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Γεωγραφικά 15.2

Ancient India as Described in Classical Literature (Strabo, book 15) 15.2

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English

15.2.1

1. Next to India is Ariane, the first portion of the country subject to the Persians, lying beyond the river Indus, and the first also of the upper Satrapies without the Tauros. It is bounded on the north by the same mountains as India, and on the south by the same sea and the same river, the Indus, which forms the boundary between itself and India. It stretches thence towards the west as far as the line drawn from the Kaspian Gates to Karmania, so that its shape is quadrilateral. The southern side begins at the mouth of the Indus and Patalene, and terminates at Karmania and the mouth of the Persian Gulf, in a cape which projects a good distance southwards (Koh Mubarak, Cape Carpella). It then makes a bend in the direction of Persis. The first people who inhabit the country west from the mouth of the Indus are the Arbies, who have the same name as the river Arbis, which divides them from their next neighbours, the Oritai. According to Nearchos the coast-line of the Arbies extends to about 1000 stadia. This country also forms a part of India. Then succeeds the nation of the Oritai, which is autonomous. The voyage along their coast extends to 1800 stadia; that along the coast of the Ichthyophagoi, who succeed, to 7400, and that along the coast of the Karmanioi as far as Persis to 3700; so that the whole distance is 13,900 stadia.

15.2.2

2. The country of the Ichthyophagoi is for the most part flat, and has no trees except the palm, a kind of thorn, and the tamarisk. There is also a scarcity of water and of food, such as is obtained by cultivating the soil. The inhabitants and their cattle alike live upon fish, and obtain their water supply from showers of rain and from wells. The flesh of the cattle has a smell of fish. They construct their dwellings, for the most part, with the bones of whales and with oyster-shells, employing the ribs for beams and supports and the jaw-bones for doorways. The bones of the spine serve as mortars, in which they pound the fish after having been dried in the sun. They make a kind of bread by mixing a little flour with this fish-powder; for they have grinding mills although they have no iron. This is all the less surprising since they can be brought from other parts. But how do they hollow out the millstones again when worn away? With the same stones, they say, with which their spears and arrows, which are hardened in the fire, are sharpened. Some of the fish are broiled in pans, but they are for the most part eaten raw. The fish are caught by nets made from the bark of the palm.

15.2.3

3. Above the Ichthyophagoi is situated Gedrosia, which is less scorched by the sun than India, but more so than any other country in Asia. It is without fruits and without water, except in summer, and is thus not much better than the country of the Ichthyophagoi. It produces, however, aromatic plants, particularly spikenard and myrrh, so that the army of Alexander used them on the march for tent roofs and beds, and thus breathed an air at once fragrant and more salubrious than usual. The summer was purposely chosen for leaving India, for at that season Gedrosia has its rains, and the rivers and the wells become full, but in winter they fail. The rains fall in the higher parts to the north and near the mountains. The rivers then swell, the plains near the sea are watered, and the wells are sufficiently filled. Alexander sent before him persons to dig wells and to prepare stations for himself and the fleet.

15.2.4

4. Having made three divisions of his army, he advanced himself with one of them through Gedrosia, keeping at most a distance from the sea of 500 stadia, that he might make preparations along the coast for the benefit of his fleet. He was frequently in close proximity to the sea, although the beach was impracticable and rugged. The second division he sent on before him, under Krateros, through the interior, that he might reduce Ariane, while advancing to the places to which Alexander himself was directing his march. The fleet he entrusted to Nearchos and Onesikritos, the pilot-in-chief, instructing them to take up convenient positions as they followed him, and to sail along the coast parallel to his line of march.

