The Greeks in Bactria and India c26.9

c26.9

Strabo XI, 509. Aristobulus is probably only cited here as an authority for the Oxus being εὔπλους, for it is unlikely that he wrote late enough to use Patrocles; however, it does not matter if he did use him, for that would only mean that he understood the report as Eratosthenes did. What follows is Eratosthenes' version of Patrocles: 'Eratosthenes, citing Patrocles, says that the Oxus is navigable and brings down many goods from India to the Hyrcanian sea; thence they cross the sea to Albania and are carried by way of the Cyrus and the places beyond to the Black Sea.' Note that Eratosthenes has altered the whole sense by turning 'easily' into 'many goods'. This makes it clear, first that Strabo II, 73 is Patrocles' own version as given in his report, and secondly that Eratosthenes understood that report in sense (1) above (*i.e.* misunderstood it) and, perhaps quoting from memory, made an alteration in the report which confirmed his own misinterpretation. Strabo, who had himself later knowledge (*e.g.* from Apollodorus), duly repeats Eratosthenes' version, though, after giving Eratosthenes' views generally on this part of the world, he says impatiently (XI, 510) that Eratosthenes tries to reconcile a lot more things of the sort but that he has given quite enough; it may not have escaped his notice that what Eratosthenes says is in direct conflict with his (Strabo's) own statement that the Caspian was not navigated and not used,² for which he proceeds to give his reasons (he means of course serious navigation, not native fishing boats and so on). The only other point worth notice is the fact that you could not have a regular commercial route across, or rather coasting round, a large expanse of water without also having ports, both for shipping and money-changers; and no port, Greek or native, anywhere on the Caspian is ever mentioned by anybody.