Ancient Aethiopia, (Greek: Αἰθιοπία, romanized: Aithiopía) 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 along with areas south of the Sahara and certain parts of Asia.
This article delves into the etymology of the term "Ethiopia" as it originates from Classical Greek. For the modern country, see Ethiopia. For the genus of beetles, see Aethiopia (beetle).
Its earliest mention is in the works of Homer: twice in the Iliad, and three times in the Odyssey. The Greek historian Herodotus uses the appellation to refer to regions south of Egypt when describing "Aethiopians," most commonly Nubia.
Likewise, the Hebrew term Cushi is derived from Kushite. Despite this, the Byzantine Greeks also referred to the Aksumites as Ethiopians and Negus Ezana, conqueror of Meroë took on the title of "king of Ethiopia" prior to the rise of the medieval Ethiopian Empire.
Inhabitants of Herodotus' India were sometimes named Ethiopians for their dark skin by the Greeks and Romans.
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In book 3 (3.89-97) however, Herodotus himself distinguishes the people of India.
Though near universally used to invoke the "Ethiopia of North Africa" ("African Ethiopia"); there was another region sometimes called Asiatic Ethiopia, located either in one of the provinces of Mesopotamia (Assyria and Babylon), or in Ancient Armenia (Colchis).
Ethiopia in Roman History (1-200 AD) states later the term "Ethiopia" would become synonymous with all Africans.
Unlike the earlier Greek writers who distinguished Ethiopians from other Africans, Claudius Ptolemy (90-168 AD), a Roman citizen who lived in Alexandria, used "Ethiopia" as a racial term.
In his Tetrabiblos: Or Quadripartite, he tried to explain the physical characteristics of people around the world saying, 'They are consequently black in complexion, and have thick and curled hair...and they are called by the common name of Aethiopians.'"
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The Classical Greek historian wrote about a colony founded in the region of Colchis, which was inhabited by Ethiopic people, believed to have been brought there by the Egyptian Pharaoh Sesostris.
Herodotus states that the Colchians, with the Ancient Egyptians and the Ethiopians, were the first to practice circumcision, a custom which he claims that the Colchians inherited from remnants of the army of Pharaoh Sesostris (Senusret III).
Herodotus writes: For it is plain to see that the Colchians are Egyptians; and what I say, I myself noted before I heard it from others.
When it occurred to me, I inquired of both peoples; and the Colchians remembered the Egyptians better than the Egyptians remembered the Colchians; the Egyptians said that they considered the Colchians part of Sesostris' army.
I myself guessed it, partly because they are dark-skinned and woolly-haired; though that indeed counts for nothing, since other peoples are, too; but my better proof was that the Colchians and Egyptians and Ethiopians are the only nations that have from the first practised circumcision.
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The Greek name Aithiopia (Αἰθιοπία, from Αἰθίοψ, Aithíops) is a compound derived of two Greek words: αἴθω, aíthō, 'I burn' + ὤψ, ṓps, 'face'. According to the Perseus Project, this designation properly translates in noun form as burnt-face and in adjectival form as red-brown.
As such, it was used as a vague term for darker skinned populations than the Greeks since the time of Homer. The term was applied to such peoples within the range of observation of the ancient geographers, primarily in what was then Nubia (in ancient Sudan). With the expansion of geographical knowledge, the exonym successively extended to certain other areas below the Sahara.
Homer (c. 8th century BC) is the first to mention "Aethiopians" (Αἰθίοπες, Αἰθιοπῆες), writing that they are to be found at the east and west extremities of the world, divided by the sea into "eastern" (at the sunrise) and "western" (at the sunset).
In Book 1 of the Iliad, Thetis visits Olympus to meet Zeus, but the meeting is postponed, as Zeus and other gods are absent, visiting the land of the Aethiopians.
Hesiod (c. 8th century BC) speaks of Memnon as the "King of the Aethiopians."
In The Catalogues of Women, he stated that the Egyptian king Epaphus was the progenitor of the Aethiopians and other dark-skinned tribes of Libya.
The Sons of Boreas pursued the Harpies to the lands of the Massagetae and of the proud Half-Dog men, of the Underground-folk and of the feeble Pygmies; and to the tribes of the boundless Black-skins and the Libyans.
Huge Earth bare these to Epaphus -- soothsaying people, knowing seercraft by the will of Zeus the lord of oracles, but deceivers, to the end that men whose thought passes their utterance might be subject to the gods and suffer harm -- Aethiopians and Libyans and mare-milking Scythians.
For verily Epaphus was the child of the almighty Son of Cronos, and from him sprang the dark Libyans, and high-souled Aethiopians, and the Underground-folk and feeble Pygmies.
The Assyrian king Esarhaddon when conquering Egypt and destroying the Kushite Empire states how he "deported all 'Aethiopians' from Egypt, leaving not one to pay homage to me".
In 515 BC, Scylax of Caryanda, on orders from Darius I of the Achaemenid Empire, sailed along the Indus River, Indian Ocean, and Red Sea, circumnavigating the Arabian Peninsula.
