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CHAP. 35.—ETHIOPIA.

On leaving Syene,1 and taking first the Arabian side, we find the nation of the Catadupi, then the Syenitæ, and the town of Tacompsos,2 by some called Thatice, as also Aramasos, Sesamos, Sanduma, Masindomacam, Arabeta and Boggia, Leupitorga, Tantarene, Mecindita, Noa, Gloploa, Gystate, Megada, Lea, Renni, Nups, Direa, Patiga, Bacata, Dumana, Rhadata, at which place a golden cat was worshipped as a god, Boron, in the interior, and Mallos, near Meroë; this is the account given by Bion.

Juba, however, gives another account; he says that there is a city on Mount Megatichos,3 which lies between Egypt and Ethiopia, by the Arabians known as Myrson, after which come Tacompsos, Aramus, Sesamos, Pide, Mamuda, Orambis, situate near a stream of bitumen, Amodita, Prosda, Parenta, Mama, Tesatta, Gallas, Zoton, Graucome, Emeus, the Pidibotæ, the Hebdomecontacometæ,4 Nomades, who dwell in tents, Cyste, Macadagale, Proaprimis, Nups, Detrelis, Patis, the Ganbreves, the Magasnei, Segasmala, Crandala, Denna, Cadeuma, Thena, Batta, Alana, Mascoa, the Scamini, Hora, situate on an island, and then Abala, Androgalis, Sesecre, the Malli, and Agole.

On the African side5 we find mentioned, either what is another place with the same name of Tacompsos, or else a part of the one before-mentioned, and after it Moggore, Sæa, Edos, Plenariæ, Pinnis, Magassa, Buma, Linthuma, Spintum, Sydop, the Censi, Pindicitora, Acug, Orsum, Sansa, Maumarum, Urbim, the town of Molum, by the Greeks called Hypaton,6 Pagoarca, Zmanes, at which point elephants begin to be found, the Mambli, Berressa, and Acetuma; there was formerly a town also called Epis, over against Meroë, which had, however, been destroyed before Bion wrote.

These are the names of places given as far as Meroë: but at the present day hardly any of them on either side of the river are in existence; at all events, the prætorian troops that were sent by the Emperor Nero7 under the command of a tribune, for the purposes of enquiry, when, among his other wars, he was contemplating an expedition against Æthiopia, brought back word that they had met with nothing but deserts on their route. The Roman arms also penetrated into these regions in the time of the late Emperor Augustus, under the command of P. Petronius,8 a man of Equestrian rank, and prefect of Egypt. That general took the following cities, the only ones we now find mentioned there, in the following order; Pselcis,9 Primis, Abuncis, Phthuris, Cambusis, Atteva, and Stadasis, where the river Nile, as it thunders down the precipices, has quite deprived the in- habitants of the power of hearing: he also sacked the town of Napata.10 The extreme distance to which he penetrated beyond Syene was nine hundred and seventy miles; but still. it was not the Roman arms that rendered these regions a desert. Æthiopia, in its turn gaining the mastery, and then again reduced to servitude, was at last worn out by its con- tinual wars with Egypt, having been a famous and powerful country even at the time of the Trojan war, when Memnon11 was its king; it is also very evident from the fabulous stories about Andromeda,12 that it ruled over Syria in the time of king Cepheus, and that its sway extended as far as the shores of our sea.

