Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.

Responsive image


Aethiopia

The inhabited world according to Herodotus: Libya (Africa) is imagined as extending no further south than the Horn of Africa, terminating in the uninhabitable desert. All peoples inhabiting the southernmost fringes of the inhabitable world are known as Aethiopians (after their dark skin). At the extreme south-east of the continent are the Macrobians, so-called for their longevity.

Ancient Aethiopia, (Greek: Αἰθιοπία, romanizedAithiopía) first appears as a geographical term in classical documents in reference to the skin color of the inhabitants of the upper Nile in northern Sudan, of areas south of the Sahara, and of certain areas in Asia. Its earliest mention is in the works of Homer: twice in the Iliad,[1] and three times in the Odyssey.[2] The Greek historian Herodotus uses the appellation to refer to regions south of Egypt when describing "Aethiopians," indicating Nubia, not the modern nation of Ethiopia.[3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Homer1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Homer2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Diodorus Siculus (1933). "The Library of History". Digital Loeb Classical Library. doi:10.4159/dlcl.diodorus_siculus-library_history.1933. Retrieved 2024-09-26.

Previous Page Next Page