Difference between revisions of "Ethiopia"

<p> Hebrew; [[Cush]] . (See CUSH; BABYLON.) Isaiah 11:11. S. of Egypt. Now Nubia, Sennaar, Kordofan, and N. Abyssinia. In a stricter sense the kingdom of Meroe from the junction of the [[Blue]] and the White Nile to the border of Egypt. [[Syene]] on the N. marked the boundary from [[Egypt]] (Ezekiel 29:10; Ezekiel 30:6). The Red Sea was on the Ethiopia, the [[Libyan]] desert on the W. The native name was Ethaush; the Greek "Ethiopia" means the land of the sunburnt. Compare Jeremiah 13:23, "can the [[Ethiopian]] change his skin?" "The rivers of Ethiopia" (Zephaniah 3:10) are the two branches of the Nile and the Astabbras (Tacazze). The Nile forms a series of cataracts here. The dispersed [[Israelites]] shall be brought as an offering by the nations to the Lord (Zephaniah 3:8-9; Isaiah 66:20; Isaiah 60:9), from both the African and the [[Babylonian]] Cush, where the ten tribes were scattered in Peter's time (1 Peter 1:1; 1 Peter 5:13; Isaiah 11:11, "from Cush and from Shinar".) </p> <p> The [[Falashas]] of Abyssinia are probably of the ten tribes. In Isaiah 18:1, "the land shadowing with wings" is [[Ethiopia]] shadowing (protecting) with its two wings (Egyptian and Ethiopian forces) the Jews, "a nation scattered and peeled" (loaded with indignity, made bald) though once "terrible" when God put a terror of them into surrounding nations (Exodus 23:27; Joshua 2:9), "a nation meted out and trodden down whose land the (Assyrian) rivers (i.e. armies, Isaiah 8:7-8) have spoiled"; the Jews, not the Ethiopians. Ethiopia had sent her ambassadors to [[Jerusalem]] where they now were (Isaiah 18:2), [[Tirhakah]] their king shortly afterward being the ally whose diversion in that city's favor saved it from [[Sennacherib]] (Isaiah 36:37). Isaiah announces Sennacherib's coming overthrow to the Ethiopian ambassadors and desires them to carry the tidings to their own land (compare Isaiah 17:12-14; not "woe" but "ho," calling attention (Isaiah 18:1-2); go, take back the tidings of what God is about, to do against Assyria, the common foe of both Ethiopia and Judah. </p> <p> [[Queen]] [[Candace]] reigned in this Nile-formed is land region; the name is the official designation of a female dynasty shortly before our Lord's time (Acts 8:27). The "vessels of bulrushes" or papyrus boats are peculiarly suited to the Upper Nile, as being capable of carriage on the shoulders at the rocks and cataracts. Ethiopia" is often used when Upper Egypt and Ethiopia are meant. It is the Thebaid or Upper Egypt, not Ethiopia by itself, that was peopled and cultivated, when most of Lower Egypt was a marsh. Thus Ethiopia and Egypt are said (Nahum 3:9) to be the "strength" of "populous No" or Thebes. [[Zerah]] the Ethiopian who attacked Asa at [[Mareshah]] on the S. of Palestine, and Tirhakah the Ethiopian who advanced toward [[Judah]] against Sennacherib, were doubtless rulers of Upper Egypt and Ethiopia combined. Tirhakah's name is found only on a Theban temple, and his connection with Ethiopia is marked by several monuments there being ascribed to him. </p> <p> An Azerch-Amen reigned in Ethiopia, we know from the monuments; perhaps = Zerah (Rawlinson). Hincks identifies him with Osorkon I, king of Egypt, second of the 22nd dynasty (See ASA) (2 Chronicles 14:9). Tirhakah was third of the 25th dynasty of Egypt, an Ethiopian dynasty. So or Sevechus or Sabacho was another of this dynasty; the ally of [[Hoshea]] king of [[Israel]] against [[Shalmaneser]] (2 Kings 17:3-4). Osirtasin I (Sesostris, Herodotus, 2:110), of the 12th dynasty, was the first [[Egyptian]] king who ruled Ethiopia. While the shepherd kings ruled Lower Egypt the 13th native dynasty retired to the Ethiopian capital Napara. Shishak's army was largely composed of [[Ethiopians]] (2 Chronicles 12:3). </p> <p> The monuments confirm Isaiah 20:4; Nahum 3:5; Nahum 3:8-9, by representing [[Sargon]] as warring with Egypt and making the [[Pharaoh]] tributary; they also make Ethiopia closely united to Egypt. Probably he was provoked by the help which So had given to his rebel tributary Hoshea. The inscriptions tell us Sargon destroyed [[No-Amon]] or [[Thebes]] in part, which was the capital of Upper Egypt, with which Ethiopia was joined. Esarhaddon, according to the monuments, conquered Egypt and Ethiopia Meroe was the emporium where the produce of the distant S. was gathered for transport either by the Nile or by caravans to northern Africa; compare Isaiah 45:14. </p>

