The writer DIODORUS SICULUS, was a Greek Historian who lived over 2,000 years ago. He came from and lived on the island of Sicily. He wrote 40 books of world history. The first half of his books cover most of Ethiopia and Egypt. He gives us 5 major things the Greeks and the world knew about the Ethiopians.
Diodorus wrote:
1. The Ethiopians were the first people to have knowledge of God.
2. Ancient Egyptians originally sailed down the Nile River from Ethiopia. The Ethiopians traveled and settled in many countries all over the world not just Egypt. Ancient Egypt however was one of the first places the Ethiopians moved. Egypt was a great and powerful country for over 2,000 years. Ethiopians went all the way to India in Asia.
“There are also a great many other tribes of the Ethiopians, some of them dwell in the lands lying on both banks of the Nile and on the Islands in the river, others inhabiting the neighboring country of Arabia, and still others of them, and especially those who dwell along the River, are black in colour and have flat noses and wooley hair.”
Source Reference: The Library of History, Book III, Chapters 1-11, Chapters 12-14
3. The Ethiopians were the first to discover the art of writing. The Ethiopians taught the art of writing to the Egyptians who were their children. The Egyptians got all their laws from the Ethiopians.
“We must now speak about the Ethiopian writing, which is called Hieroglyphic among the Egyptians, in order that we may omit nothing in our discussion of their antiquities. Now it is found that the forms of their letters take the shape of animals of every kind, and of the members of the human body. For instance, they draw the picture of a hawk, a crocodile, a snake and of the members of the human body – an eye, a hand, a face, and the like. Now a Hawk signifies to them everything which happens swiftly, since this animal is practically the swiftest of winged creatures. The eye is the warden of justice and guardian of the whole body.”
Source Reference: The Library of History, Book II, Chapter 35 – Book IV, Chapter 58
4. The Ethiopians were different from everyone else in how they selected their kings. The Ethiopian kings are distinguished from other African kings and chiefs by their crowns. The Ethiopians believed in the Divine Right of Kings. A king’s right to rule came from God. The Ethiopians who moved to Europe took this idea with them.
“The Priest, for instance, first choose out the noblest men from their own number, and whichever one from the group The God may select… him the multitude take for their King; and straightway it both worships and honors him [The King] like a god believing that the sovereignty [The Kingdom] has been entrusted him by Divine Providence.”
Source Reference: The Library of History, Book II, Chapter 35 – Book IV, Chapter 58
5. There were two Ethiopias and in one of the Ethiopias there was a region which contained many large gold mines.
“At the extremity of Egypt and in the contigous territory of both Arabia and Ethiopia there lies a region which contains many large gold mines, where the gold is secured in great quantities with much suffering and at great expense… Now the discovery of these mines is very ancient, having been made by the early kings.”
Source Reference: The Library of History, Book III, Chapter 1-11, Chapters 12-14