Pausanias Analysis

Passage 1.33.4

← 1.33.3 1.33.5 →

Passage 1.33.4: Coastal peoples: Iberians, Celts and Britons; Red Sea Ichthyophagi; Meroe Ethiopians.

Historical Non-skeptical

Greek Text

Ὠκεανῷ γὰρ οὐ ποταμῷ, θαλάσσῃ δὲ ἐσχάτῃ τῆς ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων πλεομένης προσοικοῦσιν Ἴβηρες καὶ Κελτοί, καὶ νῆσον Ὠκεανὸς ἔχει τὴν Βρεττανῶν· Αἰθιόπων δὲ τῶν ὑπὲρ Συήνης ἐπὶ θάλασσαν ἔσχατοι τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν κατοικοῦσιν Ἰχθυοφάγοι, καὶ ὁ κόλπος ὃν περιοικοῦσιν Ἰχθυοφάγων ὀνομάζεται. οἱ δὲ δικαιότατοι Μερόην πόλιν καὶ πεδίον Αἰθιοπικὸν καλούμενον οἰκοῦσιν· οὗτοι καὶ τὴν ἡλίου τράπεζάν εἰσιν οἱ δεικνύντες, οὐδέ σφισιν ἔστιν οὔτε θάλασσα οὔτε ποταμὸς ἄλλος γε ἢ Νεῖλος.

English Translation

For Iberians and Celts dwell by the ocean—not a river, but the outermost sea navigated by men—and Ocean contains the island of Britain. As for the Ethiopians living beyond Syene, those bordering the Red Sea's farthest shore are inhabited by the Ichthyophagi ("fish-eaters"), and the bay around which they live is named after these Ichthyophagi. The most just Ethiopians dwell in the city of Meroë and upon the land called the Ethiopian plain; these are the very people who show the Table of the Sun, and for them there is neither sea nor river other than the Nile itself.

Proper Nouns

Oceanus (Ὠκεανός) deity
Ethiopians (Αἰθίοπες) person
Brettanoi (Britons) (Βρεττανοί) person
Celts (Κελτοί) person
Ichthyophagoi (Fish-eaters) (Ἰχθυοφάγοι) person
Iberians (Ἴβηρες) person
Also in: 10.17.5 10.17.9
Aithiopikon (Ethiopian; The land of the Ethiopians) (Αἰθιοπικόν) place
Meroe (Μερόη) place Q5780
Also in: 5.7.4
Nile (Νεῖλος) place Q3392
Syene (Συήνη) place Q29888 Pleiades
Erythra (Ἐρυθρά) place Q23406 Pleiades
Also in: 6.26.8 6.26.9
← 1.33.3 1.33.5 →