15.2.5

5. Nearchos relates that while Alexander was marching away from India, he himself, in autumn, about the time when the Pleiades rise after sunset, began his voyage, even though the winds were contrary, because the barbarians were attacking his troops and trying to drive them out of the country. They had waxed bold after the king’s departure, and were bent on asserting their liberty. Krateros again setting out from the Hydaspes went through the country of the Arachotians and Drangians into Karmania. But Alexander suffered sorely all throughout his march, as his road lay through a miserably barren country. He was equally unfortunate in the matter of provisions, which were not only brought from a distance, but brought so seldom and in such small quantities, that the army suffered greatly from hunger, while the beasts of burden broke down, and the baggage was abandoned both on the march and in the camp. The army was indebted for its salvation to the dates and edible pith of the palm-trees. Nearchos says that Alexander, being impressed with the current report that Semiramis had effected her escape from India with about twenty men and Cyrus with about seven, was ambitious, though aware of the difficulties and dangers of the enterprise, to conduct his large army through the same country in safety and triumphantly.

15.2.6

6. In addition to the want of provisions, the scorching heat and the depth of the sand and its burning heat were hard to bear. In some places, too, there were high ridges of sand, so that, besides the difficulty of lifting the legs as out of a deep hole, there were ascents and descents. It was necessary also, on account of the watering-places, to make long marches of 200, 400, and even at times of 600 stadia, and generally by night. The camp was pitched at a distance from the wells, and frequently 30 stadia away from them, to prevent the soldiers from drinking to excess from thirst; for many of them threw themselves into the water in their armour, drank of it, and sank below the surface till life was extinct, when their bodies became swollen, and corrupted the shallow waters of the cisterns. Others exhausted by thirst lay exposed to the sun in the middle of the road. Their legs and arms twitched convulsively, and they died like persons seized with cold and shivering. Some turned aside from the road to indulge in sleep, overcome with drowsiness and fatigue. Being thus left behind, some of them lost their way and perished from utter destitution and the heat, while others escaped with their lives after direful sufferings. A winter torrent again, which burst upon them in the night-time, destroyed many lives and a great quantity of baggage, besides sweeping away a considerable portion of the royal equipage. The guides through ignorance deviated so far into the interior that the sea was no longer in view. The king, perceiving what the consequence would be, set out at once in search of the coast. When he had discovered it, and by sinking wells had found there was water good for drinking, he sent for the army; afterwards he continued his march along the shore for seven days with a good supply of water. He then again marched into the interior.

15.2.7

7. There was a plant resembling the laurel, of which if any of the beasts of burden ate they died of epilepsy accompanied with foaming at the mouth. A thorn also, the fruit of which, like gourds, bestrewed the ground, was full of juice. If drops of this juice fell into the eye of any kind of animal, they made it completely blind. Many were choked by eating unripe dates. Snakes formed another source of danger; for on the sand-heaps there grew a plant under which they crept to hide themselves. Their bite was uniformly fatal. The Oritai, they said, smeared their arrows, which were made of wood and hardened in the fire, with deadly poisons. When Ptolemy was in danger of his life from a wound inflicted by one of these arrows, a person appeared to Alexander in a dream and showed him a root with leaves and branches which he told him to bruise and place upon the wound. When the king awoke from sleep and remembered the vision a search was made for the root, and it was found growing in great abundance, and was used both by himself and by others. Then the barbarians, perceiving that the antidote had been discovered, surrendered to the king. It is probable that the secret was revealed by one of those that knew the virtues of the plant, and that the mythical element was introduced into the narrative for the purpose of flattery. In sixty days after leaving the Oritai Alexander arrived at the royal city of the Gedrosioi, whence, after giving his army a short rest, he set out for Karmania.

