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[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.

[German version] (Μανιόλαι νῆσοι; Manióloi nêsoi). An archipelago off the coast of India, beyond the Ganges (Ptol. 7,2,31). Otherwise attested in Greek literature only in Pseudo- Palladius ( Perí tōn tēs Indíēs ethnṓn 1,5), but located by him in the vicinity of Ceylon (perhaps the Maldives or in the dangerous waters around the southern tip of India). Later often mentioned by Arabs, Persians and others. From the time of Ptolemy it was believed that these islands were so magnetic that they pulled the iron nails out of ships. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography A. Herrmann, s.v. Μανιό…

[German version] (Σάγαλα/ Ságala, Ptol. 7,1,46; Old Indian Śākala, Middle Indian Sāgala). City in the Punjab east of Hydaspes, the capital city of the Indo-Greek king Menander [6] in Pāli Milindapañha. S. with its rectangular, probably Hellenistic city plan, was also called Euthydemia or Euthymedia, according to Ptol. l.c.. The city is also known in ancient Indo-Iranian literature (Mahābhārata etc.) and was visited in the 7th cent. AD by the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang. Its exact location is not known (perhap…

[German version] (Παροπάμισος/ Paropámisos, Str. 15,1,11; 2,9). Mountain range including the Paropamisadae region (Παροπαμισάδαι/Paropamisádai, Str. 15,2,8ff.). Both names occur in many variants that render identification more difficult [1]. Old Iranian (Avesta) * Parupairisaena (cf. upairisaena in Yasna 10); in the Akkadian version of the Bisutun inscription, Paruparaesanna is used instead of Gandara (Gandaritis) in the Old Persian version [2. DB 1,18]. The mountain range with Taurus, Caucasus, Elburs and Himalaya was regarded as part of the great Asian …

(Ἀγαθόκλεια; Agathókleia). [German version] [1] Mistress of Ptolemy II Mistress of Ptolemy II; her historicity is uncertain. PP 6, 14713; [1]. Ameling, Walter (Jena) [German version] [2] Mistress of Ptolemy IV Daughter of Agathocles [5] and  Oenanthe, sister of  Agathocles [6]. Mentioned 215 BC in possession of several Nile boats, 213/12 kanephore. Mistress of Ptolemy IV; in 204 took part in the murder of  Arsinoe [II 4] III, entrusted with her mother with the young Ptolemy V (as nursemaid?). Murdered by a mob in 203 at the deposition of her brother. PP 3/9, 4984; 6, 14714; [2]. Ameling, W…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Alexander | Graeco-Bactria (Σάγγαλα/ Sángala). Capital and fortress of the Indian Cathaei in the Punjab, to the east of Hydraotes (modern Irāvatī). The city was conquered and destroyed in 326 by Alexander [II 4] the Great after a fierce battle (Arr. Anab. 5,22-24; Polyaenus, Strat. 4,3,30). Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography A. Herrmann, s. v. Σάγγαλα, RE 1 A, 1740.

[German version] (Old Indian; Early Middle Indian yona, yonaka; later also joṉa). The Indian name for the Greeks (most likely from Old Persian yauna) originally described the Iones. The earliest records are from about the 4th and 3rd centuries BC (in the grammarian Pāṉini and king Aśoka), hence in the Mahābhārata it may have been a term for the Indo-Greeks. Later the name receives a more general significance as a term for more distant neighbours, and from about the 7th cent. AD it was used as a name for Arabs and Moslems. In the Tamil literature of southern India, Yavanar is found as a term f…

The Old Indian name M. designates two towns. [German version] [1] Indian locality at the confluence of the Yamuna and the Ganges This item can be found on the following maps: Graeco-Bactria | Graeco-Bactria | Mauryas The northern M. (also Méthōra/Μέθωρα in Megasthenes fr. 13a apud Arr. Ind. 8,5) in the land of Śūrasena, at the confluence of the Yamuna and the Ganges. It was an old and important centre of the cult of Kṛsṇa, but also of that of the Indian Heracles; the latter may not, however, be simply identified with Kṛsṇa. Ptol. 7,1,…

[German version] Prehistoric high culture in the 3rd millennium in northwestern South Asia, from Punjab to Baluchistan and Gujarat, with Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro as the most likely important centres. There was lively overseas trade (a harbour was excavated at Lothal in Gujarat) with Makan (modern Oman),  Dilmun (modern Bahrain), the island of Failaka (now part of Kuwait) and Mesopotamia [1. 107ff.]. The famous Indus script is only attested in the form of very short seal legends; the language on wh…

