This term was used by the ancients in two senses. In its widest acceptation Ethiopia comprised the vast and unexplored country lying between the Red Sea and the Atlantic, and along the line of the equator northwards to the inhabited countries bordering on the Mediterranean. In a more restricted sense it was applied to the kingdom of Meroë, which, in contradistinction to the other, was called the civilized Ethiopia. An account of this country, as far as it has been explored, will be found under the heads AFRICA, ABYSSINIA, MEROË, &c.