Citation with stable link: Philip A. Harland, 'Ethiopians: Alexander Polyhistor on Memnonians as wild and war-like (mid-first century BCE),' Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World, last modified March 26, 2024, https://philipharland.com/Blog/?p=18312.

Ancient authors: Alexander Polyhistor, FGrHist 273 F130, as cited by Stephanos of Byzantion, Ethnika at Memnones (link to FGrHist).

Comments: This is apparently the only surviving comment of Polyhistor on the Ethiopians.  Although he often tends towards the idea of wise barbarians with respect to the elites of certain peoples, these Ethiopians evidently do not fall under that category for Polyhistor. The designation Memnonians has to do with the legendary king Memnon of Ethiopia.

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Memnonians (Memnones): An Ethiopian people (ethnos), a word which, as Polyhistor says, means “wild or warlike and hard to deal with.”

Μέμνονες· ἔθνος Αἰθιοπικόν, ὃ ἑρμηνεύεται, ὡς ὁ Πολυίστωρ φησίν, ἀγρίους τινὰς ἢ μαχίμους καὶ χαλεπούς.

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Source of the translation: Translation by Harland.