Apollodorus of Artemita

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Apollodorus of Artemita (

Ancient Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος Ἀρτεμιτηνός) was a Greek historian who flourished between 130 and 87 BC. He hailed from the Greco-Parthian city of Artemita in Apolloniatis and was a citizen of the Parthian Empire.[1]

Biography

Appollodorus's dates of birth and death are unknown. He is generally assumed to have flourished in 130-87 BC, but 99-66 BC and 66-44 BC have also been proposed as options.

Greco-Bactrians
are preserved in Strabo's work:

"The Greeks who caused
Bactrians; and they took possession, not only of Patalena, but also, on the rest of the coast, of what is called the kingdom of Saraostus and Sigerdis. In short, Apollodorus says that Bactriana is the ornament of Ariana as a whole; and, more than that, they extended their empire even as far as the Seres and the Phryni." (Strabo, Geographia, 11.11.1
)

He is also quoted for his general geographical knowledge of Central Asia:

"Accordingly, if the distance from Hyrcania to Artemita in Babylonia is eight thousand stadia, as is stated by Apollodorus of Artemita, and the distance from there to the mouth of the Persian Sea another eight thousand, and again eight thousand, or a little less, to the places that lie on the same parallel as the extremities of Ethiopia, there would remain of the above-mentioned breadth of the inhabited world the distance which I have already given,[14] from the recess of the Hyrcanian Sea to the mouth of that sea" (Strabo, Geographia, 11.11.1)

References

  1. ^ a b Chaumont 1986, pp. 160–161.

Sources

  • Chaumont, M. L. (1986). "APOLLODORUS OF ARTIMITA". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 2. pp. 160–161.