In a similar manner, also, there have been conflicting accounts as to the extent of this country: first by Dalion, who travelled a considerable distance beyond Meroë, and after him by Aristocreon and Basilis, as well as the younger Simonides, who made a stay of five years at Meroë,13 when he wrote his account of Æthiopia. Timosthenes, however, the commander of the fleets of Philadelphus, without giving any other estimate as to the distance, says that Meroë is sixty days' journey from Syene; while Eratosthenes states that the distance is six hundred and twenty-five miles, and Artemidorus six hundred. Sebosus says that from the extreme point of Egypt, the distance to Meroë is sixteen hundred and seventy-five miles, while the other writers last mentioned make it twelve hundred and fifty. All these differences, however, have since been settled; for the persons sent by Nero for the purposes of discovery have reported that the distance from Syene to Meroë is eight hundred and seventy-one miles, the following being the items. From Syene to Hiera Sycaminos14 they make to be fifty-four miles, from thence to Tama seventy-two, to the country of the Evonymitæ,15 the first region of Æthiopia, one hundred and twenty, to Acina fifty-four, to Pittara twenty-five, and to Tergedus one hundred and six. They state also that the island of Gagaudes lies at an equal distance from Syene and Meroë, and that it is at this place that the bird called the parrot was first seen; while at another island called Articula, the animal known as the sphingium16 was first discovered by them, and after passing Tergedus, the cynocephalus.17 The distance from thence to Napata is eighty miles, that little town being the only one of all of them that now survives. From thence to the island of Meroë the distance is three hundred and sixty miles. They also state that the grass in the vicinity of Meroë becomes of a greener and fresher colour, and that there is some slight appearance of forests, as also traces of the rhinoceros and elephant. They reported also that the city of Meroë stands at a distance of seventy miles from the first entrance of the island of Meroë, and that close to it is another island, Tadu by name, which forms a harbour facing those who enter the right hand channel of the river. The buildings in the city, they said, were but few in number, and they stated that a female, whose name was Candace, ruled over the district, that name having passed from queen to queen for many years. They related also that there was a temple of Jupiter Hammon there, held in great veneration, besides smaller shrines erected in honour of him throughout all the country. In addition to these particulars, they were informed that in the days of the Æthiopian dominion, the island of Meroe enjoyed great renown, and that, according to tradition, it was in the habit of maintaining two hundred thousand armed men, and four thousand artisans. The kings of Æthiopia are said even at the present day to be forty-five in number.

(30.) The whole of this country has successively had the names of Ætheria,18 Atlantia, and last of all, Æthiopia, from Æthiops, the son of Vulcan. It is not at all surprising that towards the extremity of this region the men and animals assume a monstrous form, when we consider the changeableness and volubility of fire, the heat of which is the great agent in imparting various forms and shapes to bodies. Indeed, it is reported that in the interior, on the eastern side, there is a people that have no noses, the whole face presenting a plane surface; that others again are destitute of the upper lip, and others are without tongues. Others again, have the mouth grown together, and being destitute of nostrils, breathe through one passage only, imbibing their drink through it by means of the hollow stalk of the oat, which there grows spontaneously and supplies them with its grain for food. Some of these nations have to employ gestures by nodding the head and moving the limbs, instead of speech. Others again were unacquainted with the use of fire before the time of Ptolemy Lathyrus, king of Egypt. Some writers have also stated that there is a nation of Pygmies, which dwells among the marshes in which the river Nile takes its rise; while on the coast of, Æthiopia, where we paused,19 there is a range of mountains, of a red colour, which have the appearance of being always burning.

All the country, after we pass Meroë, is bounded by the Troglodytæ and the Red Sea, it being three days' journey from Napata to the shores of that sea; throughout the whole of this district the rain water is carefully preserved at several places, while the country that lies between is extremely productive of gold. The parts beyond this are inhabited by the Adabuli, a nation of Æthiopia; and here, over against Meroë, are the Megabarri,20 by some writers called the Adiabari; they occupy the city of Apollo; some of them, however, are Nomades, living on the flesh of elephants. Opposite to them, on the African side, dwell the Macrobii,21 and then again, beyond the Megabarri, there are the Memnones and the Dabeli, and, at a distance of twenty days' journey, the Critensi. Beyond these are the Dochi, and then the Gymnetes, who always go naked; and after them the Andetæ, the Mothitæ, the Mesaches, and the Ipsodoræ, who are of a black tint, but stain the body all over with a kind of red earth. On the African side again there are the Medimni, and then a nation of Nomades, who live on the milk of the cynocephalus, and then the Aladi and the Syrbotæ,22 which last are said to be eight cubits in height.

