western limits: and that some of them came and settled at Tartessus: others got possession of different parts of the sea-coast. They lived near the island Erythea, which they held. 27 Ητοι μεν ναι8σι βοοτροφον αμφ' Ερυθειαν Upon the great Atlantic, near the isle It is on this account that we find some of the same family on the opposite coast of 28 Mauritania; who are represented as people of great stature. 29 Αιθίοπες έτοι εισι, μεγιςοι ανθρωπων, ὧν ἡμεις The people of this country (Mauritania) are Ethiopic; and they are in stature the largest of any nation with which we are acquainted. The original Ethiopia was, as I have said, the region ισμεν. 27 Dionys. Perieg. v. 558. 28 These are the Ethiopians alluded to by Homer. Εσχατοι ανδρων, Οι μεν δυσσομενο Ὑπερίονος, Odyss. Α. ν. 22. 9 Scylax Caryandensis. v. 1. p. 54. See also Strabo. 1. 3. p. 237. who mentions the Ethiopians near Mauritania, upon the western ocean. Οι ύπερ της Μαυρουσίας οικεντες προς τοις Εσπερι 915 Albio. of Babylonia and Chaldea, where the first kingdom upon earth was formed, and the most early police instituted. Here also the first idolatry began. Hence it is very truly said by Stephanus of Byzantium: την Αιθιοπίαν γην πρωτην παγηναι πρώτοι δε (οἱ Αιθίοπες) Θεος ετίμησαν, και νομοις εχρήσαντο. Εthiopia was the first established country upon earth: and the people were the first who introduced the worship of the Gods, and who enacted laws. And as the Scythæ, or Cuthites, were the same people, no wonder that they are represented as the most antient people in the world; even prior to the Egyptians. Scytharum gens antiquissima semper habita. The Scythæ, says Justin, were ever esteemed of all nations the most antient. But who were meant by the Scythæ has been for a long time a secret. OF THE ERYTHREANS. ANOTHER title, by which the Cuthites were distinguished, was that of Erythreans: and the places where they resided received it from them. And here it may not be improper to first take notice of the Erythrean Sea; and consider it in its full extent, for this will lead us to the people from whom it was called. We are apt to confine this name to the Red Sea, or Sinus Arabicus; but that was only an inlet, and a part of the whole. The Cuthite Erythreans, who settled near Midian, upon the Sinus Elanitis, conferred this name upon that gulf: but the Persic Sea was also denominated in the same inanner, and was indeed the original Erythrean Sea. Agathemerus seems to make it commence at the junction of the bay with the sea. 30 Τετε δε ή Ερυθρα θαλασση ὡς περι τας συμβολας κατα τε Περσικε κόλπε ςομα κείται. Herodotus, speaking of the coast of Asia and Persis, after having mentioned the coast of the Pontus Euxinus above, says, 31 Ἡ δε δη έτερη, απο Περσεων αρξαμένη, παρατεταται ες την Ερυθρήν θαλασσαν. The other coast, of which I am to speak, commences from among the Persians (that is, from the outlet of the Tigris), and extends to the Erythrean Sea which Sea both he and Agathe 30 Agathemer. apud Geogr. Gr. Minores, vol. 2. p. 50. 31 Herodotus. 1. 4. c. 39. So Megasthenes, who wrote concerning the Babylonish history, calls the Sinus Persicus Mare Erythræum. He is quoted by Abydenus in Euseb. Præp. Evang. 1. 9. c. 41. p. 457. Επετείχισε δε και της Ερυθρης θαλασσης επι Avow. This was the agger Semiramidis; a work attributed to an imaginary queen. Nearchus mentions king Erythras in the Indic Sea; and says that sea was called Eruthrean from him; ar’¿Te και την επωνυμίην τη θαλάσση ταυτη ειναι, και Ερυθρήν καλεεθαι. Nearchi Parapl. apud Geogr. Græc. vol. 1. p. 30. See also Marcellinus. 1. 23. c. 6. p. 287. merus industriously distinguish from the Arabian Gulf; though the latter was certainly so called, and had the name of Erythrean. The Parthic empire, which included Persis, is by Pliny said to be bounded to the south by the 32 Mare Rubrum, which was the boundary also of the "Persians. By Mare Rubrum, he here means the great Southern Sea. And the poet Dionysius, speaking of the limits of the same country, says, that to the south it was bounded by the same sea, even to the farthest east ; comprehending under this name the whole tract of ocean, to Carmania and Gedrosia. 34 Πεζα δε δι νοτιη τετραμμένη αντολιηνδε, Speaking of the island Taprobane, which he pla 32 Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 6, c. 25. 33 Persæ Mare Rubrum semper accoluere, propter quod is Sinus Persicus vocatur. Pliny. 1. 6. c. 25. p. 330. 34. Dionys. Perieg. v. 931. Moses Chorenensis gives a true account of this sea, as being one of the three with which the earth is surrounded. Primum est Mare Indicum, quod etiam Rubrum vocatur; ex cujus sinu Persicum et Arabicum profluunt maria; atque a meridie inhabitabili ignotâque terrá, ab oriente regione Sinensi, a septentrionibus Indiâ, Perside et Arabiâ, &c. terminatur. Geog. p. 342. ces far in the east, towards the Golden Chersonese, he says, that this too was situated in the Erythrean sea. He places it so, as not to be mistaken, in Asia, near the region of the Indian Colias, or Colchis; and styles it the great breeder of Asiatic elephants; 35 Μητερα Ταπροβανην Ασιηγενεων ελεφαντων. He mentions the whales, with which its coast used to be infested; which are taken notice of by other writers. 36 Κητεα θινες εχεσιν, Ερυθραια βοτα ποντε. High places, and antient temples, were often taken by the Greeks for places of sepulture; and the Deity there of old worshipped for the person buried. A tomb of this sort is mentioned by the 35 Dionys. Perieg. v. 593. 36 Ibid. 597. Also of the Erythrean Sea to the south of India. Γαιαν αποτμηγει νοτιον δ ̓ ἅλος οιδματ' ΕΡΥΘΡΗΣ The same as the Colchic sea, or Indian Ocean. Ινδώην ἱκέτευσεν Ερυθραίην Αφροδίτη». Nonni Dionysiac. 1. 35. p. 876. |