Αλεξανδρου αναβασις 5.6

5.6.1

ὅτῳ δὴ τὰ τῆς Ἀσίας ὧδε ἔχει ὡς πρὸς τοῦ Ταύρου τε καὶ τοῦ Καυκάσου τέμνεσθαι ἀπὸ ἀνέμου ζεφύρου ὡς ἐπὶ ἀπηλιώτην ἄνεμον τὴν Ἀσίαν, τούτῳ δύο μὲν αὗται μέγισται πρὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ταύρου τῆς Ἀσίας μοῖραι γίγνονται, ἡ μὲν ἐς μεσημβρίαν τε καὶ πρὸς νότον ἄνεμον [τοῦ Ταύρου] κεκλιμένη, ἡ δὲ ἐπʼ ἄρκτον τε καὶ ἄνεμον βορρᾶν.

If anyone takes this view of Asia, that it is divided by the Tauros and the Kaukasos from west to east then he finds that it is formed by the Tauros itself into two great sections, one of which lies towards the south and the south wind, and the other towards the north and the north wind. The southern section is divided into four parts, of which, according to Eratosthenes, India is the largest, this being also the opinion of Megasthenes who resided with Siburtios the satrap of Arakhosia and who tells us that he frequently visited Sandrakottos the king of the Indians. They say that the smallest part is that which is bounded by the river Euphrates, and which extends to our own inland sea, while the other two parts which lie between the river Euphrates and the Indus will scarcely bear comparison with India even if both were taken together. They also say that India is bounded towards the east and the east wind as far as the south by the Great Sea, and towards the north by Mount Kaukasos, as far as its junction with the Tauros, while the river Indus cuts it off from other countries towards the west and the north-west wind as far as the Great Sea. The larger portion of India is a plain, and this, as they conjecture, has been formed from the alluvial deposits of the rivers, just as in other countries plains which are not far off from the sea are generally formations of their respective rivers, a fact which explains why the names of such countries were applied of old to their rivers. There is, for instance, in the country of Asia the plain of the Hermos, a river which rises in the mountain of Mother Dindymene, and on its way to the sea flows past the Aiolian city of Smyrna. There is again another Lydian plain, called that of the Kaystros, which is a Lydian river, and another plain in Mysia, that of the Kaikos, and another in Karia, that of the Maiandros, which extends as far as the Ionian city of Miletos. In the case of Egypt again, the two historians, Herodotos, and Hekataios (or at any rate the author of the work on Egypt, if he was other than Hekataios) agree in declaring that in the same way Egypt was the gift of its river, and clear proofs have been adduced by Herodotos in support of this view, so that even the country itself got perhaps its name from the river, for that in early times Aigyptos was the name of the river which the Egyptians and other nations now call the Nile the words of Homer sufficiently prove, since he says that Menelaos anchored his ships at the mouth of the river Aigyptos. Now if the rivers we have mentioned, which are of no great size, can each of them separately form in its course to the sea a large tract of new country, by carrying down silt and slime from the upland districts in which they have their sources, there can be no good reason for doubting that India is mostly a plain which has been formed by the alluvial deposits of its rivers. For if the Hermos and the Kaystros and the Kaikos and the Maiandros and the other rivers of Asia which fall into the inland sea were united, they could not be compared in volume of water with one of the Indian rivers, and much less with the Ganges, which is the greatest of them all, and with which neither the volume of the Egyptian Nile, nor the Istros (Danube) which flows through Europe, can be for a moment compared. Nay, the whole of those rivers if combined into one would not be equal to the Indus, which is already a large river where it issues from its springs, and which after receiving as tributaries fifteen rivers, all greater than those of Asia, enters the sea still retaining its own name. Let these remarks which I have made about the country of the Indians suffice for the present, while I reserve all other particulars for my description of India.

5.6.2

τῆς δὲ ὡς ἐπὶ νότον Ἀσίας τετραχῇ αὖ τεμνομένης μεγίστην μὲν μοῖραν τὴν Ἰνδῶν γῆν ποιεῖ Ἐρατοσθένης τε καὶ Μεγασθένης, ὃς ξυνῆν μὲν Σιβυρτίῳ τῷ σατράπῃ τῆς Ἀραχωσίας, πολλάκις δὲ λέγει ἀφικέσθαι παρὰ Σανδράκοττον τὸν Ἰνδῶν βασιλέα, ἐλαχίστην δὲ ὅσην ὁ Εὐφράτης ποταμὸς ἀπείργει ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἐντὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν θάλασσαν. δύο δὲ αἱ μεταξὺ Εὐφράτου τε ποταμοῦ καὶ τοῦ Ἰνδοῦ ἀπειργόμεναι αἱ δύο ξυντεθεῖσαι μόλις ἄξιαι τῇ Ἰνδῶν γῇ ξυμβαλεῖν.

