[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Foreign](https://indike.org/pramana/inf) › [Latin](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la) › [Principate (31 BCE – 300 CE)](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial) › [Naturalis historia](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder) › 6.56 # Naturalis historia 6.56: India: extent, Megasthenes and Dionysius, the Ganges and its peoples, Palibothra and the Prasii, the Indus and its peoples, Nysa and Mount Meros Naturalis historia 6.56 - **Language:** Latin ### [6.56](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder.6.56) Sed unde plane constent gentes, Hemodi montes adsurgunt Indorumque gens incipit, non Eoo tantum mari adiacens, verum et meridiano quod Indicum appellavimus. quae pars orienti est adversa, recto praetenditur spatio ad flexum et initio Indici maris |XVIII| |LXXV| colligit, deinde quae se flexit in meridiem, XXIIII. LXXV, ut Eratosthenes tradit, usque ad Indum amnem, qui est ab occidente finis Indiae. > CHAP. 21.—THE NATIONS OF INDIA. But we come now to nations as to which there is a more general agreement among writers. Where the chain of Emodus rises, the nations of India begin, which borders not only on the Eastern sea, but on the Southern as well, which we have already mentioned as being called the Indian Ocean. That part which faces the east runs in a straight line a distance of eighteen hundred and seventy-five miles until it comes to a bend, at which the Indian Ocean begins. Here it takes a turn to the south, and continues to run in that direction a distance of two thousand four hundred and seventy-five miles, according to Eratosthenes, as far as the river Indus, the boundary of India on the west. Many authors have represented the entire length of the Indian coast as being forty days' and nights' sail, and as being, from north to south, two thousand eight hundred and fifty miles. Agrippa states its length to be three thousand three hundred miles, and its breadth, two thousand three hundred. Posidonius has given its measurement as lying from north-east to south-east, placing it opposite to Gaul, of which country he has given the measurement as lying from north-west to south-west; making the whole of India to lie due west of Gaul. Hence, as he has shewn by undoubted proofs, India lying opposite to Gaul must be refreshed by the blowing of that wind, and derive its salubrity there- from. > — John Bostock & Henry Thomas Riley 1855, The Natural History of Pliny - [Previous: 6.52](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder.6.52) - [Next: 6.57](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder.6.57) - [Up: 6](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder.6) ## Translations (1) - [The Natural History of Pliny](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder~en-bostock-riley.6.21.1) — John Bostock & Henry Thomas Riley 1855, English --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder.6.56](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder.6.56) · Pramāṇa