Article ID: CBB025465186

«Restez barbares et ichtyophages; vous en vivrez plus tranquilles, meilleurs peut-être et sûrement plus heureux», ou l’illustre destinée des misérables Ichtyophages (5e s. av. J.C. - 5e s. ap. J.C.) (2013)

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How and why the Fish Eaters ("Ichtyophagi"), far from staying obscure people, became famous in the Greco-Roman world, is the subject of this paper. The Fish Eaters appear for the first time in Herodotus’ narrative. The historian refers to two tribes. In particular he describes in a vivid manner how the king Cambyses sent several "Ichtyophagi" to spy on the king of Ethiopia. Like most of educated Greeks, Alexander and his companions were certainly aware of this famous story involving the Fish Eaters. As a matter of fact, Nearchus gave this name to some destitute tribes of Fish Eaters that he observed while skirting the barren coast of Gedrosia (in today’s Iran and Pakistan). No doubt the amazing description that he published became quickly famous among his audience. This fact is established by an extremely short fragment of Ennius, in which the poet vaguely alludes to sheep eating fish somewhere near the sea. In reality this obscure line shows that Ennius was referring to a marvellous fact (a "paradoxon") borrowed from Nearchus and related to the "Ichtyophagi": according to Alexander’s admiral, the Fish Eaters were forced to feed their livestock with dried fish, because of the lack of grasslands. Some time before the Italian poet, when the Ptolemaic explorers of the Red Sea depicted in detail the various tribes of African "Ichtyophagi," they certainly had in mind their famous Gedrosian counterparts. Be that as it may, from the late Hellenistic period till the end of Antiquity the "Ichtyophagi" were well known, as is shown by many texts. As a consequence of this fame, Arrian may have emphasized the description of the Fish Eaters in his "Indica," being aware of his audience’s literary taste.

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Authors & Contributors
Marcotte, Didier
Geus, Klaus
Podestà, Simone
Leroy, Pierre-Olivier
Salles, Jean-François
Gómez Espelosín, Francisco Javier
Concepts
Geography
Explorers and Exploration
Navigation
Surveying
Ethnography
Travel; exploration
Time Periods
Ancient
Republic of Venice (697–1797)
Renaissance
19th century
18th century
16th century
Places
Hellenistic world
Indian Ocean
Macedonia
Mediterranean region
Persian Gulf
Egypt
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