ABYSSINIA, ABASSI .1, or UPPER ETHIOPIA, called i;',(ewise rill by the surrounding nations, is an em pire of Afi ica, comprehended between the 7th and 16th degrees or N. I,at. and the 30th and 40th degrees of E. Long. All nations of a black complexion were called, by the ancients, Ethiopians. Under this title were com prehended the Arabians and other Asiatics; and the \fricar,s in general were divided into the western or klesperian Ethiopians, and the eastern, situated above Egypt. Hence there is an apparent disagreement among ancient authors concerning the situation of Ethi Spia, and it was known by a variety of names. Sometimes 't was called India; a vague appellation, which seems to have peen given indiscriminately to those eastern na tions which were most remote, or least known. Some times it was denominated .4tlantia and litheria ; and, in the more distant periods of antiquity, Ofihriria.
most common appellation, however, was ?lba.sene, a word not unlike its modern names, ./lba8sia and ?l6y$81nia. On the other hand, Persia, Chaldea, Assyria, and other Asiatic countries, were sometimes styled Ethiopia; and all the nations along the coast of the Red Sea were called promiscuously Ethiopians, or Indians.
There was one country, however, to which the name Ethiopia was thought particularly to belong, and which was therefore called Ethiopia Propria. It was bounded on the north by Egypt, extending all the way to the less cataract of the Nile, and the island Elephantine ; on the west, by Libya Interior ; on the east, by the Red Sea ; and on the south, by iniknow n parts of Africa. The geo graphy of ancient Ethiopia is involved in much obscu rity : indeed no accurate information can be expected concerning the interior of a country, of which even the general outlines have not been ascertained with preci sion. Ancient writers agree in describing it as very mountainous, though they mention none of its moun tains of any consequence, except Garbata and Elephas, which are generally supposed to answer to the moun tains of Tigre. A great variety of nations were assigned to ancient Ethiopia, distinguished by names expressive either of some personal peculiarity, or of their particular mode of lit ing. Among these were the Blemmyes, said, probably on account of the shortness of their necks, to have no heads, but to have their eyes, mouths, and noses, in their breasts ; the Troglodytes, scarcely supe rior to the brutes ; the Struthiophagi, or ostrich eaters; Acridophagi, or locust caters; Chelonophag-i, who fed on tortoises; Elephantophagi, who lived on elephants ; Agriophagi, who ate the flesh of wild beasts; Anthro pophagi, or man eaters, now supposed to have been the Caffres, and not Ethiopians; and the Macrobii, a power In] nation, remarkable for their longevity.
The remote situation of this country rendered it a proper scene for poetic fiction. To this, perhaps, rather than to his historical accuracy, Nye must ascribe the cha racter which I forner has given the Ethiopians as the justest of men, with whom even the gods deigned to associate in the familiarity of convivial intercourse.
Concerning their general customs, however, we receive from ancient historians more certain information. In many of these they differed widely from all other na tions, and particularly in the manner of electing their kings. The priests, in whose hands the chief power was lodged, chose the most reputable men of their or der, and drew around them a circle which they were not allowed to pass. A priest entered the circle, running and jumping like a satyr. Those, enclosed as candidates for the sovereignty, endeavoured to catch hold of him, and the person who first succeeded, was hailed as the vicegerent of Heaven, intrusted by Providence with the government of the nation. The sovereio-n thus elected, began immediately to live after the manner prescribed by the laws. He was regulated, in all his conduct, by the customs of the cotintry over which he presided ; and, in dispensing rewards and punishments, was obliged rigidly to adhere to the original institutions of the state. A subject could not he put to death by the royal order, though capitally convicted in a court of justice. An of ficer was sent to him with the signal of death ; and the criminal, shutting himself up in his laclus-_•• became his own executioner. The priests of Meroe, who conferred the royal office, assumed an arbitrary power Over the sovereign, and even limited at pleasure the period of his reign. When a king had despleased them, or when they wished to give him a successor, they despatched a cou rier to order him to die. To oppose a mandate, which was represented as proceeding from the gods, would have been regarded as the most heinous of crimes ; and the kings, though under no obligation to obedience but what their ow n superstition imposed, implicitly com plied with these tyrannical awards. At length Erga menes, who reigned in the time of the Second, and who was instructed in the philosophy of the C reeks, had the courage to shake off this iniquitous yoke. Ile led an army against Meroe, put all the priests to the sword, and instituted a new worship less arbitrary and oppressive. Among the friends and adherents of the king, the singular custom prevailed, of subjecting them selves to every personal infirmity, with which, by acci dent or malady, he happened to be afflicted. It was ac counted base and disloyal to refuse to share in all their monarch's sufferings, since men are induced, even by the sentiments of common affection, to appropriate the distresses or happiness of their friends: to die with their sovereign, was considered a most glorious testimony of their fidelity. A prince, in whose safety his subjects were so nearly interested, must have been very secure against the machinations of treason.