in ancient egyptian is Ra’a and in somali is Qorrah Ya’ah for the moon is Dayah in
Somali. manta for today is manta in somali fKhawo for night is Cawo in Somali. the ancient somalis
are known to have been demolithic people of stone who have been associated with tireless building of
megaliths this is shown by the tens of thousands of pre-islamic-built cairns and dolmens scattered
throughout the somali inhabited territories the cairns are known to the somalis as
Taallo Tiirriyaat monuments of Tiirri somali lore credits the building of those megaliths to giants
that once roamed somaliland in folk tales from Somalia "Sheekoxariirooyin Soomaaliyed"
Ahmed Artan Hanghe tells the story of two giants that once lived in Somaliland
one named Habbad ina Kamas was cruel and the other one Biriir ina Barqo was just and kind
he lived in a cave called Shimbiraale the cave of birds and used to wear a heavy ring that no
man could lift he answered the pleas of those suffering under the rule of the giant called Habbad
and defeated him in battle he then united the two lands and ushered in a long period of peace
researchers have studied the archaeo-astronomical nature of two megalithic sites on the southwest
part of lake Turkana northwest of present kenya and observed that one of the sites
has an alignment of 19 basalt pillars seven of which are non-randomly oriented
towards certain stars and constellations that were used to calculate an accurate calendar
before the advent of islam, somalis believed in a god named Waaq or Eebe
who is the same as allah or god in islam he is known to have been a sky god
to whom the nomads prayed for rain his benevolence and consequent rainfall was known as
Barwaqo islam was adopted by the somalis during the prophet muhammad's lifetime somalis were the
earliest non-arabs that converted to islam not only the earliest non-arabs but the religion of
islam in somalia predates almost every single muslim nation of today in the city of Zeila
the Masjid al-Qiblatayn also known in somali as Labo-Qibla is a mosque that was built in the 7th
century shortly after the hijrah the beginning of the muslim calendar by the early companions of the
prophet during the first migration to Abyssinia the edifice features two mihrabs one oriented
to the north toward mecca and the other oriented to the north west towards jerusalem as the qibla
or prayer direction for early muslims used to be towards jerusalem until the quranic revelation
contained in surat al-baqarah arrived 15 months after the prophet's migration to medina
the name somali is believed to be derived from the name Samaale who is considered to
be the oldest common forefather of several major somali clans like the Isaq, Gadabursi,
Hawiye and Darod but there are also claims that the name somali could be derived from the words So
Maal which means go and milk which is reference to the pastoral traditions of
the somalis another etymology also proposes that the term somali is derived from the arabic word
zāwamāl meaning wealthy in reference to the somalis riches in livestock and gold.