Aethiopia
Ancient Aethiopia, first appears as a geographical term in classical documents in reference to the skin color of the inhabitants of the upper Nile in Sudan, areas south of the Sahara, and less often to certain parts of Asia. 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. 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. Greco-Roman sources also report the existence of 'White Aethiopians' in Africa. By the modern period the term Aethiopian Sea was used to refer to the southern Atlantic Ocean, particularly the area adjacent to West Africa.
Though near universally used to invoke the "Ethiopia of Africa" ; there was another region sometimes called Asiatic Ethiopia, located somewhere in 'the East'. According to Herodotus: "the Ethiopians from the East are straight-haired, but those of Libya have hair more thick and woolly than that of any other men." The Greek geographer Strabo noted in a similar vein that “As for the people of India, those in the south are like the Aethiopians in colour, although they are like the rest in respect to countenance and hair, whereas those in the north are like the Aegyptians.”
Unlike the earlier Greek writers who distinguished Ethiopians from other Africans, Claudius Ptolemy, 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.'"
Pseudo-Jerome in the 4th century or later referred to the region of Colchis as the "Other Ethiopia", or, in the Greek translation of Pseudo-Sophronius, the "Second Ethiopia".
Etymology
The Greek name Aithiopia is a compound derived of two Greek words: +. According to the Perseus Digital Library, 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. With the expansion of geographical knowledge, the exonym successively extended to certain other areas below the Sahara. In classical antiquity, the term Africa did not refer to any part of sub-Saharan Africa, but rather, in its widest sense, to Ancient Libya—what is now known as the Maghreb and the desert to the south.Before Herodotus
is the first to mention "Aethiopians", writing that they are to be found at the east and west extremities of the world, divided by the sea into "eastern" and "western". 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. Meanwhile, in Book 1 of the Odyssey, Athena convinces Zeus to let Odysseus finally return home only because Poseidon is away in Aithiopia and unable to object.Hesiod 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. He wrote:
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. All these are the offspring of the lord, the Loud-thunderer.
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". He was talking about the Nubian 25th Dynasty rather than people from modern Ethiopia.
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. He mentioned "Aethiopians", though his writings on them have not survived.
Hecataeus of Miletus 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. He is also quoted as relating a myth in which the Skiapods, whose feet were supposedly large enough to serve as shade, lived there.
In Herodotus
In his Histories, 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. 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 and Dionysus. He relates that in the reign of Pharaoh Psamtik I, many Egyptian soldiers deserted their country and settled amidst the Aethiopians.Herodotus remarked on shared cultural practices between the Egyptians and Ethiopians, also stating that out of "three hundred and thirty kings" of Egypt, there had been 18 Ethiopian kings, one native Egyptian queen, and the rest had been Egyptian men.
Herodotus tells us that king Cambyses II of the Achaemenid Empire sent spies to the Aethiopians "who dwelt in that part of Libya which borders upon the southern sea." They found a strong and healthy people. Although Cambyses then campaigned toward their country, by not preparing enough provisions for the long march, his army completely failed and returned quickly.
In Book 3, Herodotus defines "Aethiopia" as the farthest region of "Libya" :
Herodotus also wrote that the Ammonians of Siwa Oasis are "colonists from Egypt and Aethiopia and speak a language compounded of the tongues of both countries".
Herodotus also refers to "the Aethiopians of Asia", who are said to be straight-haired, whereas the Aethiopians from Libya have "the woolliest hair of all men".
Herodotus wrote with regard to the inhabitants of Libya : "One thing I can add about this far country : so far as one knows, it is inhabited by four races, and four only, of which two are indigenous and two not. The indigenous peoples are the Libyans and Ethiopians, the former occupying the northerly, the latter the more southerly parts; the immigrants are the Phoenicians and Greeks."