<p> Ethiopia (ç'thi-ô'pi-ah), burnt-faces. Called Cash by the Hebrews, a country south of Egypt. Ezekiel 29:10. In the [[Scriptures]] "Ethiopia" usually refers to the region extending from Egypt southward beyond the junction of the White and Blue Nile. This was Seba, Isaiah 43:3, and known to the Romans as the kingdom of Meroe. The country is rolling and mountainous, the elevation increasing toward the south, until it reaches a height of about 8000 feet in Abyssinia. Frequent notices of this country and its people are found in the Bible. It was settled by the children of Ham, [[Genesis]] 10:6, dark-skinned men of stature. Jeremiah 13:23; Isaiah 45:14. They were selected as members of royal households. Jeremiah 38:7-13. The treasurer of its queen, Candace was baptized by Philip. Acts 8:27-38. It is noticed in, connection with Egypt, Isaiah 20:4; Isaiah 43:3; Isaiah 45:14; with [[Libya]] (Phut), Jeremiah 46:9 : [[Lydia]] and [[Chub]] (Lub and Lud), Ezekiel 30:5, and the Sukkiim. 2 Chronicles 12:3. [[Moses]] married an Ethiopian, Numbers 12:1; Ethiopians were in Shishak's army, 2 Chronicles 12:3; Zerah, an Ethiopian king, had an army of a million soldiers, 2 Chronicles 14:9-12 : Job mentioned the precious stones of Ethiopia, Job 28:19; the Israelites were familiar with the merchandise of that country, Isaiah 45:14; and Isaiah foretold the subjugation of Ethiopia by the Assyrians. Isaiah 20:4; Isaiah 20:6. Among the [[Assyrian]] inscriptions of Assurbanipal, now in the British Museum, [[George]] Smith deciphered several which especially illustrate and confirm the fulfillment of this prophecy. Among other prophecies in respect to Ethiopia are Psalms 68:31; Psalms 87:4; Isaiah 45:14; Ezekiel 30:4-9; Daniel 11:43; Habakkuk 3:7; Zephaniah 2:12; Nahum 3:8-10. The Romans in the reign of [[Augustus]] Caesar, b.c. 22, defeated Candace, queen of Ethiopia, and made the country tributary to Rome. Candace was an official title of the queens, one of whom is named in Acts 8:27. </p>

<p> Apart from Egypt, Ethiopia is the most frequently mentioned African country in the Bible. It was sometimes called Cush and its people were dark-skinned. It bordered Egypt to Egypt’s south and, like Egypt, was centred on the Nile [[River.]] The region it occupied is today the northern part of Sudan (Isaiah 18:1-2; Jeremiah 13:23; Ezekiel 29:10; for map of the region see EGYPT). </p> <p> To most of the people of Palestine, Ethiopia was the southernmost country they knew of. Writers frequently used its name poetically to symbolize the unlimited extent of God’s sovereign rule (Psalms 68:31; Isaiah 11:11; Ezekiel 30:4-5; Zephaniah 3:10). </p> <p> Individuals from Ethiopia feature occasionally in the Old [[Testament]] story. During Israel’s journey from Egypt to Canaan, Moses married an Ethiopian woman, probably after his first wife had died (Numbers 12:1). In later times an Ethiopian who worked in the palace of the [[Judean]] king saved the life of God’s prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 38:7-13; Jeremiah 39:15-18). </p> <p> Ethiopia features in the biblical record mainly during the period of the divided [[Israelite]] kingdom, when it attacked Judah on at least two occasions (2 Chronicles 12:2-4; 2 Chronicles 14:9-15). Later it gained control over Upper Egypt, and for about half a century exercised a strong influence over Egypt. It even challenged Assyria, which was the leading power of the time (2 Kings 19:8-9; Nahum 3:8-9). The challenge brought little success and soon Ethiopia, along with its ally Egypt, suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of [[Assyria]] (Isaiah 20:3-6). It subsequently fell under the control of Babylon, and then under the control of [[Persia]] (Esther 1:1). </p> <p> In pre-New Testament times, Ethiopia was one of the many countries where [[Jews]] settled and established communities. Some Ethiopians attended the [[Jewish]] synagogues and became worshippers of the God of Israel (see DISPERSION; PROSELYTE). One of these worshippers of God, or ‘God-fearers’, was among the first non-Jewish people to become [[Christians]] in the time of the early church (Acts 8:27-38). </p>

