fontes historiae nubiorum - Digitalt - Universitetet i Bergen

The Sources
Some of them are armed with shields of raw oxhide and short javelins,
others with spears without a thong, sometimes also with wooden bows four
cubits [1m 80] long, with which they shoot by bracing the foot against it; when
all their arrows have been spent, they continue fighting with wooden clubs.
They also arm their women, defining for them a military age. It is customary
for most of these women to have a bronze ring through one of their lips.
As to clothing, some of them have none at all, but live naked all the
time; only against the burning sun do they provide themselves protection by
whatever means is at hand. Some cut the tails off the behind of their sheep and
cover their hips with them, letting it hang down in front like private parts.
Some also use the hides of their animals, others cover the body as far as the
waist with girdles which they plait from the hair of the animals, as the sheep
among them have no wool because of the special nature of the country.
For food some gather the plants that grow in water and sprout spontaneously
in lakes and marshy places, others strip branches off the tenderest kind
of tree, with which they also shade and cool their bodies during the midday
heat. Others again sow sesame and lotus, while some nourish themselves with
the softest roots of reeds. Not few of them are also trained in archery and shoot
with great accuracy many of the birds with which they satisfy the needs of the
body. But most of them live all through their life on the meat, milk, and cheese
that their cattle give them.
9 [1] About the gods the Aithiopians who live beyond Meroe have two different
notions. They believe that some of them have an eternal and indestructible
nature, for instance the sun and the moon and the whole universe; others,
they think, have a share in mortal nature and have through their virtue
and charity toward all men obtained immortal honours. [2] Thus they worship
Isis and Pan, and in addition Heracles and Zeus, believing that these gods, in
particular, are the benefactors of the human race. A few of the Aithiopians believe
that there are no gods at all; therefore they utter words of abuse against
the sun as their greatest enemy at sunrise, and flee to the marshy parts of the
region.
They also have strange customs as regards their dead. Some get rid of
them by throwing them in the river, regarding this the finest burial. Others
pour glass around the dead and keep them in their houses, believing that the
traits of the deceased ought not to be unknown to their kinsmen, and that family
members ought not to forget their close relatives. Some also put them into
clay coffins and bury them around their temples, and an oath sworn by these
they consider the strongest of all.
Kingship is by some entrusted to the most goodlooking, since they regard
both, kingship and good looks, as gifts of chance. Others hand the rule over to
those who are the most careful cattle-keepers, in the belief that only they will
provide for their subjects in the best way. Some also assign this honour to the
richest, thinking that only they are able to assist the multitude since they have
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