Aristocreon informs us that on the Libyan side, at a distance of five days' journey from Meroë, is the town of Tolles, and then at a further distance of twelve days' journey, Esar, a town founded by the Egyptians who fled from Psammetichus;23 he states also that they dwelt there for a period of three hundred years, and that opposite, on the Arabian side, there is a town of theirs called Daron.24 The town, however, which he calls Esar, is by Bion called Sape, who says that the name means "the strangers:" their capital being Sembobitis, situate on an island, and a third place of theirs, Sinat in Arabia. Between the mountains and the river Nile are the Simbarri, tile Palugges, and, on the mountains themselves, the Asachæ, who are divided into numerous peoples; they are said to be distant five days' journey from the sea, and to procure their subsistence by the chase of the elephant. An island in the Nile, which belongs to the Semberritæ, is governed by a queen; beyond it are the Æthiopian Nubei,25 at a distance of eight days' journey: their town is Tenupsis, situate on the Nile. There are the Sesambri also, a people among whom all the quadrupeds are without ears, the very elephants even. On the African side are the Tonobari, the Ptoenphæ, a people who have a dog for their king, and divine from his movements what are his commands; the Auruspi, who have a town at a considerable distance from the Nile, and then the Archisarmi, the Phaliges, the Marigerri, and the Casmari.

Bion makes mention also of some other towns situate on islands, the whole distance being twenty days' journey from Sembobitis to Meroë; a town in an adjoining island, under the queen of the Semberritæ, with another called Asara, and another, in a second island, called Darde. The name of a third island is Medoë, upon which is the town of Asel, and a fourth is called Garodes, with a town upon it of the same name. Passing thence along the banks of the Nile, are the towns of Navi, Modunda, Andatis, Secundum, Colligat, Secande, Navectabe, Cumi, Agrospi, Ægipa, Candrogari, Araba, and Summara.26

Beyond is the region of Sirbitum, at which the mountains terminate,27 and which by some writers is said to contain the maritime Æthiopians, the Nisacæthæ, and the Nisyti, a word which signifies "men with three or four eyes,"— not that the people really have that conformation, but because they are remarkable for the unerring aim of their arrows. On that side of the Nile which extends along the borders of the Southern Ocean beyond the Greater Syrtes,28 Dalion says that the people, who use rain-water only, are called the Cisori, and that the other nations are the Longompori, distant five days' journey from the Œcalices, the Usibalci, the Isbeli, the Perusii, the Ballii, and the Cispii, the rest being deserts, and inhabited by the tribes of fable only. In a more westerly direction are the Nigroæ, whose king has only one eye, and that in the forehead, the Agriophagi,29 who live principally on the flesh of panthers and lions, the Pamphagi,30 who will eat anything, the Anthropophagi, who live on human flesh, the Cynamolgi,31 a people with the heads of dogs, the Artabatitæ, who have four feet, and wander about after the manner of will beasts; and, after them, the Hesperiæ and the Perorsi, whom we have already spoken32 of as dwelling on the confines of Mauritania. Some tribes, too, of the Æthiopians subsist on nothing but locusts,33 which are smoke-dried and salted as their provision for the year; these people do not live beyond their fortieth year.

M. Agrippa was of opinion that the length34 of the whole country of the Æthiopians, including the Red Sea, was two thousand one hundred and seventy miles, and its breadth, including Upper Egypt, twelve hundred and ninety-seven. Some authors again have made the following divisions of its length; from Meroë to Sirbitum eleven days' sail, from Sirbitum to the Dabelli fifteen days', and from them to the Æthiopian Ocean six days' journey. It is agreed by most authors, that the distance altogether, from the ocean35 to Meroë, is six hundred and twenty-five miles, and from Meroë to Syene, that which we have already mentioned. Æthiopia lies from south-east to south-west. Situate as it is, in a southern hemisphere, forests of ebony are to be seen of the brightest verdure; and in the midst of these regions there is a mountain of immense height, which overhangs the sea, and emits a perpetual flame. By the Greeks this mountain is called Theon Ochema, 36 and at a distance of four days' sail from it is a promontory, known as Hesperu Ceras,37 upon the confines of Africa, and close to the Hesperiæ, an Æthiopian nation. There are some writers who affirm that in these regions there are hills of a moderate height, which afford a pleasant shade from the groves with which they are clad, and are the haunts of Ægipans38 and Satyrs.