5.6.3

ἀπείργεσθαι δὲ τὴν Ἰνδῶν χώραν πρὸς μὲν ἕω τε καὶ ἀπηλιώτην ἄνεμον ἔστε ἐπὶ μεσημβρίαν τῇ μεγάλῃ θαλάσσῃ· τὸ πρὸς βορρᾶν δὲ αὐτῆς ἀπείργειν τὸν Καύκασον τὸ ὄρος ἔστε ἐπὶ τοῦ Ταύρου τὴν ξυμβολήν· τὴν δὲ ὡς πρὸς ἑσπέραν τε καὶ ἄνεμον Ἰάπυγα ἔστε ἐπὶ τὴν μεγάλην θάλασσαν ὁ Ἰνδὸς ποταμὸς ἀποτέμνεται. καὶ ἔστι πεδίον ἡ πολλὴ αὐτῆς, καὶ τοῦτο, ὡς εἰκάζουσιν, ἐκ τῶν ποταμῶν προςκεχωσμένον. εἶναι γὰρ οὖν καὶ

5.6.4

τῆς ἄλλης χώρας ὅσα πεδία οὐ πρόσω θαλάσσης τὰ πολλὰ τῶν ποταμῶν παρʼ ἑκάστοις ποιήματα· ὣς δὲ καὶ τῆς χώρας τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν τοῖς ποταμοῖς ἐκ παλαιοῦ προσκεῖσθαι, καθάπερ Ἕρμου τέ τι πεδίον λέγεσθαι, ὃς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν γῆν ἀνίσχων ἐξ ὄρους Μητρὸς Δινδυμήνης παρὰ Σμύρναν πόλιν Αἰολικὴν ἐκδιδοῖ ἐς θάλασσαν, καὶ ἄλλο Καΰστρου, πεδίον Λύδιον καὶ Λυδίου ποταμοῦ, καὶ Καΐκου ἄλλο ἐν Μυσίᾳ καὶ Μαιάνδρου τὸ Καρικὸν ἔστε ἐπὶ Μίλητον πόλιν Ἰωνικήν.

5.6.5

Αἴγυπτόν τε Ἡρόδοτός τε καὶ Ἑκαταῖος οἱ λογοποιοί, ἢ εἰ δή του ἄλλου ἢ Ἑκαταίου ἐστὶ τὰ ἀμφὶ τῇ γῇ τῇ Αἰγυπτίᾳ ποιήματα, δῶρόν τε τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἀμφότεροι ὡσαύτως ὀνομάζουσιν καὶ οὐκ ἀμαυροῖς τεκμηρίοις ὅτι ταύτῃ ἔχει Ἡροδότῳ ἐπιδέδεικται, ὡς καὶ τὴν γῆν αὐτὴν τυχὸν τοῦ ποταμοῦ εἶναι ἐπώνυμον. Αἴγυπτος γὰρ τὸ παλαιὸν ὁ ποταμὸς ὅτι ἐκαλεῖτο, ὅντινα νῦν Νεῖλον Αἰγύπτιοί τε καὶ οἱ ἔξω Αἰγύπτου ἄνθρωποι ὀνομάζουσιν, ἱκανὸς τεκμηριῶσαι Ὅμηρος, λέγων ἐπὶ τῇ ἐκβολῇ τοῦ Αἰγύπτου ποταμοῦ τὸν Μενέλεων στῆσαι τὰς νέας.

5.6.6

εἰ δὴ οὖν εἷς τε ποταμὸς παρʼ ἑκάστοις καὶ οὐ μεγάλοι οὗτοι ποταμοὶ ἱκανοὶ γῆν πολλὴν ποιῆσαι ἐς θάλασσαν προχεόμενοι, ὁπότε ἰλὺν καταφέροιεν καὶ πηλὸν ἐκ τῶν ἄνω τόπων ἔνθενπερ αὐτοῖς αἱ πηγαί εἰσιν, οὐδὲ ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἰνδῶν ἄρα χώρας ἐς ἀπιστίαν ἰέναι ἄξιον, ὅπως πεδίον τε ἡ πολλή ἐστι καὶ ἐκ τῶν ποταμῶν τὸ πεδίον ἔχει προσκεχωσμένον.

5.6.7

Ἕρμον μὲν γὰρ καὶ Κάϋστρον καὶ Κάϊκόν τε καὶ Μαίανδρον ἢ ὅσοι πολλοὶ ποταμοὶ τῆς Ἀσίας ἐς τήνδε τὴν ἐντὸς θάλασσαν ἐκδιδοῦσιν οὐδὲ σύμπαντας ξυντεθέντας ἑνὶ τῶν Ἰνδῶν ποταμῶν ἄξιον ξυμβαλεῖν πλήθους ἕνεκα τοῦ ὕδατος, μὴ ὅτι τῷ Γάγγῃ τῷ μεγίστῳ, ὅτῳ οὔτε τὸ τοῦ Νείλου ὕδωρ τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου οὔτε ὁ Ἴστρος ὁ κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην ῥέων ἄξιοι ξυμβαλεῖν,

5.6.8

ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τῷ Ἰνδῷ ποταμῷ ἐκεῖνοί γε πάντες ξυμμιχθέντες ἐς ἴσον ἔρχονται, ὃς μέγας τε εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τῶν πηγῶν ἀνίσχει καὶ πεντεκαίδεκα ποταμοὺς πάντας τῶν Ἀσιανῶν μείζονας παραλαβὼν καὶ τῇ ἐπωνυμίᾳ κρατήσας οὕτως ἐκδιδοῖ ἐς θάλασσαν. ταῦτά μοι ἐν τῷ παρόντι περὶ Ἰνδῶν τῆς χώρας λελέχθω· τὰ δὲ ἄλλα ἀποκείσθω ἐς τὴν Ἰνδικὴν ξυγγραφήν. τὸ δὲ ζεῦγμα τὸ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰνδοῦ ποταμοῦ ὅπως