<p> <strong> ETHIOPIA </strong> is tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of the Heb. <strong> Cush </strong> , which is derived from <em> Kosh </em> , the Egyp. name of [[Nubia]] (beginning at the First Cataract). The cultivable land in this region is very meagre. The scanty and barbarous population of the valley and the deserts on either side was divided in early times among different tribes, which were completely at the mercy of the Egyptians. Individually, however, the Sudanese were sturdy warriors, and were constantly employed by the Pharaohs as mercenary soldiers and police. In the time of the New Kingdom, Cush southward to Napata was a province of Egypt, dotted with Egyptian temples and governed by a viceroy. With the weakening of the Egyptian power Cush grew into a separate kingdom, with Napata as its capital. Its rulers were probably of Egyptian descent; they are represented as being entirely subservient to Ammon, <em> i.e </em> . to his priests, elected by him, acting only upon his oracles, and ready to abdicate or even to commit suicide at his command. We first hear of a king of Ethiopia about b.c. 730, when a certain Pankhi, reigning at Napata and already in possession of the Egyptian Thebaid, added most of Middle Egypt to his dominions and exacted homage from the princes of the Delta. A little later an Ethiopian dynasty (the XXVth) sat on the throne of the Pharaohs for nearly fifty years (b.c. 715 664). The last of these, Tahraku (Tirhakah [wh. see]), intrigued with the kinglets of [[Syria]] and PhÅ“nicia against the Assyrians, but only to the ruin of himself and his dynasty. Tahraku and his successor Tandamane were driven into Ethiopia by the Assyrian invasions, and Egypt became independent under the powerful XXVIth Dynasty. For the [[Persian]] period it is known that Ethiopia, or part of it, was included in one satrapy with Egypt under Darius. In the 3rd cent. b.c. king Ergamenes freed himself from the power of the priests of [[Ammon]] by a great slaughter of them. From about this time forward Meroë, the southern residence, was the capital of Ethiopia. The worship of Ammon, however, as the national god of ‘Negroland,’ as Ethiopia was then called, still continued. In b.c. 24 the Romans invaded Ethiopia in answer to an attack on Egypt by queen Candace, and destroyed Napata, but the kingdom continued to be independent. The Egyptian culture of Ethiopia had by that time fallen into a very barbarous state. [[Inscriptions]] exist written in a peculiar character and in the native language, as yet undeciphered; others are in a debased form of Egyptian hieroglyphic. </p> <p> The name of Cush was familiar to the Hebrews through the part that its kings played in Egypt and Syria from b.c. 730 664, and recently discovered papyri prove that Jews were settled on the Ethiopian border at Syene in the 6th cent. b.c. See also Cush. </p> <p> F. Ll. Griffith. </p>

Genesis 2:13 Isaiah 11:11[[Cush]] <p> The biblical Ethiopia should not be confused with the modern nation of the same name somewhat further to the southeast. In biblical times, Ethiopia was equivalent to Nubia, the region beyond the first cataract of the Nile south, or upstream, of Egypt. This region, with an abundance of natural resources, was known to the [[Egyptians]] as Cush and was occupied by them during periods of Egyptian strength. During the New [[Kingdom]] (1550-1070 B.C.), Ethiopia was totally incorporated into the Egyptian [[Empire]] and ruled through an official called the “viceroy of Cush.” </p> <p> When Egyptian power waned, Nubia became independent under a line of rulers who imitated Egyptian culture. When Egypt fell into a period of chaos about 725 B.C., Nubian kings extended their influence northward. In 715 B.C., they succeeded in establishing control over all of Egypt and ruled as pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. The most influential of these Ethiopian pharaohs was Taharqa (biblical Tirhakah), who rendered aid to [[Hezekiah]] of Judah during the Assyrian invasion of Sennacherib in 701 B.C. (2 Kings 19:9; Isaiah 37:9 ). </p> <p> The Assyrian Empire invaded Egypt in 671 B.C., driving the Ethiopian pharaohs southward and eventually sacking the Egyptian capital Thebes (biblical No-Amon; Nahum 3:8 ) in 664 B.C. Thereafter, the realm of Ethiopian kings was confined to Nubia, which they ruled from Napata. Ethiopia continued to be an important political force and center of trade (Isaiah 45:14 ). Some time after 300 B.C., Napata was abandoned and the capital moved further south to Meroe, where the kingdom continued for another six hundred years. Excavations in Nubia have revealed numerous pyramid tombs at Napata and Meroe as well as several temples to the Egyptian god Amun. </p> <p> In New Testament times, several queens of the kingdom of Meroe bore the title Candace. The Ethiopian eunuch to whom [[Philip]] explained the gospel was a minister of “the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians” (Acts 8:27 RSV). Candace should be understood as a title rather than a personal name. </p> <p> Daniel C. Browning, Jr. </p>

