|
The Macrobians (Μακροβίοι), meaning long-lived, were a legendary tribe of Aethiopia and kingdom positioned in the land towards the western sunset at the ends of the earth in ancient Libya (Africa).〔Herodotus, the Histories book 3.114〕 According to Herodotus they dwelt geographically along the sea south of Libya on the Atlantic opposite of the Erythraean sea to the east of them.〔Herodotus the histories, book 3.17.〕 This Libya was south of the Pillars of Hercules and Atlas Mountains along the Atlantic coast, while the northern Libyan coast was the Mediterranean Sea.〔Herodotus the Histories, 4.196.〕 Herodotus also stated that the Macrobian Ethiopians were indigenous to southern Libya while the Libyans along the Mediterranean Sea were indigenous to northern Libya.〔Herodotus, book 4.197〕 Later authors such as Scylax in his periplus also place them south of the pillars of Hercules, and Scylax also reported a trade taking place between Phoenicians (Carthaginians) and tall Ethiopians (Macrobians).〔Periplus of Scylax〕 Herodotus also mentions a silent trade of gold that took place between Carthaginians and natives south of Libya (Ethiopians) beyond the Pillars of Hercules; it was also this gold trade that motivated Cambyses, the King of Persia, to plan a land and sea expedition against both the Carthaginians and Macrobian Ethiopians. Pliny in his natural histories places them west of Meroe.〔Pliny, Natural History, book 6.35.〕 The Macrobians are one of the legendary peoples postulated to exist at the extremity of the known world (from the perspective of the Greeks), in this case in the extreme west towards the sunset beyond the Pillars of Hercules in Libya (Africa), contrasting with India towards the sunrise in the extreme east of Asia, and southern Arabia & the east African coast towards the extreme south of the Erythraean Sea.〔Herodotus, book 3.114-115〕 Their name is due to their legendary longevity, an average person supposedly living to the age of 120.〔The Geography of Herodotus: Illustrated from Modern Researches and Discoveries by James Talboys Wheeler pg 528. The British Critic, Quarterly Theological Review, And Ecclesiastical Record Volume 11 pg 434〕 They were said to be the ''"tallest and handsomest of all men"''.〔Wheeler pg 526〕 At the same time, they were reported as being physically distinct from the rest of mankind.〔Herodotus, the Histories, book 3.20〕 == Accounts == According to Herodotus' account, the Persian Emperor Cambyses II upon his conquest of Egypt (525 BC) sent ambassadors to Macrobia, bringing luxury gifts for the Macrobian king to entice his submission. The Macrobian ruler, who was elected based on his stature and beauty, replied instead with a challenge for his Persian counterpart in the form of an unstrung bow: if the Persians could manage to draw it, they would have the right to invade his country; but until then, they should thank the gods that the Macrobians never decided to invade their empire.〔〔John Kitto, James Taylor, ''The popular cyclopædia of Biblical literature: condensed from the larger work'', (Gould and Lincoln: 1856), p.302.〕 According to later historians such as Sallust and Strabo concerning the history of the ancient Libyans, ancient Persians along with Medes who were of the army of Hercules migrated and settled along the Atlantic coast of Africa (Libya), while the Medes settled north of the Atlantic and Mediterranean, the Persians settled south of the Atlantic coast, but these couldn't have been the same as the Achaemenid Persians and Medes who dwelt east of Asia, because the seafaring Hercules nor Perseus never traveled east of Asia, but names such as Persians (Perizzites), Medes and Armenians (Amorites) are more likely a corruption of Canaanite Phoenician tribes who left their homeland of Canaan and sailed west of the Mediterranean Sea to settled along the Atlantic coast of Africa after they were driven out of their homeland by invading Hebrew Israelite tribes under Moses, Joshua and David, the Hercules mentioned was indeed a Phoenician leader who the Greeks styled as Hercules, and these were the ancestors of the Moors (Amorites). Later on after this settlement, the power of these Persians grew and they sent out colonies to conquer the rest of Libya towards the east, these colonist were later known as the powerful and robust long-lived (Μακροβίοι) Numidians.〔Sallust, the Jugurthine War, chap 18〕 The land of these Persians in the west mentioned by Sallust, and the Macrobian land mentioned by Herodotus was one and the same land, both being towards the sunset and south of the Atlantic Ocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules. Both Xenophon〔Xenophanes, Memorabilia, book 2〕 and Herodotus〔The Histories, book 3.17〕 makes it known that during their time, Asia was ruled by the Persians in the east, Europe ruled by the Scythians in the north, northern Libya ruled by the Carthaginians and southern Libya ruled by the Macrobian Ethiopians in the west.〔Herodotus, the Histories 4.197〕 According to Herodotus, the Macrobians practiced an elaborate form of embalming. The Macrobians preserved the bodies of the dead by first extracting moisture from the corpses, then overlaying the bodies with a type of plaster, and finally decorating the exterior in vivid colors in order to imitate the deceased as realistically as possible. They then placed the body in a hollow crystal pillar, which they kept in their homes for a period of about a year.〔Society of Arts (Great Britain), ''Journal of the Society of Arts'', Volume 26, (The Society: 1878), pp.912-913.〕 Macrobia was also noted for its gold, which was so plentiful that the Macrobians shackled their prisoners in golden chains.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Macrobians」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|