[German version] Region (Σουαστηνή/ Souastēnḗ at Ptol. 7,1,42) around the homonymous tributary of the River Kabul (Greek Σό(υ)αστος/ Só(u)astos, Sanskrit Suvāstu) in modern northwestern Pakistan. After fierce fighting, the area was conquered by Alexander [4] the Great. Later it became part of the Indo-Greek kingdom and a centre of Buddhism. The exact location of the ancient capital Massaga is unknown, but excavations in Birkot Ghwandai (probably Bazira at Arr.  Anab. 4,27,5 ff.) have revealed remains of Hellenistic…

[German version] (μέγας κόλπος/ mégas kólpos, Ptol. 7,2,1; 7,3,1). A large ocean gulf in India extra Gangem, adjoining the Sinae, i.e. south-east Asia, with three rivers: Daonas, Dorias and Seros (Ptol. 7,2,7). Although the geography of south-east Asia seems hopelessly distorted in Ptolemy, and all interpretations of place names in that region must remain highly hypothetical, nonetheless the Magnus Sinus can be identified with the waters lying between the Malacca Peninsula and southern China. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography H. Treidler, s.v. Μέγας κόλπος, RE Suppl…

[German version] [1] Port in Gedrosia (Μουσάρνα; Mousárna). Port in Gedrosia, visited by Nearchus [2] (Arr. Ind. 26,10-27,2). He found a pilot here who was able to guide the fleet as far as Carmania. According to Ptol. Geog. 6,8,9, M. was the easternmost settlement of Carmania, west of the Gedrosian frontier. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) [German version] [2] Settlement at Viterbo The civitas of M. is generally identified with a small, late Etruscan settlement discovered in 1849 on the Poggio della Civita, 10 km west of Viterbo. French excavations undertake…

[German version] (Ὑδάσπης; Hydáspēs; Βιδάσπης; Bidáspēs in Ptol.), probably from Old Indian, Old Indo-Aryan Vitastā (apparently through Iranian mediation); one of the main rivers of the Punjab, modern Jhelum in Pakistan - it rises in the western Himalayas and flows into the  Acesines [2]. At a place on its left shore that can no longer be identified, Alexander fought against  Porus after having traversed the river during a heavy monsoon rain. After the battle, the twin cities of  Nicaea and  Bucephala were fo…

(Μένανδρος; Ménandros). [German version] [1] Joint strategos with Nicias, 414 BC The Athenians M. and Euthydemus [1], who were already in Sicily, were chosen as joint strategoi of Nicias towards the end of 414 BC, during the Sicilian Expedition, to support him until the relief expedition of Demosthenes [1] arrived (413) (Thucyd. 7,16,1; Plut. Nicias 20,2); re-elected 413/12 (Plut. Nicias 20,6-8; Thucyd. 7,69,4; Diod. 13, 13,2). Possibly identical with the M. who fought in Abydus in 409 (Xen. Hell. 1,2,16). He was stratēgós with Tydeus (405/4) in the defeat at Aigos potamoi (X…

[German version] ( Barbara, also Barbare). Port city at the mouth of the Indus (Ptol. 7,1,59), Ἐμπόριον Βαρβαρικόν or Βαρβαρική ( Empórion Barbarikón, Barbarikḗ), Peripl. M. Rubr. 38f., old Indian Varvara. B. appears to have been the main port of the Indus region, but has disappeared without a trace within the delta area. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki)

(Πανταλέων/ Pantaléōn). [German version] [1] King of the Pisates, middle of the 7th cent. BC Son of Omphalion, king of the Pisates (middle of the 7th cent. BC); P.'s rule may have been perceived as tyranny already in his own lifetime (cf. Paus. 6,21,1). He temporarily wrested the organisation of the Olympic Games from the Eleians (Olympia IV.; Paus. 6,22,2) [1. 220f.]. His support of the Messenians in the second of the Messenian Wars (Str. 8,4,10) is a later invention [2. 153f.]. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) Bibliography 1 L. de Libero, Die archaische Tyrannis, 1996 2 K. Tausend, Amphikty…

(Τήλεφος /Tḗlephos). [German version] [1] Son of Heracles and Auge Son of Heracles [1] and Auge [2] (Hes. fr. 165,8-10 M./W.). There are two legendary versions of his youth. According to one version (probably in essence epic, but also assumed by Euripides [1] in his T.), Auge of Tegea, a priestess of Athena, was made pregnant by Heracles [1], gave birth to T. and hid him in the sanctuary. When, as a consequence of this, the goddess imposed a famine and the child was discovered, Auge's father Aleus [1] had the child exposed (Exposure, myths…

[German version] ( P. Díkaios kaì Sōtḗr/'the righteous one and deliverer'; Middle Indian Peukalaüsa). Indo-Greek King of Gandhāra (Gandaritis), beginning of 1st cent. BC, known only from coins. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography Bopearachchi, 106, 309.