| 翻訳と辞書 |
Aethiopia
Ancient Aethiopia (Greek Αἰθιοπία) first appears as a geographical term in classical sources in reference to the Upper Nile region, as well as all certain areas south of the Sahara desert and south of the Atlantic Ocean. Its earliest mention is in the works of Homer: twice in the ''Iliad'',〔 and three times in the ''Odyssey''.〔 The Greek historian Herodotus specifically uses it to refer to such parts of Sub-Saharan Africa as were then known within the inhabitable world.〔
In classical antiquity, ''Africa'' (or ''Libya'') referred to what is now known as Northwest Africa (Maghreb) and south of the Libyan desert and Western Sahara, including all desert land west of the southern Nile river . Geographical knowledge of the continent gradually grew, with the 1st century AD Greek travelogue the ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' describing areas as far south as Zimbabwe. Αἰθίοψ (''Aithiops''), meaning "burnt-face", was used as a vague term for dark-skinned populations since the time of Homer.〔(Αἰθίοψ ) in Liddell, Scott, ''A Greek–English Lexicon'': "Αἰθίοψ , οπος, ὁ, fem. Αἰθιοπίς , ίδος, ἡ (Αἰθίοψ as fem., A.Fr.328, 329): pl. 'Αἰθιοπῆες' Il.1.423, whence nom. 'Αἰθιοπεύς' Call.Del.208: (αἴθω, ὄψ):— properly, Burnt-face, i.e. Ethiopian, negro, Hom., etc.; prov., Αἰθίοπα σμήχειν 'to wash a blackamoor white', Luc.Ind. 28." Cf. ''Etymologicum Genuinum'' s.v. , ''Etymologicum Gudianum'' s.v.v. . 〕 It was applied to such dark-skinned populations as came within the range of observation of the ancient geographers i.e. primarily in what was then Nubia, and with the expansion of geographical knowledge, successively extended to certain other areas below the Sahara.
==Before Herodotus==
Homer (c. 8th century BC) is the first to mention "Aethiopians" (Αἰθίοπες, Αἰθιοπῆες); he mentions 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). Hesiod (c. 8th century BC) speaks of Memnon as the "king of Aethiopia".
In 515 BC, Scylax of Caryanda, on orders from Darius the Great of Persia, sailed along the Indus River, Indian Ocean and Red Sea, circumnavigating the Arabian peninsula. He mentioned Aethiopians, but his writings on them have not survived. 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; he is also quoted as relating a myth that the Skiapods ("Shade feet") lived there, whose feet were supposedly large enough to serve as shade.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
■ウィキペディアで「Aethiopia」の詳細全文を読む
スポンサード リンク
| 翻訳と辞書 : 翻訳のためのインターネットリソース |
Copyright(C) kotoba.ne.jp 1997-2016. All Rights Reserved.
|
|