<p> One of the great kingdoms in Africa, frequently mentioned in [[Scripture]] under the name of Cush, the various significations of which in the Old Testament have been mentioned under the article Isaiah 18:1-7 Zephaniah 3:10 . </p> <p> The name of [[Seba]] was given to the northern part of Ethiopia, afterwards Meroe, but the eldest son of Cush, Genesis 10:7 . This country was in some parts mountainous, and in others sandy; but was to a great extent well watered and fertile. Ebony, ivory, spices, gold, and precious stones were among its articles of traffic. Its history is much involved with that of Egypt, and the two countries are often mentioned together in Bible, Isaiah 20:3-6 43:3 45:15 Ezekiel 30:1-26 Daniel 11:43 . </p> <p> Zerah "the Ethiopian" who invaded Judah in the reign of Asa, B. C. 944,2 Chronicles 14:9-15 , is thought by some to have been an Egyptian king of an Ethiopia on both sides of the Red Sea; that is, of the [[Arabian]] as well as African Cush. This would explain how he could obtain access to the land of [[Palestine]] without passing through Egypt. But the whole question is involved in uncertainty. The Ethiopian queen Candace, whose treasurer is mentioned in Acts 8:27 , was probably queen of Meroe, where a succession of females reigned who all bore this name. As this courtier is said to have gone up to Jerusalem "to worship," he was probably a Jew by religion, if not by birth. There appear to have been many Jews in that country. The gospel gained adherents among them; and early in the forth century the entire [[Bible]] was translated into the ancient Ethiopic language, from the Greek. </p>

Genesis 2:132 Kings 19:9Esther 1:1Job 28:19Psalm 68:3187:4Ezekiel 29:1030:6Isaiah 18:1Zephaniah 3:10Isaiah 45:14 <p> Its inhabitants were descendants of [[Ham]] (Genesis 10:6; Jeremiah 13:23; Isaiah 18:2 , "scattered and peeled," A.V.; but in RSV, "tall and smooth"). Herodotus, the Greek historian, describes them as "the tallest and handsomest of men." They are frequently represented on Egyptian monuments, and they are all of the type of the true negro. As might be expected, the history of this country is interwoven with that of Egypt. </p> <p> Ethiopia is spoken of in prophecy (Psalm 68:31; 87:4; Isaiah 45:14; Ezekiel 30:4-9; Daniel 11:43; Nahum 3:8-10; Habakkuk 3:7; Zephaniah 2:12 ). </p>

<p> Ethio'pia. (burnt faces). The country which the [[Greeks]] and Romans described as "Aethiopia" and the Hebrews as "Cush", lay to the south of Egypt, and embraced, in its most extended sense, the modern Nubia, Sennaar, [[Kordofan]] and northern Abyssinia, and in its more definite sense, the kingdom of Meroe. Ezekiel 29:10. </p> <p> The Hebrews do not appear to have had much practical acquaintance with Ethiopia itself, though the Ethiopians were well known to them through their intercourse with Egypt. The inhabitants of Ethiopia were a Hamitic race. Genesis 10:6. They were divided into various tribes, of which the [[Sabeans]] were the most powerful. </p> <p> The history of Ethiopia is closely interwoven with that of Egypt. The two countries were not unfrequently united, under the rule of the same sovereign. [[Shortly]] before our Saviour's birth, a native dynasty of females, holding the official title of Candace, (Plin. Vi. 35), held sway in Ethiopia, and even resisted the advance of the [[Roman]] armies. One of these is the queen noticed in Acts 8:27. </p>

