Aethicus ister

Aethicus Ister was a Protagonist of 7th/8th century Cosmographia written by one Pseudo-Jerome. The aforementioned work describes the travels of Aethicus around the world, and includes descriptions of foreign peoples in usually less than favourable terms. There are also numerous passages which deal directly with the legends of Alexander the Great (See Anderson, 1932). The Latin of the work is sometimes vulgar and facile, other times cryptic and opaque, owing in part to pseudo-Jerome's extremely difficult vocabulary of Graecisms and Latin/Greek compounds. (See Herren, 2001). The author was possibly a Merovingian Frank associated with the translator of Pseudo-Methodius (? Petrus Monachus); but his knowledge of Greek (a rare feat in Western Europe at the time) seems to indicate an association with the Canterbury school of Archbishop Theodore in the late 7th century. See recent articles by Michael Herren and Richard Pollard.