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[German version] (Ταπροβάνη/ Taprobánē). The most common name for the island of Ceylon from the time of Onesicritus (in Str. 15,1,17 and Plin. HN 6,81) and Megasthenes (Plin. HN 6, 81) onwards, Ancient Indian Tāmraparṇi, Middle Indian Tambapaṇṇi. The unrealistic geographical ideas of Antiquity, which are probably based on Eratosthenes [2], are noteworthy: in all Greek and Latin sources T. is much larger than in reality and extends far to the west. Nevertheless, in Ptolemaeus [65] for instance, who devotes a whole chapter to T. (7,4…

[German version] (Μουσικανός/ Mousikanós). Indian king of the people of the same name ( Musicani) on the lower reaches of the Indus (Onesicritus in Str. 15,1,21f.; Arr. Anab. 6,15,5-17,2, also briefly Curt. 9,8,8-10). People have often tried to link the name wit the ancient Indian tribal name Mūṣika; however, they originated not in the north west, but in the south of India. M. had initially submitted to Alexander [4] the Great and had been received cordially, but after a failed revolt he was condemned to death. Onesicritus depicts his kingdom as a utopia steeped in Cynical philosophy. …

[German version] (Ζάβιοι/ Zábioi). Indian people according to Nonnus, Dion. 26,65 (who goes back to the Bassariká of Dionysius [32]). Their territory was probably in northwestern India, neighbouring the Dardae (cf. Steph. Byz. s. v. Δάρδαι/ Dárdai), but is not identifiable [1]. Attempts to make a comparison between the information in Nonnus (and Dionysius) and Indian realities remain tenuous (already [2], later e.g. [3], [4]; see also [5]). Rather, it is a matter of a Greek literary reflection of a mythical India, which only acci…

[German version] Called Abhisāra in Old Indian, a mountain people of northern Pakistan (Megasthenes at Arr. Ind. 4,12), on the Soanos river, an eastern tributary of the Indus River (nowadays called Sohan or Suwan [1. 1100 f.]), with King  Abisares. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography 1 G. Wirth, O. by Hinüber, (ed. and trans.) Arrian, Der Alexanderzug - Indische Geschichte, 1985.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: India, trade with | Mauryas (Μουζιρίς; Mouzirís). Sea port on the south-western coast of India in modern Kerala; the Indian Muciri of the Tamil Sangam poems [1]. Both Greek and Tamil sources describe M. as one of the most important southern Indian port and trading cities. An important trading route to the eastern coast of India originated from M. A papyrus deed (PVindob. 40822) from Egypt reports of a loan that was granted in M. [2]. Because of the unsteadiness of the coast, its exact location remains unknown. I…

[German version] (Hecat. in Steph. Byz. FGrH; Kallatiai in Hdt. 3,38). Indian ethnic group whose members according to Hdt. used to eat their parents -- an ethnological curiosity that in another citation (Hdt. 3,99) was attributed to another Indian people, the Padaioi, likewise to the Iranian Massagetae (Hdt. 1,216) and the  Issedones (Hdt. 4,26). Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography K. Karttunen, India in Early Greek Literature, 1989, 197-202.

[German version] (Μαλλοί; Malloí). Indian people at the confluence of the Punjab rivers Hydaspes, Acesines [2] and Hydraotes, with several fortified cities. In league with the Oxydracae, they violently resisted Alexander the Great. They are probably the ancient Indian Mālava who later emigrated to the east and are attested numismatically and epigraphically in Rājasthān (2nd cent. BC) and in Madhya Pradesh. Their name there is still preserved as Mālwā. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography K. K. Das Gupta, The Mālava, 1966.

[German version] The Greeks of Hellenistic Bactria ( Graeco-Bactria), who conquered southeastern Afghanistan (Paropamisadae and Arachosia) and northwestern India (modern Pakistan) in the 2nd cent. BC. After the first and most important kings ( Demetrius [10] and Menander) the kingdom disintegrated into several parts whose numerous rulers (almost 40) are mostly attested only by coins. The I. held on until the 1st cent. BC or even the 1st cent. AD, when territories were conquered by the  Parthians a…

[German version] (Μαισῶλος; Maisôlos). Indian river, has its source in the Orudia mountain range (unclear according to [1]) and flows south to the Gulf of the Ganges (Ptol. 7,1,15; 37). Either modern Godavari or rather Kistna (Krishna) at whose delta the city of Masulipatam still lies today. Dey [2] also equates the name of the river M. with Old Indian Mahāósāla, a place of pilgrimage on the Godavari. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography 1 O. Stein, s.v. Ὀρούδια, RE 18, 1526f. 2 N. L. Dey, The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India, 1927.

[German version] (Κάβουρα, Ptol. 6,18,5, erroneously there also Károura), also called Ortospana; probably what is now Kabul on the  Cophen (Sanskrit Kubhā). In the Alexander histories, C. is never mentioned; following the  Bematistai however it is cited by Plin. HN 6,61 as Ortospanum. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography A. Herrmann, s.v. Kabura, RE 10, 1452f. O. Stein, s.v. Ortospanum, RE 18, 1507f.

