Disputatio:Elephantine

That area south of Egypt[fontem recensere]

I always have a problem with "Nubia" because that name is Medieval: Classical sources ALWAYS refer to it as Aethiopia. The problem is that Aethiopia details the modern country, which is an entirely different amphora of garum! Generally I am happy to use Medieval or Modern terms just to make things clear, but it seems a bit perverse to refer to an ancient nation by its medieval name so as not to confuse it with a modern country. I mention this only because there are references to both Nubii & Aethiopia in this article (I deigned to say Nubiorum because we're talking about the modern Ethnic designation), both of which Iacobus has just linked to their respective placenames. Here's what I'm thinking: Aethiopia should link to Aethiopia (antiqua) (which I've used elsewhere a few times), and Nubiorum maybe Nubii (since, the only reason I mentioned that name was the coninued use as an ethnic term!) Nubii is of course plural, but thus far I have considered plural titles ok for the sorts of words that are regularly found under their plural form in Latin dictionaries, and ethnics are certainly one of these! So anyone want to object to this modification or argue with me? --Iustinus 18:55, 19 Novembris 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How/where does Meroe fit into this scheme? IacobusAmor 20:45, 19 Novembris 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Meroe was the Nubian capital from about the -3rd to +4th centuries. During this period the political entity in question is often called "The Meroitic Empire." Before that (from about the mid -8th to the rise of Meroe), the capital was Napata (Latin Napata, Nepata, Nabata). After that Nubia was annexed by the Axumite empire (which is generally considered part of what we NOW call Ethiopia).

Now the Romans would generally just say Aethiopia, irrespecive of period, but here I think it's fair to make the same sort of distinctions we do for Persia's various historical empires (in antiquity he Median, Achaemenid, Parthian/Arsacid, and Sassanid empires.) --Iustinus 21:12, 19 Novembris 2008 (UTC)[reply]