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Diodorus: “Now 
the Ethiopians, as historians relate, were the first of all people
and the proofs of this statement, they say, are clear. They say that practically everyone agrees that they did not come into their land as immigrants from abroad but were natives of it and so are rightly described as “sprung from the land” (autochthones; or: indigenous). Furthermore, it is clear to everyone that those who dwell beneath the noon-day sun were, in all likelihood, the first to be generated by the earth. This is because, insofar as the warmth of the sun dried up the earth when it was still wet and impregnated it with life at the time when the universe was generated, it is reasonable to suppose that the region which was nearest the sun was the first to bring forth living creatures. (2) They say that they were the first to be taught to honour the gods and to hold sacrifices, processions, festivals, and the other rites by which people honour the deity. They also say that the consequence of this is that their piety has been published abroad among all people, and it is generally held that the sacrifices practised among the Ethiopians are those which are the most pleasing to the heavens. (3) As witness to this they call upon the poet who is perhaps the oldest and certainly the most venerated among the Greeks. For in the Iliad, he represents both Zeus and the rest of the gods with him as absent on a visit to Ethiopia to share in the sacrifices and the banquet which were given annually by the Ethiopians for all the gods together: “For Zeus had yesterday to Ocean’s bounds / Set forth to feast with Ethiopia’s faultless men, / And he was followed there by all the gods” [Homer, Iliad, 1.423‑424]. (4) They also state that, by reason of their piety towards the deity, they clearly enjoy the favour of the gods, inasmuch as they have never experienced the rule of an invader from abroad. For they have always enjoyed a state of freedom and of peace one with another, and although many and powerful rulers have made war upon them, not one of these has succeeded in his undertaking.”
the Ethiopians, as historians relate, were the first of all people and the proofs of this statement, they say, are clear. They say that practically everyone agrees that they did not come into their land as immigrants from abroad but were natives of it and so are rightly described as “sprung from the land” (autochthones; or: indigenous). Furthermore, it is clear to everyone that those who dwell beneath the noon-day sun were, in all likelihood, the first to be generated by the earth. This is because, insofar as the warmth of the sun dried up the earth when it was still wet and impregnated it with life at the time when the universe was generated, it is reasonable to suppose that the region which was nearest the sun was the first to bring forth living creatures. (2) They say that they were the first to be taught to honour the gods and to hold sacrifices, processions, festivals, and the other rites by which people honour the deity. They also say that the consequence of this is that their piety has been published abroad among all people, and it is generally held that the sacrifices practised among the Ethiopians are those which are the most pleasing to the heavens. (3) As witness to this they call upon the poet who is perhaps the oldest and certainly the most venerated among the Greeks. For in the Iliad, he represents both Zeus and the rest of the gods with him as absent on a visit to Ethiopia to share in the sacrifices and the banquet which were given annually by the Ethiopians for all the gods together: “For Zeus had yesterday to Ocean’s bounds / Set forth to feast with Ethiopia’s faultless men, / And he was followed there by all the gods” [Homer, Iliad, 1.423‑424]. (4) They also state that, by reason of their piety towards the deity, they clearly enjoy the favour of the gods, inasmuch as they have never experienced the rule of an invader from abroad. For they have always enjoyed a state of freedom and of peace one with another, and although many and powerful rulers have made war upon them, not one of these has succeeded in his undertaking.”