<p> This is the Greek and Roman name for CUSH, a kingdom in Africa to the south of Egypt. The boundary between the two kingdoms is not well defined, indeed, it may have varied at different times. The first cataract, 24 N, is generally taken as its northern boundary: its extent southward is altogether unknown. Genesis 2:13; Esther 1:1; Ezekiel 29:10 . At times Ethiopia conquered Egypt: two of the kings mentioned in scripture were Ethiopians. 2 Chronicles 14:9; Isaiah 37:9 . In some of the prophecies they are mentioned as separate kingdoms. Nahum 3:9 . See EGYPT, LAND OF. </p>

<p> One of the great kingdoms in Africa, sometimes called Cush in Scripture, from Cush, blackness. Blessed are the promises concerning the call of Ethiopia to the Lord, in the latter dispensations of the gospel. (Psalms 68:31; Psa 72:10-11; Isaiah 45:14) </p>

<p> Ethio´pia is the name by which the English and most other versions render the Hebrew Cush. As used among the Greeks and Romans, the word was employed, in all the latitude of its etymological meaning, to denote any of the countries where the people are of a sable, sunburned complexion. But we have shown in the article Cush (to which we refer the reader) that its use in the language of Scripture is much more restricted, and that while it may sometimes include part of Southern Arabia, it for the most part exclusively designates the 'Ethiopia of Africa,' which is the subject of the present article. </p> <p> 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 . Its limits 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]] . 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. </p> <p> But that part of the vast region of Cush which seems chiefly intended in these and most other passages of Scripture is the tract of country in Upper Nubia, which became famous in antiquity as the kingdomsof Ethiopia, or the state of Meroë. The Ethiopian nations generally ranked low in the scale of civilization; nevertheless (to use the language of Heeren), there did exist a better cultivated, and, to a certain degree, a civilized Ethiopian people; who dwelt in cities; who erected temples and other edifices; who, though without letters, had hieroglyphics; who had government and laws; and the fame of whose progress in knowledge and the social arts spread in the earliest ages over a considerable part of the earth. Meroë [[Proper]] lay between the river Astaboras (now the Atbara or Tacazzé) on the east, and the Nile on the west. Though not completely enclosed with rivers, it was called an island, because, as Pliny observes, the various streams which flowed around it were all considered as branches of the Nile. Its surface exceeded that of [[Sicily]] more than a half, and it corresponded pretty nearly to the present province of Atbara, between 13° and 18° N. lat. In modern times it formed a great part of the kingdom of Sennaar, and the southern portion belongs to Abyssinia. Upon the island of Meroë lay a city of the same name, the metropolis of the kingdom, the site of which has been discovered near a place called Assur, about twenty miles N. of the town of Shendy, under 17° N. lat. 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 Ethiopians. </p> <p> According to Josephus, the ancient name of Meroë was Seba. Now in the Scriptures this country of African Seba is classed with the Arabian Sheba as a rich but far-distant land . In , God says to Israel, 'I have given Egypt for thy ransom; Cush and Seba in thy stead:' and in , 'The wealth of Egypt, and the merchandise of Cush and of the Sebaim, men of stature, shall pass over to thee and shall be thine.' </p> <p> In the age of Herodotus, the countries known to us as Nubia and [[Sennaar]] were occupied by two different races, one of whom he includes under the general appellation of Ethiopians, the other an immigratory Arabian race leading, for the most part, a nomadic life. This distinction has continued down to the present day. Among the aboriginal inhabitants the first place is due to the Nubians, who are well-formed, strong, and muscular, and with nothing whatever of the negro physiognomy. They go armed with spear, sword, and a shield of the skin of the hippopotamus. South of Dongola is the country of the Scheygias, whose warriors are horsemen, also armed with a double-pointed spear, a sword, and a large shield (comp. , the 'Cushites who handle the shield'). They were completely independent till subdued by Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt. It is in their country that the pyramidal monuments which adorned the ancient Meroë are first met with. 