Simplify the following text for a Grade 9 native English-speaking person.
Original: It was called Bambotus by Pliny the Elder ( from Phoenician `` behemoth '' for hippopotamus ) and Nias by Claudius Ptolemy .
Simplified: Pliny the Elder called it Bambotus ( from a word meaning `` hippopotamus '' ) and Claudius Ptolemy called it Nias .