Aethiopia

This article is about the Classical Greek term. For the modern country, see Ethiopia. For the genus of beetles, see Aethiopia (beetle). For the Billy Woods album, see Aethiopes (album).
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, romanized: Aithiopía) first appears as a geographical term in classical documents in reference to skin color of inhabitants in upper Nile of northern Sudan, areas south of the Sahara, and 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.