Hecataeus of Miletus (c. 500 BC) is also said to have written a book about 'Aethiopia,' but his writing is now known only through quotations from later authors.
He stated that 'Aethiopia' was located to the east of the Nile, as far as the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. In his Histories (c. 440 BC), Herodotus presents some of the most ancient and detailed information about "Aethiopia".
He relates that he personally traveled up the Nile to the border of Egypt as far as Elephantine (modern Aswan). In his view, "Aethiopia" is all of the inhabited land found to the south of Egypt, beginning at Elephantine.
He describes a capital at Meroë, adding that the only deities worshipped there were Zeus (Amun) and Dionysus (Osiris).
Herodotus tells us that king Cambyses II (c. 570 BC) of the Achaemenid Empire sent spies to the Aethiopians "who dwelt in that part of Libya (Africa) which borders upon the southern sea." They found a strong and healthy people.
In Book 3, Herodotus defines "Aethiopia" as the farthest region of "Libya" (i.e. Where the south declines towards the setting sun lies the country called Aethiopia, the last inhabited land in that direction.
Herodotus wrote with regard to the inhabitants of Libya: "One thing I can add about this far country [Libya]: so far as one knows, it is inhabited by four races, and four only, of which two are indigenous and two not.
According to Herodotus the Macrobians dwelt geographically along the sea south of Libya on the Atlantic. This Libya was far south of the Pillars of Hercules and Atlas Mountains along the Atlantic coast, while the northern Libyan sea coast was the Mediterranean Sea that stretched from Egypt to Morocco in an east to west direction.
Concerning the southern sea, Herodotus places the Persians east of the southern sea in Asia, the Arabians & East Africans south of the sea in Arabia and the Macrobians west of the southern Sea in Libya.
Herodotus also stated that the Macrobians were indigenous to southern Libya while the Libyans along the Mediterranean Sea were indigenous to northern Libya.
According to his account, the Persian Emperor Cambyses II upon his conquest of Egypt (525 BC) sent ambassadors to Macrobia, bringing luxury gifts for its king to entice his submission.
The Macrobian ruler, who was elected based at least in part on stature, replied instead with a challenge for his Persian counterpart in the form of an unstrung bow: if the Persians could manage to string 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.
This is similar to an account of the Nubians challenging foreigners to draw and fire their great bows, but the fact Cambyses is said to have already conquered at least part of Aethiopia makes connecting Nubia and the Macrobians untennable.Later authors such as Scylax in his periplus also place them south of the pillars of Hercules, and Scylax also reported a trade taking place between Phoenicians (Carthaginians) and tall Ethiopians (Macrobians).
Herodotus also mentions a silent trade of gold that took place between Carthaginians and natives south of Libya beyond the Pillars of Hercules; it was also this gold trade that motivated Cambyses, the King of Persia, to plan a land and sea expedition against both the Carthaginians and Macrobian.
Pliny in his natural histories places them west of Meroe, far west of Meroe beyond the deserts of Chad that is.
Cambyses, after being insulted by the tallest and long-lived (Macrobian) King of Ethiopia in the west, he eagerly wanted to conquer and subdue all people of Amun and destroy all temples of the God, but failed in his desperate attempt.
The Egyptian priest Manetho (c. 300 BC) listed Kushite (25th) dynasty, calling it the "Aethiopian dynasty," and Esarhaddon the early 7th century BC ruler of the Neo-Assyrian Empire describes deporting all "Aethiopians" from Egypt upon conquering Egypt from the Nubian Kushite Empire which formed the 25th Dynasty.
Moreover, when the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek (c. Agatharchides provides a relatively detailed description of the gold mining system of Aethiopia.
He recounted this story that attributes the origins of Egyptian civilization to migrants from the south, which in this context corresponds to the Kingdom of Kush. With regard to the Ethiopians, Strabo indicates that they looked similar to Indians, remarking "those who are in Asia (South India), and those who are in Africa, do not differ from each other."
Pliny in turn asserts that the place-name "Aethiopia" was derived from one "Aethiop, a son of Vulcan" (the Greek god Hephaestus).
He also writes that the "Queen of the Ethiopians" bore the title Kandake, and avers (incorrectly) that the Ethiopians had conquered ancient Syria and the Mediterranean.
The Greek travelogue from the 1st-century AD, known as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, initially describes the littoral, based on its author's intimate knowledge of the area.
However, the Periplus does not mention any dark-skinned "Ethiopians" among the area's inhabitants. The Ezana Stone, a stele documenting the reign of Ezana of Axum states the following:
I, Ezana, King of the Kingdom of Aksum and Himyarites and of Reeidan and of the Ethiopians and of the Sabaites and of Sileel (?) and of Hasa and of the Bougaites and of Taimo...- Greek inscription of Ezana.
The terms King and Kingdom of Ethiopia would later be used by, among others, Amda Seyon I and Zara Yaqob.
