Paropamisadae
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Paropamisadae or Parapamisadae (
Name
Paropamisadae is the
In the Greek language and Latin, "Paropamisus"[7][8] (Παροπαμισός, Paropamisós)[9] came to mean the Hindu Kush.[5] In many Greek and Latin sources, particularly editions of
The name was also applied to a nearby river, probably the Obi river.
Geography and peoples
Strabo describes the region as follows:
The geographical position of the tribes is as follows: along the Indus are the Paropamisadae, above whom lies the Paropamisus mountain; then, towards the south, the
Sandrocottus, upon terms of intermarriage and of receiving in exchange 500 elephants.Alongside the Paropamisadae, on the west, are situated the Arii, and alongside the Arachoti and Gedrosii the Drangae; but the Arii are situated alongside the Drangae on the north as well as on the west, almost surrounding a small part of their country.[4]
Thus the region was north of
The nations who composed the Paropamisadae are recorded as the Cabolitae (Καβολῖται) in the north near modern Kabul; the Parsii (Πάρσιοι) in the northwest, the Ambautae (Ἀμβαῦται) in the east and the Par(g)yetae (Παρ(γ)υῆται) in the south, who were also found in Arachosia. The major cities of the land were the city of Ortospana (Ὀρτοσπάνα) or Carura (Κάρουρα), probably identifiable with Kabul,[14] Gauzaca (Γαύζακα), probably modern Ghazni, Capissa (Καπίσσα), modern-day Kapisa, and Parsia (Παρσία), the capital of the Parsii.[citation needed]
History
In the ancient
In the 320s BC, Alexander the Great conquered the entire Achaemenid Empire, beginning the Hellenistic period. The Greek name Παροπαμισάδαι or Παροπαμισσός was used extensively in Greek literature to describe the conquests of Alexander and those of the kings of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Indo-Greek Kingdom, from the 3rd to the 1st centuries BC.
After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the area came under control of the
See also
- Indo-Greek kingdom
- Greco-Bactrian kingdom
References
Citations
- ^ Eggermont, Alexander's Campaigns in Sind and Baluchistan 1975, p. 175.
- ^ Eggermont, Alexander's Campaigns in Sind and Baluchistan (1975, p. 176, 177): "One should, therefore, be careful to distinguish the limited geographical unit of Gandhāra from the political one bearing the same name."
- ^ Perfrancesco Callieri, INDIA ii. Historical Geography, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 15 December 2004.
- ^ a b Eggermont, Alexander's Campaigns in Sind and Baluchistan 1975, pp. 175–176.
- ^ a b c d Short, Charles; et al. (1879), "Paropamisus or Paropanisus", A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- ^ Eggermont, Alexander's Campaigns in Sind and Baluchistan 1975, p. 176.
- De Situ Orbis, Bk. I, Ch. 15, §2.
- Nat. Hist., Bk. VI, Ch. 17, §20.
- Geog., Bk. XV, p. 689.
- Geog., Bk. VI, Ch. 11, §17.
- ^ Versions of Ptolemy's 9th regional map of Asia at Wikicommons.
- Anab., Bk. V, Ch. 4, §5.
- ^ Eggermont, Alexander's Campaigns in Sind and Baluchistan 1975, pp. 175–183.
- ^ Sir William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography: Iabadius-Zymethus (J. Murray, 1873) p 553.
Bibliography
- Eggermont, Pierre Herman Leonard (1975), Alexander's Campaigns in Sind and Baluchistan and the Siege of the Brahmin Town of Harmatelia, Peeters Publishers, ISBN 978-90-6186-037-2
- The Greeks in Bactria and India by W.W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press
External links
- Ptolemy's section on the Paropanisadae in English translation
- John Watson McCrindle's Ancient India as Described in Ptolemy