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Ethiopians

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

J. Y. Nadeau
J. Y. Nadeau
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
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Extract

It was natural and inevitable that his two Aethiopias, in the eastern and western extremities of the world, should be identified with the countries of the two dark-skinned peoples in the Far East and the Far West of the Ancient World: India and Mauretania.

There was the difficulty that the real Aethiopia was in Africa, neither in the Far East nor in the Far West. Serious writers on geography tried to reconcile Homer and the geographical facts.

I wish to excerpt from Strabo three theories concerning Aethiopia and the Aethiopians which will then be used to elucidate passages in Latin literature.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , December 1970 , pp. 339 - 349
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1970

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References

page 339 note 1 Strabo personally believed that Aethiopia was divided in two by the Arabian Gulf (1. 2. 28). But Aristarchus had stated that Homer did not know of the Arabian Gulf nor, consequently of the isthmus between the Arabian Gulf and the Mediterranean. Strabo therefore here substitutes the Nile for the Arabian Gulf, to conduct the argument on Aristarchus’ terms (1.2. 24–5).

page 340 note 1 For Aethiopians in Far West see A. fr. 192 (Nauck); in Far East, Eur. fr. 177 (Nauck). Herodotus 7. 70 has two kinds of Aethiopians: thoseand thoseDiet. Cret. 4. 4 says that Memnon’s army at Troy was made up of Aethiopians and Indians. For Aethiopians in Mauretania, near Mt. Atlas, see Plin, .H.N. 6. 199Google Scholar, Isid. Orig. 14. 5. 16.

page 342 note 1 268 means only that Mercury has come from gods to men. His words are meant to impress Aeneas with the importance of his visit. They should not be pressed literally, as by Pease.

page 343 note 1 Norden, E., ‘Ein Panegyricus auf Augustus in Virgils Aeneis’, Rh. Mus. liv (1899), 470–2Google Scholar, explains this passage with reference to the Ethiopians. He is mistaken in details.

page 344 note 1 See Benoist ad loc. for this. Transposition is unnecessary.

page 345 note 1 ‘Virgile et les Indiens’, RÉL xxvii (1949); 157–63Google Scholar

page 345 note 2 ‘Notes sur le livre iv des Géorgīques’ RÉL (1950), 204–9Google Scholar.

page 345 note 3 ‘A propos du livre iv des Géorgīques’. RÉL xxxix (1961), 94–7Google Scholar.

page 346 note 1 . Pliny, , H.N. 6. 197 (Aethiopia); Lucan 10. 304 (Aethiopia)Google Scholar; Claudian, , Carm. min. 28. 22 (Aethiopia)Google Scholar; Isid., Orig. 17. 7. 36 (Aethiopia and India); Dsc. 1. 129 (Aethiopia and India); Sid., Carm. 22. 53 (India); Ennod., Dict. 8. 6 (India).

page 348 note 1 i.e. around Napata in Ethiopia (so Pearson and Strong), not in Arabia Petraea (as most editors).For the spelling, cf. Res Gestae Divi Augusti 26.

page 349 note 1 . Gehle, , De Iuvenale Vergila Imitatore (Erlangen, 1886)Google Scholar; Scott, , ‘The Grand Style in the Satires of Juvenal’, Smith College Classical Studies, viii (1927)Google Scholar; Highet, , ‘Juvenal’s Bookcase’, AJP lxxii (1951), 369 fGoogle Scholar.

page 349 note 2 Georgics 4. 289, Juv. 15. 127–8.

page 349 note 3 10. 150 has been discussed recently by: Laughton, E., ‘Juvenal’s other elephants’, CR vi (1956), 201Google Scholar; Triantaphyllopoulos, J., ‘Juvenal’s other elephants once again’, Mnem. iv. 11 (1958), 159Google Scholar; Nisbet, R. G. M., JRS lii (1962), 236Google Scholar.

page 349 note 4 I should like to thank Mr. F. J. Cairns, Professor D. A. West, Professor I. M. Campbell, and Dr. P. G. Walsh for their help.