"The Ethiopians conceive themselves," says Diodorus Siculus (Lib. III),
"to be of greater antiquity than any other nation; and it is probable
that, born under the sun's path, its warmth may have ripened them earlier
than other men. They suppose themselves also to be the inventors of divine
worship, of festivals, of solemn assemblies, of sacrifices, and every
religious practice. They affirm that the Egyptians are one of their
colonies."

The Egyptians themselves, in later days, affirmed that they and their
civilization came from the south and from the black tribes of Punt, and
certainly "at the earliest period in which human remains have been
recovered Egypt and Lower Nubia appear to have formed culturally and
racially one land."[13]

The forging ahead of Egypt in culture was mainly from economic causes.
Ethiopia, living in a much poorer land with limited agricultural
facilities, held to the old arts and customs, and at the same time lost
the best elements of its population to Egypt, absorbing meantime the
oncoming and wilder Negro tribes from the south and west. Under the old
empire, therefore, Ethiopia remained in comparative poverty, except as
some of its tribes invaded Egypt with their handicrafts.

As soon as the civilization below the Second Cataract reached a height
noticeably above that of Ethiopia, there was continued effort to protect
that civilization against the incursion of barbarians. Hundreds of
campaigns through thousands of years repeatedly subdued or checked the
blacks and brought them in as captives to mingle their blood with the
Egyptian nation; but the Egyptian frontier was not advanced.

A separate and independent Ethiopian culture finally began to arise during