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[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: India, trade with (Virapatnam). Village and archaeological site on the east coast of southern India, in the south of Pondicherry, the Podouke of Peripl. M. Rubr. and Ptol.; finds in A. created the basis for a chronology for southern Indian archaeology and also produced the first archaeological evidence of trading between the Romans and the Indians [1]. Roman coins and amphorae [2. 151 ff.] and terra sigillata [2. 134 ff.] dating from the first half of the 1st cent. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography 1 J. M. Casal, G…

[German version] (Ναναγούνας; Nanagoúnas). River in western India, rising in the Vindhya mountains (Οὐίνδιον; Ouíndion). Ptol. 7,1,32 (also 7,1,7 and 66). Perhaps modern Tapti. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography O. Stein, s.v. Ναναγούνας, RE 16, 1672f.  F.F. Schwarz, s.v. N., KlP 3, 1565.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: India, trade with (Ταγάρα: Peripl. m. r. 51, Τάγαρα: Ptol. 7,1,82). Inland city in the Indian state of Maharashtra, modern Ter, where excavations have found e.g. lamps of an Hellenistic type. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography H. P. Ray, Monastery and Guild. Commerce under the Sātavāhanas, 1986, 69 f.

[German version] Members of an Indian dynasty founded at the end of the 4th century BC by Chandragupta Maurya ( Sandracottus), whose territory soon included all of North India (see map). A military campaign by Seleucus I, who wanted to reconquer Alexander [4] the Great's Indian conquests, failed; in a treaty Chandragupta was granted all southeastern satrapies (including Arachosia) and Seleucus received 500 war elephants in exchange. Seleucus's emissary to Chandragupta was Megasthenes, whose Indiká (FGrH 715), preserved in countless fragments, became the standard work …

[German version] The modern Indian Ocean (IO) was mostly known to the Greeks as   Erythrá thálatta [1] which actually only referred to the western part. With the increase in geographical knowledge, Erythrá thálatta was also used for the entire ocean (e.g. Peripl. m.r.) that was otherwise called the Indian Sea (Ἰνδικὸν πέλαγος/ Indikòn pélagos, Ptol. 7,1,1; 7,2,1) or IO (Ἰνδικὸς ὠκεανός/ Indikòs ṓkeanós, Agathemerus 2,4; Oceanus Indicus, Mela 1,9, Sen. Q Nat. 4,2,4). With the large gulfs (Sinus Gangeticus, Sabaracus and Perimulicus) it formed the southern bounda…

[German version] (Ἔπανδρος Νικηφόρος; Épandros Nikēphóros) Indo-Greek king in the 1st cent. BC. He is documented only by his coins (Middle-Indian Epadra). Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography Bopearachchi 103, 305f.

[German version] (Νάουρα/ Náoura). Port in the district of Limyrice, southern India (Peripl. m. r. 53). Because both here and in Ptol. 7,1,8f. the name is followed by Tyndis, Muziris and Nelkynda, in that order, N., as the northernmost of the cities, must correspond to the Nitraíai empórion of Ptol. 7,1,7 (cf. Nitriae in Plin. HN 6,26,104). The precise location of N. remains unknown. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography O. Stein, s.v. Νάουρα, RE 16, 2014f.

[German version] (Νόσαλα; Nósala). Uninhabited island on the Gedrosian coast of the Ichthyophagi (Arr. Ind. 31), location unknown. The island, which was visited by Nearchus [2], was 100 stadia from the coast, and was regarded by the Ichthyophagi as sacred to the Sun. Nearchus' visit to the island is also mentioned in Str. 15,2,13. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography O. Stein, s.v. Νόσαλα, RE 17, 1051f.

[German version] (Κάσπειρα; Káspeira). City of the Caspiraei in India (Ptol. 7,1,47; 49). The name C. was often associated with modern Cashmere, but whereas Ptolemaeus locates C. in the eastern Punjab, the Caspiraei's territory extends from the Punjab as far as the Vindhya mountains in the south; the Caspiraei appear therefore to have lived approximately in modern Rajasthan and Gujarāt. Ptol. (7,1,42), however, connects the land of Caspeiria with the upper reaches of the Jhelum, the Chenāb and the Rāvi, and this again rather suggests Cashmere. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliograph…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: India, trade with (Νέλκυνδα; Nèlkynda). Trading town in Limyrice, in the south of India (Peripl. m. r. 53f.). It was situated on a river 500 stadia to the south of Muziris  in the kingdom of Pandion, i.e. Pāṇdya, in the southernmost part of India. The port of Barace lay at the mouth of a river. The town is also known as Melcyda (Μελκύδα/ Melkỳda, Ptol. 7,1,9); cf. also gens Nelcyndon in Plin. HN. 6,24,105. The exact location of N. is unknown. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography O. Stein, s.v. Nelkynda, RE 16, 2281-2285.

