Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Various locations for wider area of: "AFGHANISTAN Country SOUTH ASIAN SUBCONTINENT" .
AFGHANISTAN (Country) SOUTH ASIAN SUBCONTINENT
Aria (he Aria, Steph. B.: Areia, Ptol. vi. 17. § 1; Arr. Anab. iii
24,25; Areion ge, Isid. Charax: Eth. Arioi and Areioi, Arii), a province on the
NE. of Persia, bounded on the N. by the mountains Sariphi (the Hazaras), which
separate it from Hyrcania and Margiana, on the E. by the chain of Bagous (the
Ghor Moiwtains), on the S. by the deserts of Carmania (Kirman), and on the W.
by the mountains Masdoranus and Parthia. Its limits seem to have varied very much,
and to have been either imperfectly investigated by the ancients, or to have been
confounded with the more extensive district of Ariana.
Herodotus (vii. 65) classes the Arians in the army of Xerxes with
the Bactrians, and gives them the same equipment; while, in the description of
the Satrapies of Dareius (Herod. iii. 93), the Parthians, Chorasmians, Sogdians,
and Arians (Areioi), are grouped together in the sixteenth Satrapy. Where he states
(Herod. vii. 2) that the Medes were originally called Arii, his meaning is an
ethnographical one.
According to Strabo Aria was 2000 stadia long and 300 broad, which
would limit it to the country between Meshed and Herat,- a position which is reconcileable
with what Strabo says of Aria, that it was similar in character to Margiana, possessed
mountains and well-watered valleys, in which the vine flourished. The boundaries
of Aria, as stated by Ptolemy, agree very well with those of Strabo; as he says
(vi. 17. § 1) that Aria has Margiana and Bactria on the N., Parthia and the great
desert of Carmania (that is the great desert of Yezd and Kirman) on the W., Drangiana
on the S., and the Paropamisan mountains on the E. At present this district contains
the eastern portion of Khorasan and the western of Afghanistan. It was watered
by the river Arius, and contained the following cities: Artacoana, Alexandria
Ariana, and Aria. Ptolemy gives a long list of provinces and cities, which it
is not possible to identify, and many of which could not have been contained within
the narrow limits of Aria, though they may have been comprehended within the wider
range of Ariana.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
VAKTRIANI (Ancient country) SOUTH ASIAN SUBCONTINENT
Artamis (Artamis, Ptol. vi. 11. § § 2, 3; Artamis, Amm. Marc. xxiii. 6), a river
of Bactria, which flowed into the Zariaspis (or river of Balkh). Wilson (Ariana,
p. 162) conjectures that it is the Dakash, which flows NE. in the direction of
Balkth. The name itself is probably of Persian origin.
Bactra (ta Baktra, Strab. xi. pp. 513, 516, &c.; Baktra Badileion, Ptol. vi. 11. § 9; Arrian, iv. 7. 15; Dion. Perieg. x. 734; Baktrion and Baktra, Steph. B.; Bactra, Curt. vii. 4; Plin. vi. 15; Virg. Georg. ii. 138; Bactrum, Plin. vi. 16), was one of the chief towns, if not the capital, of the province of Bactriana. It was one of the oldest cities in the world; and the modern Balkh, which is believed to occupy its site (Burnes, Bokhara, vol. i. p. 237), is still called by the Orientals Omm‘ ul-belad or the mother of cities. There has been some doubt, both in ancient and modern times, with regard to the name. Strabo (xi. p. 513) and Pliny (vi. 18) evidently considered that Bactra and Zariaspa were one and the same. Arrian (iv. 7, 22) distinguishes between the two, though he does not definitely state their relative positions. Pliny (l. c.) adds that the appellation of Bactrum was derived from the river on which the town was situated; though this view, too, has been questioned. Curtius (vii. 4) places it on the Bactrus, in a plain below the Paropamisan range. Ptolemy (vi. 11. § 9) merely states that it was on the banks of a river, without giving any name to the stream. Alexander the Great appears to have passed the winter of B.C. 328--327 there, on his return from Sogdiana, as, early in the following spring, he commenced his invasion of the Panjab. (Arrian, iv. 22; Diod. xvii. 83; Curt. vii. 5, 10.) Burnes speaks in the highest terms of the accuracy of the Roman historian. The language of the most graphic writer, says he, could not delineate this country with greater exactness than Quintus Curtius has done. (Bokhara, vol. i.p. 245.) At present, Balkh is about 6 miles from the mountains, and the river does not actually pass its walls. Heeren (Asiat. Nat. vol. ii. p. 29) has dwelt at considerable length on the natural and commercial advantages of the position of Bactra and of its neighbourhood; and has shown that, from very early times, it was one of the great commercial entrepots of Eastern Asia. (Burnes, Bolkhara, vols. i. and ii.; Wilson, Ariana; Heeren, Asiat. Nat. vol. ii.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Bactrus (Baktros, Strab. xi. p. 516; Curt. vii. 4. § 31; Polyaen. vii. 7; Lucan iii.267; Plin. vi. 16), the river on which Bactra, the capital town of Bactriana, was situated. It is supposed to be represented by the present Dakash. Harduin, in commenting on the words of Pliny (vi. 16), Bactri, quorum oppidum Zariaspe, quod posted Bactrum a flumine appellatum est, incloses within a parenthesis the words quod postea Bactrum, leaving the inference that the river was called Zariaspe. Ptolemy does not mention the river at all.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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