Æthiŏpia

, an extensive country of Africa, at the south of Egypt, divided into east and west by the ancients, the former division lying near Meroe, and the latter near the Mauri. The country, properly now called Aby in i a, as well as the inhabitants, were little known to the ancients, though Homer has styled them the justest of men and the favourites of the gods. Diodorus , bk. 4 , says, that the Æthiopians were the first inhabitants of the earth. They were the first who worshipped the gods, for which, as some suppose, their country has never been invaded by a foreign enemy. The inhabitants are of a dark complexion. The country is inundated for five months every year, and their days and nights are almost of an equal length. The ancients have given the name of Æthiopia to every country whose inhabitants are of a black colour. Lucan , bk. 3 , li. 253 ; bk. 9 , li. 651 .— Juvenal , satire 2, li. 23 .— Virgil , [ Eclogues ], poem 6, li. 68 .— Pliny , bk. 6 , ch. 29 .— Pausanias , bk. 1 , ch. 33 .— Homer , Ody ey , bk. 1 , li. 22 ; Iliad , bk. 1 , li. 423 .