15.2.8

8. Such is a description of the southern side of Ariane, proceeding along the maritime coast and embracing the countries lying near it in the interior inhabited by the Gedrosioi and the Oritai. Gedrosia is of vast extent, stretching so far inland that it becomes conterminous with the Drangai, the Arachotoi, and the Paropamisadai, of whom Eratosthenes has given the following description, which I cite in the absence of any better.
Ariane, he says, is bounded on the east by the Indus, on the south by the Great Sea, on the north by the Paropamisos and the mountains which continue it, as far as the Kaspian Gates, and on the west by the same limits as separate Parthyene from Media and Karmania from Paraitakene and Persis.
The breadth is the length of the Indus reckoned from the Paropamisos to its mouth, and this is 12,000, or according to some 13,000, stadia. Its length, beginning from the Kaspian Gates, as recorded in Asiatic stathmoi, is estimated in two different ways. From the Kaspian Gates through Parthyaia as far as Alexandreia of the Arioi is one and the same road. Then one road leads in a straight line through Baktriane, and the pass which leads over the mountain to Ortospana and the place where the three roads from Baktra meet in the country of the Paropamisadai. Another road deviates slightly from Aria southward to Prophthasia in Drangiane, and is prolonged thence to the borders of India and the Indus; so that this road through the Drangai and the Arachotoi is longer, extending in all to 15,300 stadia. If from this we subtract the 1300 stadia, the remainder gives us 14,000 stadia as the length of the country in a straight line. For the length of the coast is not much less, although some writers increase it by adding to its 10,000 stadia the 6000 stadia of Karmania, for they seem either to reckon it together with the gulfs, or together with the coast of Karmania within the Persian Gulf. The name of Ariane is again so extended as to include some portions of Persian and Median territory, and even some of the northern parts of the Baktrians and Sogdians, for these nations speak nearly the same language.

15.2.9

9. The order in which the nations of Ariane are placed is as follows: Along the Indus are the Paropamisadai at the base of the Paropamisos range; then towards the south are the Arachotoi, to the south of whom succeed the Gedrosenoi with the other nations who occupy the coast. The Indus runs in a parallel course along the breadth of these regions. The Indians possess partly some of the countries lying along the Indus, but these belonged formerly to the Persians. Alexander took them away from the Arianoi and established in them colonies of his own. Seleukos Nikator gave them to Sandrokottos in concluding a marriage alliance, and received in exchange 500 elephants. Westward by the side of the Paropamisadai are situated the Arioi, and the Drangai by the side of the Arachotoi and the Gedrosoi. The Arioi, however, are situated beside the Drangai, both on the north and on the west, and nearly encompass them. Baktriane is conterminous on the north both with Aria and the Paropamisadai, through whose country Alexander marched when he crossed the Kaukasos on his way to Baktra. Immediately to the west of the Arioi are the Parthyaioi and the parts around the Kaspian Gates. To the south of the Parthyaioi is the desert of Karmania, and then the remainder of Karmania and Gedrosia.

15.2.10

10. One would gain a better knowledge of the places in the mountainous regions just noticed if we describe further the route which Alexander took in pursuing the troops with Bessos from the Parthian territories to Baktra. He came first to Aria, then to the Drangai, where he put to death Philotas, the son of Parmenion, having detected his traitorous designs. He sent at the same time agents to Ekbatana to put Parmenion himself to death as an accomplice in the plot. They say that these agents, who were mounted on dromedaries, performed in eleven days a journey which ordinarily occupied thirty or forty days, and executed their commission. The Drangai, who in all other respects follow Persian modes of life, drink wine very sparingly. Tin is produced in their country. From this people Alexander came to the Euergetai, whom Cyrus so named, and to the Arachotoi, and then at the setting of the Pleiades passed through the land of the Paropamisadai. It is a mountainous region, and was covered with snow during the march, which added to its difficulty. Many villages, however, lay on their route well supplied with everything except oil, and when reached relieved their distress. On their left hand they had the summits of the mountains. The southern parts of the Paropamisos belong to India and Ariana, the northern parts towards the west are Baktrian ... to the Baktrian of the Barbarians. Having wintered there with India above on the right, and having founded a city, he passed over the summits of the mountains into Baktriane. The route was bare of everything except here and there a terebinth shrub, and provisions ran so short that the soldiers had to eat the flesh of the beasts of burden, and to eat it raw for want of firewood. But silphium grew in abundance, and this made the raw meat of easier digestion. Alexander, on the fifteenth day after leaving the city he had founded and his winter quarters, arrived at Adrapsa, a city of Baktriane.

15.2.11

11. Somewhere about this part of the country bordering on India is situated Choarene, which of all the places subject to the Parthyaioi is the nearest to India. It is distant 19,000 stadia from Ariane through the country of the Arachotoi and the mountainous region before mentioned. Krateros passed through this country reducing on his way those who refused submission, while at the same time he hastened with all possible expedition to form a junction with the king. The two armies, consisting of infantry, almost simultaneously entered Karmania, and shortly afterwards the fleet under Nearchos sailed into the Persian Gulf, having undergone great distress and danger by wandering from its course and encountering whales of enormous size.

