Herodotus (490-425 BC)
The first Greek historian. Called the Father of History.
Herodotus on the
pharaohs: "So far, all I have said is the record of my own autopsy and
judgment and inquiry. Henceforth I will record Egyptian chronicles, according
to what I have heard, adding something of what I myself have seen" . . . .
"The priests told me that Min was the first king of Egypt, and that first
he separated Memphis from the Nile by a dam" . . . "After him came three
hundred and thirty kings, whose names the priests recited from a papyrus roll.
In all these many generations there were eighteen Ethiopian kings, and one
queen, native to the country; the rest were all Egyptian men" . . .
"The name of the queen was the same as that of the Babylonian princess,
Nitocris. She, to avenge her brother (he was king of Egypt and was slain by his
subjects, who then gave Nitocris the sovereignty) put many of the Egyptians to
death by treachery".
(Herodotus: The
Histories, c 430 BCE, Book 2, 100)
"For the people of
Colchis are evidently Egyptian, and this I perceived for myself before I heard
it from others. So when I had come to consider the matter I asked them both;
and the Colchians had remembrance of the Egyptians more than the Egyptians of
the Colchians; but the Egyptians said they believed that the Colchians were a
portion of the army of Sesostris. That this was so I conjectured myself not
only because they are dark-skinned and have curly hair (this of itself amounts
to nothing, for there are other races which are so), but also still more
because the Colchians, Egyptians, and Ethiopians alone of all the races of men
have practised circumcision from the first. The Phenicians and the Syrians who
dwell in Palestine confess themselves that they have learnt it from the
Egyptians, and the Syrians about the river Thermodon and the river Parthenios,
and the Macronians, who are their neighbours, say that they have learnt it
lately from the Colchians.
These are the only
races of men who practise circumcision, and these evidently practise it in the
same manner as the Egyptians. Of the Egyptians themselves however and the
Ethiopians, I am not able to say which learnt from the other, for undoubtedly
it is a most ancient custom; but that the other nations learnt it by
intercourse with the Egyptians, this among others is to me a strong proof,
namely that those of the Phenicians who have intercourse with Hellas cease to
follow the example of the Egyptians in this matter, and do not circumcise their
children."
(Herodotus, The
Histories, Book 2: 104)
Greek historian
Diodorus Siculus. From his own statements we learn that he traveled in Egypt
around 60 BC. His travels in Egypt probably took him as far south as the first
Cataract.
(Diodorus Siculus, The
Library of History, Books II.35 - IV.58, Translated by C.H. Oldfather, Harvard
University Press, 2000)
"Now the
Ethiopians, as historians relate, were the first of all men and the proofs of
this statement, they say, are manifest. For they did not come into their land
as immigrants from abroad but were natives of it and so justly bear the name
"autochthones" is they maintain, conceded by practically all men;
furthermore, that those who dwell beneath the noon-day sun were, in all
likelihood, the first to be generated by the earth, is clear to all; since,
inasmuch as it was the warmth of the sun which, at the generation of the
universe, dried up the earth when it was still wet and impregnated it with
life, it is reasonable to suppose that the region which was nearest to the sun
was the first to bring forth living creatures."
"We must now speak
about the Ethiopian writing which is call hieroglyphic among the Egyptians, in
order that we may omit nothing in our discussion of their antiquities. . . .
."
"They [the
Ethiopians] say also that the Egyptians are colonists sent out by the
Ethiopians, Osiris ["King of Kings and God of Gods"] having been the
leader of the colony . . . they add that the Egyptians have received from them,
as from authors and their ancestors, the greater part of their laws."
Diodorus's declared intention to trace the origins of the cult of Osiris, alias
the Greek Dionysus also commonly known by his Roman name Bacchus. The Homeric
Hymn locates the birth of Dionysus in a mysterious city of Nysa "near the
streams of Aegyptus [Egypt]" (Hesiod 287). Diodorus cites this reference
as well as the ancient belief that Dionysus was the son of Ammon, king of Libya
(3.68.1), and much of Book 3 of the Bibliotheka Historica [Library of History]
is devoted to the intertwined histories of Dionysus and the god-favored
Ethiopians whom he believed to be the originators of Egyptian
civilization.[emphasis added]
Editors Note:
Dionysus is Orisis
reinvented. The mysteries were neither of Cretan origin nor a part of the
original Greek religion is well established by the fact that the initiatory
rites as practiced among these islanders were open to everyone, in contrast to
the secret rituals of Byblus, Cyprus, Thrace, Samothrace, and Eleusis
(Diodorus, Book V, 77). The mystery, which originated in Egypt, was imported
into Greece long after Zeus and his family had migrated from Mt. Ida to Mt.
Olympus.
Diodorus devoted an
entire chapter of his world history, the Bibliotheke Historica, or Library of
History (Book 3), to the Kushites ["Aithiopians"] of Meroe. Here he
repeats the story of their great piety, their high favor with the gods, and
adds the fascinating legend that they were the first of all men created by the
gods and were the founders of Egyptian civilization, invented writing, and
given the Egyptians their religion and culture. (3.3.2).
Diodorus continues:
"They further
write that it was among them that people were first taught to honor the gods
and offer sacrifices and arrange processions and festivals and perform other
things by which people honor the divine. For this reason their piety is famous
among all men, and the sacrifices among the Aithiopians [Ethiopians] are
believed to be particularly pleasing to the divinity."
"The Aithiopians
[Ethiopians] say that the Egyptians are settlers from among themselves and that
Osiris was the leader of the settlement. The customs of the Egyptians, they
say, are for the most part Aithiopian, the settlers having preserved their old
traditions. For to consider the kings gods, to pay great attention to funeral
rites, and many other things, are Aithiopian practices, and also the style of
their statues and the form of their writing are Aithiopian. Also the way the
priestly colleges are organized is said to be the same in both nations.
For all who have to do
with the cult of the gods, they maintain, are [ritually] pure: the priests are
shaved in the same way, they have the same robes and the type of scepter shaped
like a plough, which also the kings have, who use tall pointed felt hats ending
in a knob, with the snakes that they call the asp (aspis) coiled round
them."
"There are also
numerous other Aithiopian tribes [i.e. besides those centered at Meroe]; some
live along both sides of the river Nile and on the islands in the river, others
dwell in the regions that border on Arabia [i.e. to the east], others again
have settled in the interior of Libya [i.e. to the west]. The majority of these
tribes, in particular those who live along the river, have black skin,
snub-nosed faces, and curly hair". See The "Ethiopians"
According to Diodorus Siculus.
Strabo (63 BC - 24 AD)
a philosopher, historian and geographer from Amaseia in Pontus. He is well
known for this
17 “books” Geography
describing the known parts of Europe, Asia and Africa.
The Geography of Strabo
- Book XV (excerpts):
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