It is one of the legendary peoples postulated at the extremity of the known world (from the perspective of the Greeks), in this case in the extreme south, contrasting with the Hyperboreans in the extreme north.
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while Reclus (1886) noted the opinion of Schweinfurth (1874) and before him Lejean (1862?) thought that they might be identified with the Makaberab tribe of Atbarah (in what is now northeastern Sudan).