[German version] (Κωφήν; Kōphḗn: Arr.; Κώφης/ Kṓphēs: Diod., Dionys Per., Str.; Cophes: Plin. HN). Western tributary of the river  Indus [1], old Indian Kubhā, today's Kabul. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography K. Karttunen, India and the Hellenistic World, 1997, 112.

(Ναγαδίβα; Nagadíba). [German version] [1] Coastal city on Taprobane Coastal city on Taprobane (modern Sri Lanka); Ptol. 7,4,7. It seems obvious to identify it with the Middle Indian Nāgadīpa ‘Island of serpents’, but no city with this name is known. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography D.P.M. Weerakkody, Taprobanê, 1997, 85ff. [German version] [2] Island near Taprobane One of the numerous islands near Taprobane, Ptol. 7,4,13. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki)

[German version] (Σῖναι; Sînai). People in eastern Asia (Ptol. 1,17,5 and several times in Ptol. 7,3) with capital Thínai, Latin Thinae (Ptol. 7,3,6, Peripl. m. r. 64); also a term for southern China, which people visited by sea, whereas northern and eastern China were approached by way of the central-Asian caravan routes and was known as Serica, the land of the Seres , or the 'Silk Land'. S. and Serica were never associated with one another. The name S. is from the name of the Chinese Qín dynasty (3rd cent. BC), probably by way of the Old Indian Cīna. China Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliogra…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: India, trade with According to Peripl. M. Rubr. 52f., an empórion on the west coast of India close to what is now Bombay, Sanskrit Kalyāṇa. C. was established by the elder Saraganes as an important commercial harbour; under Sandanes in the 1st cent. AD it was abandoned in favour of  Barygaza. Also attested in Cosmas [2] Indikopleustes as Calliana (11,16; 11,22). Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography H. P. Ray, Monastery and Guild. Commerce under the Sātavāhanas, 1986.

[German version] also Gangaridae. Mentioned in accounts of Alexander's campaign ( Alexander [4], with map) and in Megasthenes as a powerful people in India. They lived east of the  Prasii on the lower Ganges. Also mentioned in Ptol. 7,1,81. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography D. C. Sircar, Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India, 1971, 213ff.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Alexander (Βάζιρα; Bázira). Town in north-western Pakistan, on the river Swat between the Indus and the Hindu Kush, captured and fortified by  Alexander [4] the Great (Arr. Anab.). Probably near Bīr-kōt̥-Ġundai, where Hellenistic walls, pottery and graffiti have been found. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography P. Callieri, in: A. Gail, G. Mevissen (ed.), South Asian Archaeology 1991, 1993, 339-348.

[German version] Indian people in today's Swat, west of the Indus, with capital Massaga, subjugated by Alexander (Arr. Anab. 4, 23ff.; Ind. 1,1). Called Aspagani by Plin. HN and in Pāli called Assaka, from Old Indian aśva-/Iranian aspa ‘horse’. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography O. v. Hinüber, Arrian. Der Alexanderzug -- Indische Gesch., ed. and translation by G. Wirth, O. v. Hinüber, 1985, 1081f.

[German version] Graeco-Indian king of the 1st cent. BC, only documented from coins, Middle Indian Arkhebiya. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography Bopearachchi, 110-112, 319-324.

[German version] (Ταξίλης/ Taxílēs). King of Taxila, who ruled over a broad and fertile plain between the Indus and the Hydaspes; his neighbours were Abisares in the north and Porus [3] in the east. His father already had allied with Alexander [4] by letter (Diod. Sic. 17,86,4; Curt. 8,12,4 f.; see also Arr. Anab. 4,22,6), and the young king approved the alliance when Alexander stayed with him as a guest for some time in the spring of 326 BC (Arr. Anab. 5,3,5 f.; 5,8,2 f.; Diod. Sic. 17,86,4-7; Plu…

[German version] Indo-Greek king sometime around 100 BC. No literary evidence, but mentioned in an Indian Brāhmī insription (Besnagar inscription; by his envoy, Heliodorus of Taxila), and named on Greek-Bactrian and Indo-Greek coins with the legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ ΑΝΤΙΑΛΚΙΔΟΥ / maharajasa jayadharasa aṃtialkidasa. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography O. Bopearachchi, Monnaies Greco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques, 1991, 95-97, 271-288.