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 Tacazzé 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 Astaboras, or Tacazzé, being compelled to remove their encampments, sometimes by the inundations of the river, at other times by the attacks of the dreaded zimb, or gad-fly, described by Bruce, and which he supposes to be the 'fly which is in the utmost part of the rivers of Egypt' . Another remarkable Ethiopic race in ancient times was the Macrobians, so called from their supposed longevity. They were represented by the ambassadors 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 . </p> <p> With regard to the ancient civilization of Ethiopia Proper, or the kingdom of Meroë, it was closely connected with the religion of the country, which was the worship of Ammon and his kindred deities, and the 'Oracles of Ammon' were its main support. The government was in the hands of a race or caste of priests, who chose from among themselves a king; and this form continued down to the reign in Egypt of the second Ptolemy, when Ergamenes, at that time king, massacred the priests in their sanctuary, and became absolute monarch. </p> <p> Of the history of Ethiopia, previous to that last revolution, only scanty information has been preserved, but it is enough to evince its high antiquity and its early aggrandizement. In the Persian period it was certainly an independent and important state, which Cambyses in vain endeavored to subdue. But its most flourishing era was between the years B.C. 800 and 700, when arose three potent kings, Sabaco, Sevechus, and Tarhako, or Tirhakah, who extended their conquests over a great part of Egypt. Sevechus is supposed to have been the So or [[Sua]] king of Egypt, to whom an embassy was sent by Hoshea, king of Israel , whose reign ended B.C. 722. He was thus the contemporary of Salmanassar, king of Assyria, as was Tirhakah of the next Assyrian monarch, Sennacherib, who (about the year B.C. 714) was deterred from the invasion of Egypt merely by the rumor that Tirhakah was advancing against him . There seems no reason to doubt that the remarkable prophecy in Isaiah 18 was addressed to Tirhakah and his people, to announce to them the sudden overthrow of the Assyrian host before Jerusalem. In almost verbatim, it is intimated that, struck at the mighty deeds of the God of Judah, this distant people should send gifts to his dwelling-place at Zion. They were, no doubt, among the 'many' who are described in , as having 'brought gifts unto [[Jehovah]] at Jerusalem, and presents to king Hezekiah, so that he was magnified in the sight of all the nations.' But it is remarked by [[Gesenius]] that the expectation of the entire conversion of the Ethiopians is frequently expressed by the Hebrew prophets ; and he adds, 'Those who take pleasure in tracing the fulfillment of such predictions in subsequent history may find it in (the conversion both to [[Judaism]] and Christianity of the treasurer of Queen Candace), and still more in the circumstance that Abyssinia is to this day the only great Christian state in the eastern world.' </p> <p> If we go back about two centuries, to the reign of Asa, king of Judah (B.C. 950), we read of Zerah, or rather Zerach, an Ethiopian going out against him with a host of a thousand thousand men and three hundred chariots . It is doubtful whether this was an Ethiopian monarch or commander, or only a mere [[Cushite]] adventurer; but that his army was mainly of African and not Arabian original is evident from the fact of its having included Libyans as well as Cushites , and from the mention of war-chariots, which never were in use in Arabia. [[Farther]] back than this the records of history are silent. </p> <p> The state of Meroë appears to have resembled the larger states in the interior of Africa at the present day, comprising a number of different races or tribes united together by no strong political bond, but by a common form of worship, which placed the rule in the hands of the priesthood, the dominant caste of the country. There is every reason to conclude that the separate colonies of the priest-caste spread from Meroë into Egypt; and the primeval monuments in Ethiopia strongly confirm the native traditions reported by [[Diodorus]] Siculus, that the worship of Ammon and [[Osiris]] originated in Meroë, and thus render highly probable the opinion that commerce and civilization, science and art, descended into Egypt from Nubia and the upper regions of the Nile. One great cause of the early prosperity and grandeur of Ethiopia was the carrying-trade, of which it was the center, between India and Arabia on the one hand, and the interior of Africa, and especially Egypt, on the other. </p> <p> Queen Candace, who is mentioned in , was doubtless the reigning sovereign of Meroë [CANDACE], where it is likely a form of Judaism was at that period professed by a portion of the inhabitants, as seems to have been the case in the adjacent region of Abyssinia. The prophets (e.g. ) sometimes allude to the Jews who were scattered throughout Cush. Ebed-melech, the benevolent eunuch of King Zedekiah, who showed such kindness to the prophet Jeremiah, was an Ethiopian (; comp. ). Josephus calls the queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon, a queen of Egypt and Ethiopia, and with this agrees the tradition of the Abyssinians. But Sheba was undoubtedly in Arabia Felix, though it is possible that, in remote antiquity, the sovereignty of its monarchs extended across the Red Sea to the coast of Ethiopia. </p>

<p> A term loosely used in ancient times to indicate the territory inhabited by black or dark-coloured people; latterly applied to an undefined tract of land stretching S. of Egypt to the [[Gulf]] of Aden, which constituted the kingdom of the Ethiopians, a people of Semitic origin and speaking a Semitic language called Ge'ez, who were successively conquered by the Egyptians, Persians, and Romans; are known in the Bible; their first king is supposed to have been Menilehek, son of [[Solomon]] and the Queen of Sheba; their literature consists mostly of translations and collections of saws and riddles; the language is no longer spoken. </p>