[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Greeks in Bactria and India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.tarn-1938) › c14.14 # The Greeks in Bactria and India c14.14 The Greeks in Bactria and India c14.14 - **Language:** English ### [c14.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.tarn-1938.c14.14) Gouriane, a town in Margiane, is Ptolemy’s one mistake, if it be a mistake, for it appears from Polybius that the proper Greek name of the place was τὰ Γουρίανα.³ What probably happened is that the native name was something like Ghurian (a name existing to-day, but farther southward);⁴ Ptolemy’s source, an unlearned trader, turned it into Gouriane, not knowing any better, and Ptolemy, usually careful in this respect, overlooked it. Beside ’Οζήνη, there is a sort of parallel in Eratosthenes’ term Ariana for the Iranian plateau, which is not an -ανη name but only the Pahlavi āryān⁵ in Greek letters. - [Previous: c14.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.tarn-1938.c14.13) - [Next: c14.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.tarn-1938.c14.15) - [Up: c14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.tarn-1938.c14) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.tarn-1938.c14.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.tarn-1938.c14.14) · Pramāṇa