Aethicus Ister (Aethicus Donares, Aethicus of Istria or Aethicus Ister) was the protagonist of the 7th/8th-century Cosmographia, purportedly written by a man of church Hieronymus (Jerome, but not the Church Father Jerome), who purportedly censors an even older work for producing the book as its censored version.[1] It is a forgery from the Middle Ages.[1]
It describes the travels of Aethicus around the world, and includes descriptions of foreign peoples in usually less than favourable terms. It displays a flat Earth cosmology, maybe for making sport of it.[2] There are also numerous passages which deal directly with the legends of Alexander the Great.[3] Heinz Löwe (1913–1991) found a striking correspondence between the letters of Aethicus[clarify] and the Old Turkic script.[4] He considers Aethicus to be of late Avar ethnicity from the Carpathian basin.[5] Aethicus is believed by Franz Brunhölzl to have been a Scythian that lived in the region of present day Dobrogea, Romania.[6]