1 As to Syene and the Catadupi, see B. v. c. 10.

2 This place was also called in later times Contrapselcis. It was situate in the Dodecaschœnus, the part of Æthiopia immediately above Egypt, on an island near the eastern bank of the river, a little above Pselcis, which stood on the opposite bank. It has been suggested that this may have been the modern island of Derar. The other places do not appear to have been identified, and, in fact, in no two of the MSS. do the names appear to agree.

3 Or the "Great Wall."

4 Meaning, "the people who live in seventy villages."

5 Or western side of the Nile, between Syene and Meroë.

6 υπατὸν, the "supreme," or perhaps the "last."

7 Dion Cassius also mentions this expedition. From Seneca we learn that Nero dispatched two centurions to make inquiry into the sources; f the Nile.

8 Dion Cassius calls him Caius Petronius. He carried on the war in B.c. 22 against the Æthiopians, who had invaded Egypt under their queen Candace. He took many of their towns.

9 Du Bocage is of opinion that this place stood not far from the present Ibrim.

10 Supposed by Du Bocage to have stood in the vicinity of the modern Dongola.

11 He was clearly a mythical personage, and nothing certain is known with respect to him. Tombs of Memnon were shown in several places. as at Ptolemais in Syria, on the Hellespont, on a hill near the mouth of the river Æsepus, near Palton in Syria, in Æthiopia, and elsewhere.

12 Her story has been alluded to in the account of Joppa, B. v. c. 34. Cepheus, the father of Andromeda, though possessing the coasts of Syria, was fabled to have been king of Æthliop.

13 See B. v. c. 10, where Meroë is also mentioned.

14 Or the sacred "sycamore tree."

15 Situate beyond the Great Cataract, and on the western bank.

16 See the Notes to the preceding Chapter, in p. 95.

17 Or dog's-headed ape, described in B. viii. c. 80. It is supposed to be the baboon.

18 Hesychius says that it was also called Aëria, probably from the time of its king Ægyptus, who was called Aërius.

19 "Ubi desiimus." This appears to be a preferable reading to "ubi desinit," adopted by Sillig, and apparently referring to the river Nile. It is not improbable that our author here alludes, as Hardouin says, to his words in the preceding Chapter, "Hinc in ora Æthiopæ," &c. See p. 96.

20 Ansart thinks that the country of this people was the modem Kor- dofan. This however, could not be the case, if the Macrobii, opposite to them, dwelt on the African side of the river.

21 Or "long-livers."

22 Mentioned again in c. 2 of the next Book.

23 Who is mentioned again in B. xxxvi. c. 19.

24 Ptolemy, however, speaks of Esar and Daron as the names of towns situate on the island of Meroë.

25 On the eastern side of the Nile, and hearing no reference, as Har- douin remarks, to the people of modern Nubia.

26 There is considerable doubt as to the correctness of these names, as they are differently spelt in the MSS.

27 Marcus thinks that these mountains are those which lie to the west of the Nile, in Darfour, and Dar-Sale, or Dizzela, mentioned by Salt, in his Travels in Abyssinia.

28 From this it would appear that Pliny, with Dalion, supposed that the Nile ran down to the southern ocean, and then took a turn along the coast in a westerly direction; the shore being skirted by Syrtes, or quicksands, similar to those in the north of Africa.

29 So called from the Greek—"Eaters of wild beasts."

30 The "all-eaters."

31 Or the "livers on the milk of the dog."

32 In c. 8 of the preceding Book.

33 They were thence called by the Greeks "Acridophagi." According to Agatharchides, these people dwelt in what is modern Nubia, where Burkhardt found the people subsisting on lizards.

34 Hardouin remarks, that the length is measured from south-east to south-west; and the breadth from south to north.

35 The supposed Southern Ocean, which joins the Atlantic on the west.

36 Or the "Chariot of the gods," mentioned also in Book ii. c. 110, and B. v. c. 1. It is supposed to have been some portion of the Atlas chain; but the subject is involved in the greatest obscurity.

37 Or the "Western Horn." It is not known whether this was Cape de Verde, or Cape Roxo. Ansart thinks that it is the same as Cape Non. It is mentioned in c. 1 of B. v. as the "promontorium Hesperium."

38 See notes to B. v. c. 1, in vol. i. p. 378.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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