ABSTRACT The islands of Sri Lanka and Socotra c. 200–700 provide a useful comparison, both with each other and with islands in the Late Antique and medieval Mediterranean. Using the analytical framework of frontiers as a comparative tool, this study proposes using the parameters of scale and proximity in order to evaluate where the frontier(s) of an island lay (along the shoreline or within an island space, sometimes both) and the difficulty or ease of controlling them from inside or outside the island. In its results, this analysis allows for change over time, but also establishes the diachronic effect of physical parameters. It offers a new way through the insular dichotomy of isolation versus connectivity and indicates a particularity of Mediterranean islands. This exploratory approach also sheds new light on an embargo established in ancient Socotra, suggesting it to have been a much shorter-lived phenomenon than previously speculated.

中文翻译：

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岛屿边界：索科特拉岛、斯里兰卡和古代西印度洋晚期的商业形态

摘要斯里兰卡和索科特拉岛 c．200-700 提供了有用的比较，无论是彼此之间还是与古代晚期和中世纪地中海的岛屿。使用边界分析框架作为比较工具，本研究建议使用规模和邻近度参数来评估岛屿边界的位置（沿着海岸线或在岛屿空间内，有时两者兼而有之）和从岛内或岛外控制它们的难度或难易程度。在其结果中，该分析允许随时间变化，但也确定了物理参数的历时效应。它提供了一种解决孤立与连通性的岛屿二分法的新方法，并表明了地中海岛屿的特殊性。