15.2.12

12. It is probable that those engaged in this voyage exaggerated many of its circumstances; but yet they told their story, while at the same time indicating the sufferings to which they were exposed, because their apprehensions outran their real danger. What most alarmed them was the magnitude of the whales, which occasioned a great commotion in the sea all at once, and raised so dense a mist by their blowing that the sailors could not see where they stood. But when the pilots informed the sailors, who were alarmed at the occurrence and did not know what caused it, that they were animals which would quickly take themselves off on hearing the sound of the trumpet and the clapping of their hands, Nearchos thereupon impelled the vessels in the direction of the surges which obstructed their course, and at the same time frightened the animals with the sound of the trumpet. The whales dived, and then rose again at the prows of the vessels, so as to furnish the appearance of a sea-fight, but they very soon made off.

15.2.13

13. Those who now sail to India speak of the size of these animals and of their appearances, but say they do not come either in shoals or frequently, but are scared away by shouts and the sound of the trumpet. They state also that they do not come near the shore, but that the bones of those which die, bared of flesh, are readily cast ashore by the waves and furnish the Ichthyophagoi with the material already spoken of for the construction of their huts. The length of these whales, according to Nearchos, is twenty-three orgyiai. Nearchos says that he proved the falsehood of a story which was firmly believed in by the sailors in his fleet—that there was an island situated in the passage which proved fatal to those who anchored on its shores, since a bark disappeared when it came to this island and was never seen again, and some men who were sent in search did not dare to land upon the island, but before sailing away from it shouted and called to the crew, when, as no one returned an answer, they took their departure. But as all blamed the island for the loss of the men, Nearchos tells us that he himself sailed to it, and having anchored, disembarked with a part of his crew and made a circuit of the island. But as he could find no trace of the men of whom he was in search, he gave up the task and returned. He informed his men that the island was not to blame for the misfortune (for were it so, the same destruction would have overtaken himself and those who disembarked with him), but that some other cause, and countless others were possible, might have caused the disappearance of the vessel.

15.2.14

14. Karmania is the last part of the sea-coast which begins from the Indus, but it lies much farther north than the mouth of that river. Its first promontory projects southward into the Great Sea. This, after forming the mouth of the Persian Gulf in the direction of the Cape, which projects from Arabia the Happy, and which is visible from it, bends towards the Persian Gulf, and is continued until it touches Persis. Karmania is of great extent in the interior, where it lies between Gedrosia and Persis, but it stretches more to the north than Gedrosia. Its great fertility shows this, for it produces everything, has trees of large growth, except however the olive, and is watered by numerous streams. Gedrosia, on the other hand, differs but little from the country of the Ichthyophagoi, so that it frequently fails to yield any produce. For this reason they keep the annual crop husbanded for several years. Onesikritos speaks of a river in Karmania which carries down gold dust, of a mine which yields silver, copper, and red lead, and of two mountains, whereof one produces arsenic and the other salt. One part of it is a desert tract where it borders on Parthyaia and Paraitakene. The productions of the soil are similar to the Persian, and among them may be mentioned the vine. The Karmanian vine, as it is called by us, often produces bunches of grapes two cubits in length. On these bunches the grapes are both very big and numerous. It is probable that the plant thrives very luxuriantly in its native soil. The people generally use asses, even in war, on account of the scarcity of horses. It is the ass which they sacrifice to Ares, who is the only god they worship, since they are a race of warriors. No one marries before he has cut off the head of his enemy and brought it up to the king, who deposits the skull in the royal treasury. The tongue is minced and mixed with flour, and the king, after tasting it himself, gives it to the man who brought it, to be eaten by himself and his family. That king is the most honoured to whom the most heads have been presented. Nearchos states that most of the customs and the speech of the Karmanians resemble those of the Persians and Medes. The passage across the mouth of the Persian Gulf does not occupy more than one day.

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