ETHIOPIA (1 lel). koosh, country of burnt faces, Judith i:io), is the name by which the English and most other versions render the Hebrew Custt.
I. Name. As used among the Greeks and Romans, the word was employed in all the lati tude of its etymological meaning, to denote any of the countries where the people are of a sable, sun-burnt complexion A1010 (Acts viii:27), iltrioaa (Num. xii:I), AiOlor Et (2 Chron. xiv :12), ateop.co, to burn, and the frce. But its use in the language of Scripture is much inure restricted, and while it may sometimes include part of South ern Arabia, it for the most part exclusively desig nates the 'Ethiopia of Africa.' (See Ce'sii.) 2. Locality. By Ethiopia. or African Cush, in the widest acceptation of the name, the Hebrews understood the whole of the region lying south of Egypt above Syene, the modern Assouan (Ezek. xxix :to; xxx :5). Its limos on the west and south were undefined, but they probably regarded it as extending eastward as far as the Red Sea, if not as including some of the islands in that sea, such as the famous Topaz Isle ( Job xxviii :19). It thus corresponded, though only in a vague and general sense, to the countries known to us as Nubia and Abyssinia, so famous for the Nile and other great rivers. Hence the allusions in Scrip ture (Is. xviii:t ; Zeph. iii:to) to the far dis tant 'rivers of Ethiopia,' a country which is also spoken of (Is. xviii :2) in our version as the land 'which the rivers have spoiled,' there being a sup posed reference to the ravages committed by in undations (Bruce's Travels, iii, p. 158, and Tay lor's Culnict, iii, pp. ; but recent translators prefer to render the Hebrew 'divide,' as if he should say, 'a land intersected by streams.' But that part of the vast region of Cush which seems chiefly intended in the passages of Scripture is the tract of country in Upper Nubia which became famous in antiquity as the kin g d o m of Ethiopia, or the state of Meroe. Its sur face exceeded that of Sicily more than a half, and it corresponded pretty nearly to the present prov ince of Atbara, between 13 and 18 degrees N. lati tude. In modern times it formed a great part of the kingdom of Sennaar, and the southern portion belongs to Abyssinia. Upon the island of Mercie lay a city of the same name, the met ropolis of the kingdom, the site of which has been discovered near a place called Assur, about twenty miles north of the town of Shendy, under 17 degrees N. latitude. The splendid ruins of temples, pyramids and other edifices found here and throughout the district attest the high degree of civilization and art among the ancient Ethio pians.
3. Seba. Joseplms, in his account of the ex pedition of Moses when commander of the Egyp tian army against the Ethiopians. says that the latter 'at length retired to Saba, a royal city of Ethiopia which Cambyses afterward called NIeroe. after the name of his own sister.' The opinion of Josephus that NIeroe was identical with Seba accords well with the statement in Gen. x. Seba was the eldest son of Cush. He is not to be con founded with either of the Shcbas who are men tioned as descendants of Shen (Gen. x:28; xxv: 3). Now this country of A frican Seba is classed with the Arabian Sheba as a rich but far-distant land (Ps. lxxii:to). In Is. xliii:3 God says to Israel, 'I have given Egypt for thy ransom. Cush and Sheba in thy stead.' and in Is. xlv:t4, 'The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush and of the Sehaini men of stature shall pass over (o thee and shall be thine.' In common with the other Cushite tribes of Africa, the Ethiopian's skin was black, to which there is an obvious al lusion in Jer. xiii :23: 'Can the Cushite change his skin ?' 4. Inhabitants. Among th” aboriginal inhab itants of Ethiopia the first place is due to the Nu bians. Next comes the territory of the Berbers, strictly so called, who, though speaking Arabic. evidently belong to the Nubian race. Above these regions beyond the Tacazzi: and along the Nile the great mass of the inhabitants, though sometimes with a mixture of other blood. may be regarded as of Arab origin. But between the valley of the Nile and the Red Sea there is still, as of old. a variety of scattered aboriginal tribes, among whom the Arabic is much less common Some of them spread themselves over the plains of the Asta• borax, or Tacazzt, being compelled to remove their encampments, sometimes by the inundations of the river, at other times by the attacks of the dreaded ci»tb, or gadfly, described by Bruce, and which he supposes to be the 'fly which is in the utmost part of the rivers of Egypt' (Is. vii :18). Another remarkable Ethiopic race in ancient times was the Mae robians, so called from their supposed longevity. They were represented by the ambas sadors of Cambyses as a very tall race, who elected the highest in stature as king; gold was so abundant that they bound their prisoners with golden fetters—circumstances which again remind us of Isaiah's description of Ethiopia and Seba in chap. xlv :i4.