Aethiopia

thumb|1747 map with all the oceans surrounding the African continent

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 Sudan, areas south of the Sahara, and less often to certain parts of Asia. Its earliest mention is in the works of Homer: twice in the Iliad, and three times in the Odyssey. The Greek historian Herodotus uses the appellation to refer to regions south of Egypt when describing "Aethiopians," most commonly Nubia. Despite this, the Byzantine Greeks also referred to the Aksumites as Ethiopians and Negus Ezana, conqueror of Meroë took on the title of "king of Ethiopia" prior to the rise of the medieval Ethiopian Empire. Greco-Roman sources also report the existence of 'White Aethiopians' in Africa. By the modern period the term Aethiopian Sea was used to refer to the southern Atlantic Ocean, particularly the area adjacent to West Africa.