Ariana

Ariana, the Latinized form of (Greek: /Arianē), inhabitants: Ariani (Greek: /Arianoi), was a geographical term used by non-native classical authors of ancient period for an area bounded from the east by Indus river and from the west by what they called Persis.

It included modern-day Afghanistan (Bactria, Aria, Drangiana, Arachosia, and the Paropamisadae), east and southeast Iran (Carmania and Gedrosia), most of Tajikistan (Sogdiana), south Turkmenistan (Margiana), south Uzbekistan (parts of Sogdiana) and extending to the Indus River in Pakistan.

At various times, the region was governed by the Persians, Macedonians and Indians. The land was inhabited by different tribes such as Pactyans, Bactrians and others. The exact limits of Ariana are laid down with little accuracy in classical sources, and it seems to have been often confused (as in Pliny, Naturalis Historia, book vi, page 23) with the small province of Aria.

As a geographical term, Ariana was introduced by Eratosthenes, and as such its borders were defined by the Indus River in the east, the sea in the south, a line from Carmania to the Caspian Gates in the west, and the so-called Taurus Mountains in the north. This large region included almost all of the countries east of Media and ancient Persia, including south of the great mountain ranges up to the deserts of Gedrosia and Carmania, i.e. the provinces of Carmania, Gedrosia, Drangiana, Arachosia, Aria, the Paropamisadae; also Bactria was reckoned to Ariana and was called "the ornament of Ariana as a whole" by Apollodorus of Artemita.

After having described the boundaries of Ariana, Strabo writes that the name Αρειανή could also be extended to part of the Persians and the Medes and also northwards to the Bactrians and the Sogdians. A detailed description of that region is to be found in Strabo's Geographica, Book XV – "Persia, Ariana, the Indian subcontinent", chapter 2, sections 1-9.

Rüdiger Schmitt, the German scholar of Iranian Studies, writes in the Encyclopædia Iranica: The Greek term is based upon Old Iranian Āryana- (Avestan: Airiiana-, esp. in Airiianəm vaēǰō, the name of the Aryans’ mother country, whose localization is disputed),

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Category:Historiography of Afghanistan Category:History of Iran Category:Zoroastrian history Category:Ancient Iranian peoples Category:Eurasian nomads Category:Ancient Greek geography