Skariphos

"SKARIPHOS" ("A Sketch of the Earth") about 555 A.D. It is a fragment, in Syriac, included in a collection of writings on Church History by Zacharias Rhetor (about 536). The "Sketch" is presumably dated about 555 A.D.

Ed.: J.P.N. Land, Anecdota Syriaca. t. IX, Leiden 1870; (text from Brit.Mus.,KS.Add.17, 202 and Add. 14, 620).

T.: E.W. Brooks (CSCO, t. II, Paris 1921, p. 202). S:1

Countries of Kush, the Outer.

Kush, the Outer, has forty-three towns. There are also the mountains of Pan and peoples who dwell near Tobuzin. To the east of them there dwell the root-eaters and another people near them, called Awksesmete. Then come the Shaberiyi, the Molebiye, the Barqiye and the Belemes and further on, towards the interior, there are the Amtiye. West of the latter dwell the sparrow-eaters, and south of these, a people who are the Qataphri of frankincense: this is the country whence the beet comes. Below this people, there are the Pesendare who live on elephants. In the innermost part of the country there is a region where the cynnamom grows.

The end of Kush, the Outer: 45 famous towns and nine peoples. Kush, the Inner includes the mountain Laines, whence the three lakes of Nilos receive the snow. To the east of this mountain dwell cannibals. In the inner part of their territory there are the Rapsaye Kushaye. The Kushaye people who eat fish are found as far as the western Oqeanos. South of the uninhabited land, one finds the Hesperian Kushaye and others, who dwell in the water and live on fruits. To the east of these Kushaye, there is the country of the white elephant, called Ataur, and a nameless mountain. The end of Kush with its 43 towns.