[German version] (Μαισωλία; Maisōlía, Ptol. 7,1,15; Masalia, Peripl. m.r. 62); the land of the Maesolians (Ptol. 7,1,79; 93) on the east coast of India. For the name and the position see Maesolus. From an unnamed harbour there, the ships departed, according to Ptolemy, for Chryse Chersonesus (Malacca). Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography 1 B. Chatterjee, The Point of Departure for Ships Bound for ‘Suvarnabhumi’, in: Journ. of Ancient Indian History 11, 1977-1978, 49-52.

[German version] I. Name Old Indian Sindhu as the name for the Indus river, is attested (with Iranian h) as Hindu in the ancient Persian inscriptions; from this came Greek Ἰνδός ( Indōs; with the Ionian loss of h) for the river and then Ἰνδική ( Indikḗ) for the country. The Latin terms are Indus and India. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) [German version] II. Early relationships Whilst relationships between north-western I. and Mesopotamia go back to the 3rd millennium BC, I. became known in Greece only in the late 6th cent. through Scylax (FGrH 709), who visited …

[German version] Name of two Indo-Greek kings. The first, who is mentioned in literary sources (Peripl. M. Rubr. 47, Just. Epit. Prologue B. 41), ruled in Paropamisadae around 180-160 BC; the second, who is known only from coins, ruled about 100 years later in the Punjab. The legends on the coins minted under both of them generally read ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΠΟΛΛΟΔΟΤΟΥ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ / maharajasa apaladatasa tratarasa. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography O. Bopearachchi, 62-64, 188-194 (Appendix I), 135 f., 346-355 (Appendix II).

[German version] (Σωπείθης; Sōpeíthēs). Indian king in the Punjab to the east of the Cathaei, allied with Alexander [4] (Arr. Anab. 6,2,2; Str. 15,1,30; Diod. Sic. 17,91; Curt. 9,1, 24-30). His land is described very positively, to some extent idealised. There is particularly frequent mention of the fearless dogs he presented to Alexander. The ancient identification of S. with the Old Indo-Iranian Saubhūti is quite uncertain, and that with the prince Sophytes (recorded only numismatically) is certainly mistaken [1. 60-72]. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography 1 R. B. White…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Alexander | Graeco-Bactria | Graeco-Bactria | Hellenistic states | India, trade with | Mauryas (τὰ Πάταλα; tà Pátala). City and military base of Alexander [4] the Great at the mouth of the Indus, probably Pātāla in Old Indian (Arr. Anab. 5,4,1; Arr. Ind. 2,6; Str. 15,1,33 among others). The name was also used for the entire region and later also for the island of Patalene (Ptol. 7,1,55), but the city is never mentioned again. In P.'s place, Barabara became the …

[German version] (Ὀξυδράκαι; Oxydrákai). Indian ethnic group in the Punjab, organized as an 'aristocratic republic'; together with the Malli, subjugated by Alexander [4] the Great in ferocious battles. The name has not been passed down to us in a uniform manner: aside from Oxydrákai in Arr. Anab. 5,22; 6,11 und from time to time, they are called Sydrákai in Str. 15,1,8, Diod. Sic. 17,98 and Arr. Ind. 4, Sudracae in Curt. 9,4,15, Sydraci in Plin. HN 6,25,92, Sugambri in Justin. 12,9,3, and Oxidragae in the Epitome Mettensis 78. In ancient Indian lists of Punjab peoples, those …

[German version] Indian dynasty in Magadha (approx. modern Bihār) on the Ganges, toppled by Chandragupta Maurya (Mauryas) late in the 4th cent. BC. In the Alexander histories, Indian allies told of the great military power of the Nandas who may thus have contributed to the mutiny on the Hyphasis. A legendary tale of the end of the Nandas is found in Indian sources and in Justin (15,4,16 according to Pomp. Trog.; [1]). Though different in many details, all sources agree on the low origins and unpopularity of the Nandas (including Curt. 9,2,6f.). India Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliograph…

[German version] (Arr. Anab. 5,6,2: Σανδράκοττος/ Sandrákottos, Str. 15,1,36: Σανδρόκοττος/ Sandrókottos, Plut. Alexander 62: Ἀνδράκοττος/ Andrákottos, Just. Epit. 15,4: Sandracottus, Old Indo-Iranian Tschandragupta). Indian king ( c. 320-298 BC) of the Mauryan Dynasty, king of the Prasii and founder of the Mauryan Empire (Mauryas with map). In Indian sources, his life is connected with legends, and parts of a S. legend are also found in Justin (15,4). He concluded a peace with Seleucus following a conflict of which no d…

[German version] Indian king of the Kṣatrapa dynasty, who ruled in and around Gujarāt in the 1st or 2nd cent. AD and was then deposed by the Sātavāhana king Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi. He has often been identified with the king Manbanes(-nus?) of Barygaza in Peripl. m.r. 41 (most recently in [1], but the question remains uncertain, latest critique in [2]). Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography 1 J. Cribb, Numismatic Evidence for the Date of the Periplus, in: D.W. McDowall (ed.), Indian Numismatics, History, Art and Culture, 1992, 131-145 2 G. Fussman, Le Périple et l'histoire poli…

[German version] Region of India to the south of  Barygaza, with the cities of Paithana and Tagara. Mentioned only in Peripl. m.r. 50f., where δάχανος has also been correctly explained as the Indian word for south, Old Indian dakṣiṇa. Probably following Middle Indian Dakkhiṇābadha (Old Indian dakṣiṇāpatha) as a term for the Indian peninsula. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki)