Ichthyophagoi (, "fish-eaters") and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Ichthyophagi is the name given by ancient geographers to several ethnically unrelated coast-dwelling peoples in different parts of the world. *

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

(book i. c. 200) mentions three tribes of the

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

ns who were solely fish-eaters, and in book iii. c. 19 refers to Ichthyophagi in

Aethiopia Ancient Aethiopia, () first appears as a geographical term in classical documents in reference to the skin color of the inhabitants of the upper Nile in northern Sudan, of areas south of the Sahara, and of certain areas in Asia. Its earliest men ...

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

and

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

also referred to them all along the African coast of the Red Sea in their descriptions of Aethiopia. *

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

speaks of fish-eaters in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

coasts, coast of the Red Sea, on the west coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and on the coast of the Far East near the harbour of Cattigara. * Pliny relates the existence of such people on the islands in the

. *According to

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...

Nearchus Nearchus or Nearchos (; – 300 BC) was one of the Greeks, Greek officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. He is known for his celebrated expeditionary voyage starting from the Indus River, through the Persian Gulf and ending at t ...

mentions such a race as inhabiting the barren shores of the

Gwadar Gwadar (, ) is a Port, port city on the southwestern coast of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan. The city is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea, opposite Oman and has a populati ...

and Pasni districts in Makrān. During the homeward march of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

, his admiral, Nearchus led a fleet in

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

along the Makrān coast and recorded that the area was dry and mountainous, inhabited by the ''Ichthyophagoi'' or ''Fish-Eaters''. * Pausanias locates them on the western (African) coast of the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

. *They are a people group identified on the 4th century Peutinger Map, as a people of the

Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region of de ...

coast. The existence of such tribes was confirmed by Sir Richard F Burton (''El-Medinah'', p. 144). *It is the name Laskaris Kananos used for the

Icelanders Icelanders () are an ethnic group and nation who are native to the island country of Iceland. They speak Icelandic, a North Germanic language. Icelanders established the country of Iceland in mid 930 CE when the (parliament) met for th ...

in the 15th century.Mikhail Bibikov
"Byzantine sources for the history of Balticum and Scandinavia"
in Ivo Volt and Janika Päll (eds.) ''Acta Societatis Morgensternianae II: Byzantino-Nordica 2004'' (Tartu University Press, 2005), pp. 12–28. *They are described in the Liber Monstrorum as fully naked and covered in hair, inhabiting streams and ponds near the Indian Ocean in India. "Liber Monstrorum english translation, pp. 269"

References

*R. Bloch, «Ichthyophagoi», in ''Der Neue Pauly. Altertum''. Stuttgart-Weimar, Verlag J. B. Metzler, vol. 5, 1998, p. 883. *O. Longo, «Un viaggio fra i mangiatori di pesci (dal Periplo di Nearco)», ''Atti e Memorie dell’Accademia Patavina di Scienze Lettere ed Arti, Memorie della Classe di Scienze morali Lettere ed Arti'', XCVIII, parte III, 1986, p. 153-57. *O. Longo, «I mangiatori di pesce: regime alimentare e quadro culturale», ''Materiali e discussioni per l’analisi dei testi classici'', 18, 1987, p. 9-56. *O. Nalesini, «Roman and Chinese Perception of a "Marginal" Coastal Population: Ptolemy's Far Eastern Ichthyophágoi», in ''The Prehistory of Asia and Oceania'', Edited by G. Afanas’ev, S. Cleuziou, J. R. Lukacs and M. Tosi, Forlì, ABACO, 1996, p. 197-204. *Oscar Nalesini, "History and use of an ethnonym: Ichthyophágoi", in ''Connected Hinterlands: Proceedings of Red Sea Project IV held at the University of Southampton September 2008'', edited by L. Blue, J. Cooper, R. Thomas and J. Whitewright. Oxford, Archaeopress, 2009, pp. 9–18. *J. Tkač, «Ichthyophagoi», in ''Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft'', neue Bearbeitung von G. Wissowa, Stuttgart, IX, 1916, coll. 2524–31. *H. Treidler, «Ichthyophagen», in ''Der Kleine Pauly'', München, Beck’sche Verlag, vol. II, 1979, coll. 1333–34.

External links

*
The origins of the name on Livius.org
Balochistan Ancient peoples Persian Gulf Legendary tribes in classical historiography Pasni {{Asia-ethno-group-stub

See also

References

External links