{"id":24204,"date":"2026-11-11T10:31:03","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T15:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/?p=24204"},"modified":"2026-11-11T10:34:43","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T15:34:43","slug":"ethiopians-and-trogodytes-roman-military-report-on-clashes-late-first-century-ce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/2026\/11\/ethiopians-and-trogodytes-roman-military-report-on-clashes-late-first-century-ce\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopians and Trogodytes: Roman military report on clashes (late first century CE)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ancient author: <\/em><\/strong>Unknown Roman military reporter (second half of the first century CE), E. G. Turner, \u201cPapyrus 40 \u2018Della Raccolta Milanese,\u2019\u201d Journal of Roman Studies<\/i> 40 (1950): 57\u201359 (link<\/a>) = Tormod Eide et al., eds., Fontes Historiae Nubiorum<\/i>, 4 vols. (University of Bergen, Department of Classics, 1994-2000), 3:932-935, no. 224.<\/p>\n

Comments: <\/em><\/strong>Despite its short length, fragmentary condition, and apparent insignificance, this report on papyrus \u2013 along with other evidence in this series \u2013 illustrates how important military networks could be for the dissemination of information about specific populations. This was information which could then be redeployed in written ethnographic accounts about peoples such as the Ethiopians and Trogodytes \/ Troglodytes (on which see, for instance, Agatharchides at this link<\/a>). So although this example is far from an extensive characterization of either Ethiopians or Trogodytes, evidence like this regarding the dissemination of information in imperial networks further confirms Strabo’s claim that oral reports from soldiers (alongside other travelers such as merchants) played a key role in the production of descriptions of peoples (link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Part of a series on\u00a0military networks and the dissemination of information about peoples:<\/em><\/p>\n