The Macrobians (Μακροβίοι) were an ancient

Proto-Somali Proto-Somalis were the ancient people and ancestors of Somalis who lived in present-day Somalia. Literature on proto-Somalis largely uses a time-frame pertaining to the 1st millennium BC and 1st millennium AD. History The Puntites were ancient C ...

tribal kingdom positioned in the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004 ...

mentioned by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known fo ...

.Herodotus, the Histories book 3.114 They are one of the legendary peoples postulated at the extremity of the known world (from the perspective of the Greeks), in this case in the extreme south contrasting with the Hyperboreans in the extreme east.Wheeler pg 526

Accounts

According to Herodotus' account, the Persian Emperor

Cambyses II Cambyses II ( peo, 𐎣𐎲𐎢𐎪𐎡𐎹 ''Kabūjiya'') was the second King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 530 to 522 BC. He was the son and successor of Cyrus the Great () and his mother was Cassandane. Before his accession, Cambyse ...

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 at least in part on stature, replied instead with a challenge for his Persian counterpart in the form of an unstrung bow: if the Persians could manage to string 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.

Culture

Herodotus detailed how the Macrobians practiced an elaborate form of

embalming Embalming is the art and science of preserving human remains by treating them (in its modern form with chemicals) to forestall decomposition. This is usually done to make the deceased suitable for public or private viewing as part of the funeral ...

. 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. This is described by Herodotus in the following quote:

People

In the fifth Century BC, the Greek historian Herodotus, known as the father of History in the western traditions, refers to a race called the Macrobians who dwelled south of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

in what is now modern Somali territory. These people were famous for their longevity (an average age of 120 years) due to their diet that mainly comprises meat and milk. They were also, according to Herodotus, the "tallest and most handsome among all men". They were fierce warrior herders and wealthy seafarers according to Herodotus. All descriptions of the people agree with the pastoral

Somali Somali may refer to: Horn of Africa * Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region ** Proto-Somali, the ancestors of modern Somalis ** Somali culture ** Somali cuisine ** Somali language, a Cushitic language ** Somali ...

figures who are tall, handsome warriors, with a diet mainly consisting of meat and milk.

Somalis The Somalis ( so, Soomaalida 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒆𐒖, ar, صوماليون) are an ethnic group native to the Horn of Africa who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The Lowland East Cushitic Somali language is the shared ...

also have a rich maritime culture. This point of view was affirmed by the Indian scholar, Mamta Agarwal, who wrote "these people were none other than the inhabitants of

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...

, opposite the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

References

{{reflist Longevity myths Tribes described primarily by Herodotus Legendary tribes in Greco-Roman historiography Ancient Africa Ancient peoples of Africa Cambyses II

Accounts

Culture

People

See also

References