Aethiopia

Aithiopia (Greek Αιθιοπία of αἰθίοψ " sunburned "; Latin Aethiopia ) is an ancient geographical name for a large region, which still included the historical regions of Nubia, Sudan and parts of Libya, besides the actual Ethiopia, actually all of Africa south of the known Libya and Egypt.

According to Herodotus, it was expected Aithiopia to India, since it was a land connection between Africa and India, making the Indian Ocean would become an inland sea.

Since Aithiopia was for antiquity at the edge of the known world, fabulous people, animals and cities were happy located there. An example of this are the numerous more or less legendary aithiopischen animal species that can be seen in Nilmosaik of Palestrina. It was also a popular item in the ancient novel, giving title, for example in the Aethiopica ( Αἰθιοπικά ) of Heliodorus.